Lorraine Copeland

Lorraine Copeland (born Elizabeth Lorraine Adie, 1921, died 27 April 2013^[1]) was an archaeologist specialising in the Palaeolithic period of the Near East. She was a secret agent with the Special Operations Executive during World War II. She had four children all of whom went on to prominent positions in their respective industries.

Early life

Born Elizabeth Lorraine Adie in Scotland, she was the daughter of a prominent Harley Street neurosurgeon. She was privately educated at Wycombe Abbey in Buckinghamshire.^[2]

Special Operations Executive

Copeland worked for British Intelligence during the Second World War, in the Special Operations Executive.^[3] She met her American husband, Miles Copeland, Jr., during this period, when he was based in the U.K. undertaking counter-intelligence for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services). They married on 25 September 1942 and soon afterwards Miles' work took them to the Near East, particularly Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, and it was whilst in this area that Copeland first developed her interest in archaeology.

Archaeology

Copeland worked in the field of Palaeolithic archaeology for over fifty years, and was associated with the University College London Institute of Archaeology. She was an adviser to the Stone Age Institute.^[4] In 2004 the festschrift "From the River to the Sea: The Palaeolithic and the Neolithic on the Euphrates and in the Northern Levant " was published in her honour.^[5][6][7]

Family

Copeland married Miles on September 25 1942 at St Mary's Church, Great Portland Street, London. The couple had four children, all of whom went on to have notable careers; their eldest son Miles Copeland III (born 2 May 1944) as an executive in the entertainment industry, Ian Copeland (born 25 April 1949) as a music promoter and booking agent, Lorraine "Lennie" Copeland as a writer and film producer and Stewart Copeland (born 16 July 1952) as a musician best known as the drummer for the band The Police. Her husband Miles Jr. died in February 1991, and her son Ian predeceased her in May 2006. Lorraine Copeland died at Chateau Marouatte in Dordogne, France, on 27 April 2013.

Partial bibliography

• Copeland, Lorraine and Waechter, John (1968) "The Stone Industries of Abri Bergy, Lebanon" Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, University of London 7, 15–36.
• Copeland, Lorraine (1975) "The Middle and Upper Paleolithic of Lebanon and Syria in the Light of Recent Research" in Fred Wendorf and Anthony E. Marks, eds., Problems in Prehistory: North Africa and the Levant Dallas.
• Copeland, Lorraine and Hours, Francis (eds) (1989) The Hammer on the Rock: Studies in the Early Palaeolithic of Azraq, Jordan. Maison de L'Orient Méditerranéen C.N.R.S.-Université Lumière-Lyon 2, Lyon, France, Archaeological Series No. 5 BAR S540. ISBN 0-86054-686-1.
• Sanlaville, Paul; Besançon, Jacques; Copeland, Lorraine and Muhesen, Sultan (1993) Le Paléolithique de la vallée moyenne de l’Oronte (Syrie): peuplement et environement BAR S587. ISBN 0-86054-747-7.
• Copeland, Lorraine and Moloney, Norah (eds) (1998) The Mousterian Site of Ras el-Kelb, Lebanon BAR IS 706. ISBN 0-86054-939-9.

Related publications

• Aurenche, Olivier; Le Mière, Marie and Sanlaville, Paul (eds) (2004) From the River to the Sea: The Paleolithic and the Neolithic on the Euphrates and in the Northern Levant. Studies in honour of Lorraine Copeland Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen BAR S1263 ISBN 1-84171-621-9. A full bibliography of Lorraine Copeland's work is provided in this volume.

References

• Copeland, Miles (1989) The Game Player: Confessions of the CIA's Original Political Operative London