Birgitta Wallace
Birgitta Linderoth Wallace was a Swedish–Canadian archaeologist specialising in Norse archaeology in North America. She spent most of her career as an archaeologist with Parks Canada and is best known for her work on L'Anse aux Meadows, currently the only widely accepted Norse site in North America.
Wallace received a Smith-Wintemberg Award from the Canadian Archaeological Association in 2015.
Life and career
Wallace was born in Stockholm on 1 May 1934, to Swedish and Danish parents. She studied at Uppsala University and trained on archaeological sites in Sweden and Norway. After receiving her master's degree, she spent some time as a curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1975, she moved to Canada to take a position as an archaeologist with Parks Canada, where she remained until her retirement.The focus of Wallace's career was Norse archaeology in North America, which she began working on at the Carnegie Museum. However, she had also worked on Native American, Aboriginal Canadian, and early French Canadian sites in North America, as well as in Scandinavia and Israel.
Wallace died in Halifax on 20 May 2025, at the age of 91.