Editing Margaret Murray (section)

===Witch-cult, Malta, and Menorca: 1921–1935===

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|quote = When I suddenly realised that the so-called Devil was simply a disguised man I was startled, almost alarmed, by the way the recorded facts fell into place, and showed that the witches were members of an old and primitive form of religion, and the records had been made by members of a new and persecuting form.
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|source = Margaret Murray, 1963.{{sfnm|1a1=Murray|1y=1963|1p=104|2a1=Oates|2a2=Wood|2y=1998|2p=18}}
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Murray's interest in folklore led her to develop an interest in the witch trials of Early Modern Europe. In 1917, she published a paper in ''Folklore'', the journal of the [[Folklore Society]], in which she first articulated her version of the witch-cult theory, arguing that the witches persecuted in European history were actually followers of "a definite religion with beliefs, ritual, and organization as highly developed as that of any cult in the end".{{sfn|Sheppard|2013|pp=166–166}} She followed this up with papers on the subject in the journals ''Man'' and the ''[[Scottish Historical Review]]''.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=195}} She articulated these views more fully in her 1921 book ''[[The Witch-Cult in Western Europe]]'', published by Oxford University Press after receiving a positive peer review by [[Henry Balfour]], and which received both criticism and support on publication.{{sfnm|1a1=Oates|1a2=Wood|1y=1998|1p=12|2a1=Hutton|2y=1999|2p=195|3a1=Sheppard|3y=2013|3pp=168–169}} Many reviews in academic journals were critical, with historians claiming that she had distorted and misinterpreted the contemporary records that she was using,{{sfnm|1a1=Simpson|1y=1994|1p=90|2a1=Hutton|2y=1999|2p=198}} but the book was nevertheless influential.{{sfn|Drower|2004|p=119}}
[[File:Margaret Murray 1928b.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Murray in London in 1928]]
As a result of her work in this area, she was invited to provide the entry on "witchcraft" for the fourteenth edition of the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' in 1929. She used the opportunity to propagate her own witch-cult theory, failing to mention the alternate theories proposed by other academics. Her entry would be included in the encyclopedia until 1969, becoming readily accessible to the public, and it was for this reason that her ideas on the subject had such a significant impact.{{sfnm|1a1=Simpson|1y=1994|1p=89|2a1=Hutton|2y=1999|2p=199|3a1=Drower|3y=2004|3p=119|4a1=Sheppard|4y=2013|4p=169}} It received a particularly enthusiastic reception by [[occultism|occultists]] such as [[Dion Fortune]], [[Lewis Spence]], [[Ralph Shirley]], and [[J. W. Brodie Innes]],{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=199}} perhaps because its claims regarding an ancient secret society chimed with similar claims common among various occult groups.{{sfn|Oates|Wood|1998|p=13}} Murray joined the Folklore Society in February 1927, and was elected to the society's council a month later, although she stood down in 1929.{{sfnm|1a1=Oates|1a2=Wood|1y=1998|1p=9|2a1=Sheppard|2y=2013|2p=175}} Murray reiterated her witch-cult theory in her 1933 book, ''The God of the Witches'', which was aimed at a wider, non-academic audience. In this book, she cut out or toned down what she saw as the more unpleasant aspects of the witch-cult, such as [[animal sacrifice|animal]] and [[child sacrifice|child]] sacrifice, and began describing the religion in more positive terms as "the Old Religion".{{sfnm|1a1=Simpson|1y=1994|1p=93|2a1=Hutton|2y=1999|2p=196|3a1=Drower|3y=2004|3p=119|4a1=Sheppard|4y=2013|4pp=169–171}}

At UCL, Murray was promoted to lecturer in 1921 and to [[senior lecturer]] in 1922.<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|first1=Max |last1=Mallowan |first2=R. S. |last2= Simpson |title=Murray, Margaret Alice (1863–1963) |id=35169}}</ref> From 1921 to 1927, she led archaeological excavations on Malta, assisted by Edith Guest and [[Gertrude Caton Thompson]]. She excavated the Bronze Age [[megalithic]] monuments of [[Santa Sofia (pre-historic site)|Santa Sofia]], [[Santa Maria tal-Bakkari]], [[Għar Dalam]], and [[Borġ in-Nadur]], all of which were threatened by the construction of a new aerodrome. In this she was funded by the [[Percy Sladen Memorial Trust|Percy Sladen Memorial Fund]]. Her resulting three-volume excavation report came to be seen as an important publication within the field of Maltese archaeology.{{sfnm|1a1=Drower|1y=2004|1pp=121–122|2a1=Sheppard|2y=2013|2pp=207–210}} During the excavations, she had taken an interest in the island's folklore, resulting in the 1932 publication of her book ''Maltese Folktales'', much of which was a translation of earlier stories collected by [[Manuel Magri]] and her friend Liza Galea.{{sfnm|1a1=Drower|1y=2004|1p=112|2a1=Sheppard|2y=2013|2pp=210–211}} In 1932 Murray returned to Malta to aid in the cataloguing of the Bronze Age pottery collection held in [[National Museum of Archaeology, Malta|Malta Museum]], resulting in another publication, ''Corpus of the Bronze Age Pottery of Malta''.{{sfnm|1a1=Drower|1y=2004|1p=112|2a1=Sheppard|2y=2013|2p=210}}
[[File:Borg in Nadur.jpg|thumb|Murray excavated at Borġ in-Nadur in Malta (pictured).]]

On the basis of her work in Malta, [[Louis Clarke (antiquarian)|Louis Clarke]], the curator of the [[Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge|Cambridge Museum of Ethnology and Anthropology]], invited her to lead excavations on the island of [[Menorca]] from 1930 to 1931. With the aid of Guest, she excavated the [[talaiotic culture|talaiotic]] sites of [[Trepucó]] and [[Sa Torreta de Tramuntana]], resulting in the publication of ''Cambridge Excavations in Minorca''.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=1961|1p=434|2a1=Drower|2y=2004|2p=123|3a1=Sheppard|3y=2013|3pp=212–215}} Murray also continued to publish works on Egyptology for a general audience, such as ''Egyptian Sculpture'' (1930) and ''Egyptian Temples'' (1931), which received largely positive reviews.{{sfn|Sheppard|2013|pp=144–150}} In the summer of 1925 she led a team of volunteers to excavate Homestead Moat in [[Whomerle Wood]] near to [[Stevenage]], [[Hertfordshire]]; she did not publish an excavation report and did not mention the event in her autobiography, with her motives for carrying out the excavation remaining unclear.{{sfn|Drower|2004|p=124}}

In 1924, UCL promoted Murray to the position of assistant professor,{{sfnm|1a1=Janssen|1y=1992|1p=10|2a1=Drower|2y=2004|2p=115|3a1=Sheppard|3y=2013|3p=97}} and, in 1927, she was awarded an [[honorary doctorate]] for her career in Egyptology.{{sfnm|1a1=James|1y=1963|1p=569|2a1=Oates|2a2=Wood|2y=1998|2p=9|3a1=Drower|3y=2004|3p=115|4a1=Sheppard|4y=2013|4p=97}} That year, Murray was tasked with guiding [[Mary of Teck]], the Queen consort, around the Egyptology department during the latter's visit to UCL.{{sfnm|1a1=Janssen|1y=1992|1p=21|2a1=Drower|2y=2004|2p=121}} The pressures of teaching had eased by this point, allowing Murray to spend more time travelling internationally; in 1920 she returned to Egypt and in 1929 visited South Africa, where she attended the meeting of the [[British Association for the Advancement of Science]], whose theme was the prehistory of southern Africa.{{sfn|Drower|2004|pp=124–125}} In the early 1930s she travelled to the [[Soviet Union]], where she visited museums in [[Leningrad]], [[Moscow]], [[Kharkiv]], and [[Kyiv]], and then in late 1935 she undertook a lecture tour of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia.{{sfn|Drower|2004|p=125}}

Although having reached legal retirement age in 1927, and thus unable to be offered another five-year contract, Murray was reappointed on an annual basis each year until 1935.{{sfnm|1a1=Janssen|1y=1992|1p=22|2a1=Sheppard|2y=2013|2p=99}} At this point, she retired, expressing the opinion that she was glad to leave UCL, for reasons that she did not make clear.{{sfnm|1a1=Janssen|1y=1992|1p=30|2a1=Drower|2y=2004|2pp=127–128|3a1=Sheppard|3y=2013|3p=224}} In 1933, Petrie had retired from UCL and moved to [[Jerusalem]] in [[Mandatory Palestine]] with his wife; Murray therefore took over as editor of the ''Ancient Egypt'' journal, renaming it ''Ancient Egypt and the East'' to reflect its increasing research interest in the ancient societies that surrounded and interacted with Egypt. The journal folded in 1935, perhaps due to Murray's retirement.{{sfn|Sheppard|2013|p=201}} Murray then spent some time in Jerusalem, where she aided the Petries in their excavation at [[Tall al-Ajjul]], a Bronze Age mound south of [[Gaza City|Gaza]].{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=1961|1p=434|2a1=Drower|2y=2004|2p=128|3a1=Sheppard|3y=2013|3pp=224–226}}