Tag Archive for Archaeology

Floor Talks | Ian Potter Museum of Art

Ceramic stoneware jar, China, c. 19th century Excavated Chinese kiln and market garden site, Bendigo Collection of Heritage Victoria

The Ian Potter Museum of Art is holding a series of floor talks open to the public. The talks run from 30th April until the 18th June and cover  a range of topics based around archaeological investigations in Melbourne and elsewhere in Victoria, with a particular focus on objects in the collections of Heritage Victoria. All talks are free to attend, no bookings required. For further details on each talk see the links below. Curator talk – Secret lives, forgotten stories: highlights from Heritage Victoria’s archaeological collection Wednesday 30 April…

Exhibition Review | Rome: Piranesi’s Vision | Katrina Grant

Fig. 5 Piranesi, 'Veduta del Porto di Ripa Grande', Vedute di Roma, 1757-58.

Rome: Piranesi’s Vision Katrina Grant  State Library of Victoria, 22nd February until 22nd June 2014. Free exhibition. ‘When I first saw the remains of the ancient buildings of Rome lying as they do in cultivated fields or in gardens and wasting away under the ravages of time, or being destroyed by greedy owners who sell them as materials for modern buildings, I determined to preserve them for ever by means of my engravings’ – Giovanni Battista Piranesi Piranesi wrote this in his preface to the Antichità romane and it is just one…

Lecture | The Early Christian-Byzantine Monastery of Aghios Lot in Jordan – Dr Konstantinos D. Politis

jordan monastery

The Early Christian-Byzantine Monastery of Aghios Lot in Jordan Dr Konstantinos D. Politis, Chair of the Hellenic Society for Near Eastern Studies The Monastery of Aghios Lot is located at the south-eastern shore of the Dead Sea on a steep mountain slope overlooking the modern town of Safi (biblical Zoara) in Jordan.  It is accurately depicted on the early Byzantine mosaic floor map at Madaba in Jordan.  The monastery was excavated from 1988-2003.  The focal point was a basilica church built around a natural cave which early Christians believed was where…

Lecture | The Tower of the Winds at Athens: architecture and function – Hermann J Kienast

Photograph by Georg Zumstrull. Photo via unimelb.edu.au website.

 The Tower of the Winds at Athens: architecture and function Hermann J. Kienast The Tower of the Winds at Athens is one of the most ingenious creations of ancient architecture. Based on an octagonal floor plan, the marble edifice is decorated immediately below the roof, with a frieze depicting eight winds as personifications. The building’s layout is highly sophisticated and accentuated by unusual technical gadgets: the eight outer wall segments exhibit sundials, while the interior accommodated a fascinating planetarium, the first monumental one we know of. The lecture explains all…

Symposium in Honour of Ernst Kitzinger: Sites of Devotion | New Directions in Medieval Art History

Floor mosaic, early Byzantine  Church of Saint George at Madaba,  Jordan

Public Symposium in Honour of Ernst Kitzinger (1912-2003) Sites of Devotion | New Directions in Medieval Art History This symposium celebrates the centenary of the birth of Ernst Kitzinger (b. Munich 1912 – d. New York 2003), distinguished historian of Late Antique, Medieval and Byzantine art. It provides an opportunity to acknowledge the ongoing influence of his work in Australia, where he was interned as an enemy alien during World War II. Addressing the interests of both specialists and the wider public, papers will explore the ways in which Kitzinger’s interests in…

Lecture: Reconstructing an Iconographical Program of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos: New Wall Paintings and Their Interpretation

nestor

Reconstructing an Iconographical Program of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos: New Wall Paintings and Their Interpretation Professor Jack Davis, University of Cincinnati Hosted by the Archaeological Institute at Athens, Classical Association of Victoria & The School of Historical & Philosophical Studies The Bronze Age ‘Palace of Nestor’ at Pylos, originally excavated by Carl Blegen in the 1950s, is unique in allowing investigators to consider its wall-paintings in context. In a great many instances it is possible to restore the entire iconographical program of decoration in a room or in…

Lecture – Ronald Ridley ‘Team Tutankhamun’

team tutankhamun

Marion Adams Memorial Lecture Team Tutankhamun Professor Emeritus Ronald Ridley, Melbourne University Everyone knows the story of the discovery of the famous boy pharaoh’s tomb in 1922. A much more difficult matter for the historian of archaeology  is understanding the many people who made the discovery and then  revealed and preserved the tomb’s contents. This lecture will focus on Lord Carnarvon, Howard Carter and Harry Burton, while celebrating also the other members of the team. Date: 6:30pm, Tuesday 19th April 2011 Venue: Public Lecture Theatre, Old Arts Building, The University of…

Lecture – Paul Jett ‘Scientific Research on Ancient Chinese Gold and Silver’

Dragon, Gold sheet, Chinese, 5th-3rd centuries BC, Freer Gallery of Art, F1980.101

Scientific Research on Ancient Chinese Gold and Silver Paul Jett, Head, Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C Scientific analysis combined with archaeological discoveries in China have greatly expanded the body of knowledge about gold and silver in early China.  This presentation will discuss three particular studies of gold and silver artifacts from China, focusing on silver from the Tang and Liao dynasties (7th to 12th centuries AD), and gold dating to the 5th to 3rd centuries BC. Biography – As the Head of Conservation and Scientific Research at the Freer Gallery/ Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art at…

Funding – Leverhulme Visiting Fellowship (University of Wales)

uni wales

Leverhulme Visiting Fellowship University of Wales, Trinity Saint David – Department of Archaeology, History and Anthropology The University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, has been awarded a one-year visiting fellowship for an overseas scholar to participate in the academic life of the department within the following subject area. The topic is medieval and interdisciplinary, related to the subjects of history, archaeology, architectural history and art history. We have currently two major research projects to which this appointment will be related: Monastic Wales under the direction of Professor Janet Burton (TSD)…

Call for Applications – The Art of Rome’s Provinces (Getty Foundation Seminar)

wallarchzeus

The Arts of Rome’s Provinces (Getty Foundation Seminar) The question of how we understand the art of the Roman provinces urgently requires reexamination in light of new thinking about colonialism and imperialism, set within the framework of an increasingly global world. At the same time that Anglophone art historians and archaeologists are querying whether we still can use the early 20th century concept of “romanization” — the processes by which cultures were brought in contact and materially changed by the Roman imperial presence — innovative art historical and archaeological techniques,…

Robert Y. C. Ho Research Fellowship in Buddhism and Conservation

Robert Y. C. Ho Research Fellowship in Buddhism and Conservation Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London Two-year post: 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2020 £27,885 pa (incl London Allowance) The Courtauld, through the generosity of Robert Y. C. Ho, is offering a fellowship to promote understanding of the philosophical issues at the intersection of Buddhism, art, conservation and archaeology.  This fellowship will give the Fellow the opportunity to undertake a research project on Guru Padmasambhava and his influence in Bhutan and elsewhere, to explore archaeological conservation and management…