Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Colloquium The Heroic Age of Archaeological Research in the Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, ca. 1860-1950, Oxford, 8 May 2010


Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Lecture room, 66 St. Giles', Oxford. 

This colloquium will explore the intellectual, ideological, institutional and methodological framework of Near Eastern archaeological practice, from its beginnings to the immediate aftermath of World War II, examining how the pioneers worked (as well as their personal, scholarly and political predispositions), to field logistics, life in the trenches, and issues of publication and dissemination of the expedition results. 

09:00-09:15 Lukas Amadeus Schachner (Convener, Oxford), Introduction 

Session 1: Syria & Asia Minor, c. 1860-1950
Chair: Prof Bert Smith (Oxford) 
09:15-09:55 Dr Marlia Mango (Oxford), From Heroic to Academic, c. 1860-1914: the Marquis de Vogüé, Gertrude Bell and Howard Crosby Butler 
09:55-10:35 Dr Sabine Ladstätter (Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut, Wien), Ephesus: Austria's Big Dig
10:35-11:00 Résumé (Session 1), followed by a coffee break 

Session 2: The Early Islamic Realm 
Chair: to be confirmed 
11:30-12:10 Dr Mahmoud Hawari (Khalili Research Centre, The Oriental Institute), Robert W. Hamilton (1905-1995): a civil servant, an architect and an 'occasional archaeologist' in the Middle East 
Lunch break 
13:30-14:10 Prof Alastair Northedge (Université de Paris I - Sorbonne), Studying Samarra: early strategies for mega-site analysis
14:10-14:35 Résumé (Session 2), followed by a coffee break 

Session 3: Constantinople / Istanbul 
Chair: Lukas Amadeus Schachner 
15:05-15:45 Prof Cyril Mango (Oxford), The Russian Archaeological Institute, the Byzantine Institute, and Ernest Mamboury: the first archaeological explorers of Byzantium at Constantinople, from 1895
15:45-16:25 Prof Jim Crow (Edinburgh), David Talbot Rice (1903-1973) in the Byzantine Capital 
16:25-16:50 Résumé (Session 3) 

Concluding remarks 
ca. 17:00 Dr Bryan Ward-Perkins (Oxford)
followed by archival video footage screening, 1913-1930 (to be confirmed) 

Price: £5, including lunch and refreshments ; to register please email lukas.schachner@classics.ox.ac.uk 
The colloquium is organized by Lukas Amadeus Schachner, Institute of Archaeology, with the financial support of the John Fell OUP Research Fund, the Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity, the Meyerstein Fund and the Research Centre, St John's.