It was the way the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York described its plans for 57,000 square feet of extended gallery space that caught my eye: “We have a sacred obligation to put this material on view,” said museum director Philippe de Montebello [BBC link] He is talking about 5000 Graeco-Roman artifacts, currently in…
the academy
new guide to the discipline
Just out – Blackwell’s Companion to Archaeology. An academic guide. I did the chapter on politics and archaeology. The argument is the one I first made back in the 1980s, when it was deeply unfashionable, that archaeology is a contemporary project, and archaeologists don’t discover the past, they work on what is left. Here is…
archaeological character and subculture
The BBC call him a cross between James Bond, Graham Greene and Indiana Jones. Patrick Leigh Fermor, at 89, is now Sir Patrick. Truly a wonderful writer. A personal anecdote. Setting – the British School at Athens, 1990. Homebase of the British archaeological community in Greece. I was there to continue my research into the…
the news in ancient Greek
Further to my comments on 8 February about attempts to bring Classics alive – I came across Joan Coderch’s AKWN – Acropolis World News – the news in ancient Greek … The latest – Russian election candidate vanishes – first US born panda heading to China – Haitian cities erupt in violent revolt I reminds…
cross disciplinary and beyond
Came across a very impressive organization this morning – MIRAlab at the University of Geneva. It describes itself as “a pluridisciplinary lab working on virtual human simulation and virtual worlds”. Archaeology pulls together many kinds of specialists. Reconstructing prehistory requires all sorts of disciplines. So we usually describe archaeology as an interdisciplinary field. And Stanford…
Ben Cullen
Ben Cullen died eight years ago today in Cardigan, Wales. He was only 31. He had the same birthday as my daughter Molly; died on my parents wedding day. He was a great friend. Ben’s big idea was that biological organisms and things are not always as radically different as we usually hold. Viral phenomena…