LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Internationally recognized scholars will discuss their research through a an archaeology lecture series at the University of Louisville and University of Kentucky. Topics will include collecting Holy Land relics, exploring underwater harbors in Israel and tracing the origins of Roman gardens.
UofL’s history department and the Archaeological Institute of America’s Kentucky Society are sponsoring the free, public “Lectures in Archaeology.” Here is the fall 2016 schedule:
Sept. 15 — “The Lure of the Relic: Collecting the Holy Land,” 6 p.m., Chao Auditorium, UofL’s Ekstrom Library. Morag Kersel, DePaul University assistant professor of anthropology, will use case studies from Jordan, Israel and Palestine to address people’s fascination with and collecting of artifacts as well as the effects of the antiquities trade. She also is co-director of DePaul’s Galilee Prehistory Project and Follow the Pots Project in the Middle East.
Oct. 27 — “Roman Paradise: Replicating the Empire in Roman Gardens,” 6:30 p.m., auditorium, UK’s W.T. Young Library. Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware classics professor and foreign languages and literatures chair, will talk about the origins of Roman gardens, which ranged from wealthy replicas of world monuments to more attainable decorative plantings and botanical murals intended as domestic havens.
Nov. 10 — “Recent Excavation of a Roman Shipwreck at Caesarea Maritima, Israel,” 6 p.m., Chao Auditorium, UofL’s Ekstrom Library. John Hale, archaeologist and UofL liberal studies director, will talk about his work on a team searching for the 1,600-year-old shipwreck of a vessel that traveled from Egypt to Caesarea on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Besides finding anchors and iron spikes from the vessel earlier, divers this spring recovered bronze artifacts, jar fragments and coins.
The lecture series continues in 2017 with Feb. 9 and April 6 talks.
For more information, check www.kyarchaeology.com or contact Jennifer Westerfeld at 502-852-3756 or jennifer.westerfeld@louisville.edu.
###