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The 9th century Alfred Jewel depicting either Alfred the Great or Christ
Image credit the Ashmolean Museum
The Alfred Jewel was found in a peat bog in North Petherton, Somerset, England in 1693 but has been kept at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford since 1718. North Petherton is about eight miles from where King Alfred the Great founded a monastery at Athelney. The Jewel is made of rock crystal, enamel and gold and bears the inscription, in Old English, AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN (Alfred Ordered Me Made). It is thought to have been one of several commissioned by King Alfred and once formed the top of a pointer used for reading or translating manuscripts.
Now, for the first time in nearly 300 years, the Alfred Jewel will return to Somerset where it will be on display at The Museum of Somerset from 31 January to 28 February 2015. Talks by two leading Anglo-Saxon experts will take place during the exhibition period. One by Professor Simon Keynes of Cambridge University on 11 February and the other by Leslie Webster of the British Museum on 25 February.
Katherine Baxter, Curator of Archaeology at Leeds City Museum, holding a terracotta antefix of Medusa. 300-200bce from Lanuvium, Italy
Stephen Lewis, writing in The Press reports that –
Some of the British Museum’s finest Roman treasures have come to Leeds as part of a touring exhibition examining the lives of Romans in Yorkshire.
Roman Empire: Power & People features stunning objects from throughout the Roman world, from Egypt to Italy, Germany and, of course, Roman Britain. The Leeds City Museum has combined the British Museum treasures with Roman objects from its own collection and from other museums in Yorkshire, including York’s own Yorkshire Museum. The result is an exhibition that reflects the power, vastness and might of the Roman Empire, but also considers Britain’s – and Yorkshire’s – place within that empire, says Katherine Baxter, curator of archaeology at Leeds City Museum. It also aims to give a personal insight into what the lives of Romans living here were like: and whether ‘being Roman’ was the same for people in Yorkshire as it was for those in Rome.
To coincide with the exhibition, which runs until 4 January 2015, there will be a series of lectures and family events including talks about rural life in Roman Yorkshire, and a lecture on Roman York.
Full article and further details on the exhibition here.
6.30pm: Seminar
– Introductory remarks: Dr Simon Kaner
– Presentation about the Online Resource for Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (Don Henson, Ben Hui, Nakamura Oki)
– Digital developments in Japanese archaeology (Professor Miyamoto Kazuo)
– Discussant: Professor Julian Richards
Booking:
This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please e-mail the Sainsbury Institute at d.clinciu@sainsbury-institute.org
Middle Jomon Period rope pottery 5,000-4,000bce
Image credit: Chris 73 Source: Wikimedia Commons
The Sainsbury Institute is delighted to present the Second Ishibashi Foundation Lecture Series in Tokyo this October, sponsored by the Ishibashi Foundation and co-organised by Tokyo National Museum. Senior scholars from Europe will share their research with the Japanese audience and illustrate the current status of Japanese archaeology and cultural heritage studies in Europe and also how Japanese art and antiquities are studied and displayed in European museums. Lectures will be given in English and simultaneously translated into Japanese. This Lecture Series aim to offer new perspectives in the studies of Japanese arts and cultures and contribute to the promotion of scholarly and artistic exchange between Europe and Japan.
The Stonehenge Urn. Excavated by William Cunnington in 1802
Programme.
Lecture 1 | 1.30-2.10pm
British-Japanese Archaeological Exchanges from the 19th Century to Today
Simon Kaner
Head, Centre for Archaeology and Heritage, Sainsbury Institute
Lecture 2 | 2.10-2.50pm
Molecular Archaeology: Investigating Diet, Food and Cuisine from Stonehenge to the Jōmon?
Oliver Craig
BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York
Panel Discussion ‘Euro-Japanese archaeological exchanges’ | 3.00-4.00pm
Moderator: Shirai Katsuya, Chief Curator of Archaeology, Curatorial Research Department, Tokyo National Museum
Venue: Tokyo National Museum, Heiseikan Auditorium, 13-9 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, 25 October 2014 from 1.30 – 4pm. Details here.
The Next Bus to Imber: A lecture in aid of The Churches Conservation Trust
There will be a special fundraising event for The Churches Conservation Trust at Bristol St John’s church on the evening of Thursday 29th May 2014. The Churches Conservation Trust is a UK national heritage and conservation charity protecting historic churches at risk. They have saved over 345 beautiful buildings which attract almost 2 million visitors a year. With their help and the support of their volunteers and supporters these buildings are kept open and in use – ‘living once again at the heart of their communities’. For more information please visit http://www.visitchurches.org.uk
Sir Peter Hendy CBE, Commissioner of Transport for London, will give a lecture on his fascinating association with Imber, the former village on Salisbury Plain, now at the centre of a military firing range. Imber boasts a fine medieval church, St Giles, conserved by CCT, cared by the Friends of Imber church and open on those few occasions each year when the public can gain access to this normally restricted area. Many visitors to the church now arrive on vintage buses arranged and driven by Peter and fellow enthusiasts.
The event includes wine, soft drinks and canapés served from 6pm and conducted tours of 14th-century St John’s church and crypt, led by conservationist Dr Neil Rushton, from 6.30pm. St John’s is a Grade I Listed building with the tower and steeple over St John’s Gate, the last remaining gateway built into the medieval city wall.
Tickets cost £18 per head and can be booked online here.