Take Two: Pocahontas (1995)
Lecture – Applying Forensics to Archaeology by Andrew Shortland
Courtesy The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology UCL, UC16725
Monday, November 21, 2016 – 6:30 PM
As an Egyptologist trained in geological sciences, Dr. Andrew Shortland became interested in applying scientific analysis to the identification and interpretation of material culture from the ancient and historical worlds. Today Shortland uses the latest technology to answer questions about valuable or historically important objects. Typically these involve queries about provenance, date, identification of past restoration or conservation—and even the detection of deliberate fakes and forgeries.
Using examples from his cases, Professor Shortland will describe a wide variety of different analytical techniques in his work including SEM-EDS, microprobe, XSRF, LA-ICPMS and optical microscopy.
Dr. Andrew Shortland is professor of archaeological science at Cranfield University in UK. He is Deputy Director of Cranfield Forensic Institute, where he runs a group that specializes in the application of scientific techniques to archaeological and forensic problems.
Lecture – The Ancient Egyptian Mummy: A Defense Against Tomb Robbery by Kara Cooney
Tuesday, November 29, 2016 – 6:30 PM
During the turmoil of the Late Bronze age ancient Egypt suffered from extreme economic, political, and social instability like mass migrations, invasions of Sea Peoples and Libyans, and the loss of the Syria-Palestinian empire. How did wealthy, elite Egyptians negotiate between the circumstances of this chaotic time of political decentralization and repeated economic collapses and the powerful social demands for them to spend large amounts of their income on funerary materials that were displayed in burial ceremonies? During this period funerary arts like mummification reflect a variety of innovative and defensive strategies– particularly against tomb robbery and the desecration of human remains in the burial. Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney will explore how mummification defended the dead against both worldly and supernatural threats.
