Seminar: Silk Routes and Eastern Contacts

The classical archaeology seminar of Michaelmas Term 2010, organized by Prof. Andrew Wilson and Prof. Chris Gosden focuses on silk routes and eastern contacts, a theme relevant to the project. Speakers include Sarah Nelson, P. J. Cherian, Rachel Mairs, Marijke van der Veen, Susan Whitfield, Derek Kennet, Shailendra Bhandare, Cameron Petrie, Eivind Heldaas, and Seland Daniel Rogers.

Programme

5 pm, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies

Monday 11 October
Sarah Nelson (University of Denver, USA) “Korea and the Silk Road”

Monday 18 October
P. J. Cherian (Kerala Council for Historical Research, India) “The Indian subcontinent’s connections with Western Asia and the Mediterranean”

Monday 25 October
Rachel Mairs (Merton College) “Beyond Exotic: Communities and Cultural Interaction in the Hellenistic Far East”

Monday 1 November
Marijke van der Veen (University of Leicester) “The Roman and Islamic Spice Trade – exploring the botanical remains from Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt”

Monday 8 November
Susan Whitfield (British Library) “Imperial Archaeologists of the Silk Road: The View a Hundred Years On”

Monday 15 November
Derek Kennet (University of Durham) “Eastern Arabia in the western Indian Ocean - 4th century BC to 7th century AD: an archaeological overview”

Friday 19 November (Special extra session)
Shailendra Bhandare (Heberden Coin Room, Ashmolean Museum) “Indo-Greek coinage: introduction and insights”

Monday 22 November
Cameron Petrie (University of Cambridge) “At the edges of empire: western South Asia from the mid-1st millennium BC to the mid-1st millennium AD”

Friday 26 November (Special extra session)
Eivind Heldaas Seland (University of Bergen, Norway) “Ships of the desert and ships of the sea: Palmyra and the Indian Ocean”

Monday 29 November
Daniel Rogers (Smithsonian Institution, USA) “Trading in Power: Silk Roads and the Emergence of Empires in Inner Asia”