New Course "Handling the Past: Analysis of Archaeological Finds"

I am excited to announce that we have enough students for the course which Sally Stewart and I have developed for the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (UofT SCS) "Handling the Past: Analysis of Archaeological Finds".

We are team teaching an artifact analysis course on the St George Campus in the Anthropology Lab of the University of Toronto.  During the course we will introduce students to the methodology of archaeology as practiced in Ontario and the assemblages one encounters.  Sally as the prehistorian of the two of us, will be the point person for the prehistory of Ontario and Toronto, and I (Meg) will handle the historic or post contact periods and materials.

The primary source for the prehistoric period materials to be handled during the course will be the Surma site, a rescue excavation carried out by Prof J.N. Emerson with field director Wm. C. Noble in 1965 for  the Anthropology Department of the University of Toronto in the soon-to-be-parking-lot of the Queen's Hotel owned by Mr and Mrs Robert Surma in Fort Erie, Ontario.  The prehistoric remains date to two main phases: the Archaic Period 2,000-1,000 BCE, and the Woodland Period 700-1350 BCE.  There is also an historic component of the site dating to 1812 CE.  For more information on the site, see the article in Ontario Archaeology Vol 9(1966) by Emerson and Noble:  http://www.ontarioarchaeology.on.ca/publications/pdf/oa9-5-emerson.pdf

Most of the historic materials which we will be handling during the course will derive from the two sites which have been excavated by the Anthropology summer field schools: the 315 Bloor Street West site excavated in 2010 and the Lime Ridge Memorial Site in 2011-2013.  The first took advantage of the renovations being carried out in preparation for making 315 Bloor Street West the Munk School of Global Affairs. Excavations were carried out around the front and sides of the existing building.  The second site lies on the East bank of Taddle Creek south of Hart House Circle around the Lime Ridge Monument, erected to honour UofT students who fell during that battle in 1866, sometimes known as the Battle of Ridgeway, the largest of the Fenian Raids.

We originally developed the course to dovetail with another course, an archaeology field school to be held at the Koffler Scientific Reserve at Joker's Hill, a property north of Toronto which was given to the University of Toronto by the Koffler family.  Unfortunately we did not get enough students for that course which was to be held in July 2013.  We were going to use it as a companion course to analyse the artifacts and materials found on at Joker's Hill, but through our sponsorship by the University of Toronto Archaeology Centre and the On-campus field school of the Anthropology Department, we have a wealth of material to draw upon and keep our students happy and busy.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof Michael Chazan, director of the University of Toronto Archaeology Centre for his support both logistical and intellectual, and the directors of the Anthropology Field School, Prof Ted Banning and Dr Sarah T Stewart for access to the materials from the 315 Bloor Street West Site and the Lime Ridge Monument Site.

Alison Terpenning of the UofT SCS has written a blog about the course which you can read at:
http://learn.utoronto.ca/life-at-scs/archaeology-course-offers-insight-into-ontario-history

The course starts on Tuesday September 17th, 2013 and classes will be held in the Anthropology Building  at 19 Russell Street on the St George Campus of the University of Toronto.  If you are interested there are still spots available so check the course out at:
 http://2learn.utoronto.ca/uoft/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&cms=true&courseId=24223528

The New Show "Mesopotamia Inventing Our World" at the Royal Ontario Museum

            I just had a wonderful experience going to the special exhibit Mesopotamian: Inventing our World Exraordinary Treasures of Sumer, Assyria & Babylon at the Royal Ontario Museum (June 22 2013 to January 5, 2014).  It is truly a remarkable experience to have the opportunity to see some of these wonderful works in Toronto.  The show spans the history of Mesopotamia from the 4^th millennium down to the capture of Babylon by the Persians, and explores the major trends during this long span including the rise of writing, development of complex societies, the nature and iconography of Meopotamian Kingship and Empire, and Mesopotamian Gods and Religion.

            The first section deals with writing and displays some very small objects.  These clay tablets and stone cylinder seals richly reward examination as they have been carefully chosen to show the development of writing from pictographs to cuneiform, and then provide examples of every type of document there is from the sublime (Epic of Gilgamesh) to the mundane (talleys of beer!).  Related to the documents are a wonderful collection of cylinder seals which have been chosen well to complement the themes of the show, allowing the visitor to understand that all the visual arts were closely related.

            The Ur room, displaying finds from the Royal Cemetery of Ur excavated by Sir C. Leonard Woolley and his wife Katherine from 1922 to 1934 for the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum (now the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology), dazzles with beautiful jewellery weapons and other objects which were interred with the dead for the afterlife.  My personal favourite object is the oval golden drinking cup from the Queen’s grave PG800.  The  long narrow spout must have been used as a straw to drink beer.  The exhibit showcases numerous scenes on cylinder seals showing divinities drinking from long straws.  The chased decoration on the delicate vessel is comprised of chevrons and double zigzags.

            One of my favourite antiquities has made the journey to Toronto from Detroit to be part of the show.  The exquisite statue of Gudea King of Lagash was acquired by the Detroit Institute of Art the year I first went to the University of Michigan in nearby Ann Arbor as a graduate student.  This amazing statue made of paragonite captured the media’s heart and I made several trip to the DIA to see it with students, friends and family.  The quiet calm of the piece also has a wonderful sense of power despite its small size.  The artist used the natural veining in the stone to suggest the woolly hat and fold of the mantle.  It has its own space and the curators appropriately chose it as the area to discuss the nature of leadership.

            Close by, the statue of Ashurnasirpal II 883-859 BCE stands proudly at the entrance way to the later materials belonging to the Assyrian Empire.  The statue is identified by an inscription on his chest naming him and giving all his titles and honours. The figure has a calm and powerful dignity even after so much time.

            The show stoppers are the large scale fragments of the palace reliefs from the palaces of the neo Assyrian kings.  There are many interactive components and animations which explain and literally bring the reliefs to life.

            The show ends with a discussion of Babylon through time.  There is a lovely model of the entranceway to the Ishtar Gate and the ROM’s lion panel of glazed bricks from the Southern Citadel dominates the room.  The discussions of the hanging gardens and the tower of Babel are interesting reading.

            A show of this chronological and geographical scope could easily have been confusing and jumpy and I have often found that Mesopotamian materials are difficult to grasp in museum galleries which do not have enough materials to convey the full sweep of history.  But here the curators of the show have avoided the usual pitfalls and centred the material on broad themes central to the understanding of Mesopotamian material culture and history.  While loosely chronological, they have not been slaves to that organizing principal and allow you to build your knowledge gradually.  Having now seen the show twice, I can say that it is a show that is comprehensible  in a single visit (albeit a long visit as there is tons of material to read, videos to walk and interactive graphics to explore), but it really rewards a second visit when you can look at the materials with all the themes in mind.

            Throughout the show there are small and extended references to the history of the archaeology of the area and the present state of the area’s sites and museums.  These tie the complementary exhibition Catastrophe! Ten years Later: The Looting and Destruction of Iraq’s Past developed, written and produced by the Oriental Istitute of the University of Chicago, into the dialogue and when those images are contrasted with the brilliance of the objects on display in the Mesopotamian show, the losses are  more keenly felt.

            All in all, I think it is a marvellous show and intend to take advantage of it being here in Toronto by visiting it many more times!

           

Back from the Dead!

It has been ages since I have logged into my blog and reported anything but that is going to change. It is not that I have not been involved in archaeological pursuits.  I have been on the executive of the Archaeological Institute of America Toronto Society for many years and seem to get more and more involved!  Last year I helped get National Archaeology Day going in partnership with the Royal Ontario Museum. I was back in Israel last summer for a short season (final?) of excavation of the PHAB at Tel Kedesh (Persian and Hellenistic Administrative Building).  And I am working with Sally Stewart to get a field archaeology course going for the Archaeology Centre and the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto located at the University of Toronto's property the Koffler Centre Scientific Reserve at Joker's Hill.  I will be writing more on all these topics in the following weeks.