Hot Wars, Cold Wars and the development of Classical Archaeology

Fri. Feb. 28 04:00 PM - Fri. Feb. 28 05:00 PM

February 28, 2025 | 2L13 | 4:00-5:00pm
Dr. Mark Lawall, University of Manitoba

Archaeology might seem like a discipline concerned with the past and its interpretation, but this talk examines how archaeology has been caught up in many of the most brutal conflicts of the 20th century and demonstrates how war has shaped the field. From Carl Blegen and Hetty Goldman eagerly excavating at Smyrna, but then leaving when the city fell to the newly founded Turkey, to two Americans, Emily and Virgina Grace, one of whom married an accused Soviet spy, while the other built her career on research into amphoras, archaeologists have taken advantage of political instability, or had their research disrupted and destroyed by wars across the last century.