Talk: "The Lure of the Relic: Collecting the Holy Land" by Morag Kersel

• Event Date: Thursday, September 17, 2015
• Time: 5:30 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Talk

Part of the Archaeological Institute of America Lecture Series

The relationship between people and things is a crucial avenue of investigation in understanding past cultures. While the social aspects of material culture have come under closer scrutiny over the past few decades, what remains largely unexplored are the reasons why people collect archaeological artifacts. An examination of the social contexts and the consequences of consuming material culture is integral to a fuller understanding of archaeology in the eastern Mediterranean. The interplay of these spheres provides an intriguing lens for the examination of the lure of relics from the Bronze and Iron Ages. To be as pervasive as it is, consumption is likely to serve multiple motives and involve a variety of stakeholders ultimately resulting in the destruction of the archaeological record. Many of the motivating factors behind the collecting of eastern Mediterranean materials echo the rationales of early archaeological practice in the region - a desire to establish a connection to the land and the past through material manifestations; and a desire to save the past. Artifacts from this part of the world have long held a fascination for pilgrims, tourists and locals, which can often be tied to a substantiation of faith based on the material past. At the same time the archaeological artifact, once removed from its context, acquires a new facet to its object biography, that of looted artifact. Employing case studies from Greece and Israel, this chapter examines the collecting of archaeological materials, the deleterious effects on the archaeological landscape and the object biographies of those artifacts enmeshed in the trade in antiquities.

This event is organized by the Central Illinois Society of the Archaeological Institute of America and hosted by the Spurlock Museum.

Visit http://www.archaeological.org/societies/centralillinoisurbana (external link) for more information.