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UNL DEPARTMENT OF ART AND ART HISTORY HOSTS ROUGH CILICIA ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONFERENCE
Lincoln, Neb.—The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Art and Art History and Professor of Art History Michael Hoff will host the conference "Rough Cilicia: New Archaeological and Historical Approaches" Oct. 25-27 at UNL.
The district of Rough Cilicia, situated along a stretch of the south Turkish coast north of Cyprus, has been the focus of much recent activity by historians and archaeologists. Its cities and villages are being documented and mapped, harbors explored, and landscape scrutinized, more so in the last two decades than ever before.
Recent published reports indicate a vital and active economy. In addition, scholars seek answers to questions concerning cultural contact between the Mediterranean communities and colonies established along the Cilician coast and the hinterland Luvian populations.
The keynote speaker for the conference is James Russell. His keynote address, "From Sextant to GPS: Two Centuries of Archaeology in Rough Cilicia" will be presented on Thursday, Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden. His keynote address is free and open to the public.
"Prof. James Russell is one of the leading classical archaeologists in North America," Hoff said. "He is a pioneer in the archaeology of south-central Turkey, a region known in antiquity as Rough Cilicia."
A native of Scotland, Russell received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in classics at Edinburgh University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He began teaching at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in 1966, where he has been ever since, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1998.
Since 1970, Russell's archaeological interests have concentrated on the eastern part of the Roman Empire, most notably at the Roman/Byzantine site of Anemurium, a medium-sized city located in Rough Cilicia on the Mediterranean coast of modern Turkey, where he has served as Director of Canadian excavations sponsored by the University of British Columbia for more than 30 years.
The remaining conference sessions will be held at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery on Friday, Oct. 26 and at the Nebraska Union on Saturday, Oct. 27. Other speakers include Ismail Karamut, Director of Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Claudia Tempesta of the University of Rome, Rhys Townsend of Clark University, Nicholas Rauh of Purdue University, and John Lund of The National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.
For more information or to register for the conference, visit http://www.unl.edu/roughcilicia. Late registration will be available at the conference. A registration table will be set up at the Holiday Inn Lincoln-Downtown on Wednesday, Oct. 24, from 6-8 p.m. and on Thursday, Oct. 25, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration is also available on Thursday evening, Oct. 25 and on Friday, Oct. 26 at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, and at the Nebraska Union on Saturday, Oct. 27.
Contact Professor Michael Hoff for more information at (402) 472-5342 or e-mail mhoff1@unl.edu
