Repatriation: The convergence of cultural heritage and technology

This thesis aims to explore how the use of developing technologies in the field of cultural heritage preservation can be applied to the debates of the repatriation of antiquities. By acknowledging the complex and often multifaceted factors that underscore arguments for or against the repatriation of antiquities housed in Europe’s most prestigious museums, we can uncover how technology can be applied to help resolve the underlying concerns. Exact modeling, laser scanning, and virtual reality projects are being developed in the museum and cultural heritage fields to be used for specific projects. These growing technologies can be adapted and applied to repatriation cases to help address concerns about the condition of artifacts, public education and access, and the role of national identities in these discussions

Defining Museum Intervention: An Analysis of James Putnam\u27s Time Machine

In his 2001 publication Art and Artifact: The Museum as Medium, independent curator James Putnam coins the term ‘museum intervention’ to describe a type of artwork created by some artists as a means to critique organizing principles of the museum. Putnam’s book analyzes examples of museum interventions, including his own 1994 exhibition, Time Machine: Ancient Egypt and Contemporary Art, but fails to offer a definition for the term. This thesis analyzes the trajectory of exhibition practices leading to the publication of the new term through an examination of historical changes in museum display. The paper then analyzes examples of museum intervention included in Putnam’s book in order to develop a definition for the term. The paper examines Time Machine in relation to the new definition and, contrary to Putnam’s assertions, concludes that the exhibition is not a museum intervention

What to Conserve? Heritage, Memory, and Management of Meanings

This Paper explores and criticizes different theories and perceptions concerning ‘cultural heritage’ to explore the definitions of ‘heritage’ throughout history, and questions how the conflicts in considering and identifying ‘heritage’ might have affected the approaches to its conservation. In such process, the paper investigates the relation between ‘place’ and ‘memory’ and how place has been always the medium through which history was written, resulting in two inseparable faces, tangible and the intangible, forming the two-faced coin of ‘cultural heritage’. This research assists understanding the complex construct of heritage places; stressing the growing awareness of intangible heritage’s importance, which represents a remarkable turn in heritage conservation realm in the twenty-first century, and emphasizing the notion of heritage as a coefficient of society, which is understood through experience, learnt through performance, and represented through ‘activities’ formed in the present maintaining and developing the identity of place and preserving its spirit, rather than a past oriented vision that tends to ‘pickle’ images from the past in a picturesque manner that is only tourism-oriented

Recreating rural Britain and maintaining Britishness in the Mediterranean: the Troodos Hill Station in early British Cyprus

Britain occupied Cyprus in 1878 for strategic reasons, but while these reasons were being questioned, it was decided to establish a hill station. This was the one thing that the British could agree on, namely that they wanted a space safe enough to protect them from the harsh summer, unhealthy towns and marshy plains of Cyprus. The Troodos Hill Station became the summer capital of the Cyprus Colonial Government within a year of the occupation of Cyprus. At Troodos, the officers of the civil and military establishments, expatriates and travellers, spent the sultry summer months. This paper will explore the original and changing role of the hill station and situate it within the colonial structure and imaginary. I will contend that it was vital in creating and maintaining British identity, namely the rural life of country Britain. It was only at the isolated confines of Troodos that the British could recreate the social and cultural setting of home, because it was only there where they could disengage from the social, political and cultural conditions of the cities. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the Cyprus Government had a protective attitude to its position there against the demands of the military authorities for land rights.Nicosia, Cypru

Romanticism and Religion: The Superb Lily

“The Superb Lily,” was donated by Geoff Jackson, class of 1991 and beloved benefactor of Gettysburg College, to Special Collections. This first edition piece was published in the twenty first page of the book, Temple of Flora. This text is considered the greatest and most famous florilegia of the twentieth century due to its accuracy of descriptions and vast size. It contained a total of thirty five floral prints. The publisher, Robert Thornton, produced numerous copies of this book in the same year, however, the exact number of copies is unknown. (excerpt

Menorah Review (No. 34, Spring, 1995)

A Between Between Martin Buber\u27s I and Thou? -- The Philistines: Not So Philistine? -- On Jews and Gentiles in Antiquity -- A Mosaic of War Philosophies -- Redemption-Pesach, 1985 -- Book Briefing

Rethinking Space, Light, And Pedagogy

Classic

Field Museum of Natural History bulletin.

v. 61:1-3 (1990

Unraveling the Mummy: The Effects of Natural Mummification on the Recovery and Degradation of DNA

As demonstrated through casework and research studies (Hawass et al., 2010; Gielda & Rigg, 2017), anthropogenic mummification and modern-day embalming can expedite degradation of DNA. Current research in the field of forensic mummification is sparse and little research has been done on quantifying naturally mummified DNA (Leccia et al., 2018; Shved et al., 2014). This research focuses on observing and quantifying the differences in the recovery and degradation of DNA from specimens that have been naturally mummified. This research on natural, forensic mummies is a blend of experimental archeology and postmortem DNA analysis. In this study, two control specimens and seven experimental specimens were used. Of the nine specimens, three of the specimens partially mummified, three specimens showed signs of superficial mummification and three specimens naturally decomposed. The specimens exposed to salt of neutral pH and cold temperatures, well known preservations of tissue and DNA, had greater DNA yield and lower rates of postmortem DNA degradation. The specimens exposed to UV radiation, alkaline pHs, and high temperatures showed lower DNA yield and higher levels of DNA degradation. The results of this research could make contributions to the fields of forensic identification and forensic anthropology, specifically, cold cases, victim identification in mass disasters and wars, and identification of genetic abnormalities within large gravesites through DNA analysis

A virtual oasis: Trafalgar Square’s Arch of Palmyra

This paper considers the destruction of the Arch of Palmyra in Syria in 2015 and its temporary reconstruction a year later in London’s Trafalgar Square. Attention is paid to an adjacent pedestal known as the Fourth Plinth, with a particular focus on a proposed monument by the Iraqi-American conceptual artist, Michael Rakowitz (born 1973). His works provide the basis for a discussion of public memorials and art’s commemorative function; the preservation, destruction and politicisation of heritage; the role of technology for the purposes of documentation and reconstruction; notions of authenticity; ethics and legal issues surrounding the global trade in cultural artefacts