Former McMicken Professor Explores 'Archaeology in a Modern World'

A former McMicken classics professor will offer an informal, anecdotal look at the process of preserving cultural heritage in a Friday, Oct. 12 lecture.

C. Brian Rose, who taught at UC from 1987-2005, will address "Archaeology in a Modern World: Ethics and Antiquities" at 5 p.m. in Room 114 of the College of Law. The lecture is sponsored by Archaeological Institute of America.

Rose was named Cedric Boulter Professor of Classical Archaeology in 2004. He is now James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania, curator-in-charge of the Mediterranean Section at the Penn Museum, and chair of the graduate group in Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World.

In January 2007, Rose became president of the Archaeological Institute of America. 

"Our professional conference is under the AIA's auspices, and it publishes the premier journal for our field, the American Journal of Archaeology," says Kathleen Lynch, UC assistant professor of classics.

"Brian's job as AIA president has many dimensions including education, both general and professional, the publication of research, and the preservation of archaeological heritage."

Rose, Lynch says, "has focused on the heritage preservation mission of the AIA. He has developed lectures which he gives to US troops deploying to Iraq so that they can be better acquainted and respectful towards the archaeological remains they will encounter.  These have been a great success. He also successfully lobbied the State Department to restrict importation of coins – which by nature are often the product of looting of archaeological sites. This enormous victory for archaeology was covered by the New York Times."

Rose also works with museums to try to find a common ground regarding the repatriation of artifacts acquired illegally, Lynch says, and talks about it in a recent editorial in Archaeology magazine.

"The lecture is significant because Brian is the president of the most important professional organization for Mediterranean archaeologists in America, and his commitment to preserving heritage has taken him from State Department panel to Army bases to the back rooms of museums," she says. "It should be an exciting talk."