Public Lecture Event

Uncovering Ancient Egyptian Illumination

Free lecture, open to the public.

Summary: Very little is known about what the ancient Egyptians used for artificial lighting. The logistics of how these light sources were constructed, when they were used, and why they appear in certain ritual performances are even less understood. This presentation (re)examines archaeological, textual and iconographic material in order to provide new insight into these unanswered questions. 

New directions in New Zealand dendroarchaeology

New Zealand has a comparatively short history of human settlement (~800 years) but even so dating Māori archaeological sites and artefacts can be problematic. Radiocarbon dating is commonly used to establish calendar dates but the effect of variations in atmospheric radiocarbon on calibrated age ranges (~100 to 150 years for individual carbon dates) reduces precision. This talk introduces three linked projects that are investigating the potential to improve dating of Māori sites and wooden artefacts using dendrochronology and high resolution wiggle-match carbon dating.

Practical Apotheosis: Becoming God and (De)constructing the Afterlife in Egypt's New Kingdom

The royal tombs of Egypt's New Kingdom provide incredibly detailed accounts of the forms, inhabitants, and functions of the divine world, as the locus for the king's rebirth after death. The tombs' architecture and decoration functioned in concert as magical tools for the transformation of the king's spirit into a solar deity, equipped for eternity. This lecture will explore some of the cosmological models that New Kingdom rulers employed, in order to gain access to this divine state. 
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