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Pirates, shipwrecks and ancient Egypt

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The WA Maritime Museum is hosting a diverse array of lectures and events as part of with this year’s National Archaeology Week.

From May 19 to 27, a number of WA Museum archaeologists will give a series of public lectures about their work both here and overseas. Heather Tunmore launched the lecture series on Saturday May 19 with a talk titled Digging in Ancient Egyptian Cemeteries in Middle Egypt. The discussion included details of the origins of the Museum’s collection originated, and information on the landscape of her most recent work in Abydos, its temples, settlements and cemeteries.

Ms Tunmore is an Honorary Associate of the WA Museum and has worked on the project with Universities such as Oxford and Michigan. On May 21 Wendy van Duivenvoorde spoke about the new tree ring research into the Batavia’s timbers which revealed the forest in Poland the original trees came from and their age when they were cut down.

It has also been discovered that the tree ring data from the Batavia’s timbers are a match to that of the timber boards used by 17th century Flemish painters such as Rembrandt. On the same day, Jeremy Green shares his work on Mediterranean shipwrecks. For the past five years Mr Green has been involved in the study of classical Greek shipwrecks dating from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century AD. On Tuesday May 22, Dr. Michael McCarthy, the WA Museum’s Curator of Maritime Archaeology, will hold the first of his lectures on Dampier and de Freycinet. Dr McCarthy will speak about the life and times of pirate and hydrographer, William Dampier, and the lovers Rose and Louis de Freycinet and their connection to Western Australia. Picture caption: The WA Museum’s Wendy van Duivenvoorde will speak about the new tree ring dating research on the Batavia’s timbers.

His second lecture will detail one of the world’s first submarines which was recently inspected in the Pearl Islands Panama. The lectures provide an opportunity for our state’s most experienced archaeologists to provide insight and public awareness of Australian archaeology and the importance of conserving our State and national heritage.

For further information on National Archaeology Week speakers and events, contact Western Australian Museum Assistant Curator of Anthropology Fiona Dyason on 9212 3721 or email Fiona.dyason@museum.wa.gov.au or visit the National Archaeology Week website: www.archaeologyweek.com.au

Media contact: Caroline Lacy on 08 9212 6870 or 0417 970239.

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