Friday, November 7, 2014

Swedish Archaeology in Greece in the Interwar Period; Rachel Dewan's Awesome Summer Adventure

In 1922 the Greek government gave Swedish archaeologists a permit to dig at ancient Asine in the Argolid. Because of the participation of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden who was a close friend of the Greek royal family the excavation was able to export the finds to Sweden for conservation and study until the 1930s. In 1997 the late Dr. Berit Wells, then Director of the Swedish Institute in Athens purchased a file with documents relating to the Archaeological Museum in Nafplio. When the file was examined it contained documents relating to the excavations of the Swedish archaeologists digging in the Argolid in the Interwar Years which had come from files of the Directorate of Archaeology in the then Ministry of Religious Affairs and National Education.

On Monday, November 10th at 18:30 Dr. Arto Penttinen (Director, Swedish Institute in Athens) and Dr. Aris Anagnostopoulous (Assistant Director, Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens) will give a lecture in Greek entitled, «1920-1940, δύο δεκαετίες σουηδικών ανασκαφών στην Αργολίδα: ζητήματα της μεταφοράς ευρημάτων στη Σουηδία και ένα «χαμένο» αρχείο του μεσοπολέμου».  They will explore what this archive reveals of the details of how the unusual export of the archaeological finds to Sweden was handled and how this special permission provoked both the local community and the wider Greek society. The lecture is part of the 2014/15 Lecture Program of the Syllogos Filon tou Istotikou Archeiou tis Archaiologikis Yperesias. The lecture will be held at the Historical Archive at Psaromylingou 22 on the cusp of the Kerameikos and Psyrri Districts. The Theseio train station is the closest Metro Station.

A Former CIG Intern in the News

Two years ago this fall Rachel Dewan was our undergraduate intern from Wilfrid Laurier University. She has spent the last three summers digging on archaeological projects in eastern Crete. One weekend she and some of her fellow diggers had an exciting day hiking in the arid mountains above the village of Kavousi (Ierapetra). She shared this experience with a recent op-ed contribution in the online edition of the Globe and Mail newspaper. It is entitled “Beware the hiking trails in Greece (unless you’re a goat)”. You can read about this high adventure at:: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/beware-the-hiking-trails-in-greece-unless-youre-a-goat/article21424723/ . Go girl!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

No comments:

Post a Comment