The Vancouver society of the AIA is excited to begin our new season of lectures with Dr. Elizabeth S. Greene!
The long-term and multifaceted relationship between the sea, the coast, and the peoples connected by the Mediterranean defines the maritime traditions of southeast Sicily. Its shores are marked by ancient shipwrecks, long seen as emblematic of enduring economic connections across the Greco-Roman world. In antiquity and well beyond, these same shores provide rich material evidence for the linked mobilities and immobilities of a diverse array of traders, fishermen, displaced peoples, and others. Selected case studies of the vessels that traverse these shared waters offer snapshots of seemingly persistent mobilities, while also highlighting the social and physical barriers imposed by the sea.
This paper considers three examples: (1) the 6th century CE “church wreck” at Marzamemi, Sicily and its massive cargo of more than 100 tons of architectural marble; (2) Nessuno, a historic boat used for the mattanza, the traditional trapping and slaughter of Atlantic bluefin tuna during their seasonal cross-Mediterranean migration; and (3) a contemporary fishing boat impounded in 2018 after being repurposed to transit displaced peoples from north Africa to Sicily on one short stage of a much longer journey. The contrast between these multiple vessels—viewed interchangeably as valorized ancient heritage, historical memory, and politicized debris—compels renewed consideration of the restrictions, disconnections, and unfinished stories that define the Mediterranean, and the entangled realities of past and present connectivity.
Dr. Liz Greene of Brock University is the Classical Association of Canada 2023-2024 National Lecturer and the current President of the Archaeological Institute of America. She is a renowned maritime archaeologist and specialist in maritime cultural heritage.
This talk is sponsored by AMNE, the AIA, and CAC, and the UBC Centre for Migration Studies.
This talk will take place at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 12th on UBC campus Buchanan Building A, Room 103. Here is a map with the location: https://goo.gl/maps/J23MJsjUU4u9EfbF6
Please note the lecture is in A103 this year, which one floor below where the lectures were last year (in A202).
