The first conference to focus on provincial archaeology in the Assyrian Empire was held in Cambridge last month, led by Dr John MacGinnis – who will be speaking at the Trust on the 15th February 2013 at 5pm.
A full report of the conference and the key theme of the opening up of the Kurdish Autonomous Region to archaeological enquiry can be read here:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/a-new-chapter-opens-in-the-study-of-the-assyrian-empire/
Posted in archaeology, Assyrians, conference, lecture, Uncategorized
We are very proud and excited to be hosting a beautiful travelling photographic exhibition, on loan from the British Library, Islam, Trade and Politics across the Indian Ocean.
The exhibition runs from 7th-21st November 2012 and is open from 9-1, Monday-Thursday; 9.30-1.30 Friday. Afternoon visits by appointment only (please contact the Librarian on 01223 702095, or library@indiran.org to arrange).
Website for the project: http://www.ottomansoutheastasia.org/
Islam, Trade and Politics Across the Indian Ocean is a research project funded by the British Academy over the period 2009–2012 and administered by the Association of South-East Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK) and the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA). Islam, Trade and Politics Across the Indian Ocean was initiated because research by many scholars has stressed how Southeast Asia has long been connected by trade, religion and political links to the wider world across the Indian Ocean, and especially to the Middle East through the faith of Islam. However, little attention has been paid to the ties between Muslim Southeast Asia – encompassing the modern nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the southern parts of Thailand and the Philippines – and the greatest Middle Eastern power, the Ottoman empire.
Posted in archaeology, Asia, Exhibition, India, Islamic art, Ottomans
A new issue of the Ancient India and Iran Trust’s newsletter, INDIRAN, is now available.
This issue includes interviews with one of the Trust’s newly appointed Trustees and long time supporter of the AIIT, Professor Sam Lieu and our previous Pakistan Visiting Fellowship recipient, Dr Zakirullah Jan. There is an excellent piece on Whitley Stokes, by Dr Elizabeth Boyle and Dr Paul Russell, who gave our final Friday lecture before Christmas and a review of two fascinating new books on FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat, by the Chairs of our Friends of the Trust, Bill Martin and Sandra Mason. Also in this issue, we remember the late Dr Gregory Possehl, former Trustee, distinguished archaeologist and expert on the rise of the Indus civilisation.
Download a digital version of INDIRAN SPRING 2012 from:
Posted in archaeology, Asia, Central Asia, Exhibition, India, Iran, Islamic art, Silk Road, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang
A new issue of the Ancient India and Iran Trust’s newsletter, INDIRAN, is now available.
This issue includes an account by Bi Bo, visiting scholar from Renmin University of China, Beijing, of her work on Sogdian manuscripts from Khotan, Xinjiang. Ian Proudfoot, Australian National University, describes exciting finds of unique Malay printed books. Deborah Sutton, University of Lancaster, examines the Hindu temple in terms of political and cultural encounter during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The newsletter also includes reports of a joint presentation by Annabel Gallop and Venetia Porter which accompanied their travelling exhibition ‘Lasting impressions: the world of Islamic seals’, Frantz Grenet’s Bailey memorial lecture ‘The rediscovery of the court culture of the Qarakhanids’, and events held in Cambridge to celebrate 1000 years of Firdawsi’s epic poem the Shahnama.
Download a digital version of INDIRAN from: http://www.indiran.org/Indiranapril2011.pdf
Posted in archaeology, Asia, Central Asia, Exhibition, India, Iran, Islamic art, Silk Road, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang
The Trust is hosting this coming Friday’s lecture (10th December), by Professor Frantz Grenet (Paris – excavator of Afrasiab) at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.
The event starts at 5pm. There will be a reception to follow.
The talk is entitled:
The rediscovery of the court culture of the Qarakhanids (11th-early 13th centuries): recent results of the French-Uzbek Archaeological Mission at Afrasiab (Samarkand)
The Qarakhanids, the first Muslim Turkish dynasty, who ruled Transoxiana or part of it from 999 to 1212 AD, have not, until now, enjoyed a great reputation as patrons of the arts. This picture is now changing dramatically, mainly because of the recent discovery by the French-Uzbek Archaeological Mission at Samarkand of a cycle of mural paintings in a royal pavilion dating from the end of that period.
