Liverpool Museum Lecture Series

Published: 21 years ago Author: Nick Herepath

Wednesday 19 February
Finding Our Past: Treasure and Portable Antiquities
Nick Herepath
Portable Antiquities Officer
In 1996 the medieval law of Treasure Trove was replaced by the Treasure Act. The Act removed the worst anomalies of the old outdated law and introduced new definitions of what could be defined as a ‘treasure’ find. But what about the finds not classified as ‘treasure’' In 1997 six areas of the England, including the North West, were chosen for a pilot study into the recording of these so-called ‘portable antiquities’. Portable Antiquities Officers were appointed to record finds and to undertake outreach work to encourage finders, mostly metal detector users, to report their finds. The Portable Antiquities Scheme has now expanded to cover the whole of England and Wales until 2006.
The lecturer is an archaeologist who has been the Portable Antiquities Officer for the North West for five years. He will discuss the background to the Treasure reform, what is meant by ‘treasure’ under the new Act, the development and potential of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and the results of his own work in the North West.
Wednesday 19 March
The Celts, Henry VIII and the New Europe
Gary Brown
Assistant Curator of Antiquities
The Celts were an ancient people who inhabited much of Europe, including Britain, around the time of the Romans. Celtic art spread widely, and many of its finest achievements were produced in Britain. Many centuries later, Henry VIII portrayed himself surrounded by Celtic art. The Celtic language survives in Gaelic, Old Irish and Welsh. This lecture investigates the meaning of ‘Celticness’ in ancient times and to Henry VIII, its relevance today in debates about national identity, and considers whether it was in fact a pan-European culture.
Wednesday 23 April
Bones of Contention
Lynne Heidi Stumpe
Curator of Oceanic Collections
The skull of an Australian Aborigine called Yagan was repatriated to Australia in 1997 and Liverpool Museum is currently processing a request for the return of several New Zealand Maori preserved, tattooed heads. This lecture will take a brief look at requests for the return of human remains over the last twelve years and discuss some of the difficult issues surrounding them.
Wednesday 21 May
The World of the Maya
Tony Eccles
Assistant Curator of Ethnology
The descendants of the pyramid-building Maya still live in Mesoamerica, and have a thriving folklore tradition. The Maya people have been in dispute with the Mexican government and acts of violence on both sides have taken place. This lecture will briefly discuss the history of the Maya, accompanied by images of the Mayan collections in Liverpool Museum, and how the Maya of today have arrived at their current political and economic situation.
Wednesday 18 June
The Plight of Southern Africa’s First Peoples
Zachary Kingdon
Curator of African Collections
The bushmen of southern Africa are the inheritors of a hunter/gatherer way of life that enabled them to live comfortably off the land without damaging the environment for thousands of years. Beautiful and complex rock art at hundreds of sites throughout southern Africa bears witness to their artistic skills and to the richness and complexity of their cultural life.
European colonisation and expansion into the Cape interior led to the extinction of most bushman groups and was characterised by extreme violence and brutality. The few communities that still maintain a hunter/gatherer way of life face a bleak future. Denied ownership rights to their ancestral lands and left with less and less game to hunt, they are forced into low-paid wage labour or to rot in ‘reservations’ with little to do but drink.
The lecturer has lived in South Africa, researching extinct southern bushmen, and leading many expeditions to record bushman rock paintings.

Wednesday 23 July
Tibet and China: historical relationships
Zara Fleming
Independent scholar specialising in Tibetan art and culture
For over a thousand years, Tibet developed a unique religion, philosophy and art. Tibetan people maintained their traditional nomadic lifestyle well into the twentieth century. However, in the 1950s, the country was gradually taken over by the Chinese and since 1964 its heartland has been forcibly incorporated into the People’s Republic of China as the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Today the Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, and many others, still live in exile.
This talk will explore the historical relationship between Tibet and China. It will chart some of the contacts between the two countries over the past thousand years, briefly highlighting relations between various Tibetan Dalai Lamas and Chinese Emperors.
The focus will be on the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on the life and political aspirations of the thirteenth Dalai Lama.

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