Archaeology, Museums & Heritage – Seminar Series | Dr Peter Hobbins (Sydney)
Dr Peter Hobbins (USYD)
The concrete remains of empire: emplacing history in coastal fortifications
Abstract
Abandoned coastal fortifications are a common archaeological feature that unite almost all former British colonies. Too vast to demolish and too specialised to repurpose, they remain a concrete manifestation of Britain’s massive investment in imperial defence. Emplaced in the littoral landscape, these highly localised structures were erected to deploy standardised military technologies and tactics. Yet for an empire exquisitely reliant on maritime trade and naval power, coastal fortifications embody a fundamental contradiction at the heart of imperial geopolitics. Focusing on examples along the NSW coast, this presentation asks how we might interpret the archaeology of coastal fortifications in a global historical context.
Finally, the Centre for Academic Research & Training in Anthropogeny will be holding the “Comparative Anthropogeny: Exploring The Human-Ape Paradox” Symposium online on Saturday the 24th of October. For further details follow the link and see the attached image.
When
Frida 23 October 2020
Where
Online on Zoom
Registration
For more information, to sign up to our mailing list or to offer a seminar please contact:
Agata Calabrese agata.calabrese@sydney.edu.au Lorraine Leung lorraine.leung@sydney.edu.au Kieran McGee kmcg2831@uni.sydney.edu.au Simon Wyatt-Spratt simon.wyatt-spratt@sydney.edu.au Sareeta Zaid sareeta.zaid@sydney.edu.au
The Department of Archaeology is part of the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI).