The Council of the Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation are launching the latest volume in NEAF’s Adapa series, followed by a public lecture.

Public Lecture | Professor Alison Betts

“Hunters of Ustyurt”

Abstract

The remote Ustyurt Plateau, flanked by high limestone cliffs between the Aral and the Caspian Seas, was the winter camping ground of the nomadic tribes of the Eurasian steppes, but also the winter pastures of vast herds of antelope, gazelle and wild ass. The plateau, with its extremes of weather, is one of the most challenging places for fieldwork in Central Asia. Game Drives of the Aralo-Caspian Region  documents the Soviet era fieldwork of Professor Vadim N. Yagodin under conditions of extreme hardship. It is an important work on the curious phenomenon of game drives. Alison Betts was fortunate to have Yagodin as a research collaborator for more than 20 years. This talk describes this somewhat unlikely friendship and the remarkable work of Yagodin on the nomads of Eurasia.

Alison Betts is Professor of Silk Road Studies at the University of Sydney. This year she will celebrate her 25th anniversary of collaborative fieldwork in Uzbekistan, working at the Royal City of Akchakhan-kala. She also has a long-term field programme in western China on the Bronze Age with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and additional work in Kashmir on early agricultural transfers. She is an international specialist in the study of Game Drives and has a second volume in press on Game Drives of the Old and New Worlds.

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Hosted by the Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation (NEAF)

Enquiries and RSVP:
This event is free, however, to help us with catering, could you please email or phone NEAF a notification of your intention to attend by 29 April 2019.
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F | +61 9114 0921
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