“Meanings in Early Celtic Art”
 

A Lecture by Professor Peter S. Wells, Max Arthur Cohn and Sarah Waldstein Cohn Memorial Lecture*

Monday, October 4, 2010 at 8 p.m.
Nunemaker Auditorium
Monroe Hall, 3rd floor
Free admission and free parking on campus

The style known as Early Celtic Art appeared around 500 BC in central and western Europe, replacing the geometrical ornament of the Early Iron Age. This new style, with its dynamic patterns of floral forms and abundant use of human and animal faces and figures, became the basis not only for the Celtic art of the Late Iron Age, but also for the art styles of the Late Roman and early medieval periods, Anglo-Saxon and Viking ornament, and later decorative fashions. Recent archaeological discoveries enable us to examine the first uses of this new style and to address the question of its meaning to the people who created and used it. Dr. Wells is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota.

* Jane C. Waldbaum established the Max Arthur Cohn and Sarah Waldstein Cohn Memorial Lecture in honor of her parents and to commemorate their lifelong fascination with archaeology. Max and Sarah Cohn were loyal members of the New York Society of the AIA and readers of Archaeology magazine. They traveled often to Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Mesoamerica to satisfy their insatiable curiosity about the ancient past. Max Arthur Cohn was an artist and always brought home many drawings and watercolors of the sites they visited, many of which he worked up into larger oil paintings. It was through Max and Sarah’s interest that their daughter Jane developed her own archaeology “bug.” She pursued this passion through graduate school in Classical Archaeology and through a career of university teaching and service to the AIA. She has been a member of the Governing Board and served on many committees. She is currently First Vice President of the AIA.