Art historian to discuss Bronze Age shipwrecks

Art historian Dr. George Bass will give an illustrated lecture on "Two Bronze Age Shipwrecks" on April 4 as the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar.

Dr. George Bass

The address, also part of the ART Talks series sponsored by the School of Art, will begin at 7 p.m. in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Theater.

Bass is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University and the Institute of National Archaeology. He will describe what excavation of two shipwrecks off the coast of Turkey has taught historians about trade and commerce during the Bronze Age.

While a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960, Bass directed the first complete excavation of an ancient shipwreck off the Turkish coast. During the 1960s, he developed many standard techniques of underwater survey and excavation. In 1973, he founded the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, which has been active on four continents.

Bass has continued to concentrate on Bronze Age, Byzantine, and Archaic and Classical Greek wrecks off the Turkish coast, and has returned to terrestrial archaeology in Greece, Italy and Turkey. During the summer of 2003, he assisted in mapping the Titanic from a Russian MIR submarine.

The art historian is the recipient of the 2002 National Medal of Science, the Archaeological Institute of America Gold Medal for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement, and the National Geographic Society La Gorce Medal and Centennial Award.

The author or editor of seven books and more than 100 articles, he has lectured around the world. He and his wife divide their time between homes in College Station, Texas, and Bodrum, Turkey.

In addition to giving a public address, Bass is scheduled to meet with students and speak in classes during his campus visit.