The future of ancient world studies: responding to challenges and adapting to change

Associate Professor Andrew Jamieson

Ancient world studies – classics, archaeology and ancient history – must be inclusive and outward looking, and can no longer keep to its traditional academic sphere. Indeed, the discipline must adapt to change and respond to today’s real-world challenges if it is to survive and remain relevant. Australia and the international community currently face a range of pressing issues that will define and shape our society well into the next century. The study of classics, archaeology and ancient history can ensure future generations understand the legacy of the world’s great thinkers, and how their ideas can inform the world we build today. Education in ancient world studies can inspire students and the community to tackle complex issues with confidence. It is up to those of us who champion the discipline to ensure that these benefits are communicated.

In this lecture, Andrew Jamieson will discuss his teaching practice, fieldwork and research activities within the discipline of ancient world studies, and his ever-increasing engagement with the wider community. This presentation draws on Andrew’s experiences in Near Eastern archaeology over the past 30 years and will consider what ancient world studies may look like in the future. He will argue that the discipline now matters more than ever in Melbourne, in Australia, and in the world in the 21st century.

About Associate Professor Andrew Jamieson

Andrew Jamieson, Associate Professor in Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Melbourne, has extensive Middle Eastern archaeological field experience. In the mid-1990s he was deeply involved in the UNESCO post-war salvage operations in Beirut. For ten seasons he worked on the Australian salvage excavations at Tell Ahmar in northern Syria. In 2019 Andrew is looking forward to leading the intensive field school and excavation season at Rabati (south west Georgia) as director of the Georgian-Australian Investigations in Archaeology (GAIA) project. Since 2005 he has curated over 20 exhibitions in the Classics and Archaeology Gallery at the Ian Potter Museum of Art. In 2014 he was invited to represent Australia on the Shirin international committee for Safeguarding and Protection of Syrian Heritage. In 2015 Andrew won the Barbara Falk Award for Teaching Excellence. He became the general editor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies in 2017. His research interests include ancient Near Eastern archaeology and archaeological collection management practices.