Call for Papers [NOW CLOSED]

Gardens: History, Reception, and Scientific Analyses

23-24 February 2019, Nagoya University, Japan.

The heat wave in Summer 2018 has revealed designs of historic gardens in the UK that have been lost and only known to us through prints and publications. Unlike these discoveries, finding historic gardens usually involves time, patience, as well as archaeological practice.

It is often difficult for modern visitors to visualize and understand historic gardens that have not survived. But researchers employ various approaches, techniques, and resources to understand gardens of the past. For example, Wilhelmina F. Jashemski commenced the excavation of Pompeian gardens in the 1960s and showed how people planted trees and embellished the garden area. She collaborated with natural scientists in order to determine what types of plants had been planted in Pompeian gardens. Around the same time in Japan, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties excavated an ancient palatial block in Nara and discovered a garden which was later reconstructed based on finds such as branches, leaves, seeds, and pollen.

The study of historic gardens requires an interdisciplinary approach: historians studying gardens via texts and inscriptions, archaeologists analysing gardens by excavation, archaeobotanists examining finds, and natural scientists scrutinizing samples provided by archaeologists. In addition, we should not disregard the influences and legacy of historic gardens. Without the collaboration of all these disciplines, our perceptions of such gardens will remain incomplete.

This conference aims to deepen our understanding of garden history by bringing together specialists working in various fields. Confirmed papers will cover areas including: gardens in Classical Antiquity (Y. Kawamoto, Marzano, Purcell, and Suto) and in the Renaissance (Higaya, Kuwakino), garden excavation in Pompeii and the Villa Arianna (Gleason), excavated (and reconstructed) gardens in Nara and Kyoto (Ono and S. Kawamoto), radiocarbon dating analysis of archaeological finds (Oda), and the latest survey of a garden in the villa in Somma Vesuviana (Italy) employing cosmic-ray Muons (Morishima).

Keynote speaker:

Nicholas Purcell (Roman History; Oxford)

Confirmed Speakers (alphabetically):

Kathryn L. Gleason (Roman Archaeology and Landscape; Cornell)

Junichiro Higaya (Renaissance Architectural History; Tohoku)

Shigeo Kawamoto (Japanese Architectural History; Kindai)

Yukiko Kawamoto (Roman History; Nagoya)

Koji Kuwakino (Renaissance Art and Architecture; Osaka)

Annalisa Marzano (Roman History; Reading)

Kunihiro Morishima (Astro Physics; Nagoya)

Hirotaka Oda (Radiocarbon Dating; Nagoya)

Kenkichi Ono (Japanese Garden History and Archaeology; Wakayama)

Yoshiyuki Suto (Greek Archaeology; Nagoya)

We invite submission of abstracts related to topics of discussion in this conference of no more than 300 words (excluding bibliography) for a 30-minutes paper. Please submit your abstract and a brief CV to Yukiko Kawamoto by email at: yukiko.kawamoto@classics.ox.ac.uk by 10^th December 2018 [NOW CLOSED]. Selections will be made and announced by the 31^st December 2018.

Organisers: Yukiko Kawamoto, Mika Hirano, and Yoshiyuki Suto.