Free symposium presents the latest ROM curatorial research on Friday, February 9, 2007
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) invites everyone to a stimulating one-day event with its curators and researchers as they highlight their recent discoveries and ongoing research at the 28th Annual ROM Research Colloquium and Vaughan Lecture on Friday, February 9, 2007. ROM experts will discuss their latest field research, ranging from Ten Years of Research in Northern China by Chen Shen, the History of the Tibetan Collection at the Royal Ontario Museum by Sarah Richardson, to Dinosaurs on the Move by Janet Waddington. This free, one-day event takes place in the newly renovated Signy & Cléophée Eaton Theatre beginning at 9:15 am. (Museum admission not included.)
"The Story of the Tomb”, the annual Vaughan Lecture presented at 5:30 p.m., highlights recent research by Klaas Ruitenbeek, Louise Hawley Stone Chair of Far Eastern Art, in the Department of World Cultures, on The Ming Tomb in the new ROM Gallery of Chinese Architecture (see additional details below).
Doors open at 9:00 a.m. Sessions begin at 9:15 a.m. with opening remarks made by moderator Dr. Mark Engstrom, ROM Vice President of Collections & Research. A series of 15-minute lectures by ROM experts, outlining their latest research on arts, archaeology and pure and applied sciences will be followed by the Vaughan Lecture at 5:30 p.m.
COLLOQUIUM SCHEDULE: *denotes speaker (lectures are subject to change)
9:00 a.m. Doors Open
9:15 a.m. Opening Remarks by Dr. Mark Engstrom, Vice President, Collections & Research
9:30 a.m. Early Hominid Dispersal to East Asia: ROM Archaeological Fieldwork in Northern China
Chen Shen, Bishop White Curator of Far Eastern Archaeology, Department of World Cultures
9:45 a.m. The Final Chapter in the Study of a Unique Case of Pewter Corrosion
Robert Ramik* and Malcolm Back, Technicians (Mineralogy), Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum; Andrew Locock, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB.
10:00 a.m. A Master of the Silver Centrepiece (Epergne): Louis-Victor Freret (1803-1879) as Designer and Modeller for Barnard of London and Hendery of Montreal
Ross Fox, Associate Curator (Canadian Furniture), Department of World Cultures
10:15 a.m. Coffee Break
10:45 a.m. DNA Barcoding of Mammals at the Royal Ontario Museum
Judith L. Eger*, Curator (Mammalogy), Burton K. Lim, Assistant Curator (Mammalogy), Department of Natural History, Mark D. Engstrom, VP, Collections & Research, Royal Ontario Museum; Alex Borisenko, Elizabeth L. Clare, Natalia Ivanova, and Paul D.N. Hebert, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON.
11:00 a.m. A Large 15th Century Tibetan Painting in the Royal Ontario Museum: Avenues for Research
Sarah Richardson, Assistant Curator (South Asia), Department of World Cultures
11:15 a.m. The Burgess Shale at the Royal Ontario Museum
Jean-Bernard Caron, Associate Curator (Invertebrate Paleonthology), Department of Natural History
11:30 a.m. In Tangled Silence: A Journey toward French River Rapids
Ken Lister, Assistant Curator (Arctic, Subarctic & Native Watercraft), Department of World Cultures
11:45 a.m. LUNCH BREAK
1:00 p.m. Geological History Written in DNA: Black-tailed Brush Lizard Leads the Way
Johan Lindell*, Grad Student (Herpetology), Robert W. Murphy, Curator (Herpetology) Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum; Fausto R. Mendez-de la Cruz, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico
1:15 p.m. House for an Art Lover: the Realization of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Dream
Arthur Smith, Library & Archives
1:30 p.m. Depictions of Hell in China
Ka Bo Tsang, Assistant Curator, Chinese Pictorial Arts & Textiles, Department of World Cultures
1:45 p.m. Thorny Business: Sex, Hawthorns, and DNA
Tim Dickenson, Curator (Botany), Department of Natural History
2:00 p.m. Coffee Break
2:30 p.m. Why did the Chicken Cross the Supercontinent? The Phylogeny and Biogeography of Galliform birds
Oliver Haddrath, Technician (Ornithology), Department of Natural History
2:45 p.m. Examination and Analysis of the Chinese Polychrome Sculptures in the Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum
Marianne Webb*, Department of Conservation, Royal Ontario Museum; Elizabeth Moffat, Canadian Conservation Institute
3:00 p.m. Dinosaurs on the Move
Janet Waddington, Assistant Curator (Palaeobiology), Department of Natural History
3:15 p.m. The “Crab” That Never Was … Ancient Ancestry of a Living Fossil
D. M. Rudkin*, Assistant Curator (Palaeobiology), Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum; G. A. Young, Manitoba Museum, Winnipeg, MN; G. S. Nowlan, Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, AB
3:30 p.m. Coffee Break
4:00 p.m. Personified Attributes of the Bodhisattvas in the Mahayana Caves of Maharashtra
Beth Knox, Technician (Greek & Roman), Department of World Cultures
4:15 p.m. In the Shadow of Empires: Excavations in the Hinterland of Ancient Peruvian States
Justin Jennings, Associate Curator (New World Archaeology), Department of World Cultures
4:30 p.m. Evolution of Behaviour and Morphology in Neotropical Sheath-Tailed Bats
Burton Lim, Assistant Curator (Mammalogy), Department of Natural History
4:45 p.m. The Wonders of Creation: Zakariya al-Qazwini"s Compendium of Natural History and its Cycle of Illustrations
Karin Ruhrdanz, Curator (Islamic Decorative Arts), Department of World Cultures
5:30 p.m. VAUGHAN LECTURE
A Story of the Tomb
Klaas Ruitenbeek, Louise Hawley Stone Chair of Far Eastern Art Department of World Cultures
Highlighting recent research by Dr. Ruitenbeek, “The Story of the Tomb” focuses on The Ming Tomb, which has been at the Royal Ontario Museum since 1919. Located in the new ROM Gallery of Chinese Architecture, the ensemble of four large stone sculptures, two stone gates, and a stone tumulus is the museum’s largest exhibit, larger than the largest dinosaur. It is also one of the most popular exhibits; the backs of its two stone camels are smooth and shiny from generations of children who have ridden on them.
Built in AD 1656, The Ming Tomb was acquired by the Museum as being the tomb of a 17th century general, Zu Dashou, but the accompanying documentation was scanty. Recent research has shown that the tomb did indeed belong to a member of the Zu family, and its original site has been located, just north of Beijing.
But was it really the tomb of Zu Dashou, one of the most famous generals in later Chinese history? The answer to this question will be given in this lecture.
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Program & Presentation Abstracts