British Museum, London, 31/07/2016

MBI Al Jaber Foundation Sponsors 50th Seminar for Arabian Studies

The 50th Seminar for Arabian Studies (SAS), organized by the British Foundation for the Study of Arabia (BFSA) and supported by both the MBI Al Jaber Foundation and the British Museum, took place on Friday 29th July to Sunday 31st July. Approximately forty papers were presented at the three-day event, the only annual international forum for the presentation of the most up-to-date academic research on the Arabian Peninsula.

This year saw the introduction of a special session covering Textiles and Personal Adornment in the Arabian Peninsula chaired by Aisa Martinez, Project Curator at the British Museum. This section of the programme included presentations on Omani silver, embroidery in the Arabian Peninsula and Al-Sadu tribal weaving in Kuwait.

Other papers covered a variety of subjects including archaeology, history, epigraphy and languages as well as literature, art, culture, ethnography and geography with research covering a broad time-scale, from the earliest periods to the present day. Presentations were both interesting and diverse, ranging from Glass in the Arabian Peninsula and the Bitumen Imports at Tell Abraq to Late Bronze Age – Iron Age Funerary Data from the Wadi Fizh, Northern Oman.

The event, held in the Clore Education Centre at the British Museum, attracted a large number of participants on each of the three days and the presentations stimulated interesting and lively debate between speakers and the audience.

On Saturday evening there was a tribute the President of the BFSA, Beatrice de Cardi OBE, FBA, FSA, pioneering archaeologist and expert on the pre-Islamic cultures of the Arabian Gulf and Baluchistan, who had passed away on 5th July 2016 at the age of 102. Beatrice was one of the co-founders of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, and had launched several expeditions in the Gulf region that yielded the first examples of Ubaid pottery in the area. She was remembered by Seminar Chair Derek Kennet and others who spoke warmly about her long and interesting life. Beatrice will be greatly missed.

For further information please go to: http://www.thebfsa.org/content/seminar-arabian-studies

For further information, please contact:
Director of Public Relations
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