By Stacey Axler and Kimberlyn Bennet<\/p>\n
Dr. Frederick Bohrer, professor of art and archaeology, has published a book entitled \u201cPhotography and Archaeology,\u201d which combines the topics of art and archaeology to provide context into the past.<\/p>\n
In the book, Bohrer examines the historical possibilities of archaeological excavations.<\/p>\n
He said that he chose the topic of his book because he has \u201clong worked on the history of archaeology, as in my previous book on the reception of ancient Mesopotamia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I am primarily a scholar of the 19th century, I have always been interested in photography, a 19th century invention,\u201d he added.\u00a0\u00a0 So, I worked to put these two things together.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his book, Bohrer focuses on both the ways that archaeological dig sites have been portrayed in photographs and also how the advancement of photography in the 19th century has brought archaeology to global attention.<\/p>\n
Bohrer explains that, primarily, many individuals believe photos of archaeological digs and artifacts ultimately preserve and record such findings. However, photography also transforms archeological objects into artwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have spent a lot of time in archives of unpublished photos of many kinds, including more than 200 images made by William Henry Fox Talbot, the English inventor of photography,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cIt was exciting to hold the very photos he made of Assyrian cuneiform tablets, none of which has ever been published, and read his writing on them.\u00a0\u00a0 My research took me to all kinds of places, big and small, across theU.S. and Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bohrer\u2019s first book, \u201cOrientalism and Visual Culture: Imagining Mesopotamia in Nineteenth-Century Europe,\u201d observes the mixed reception of the art of ancient Mesopotamia during its archaeological discovery in England,France and Germany.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very important to me to have a Beneficial-Hodson sabbatical grant for the year 2004-5 in doing my initial research.\u00a0\u00a0 I hope Hood will continue to offer adequate support for faculty research,\u201d Bohrer said.<\/p>\n
Bohrer has been a faculty member at Hood since 1989.\u00a0 He earned his doctoral degree in the history of art at theUniversity ofChicago.<\/p>\n
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