Events Calendar

“Saint Helena – A Lost Island?”
Ben Jeffs, Blackfreighter Archaeology and Conservation
Thursday, January 10, 2013
12:30pm – Classroom 2, Penn Museum
Brown Bag Lecture – Please Bring a Lunch!

Abstract: Saint Helena is, conceptually and physically, in the middle of a triangle, with points in the Americas, England and India. Once a global crossroads, its cliffs are now hung with 17th century fortifications, sliding into the crashing South Atlantic; plantation houses litter its valleys, decayed and choked by jungle; and a unique cemetery of thousands of slaves, freed from the clutches of the later trade, is threatened by development. This is a tale of fragile potential on one of the most remote inhabited places on earth and a four year project to explore and save it.

Speaker Bio: Ben Jeffs is an archaeologist and architectural conservator at Blackfreighter Archaeology and Conservation. He studied archaeology at the University College London. His research interests include historic environment management, interpretation, planning, and analysis.