Dr. Wallis Chairs Session at Royal Anthropological Institute Conference, British Museum and SOAS

Dr. Robert J. Wallis chaired a session at the ‘Art, Materiality and Representation’ Conference of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1-3 June. The conference was hosted by the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas of the British Museum and the Department of Anthropology at SOAS. Dr. Wallis’ session was entitled ‘Relating to Raptors: the Art of Human Engagements with Birds of Prey’. The papers covered such diverse areas of human relations with birds of prey as American Indian art (Max Carocci), bird brooches in Iron Age Scandinavia (Kristina Jennbert), Kazakh rock art and shamanism (Kenneth Lymer) and early falconry in Tang Dynasty China (Leslie Wallace). The session relates to Dr. Wallis’ research on the archaeology of falconry, published in the journals Antiquity and the Archaeological Journal of the Royal Archaeological Institute. His work on the subject is in preparation for a monograph.