Dr Ben Roberts PhD
Wednesday 19th September 2017
Mold Gold Cape, Wales 1900-1600 BC
Speaker CV
Dr. Ben Roberts studied at Archaeology at the Universities of Sheffield and Cambridge where he specialised in European Prehistory. He subsequently worked at the British Museum as the Curator for the European Bronze Age collections before moving to Durham University where he is an Associate Professor. He researched and co-wrote 41 programmes of the British Museum/BBC Radio 4 series and accompanying book A History of the World in 100 Objects. His current projects include a Bronze Age shipwreck off the coast of Salcombe, and a major prehistoric burial mound in Lancashire.
Summary
Since the earliest use of gold around 6500 years ago on the Bulgarian coast, it has been desired and shaped by generations of craftspeople across Europe. Their impressive skills can only now be deciphered through the detailed study of the objects they made for the living and the dead. The gold objects reveal not only unparalleled expertise and flair but also crucial insights for understanding the societies involved – millennia before the Romans and Greeks.