Lecture: Wilfred Thesiger’s Rock Collection from Oman
Speaker:
Date and Time
19:30 -
Location
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16-18 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HN
Lecture Description
While many know Wilfred Thesiger for Arabian Sands, fewer are aware that his journeys across Oman (1945–1950) also produced the first accurate map of the interior, and collections of photographs, plants, insects, rocks, fossils and other artifacts— offering the outside world its first scientific glimpse of interior Oman.
Drawing on several decades of geological experience and familiarity with Oman’s landscapes, Dr. Heward revisits Thesiger’s geological legacy based on an examination of his collection of rocks held by the Natural History Museum in London, and archives at the museum, Eton College and the Pitt Rivers Museum. The study has also provided some interesting insights into the character of a great explorer.
About the Speaker: Dr. Alan Heward is a retired (but still active geologist) with a background in sedimentology and petroleum geology. He continues to undertake fieldwork in Oman where there is still much to be learned and brought to the attention of the wider scientific community. His current interests range from Cambrian trilobites to Paleocene coals.