Catherine Johns

Last updated

Catherine M Johns

FSA
Occupation(s) Archaeologist
Museum curator
Academic work
DisciplineArchaeology
Classical Archaeology
Sub-disciplineRoman Britain
Roman jewellery
Institutions

Catherine Johns FSA (born 1941) is a British archaeologist and museum curator. [1] She is a specialist in Roman jewellery, Romano-British provincial art, and erotic art. [2]

Contents

Career

Johns worked for many years, until 2002, as the Curator of Roman Britain at the British Museum. [3] She was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in January 1973. [1]

Johns has published numerous articles and books on archaeological subjects including the Snettisham Jeweller's Hoard, [4] the Hoxne Hoard, [5] [6] and the Barber Cup. [7]

From 2003 to 2011 she was appointed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a member of the reviewing committee on the 'Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest'. [2] She served three terms as a member of this Reviewing Committee. [8] As part of this body, in 2009, she helped block the export of a unique Viking mount from North Yorkshire valued at over £50,000. [9]

Johns has also served on the committees of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Roman Society, and the British Archaeological Association. She is a former Chair of the Society of Jewellery Historians and a former trustee of the Roman Research Trust. [2] [10] In 2010 she was elected as a Corresponding Member of the Archaeological Institute of America. [11]

Personal life

Johns was married to fellow archaeologist and British Museum curator Donald Bailey. In 2005, the contributions of both Johns and Bailey to the world of archaeology was recognised with the publication of a festschrift in their honour, titled Image, Craft and the Classical World: Essays in honour of Donald Bailey and Catherine Johns. [12] Johns wrote an obituary for her husband for The Guardian following his death in September 2014. [13]

Select bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snettisham</span> Human settlement in England

Snettisham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located near the west coast of Norfolk, some 5 miles (8.0 km) south of the seaside resort of Hunstanton, 9 miles (14 km) north of the town of King's Lynn and 45 miles (72 km) northwest of the city of Norwich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mildenhall Treasure</span> Roman silver tableware hoard

The Mildenhall Treasure is a large hoard of 34 masterpieces of Roman silver tableware from the fourth century AD, and by far the most valuable Roman objects artistically and by weight of bullion in Britain. It was found at West Row, near Mildenhall, Suffolk, in 1942. It consists of over thirty items and includes the Great Dish which weighs over 8 kg (18 lb).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoard</span> Collection of valuable objects or artifacts

A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died or were unable to return for other reasons before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards might then be uncovered much later by metal detector hobbyists, members of the public, and archaeologists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoxne</span> Human settlement in England

Hoxne is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles (8 km) east-southeast of Diss, Norfolk and 1⁄2 mile (800 m) south of the River Waveney. The parish is irregularly shaped, covering the villages of Hoxne, Cross Street and Heckfield Green, with a 'tongue' extending southwards to take in part of the former RAF Horham airfield.

The year 1992 in archaeology involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoxne Hoard</span> Roman hoard found in England

The Hoxne Hoard is the largest hoard of late Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth centuries found anywhere within the former Roman Empire. It was found by Eric Lawes, a metal detectorist in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England in 1992. The hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver, and bronze coins and approximately 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewellery. The objects are now in the British Museum in London, where the most important pieces and a selection of the rest are on permanent display. In 1993, the Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snettisham Hoard</span> Iron Age treasure found in England

The Snettisham Hoard or Snettisham Treasure is a series of discoveries of Iron Age precious metal, found in the Snettisham area of the English county of Norfolk between 1948 and 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thetford Hoard</span> Hoard of Romano-British metalwork

The Thetford Hoard is a hoard of Romano-British metalwork found by Arthur and Greta Brooks at Gallows Hill, near Thetford in Norfolk, England, in November 1979, and now in the British Museum. Dating from the mid- to late-4th century AD, this hoard is a collection of thirty-three silver spoons and three silver strainers, twenty-two gold finger rings, four gold bracelets, four necklace pendants, five gold chain necklaces and two pairs of necklace-clasps, a gold amulet designed as a pendant, an unmounted engraved gem, four beads, and a gold belt-buckle decorated with a dancing satyr. A small cylindrical lidded box made from shale also belonged to the hoard.

The Treasure Valuation Committee (TVC) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) based in London, which offers expert advice to the government on items of declared treasure in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland that museums there may wish to acquire from the Crown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snettisham Jeweller's Hoard</span>

The Snettisham Jeweller's Hoard is a collection of Romano-British jewellery and raw materials, found during the construction of a house in the Norfolk village of Snettisham in 1985. The hoard is thought to be the working stock of a jeweller, buried in a single clay pot around 155 AD. The finds include the working tip of a quartz burnishing tool, partially or fully completed items of jewellery, and raw materials: mainly silver coins, scrap silver items and silver ingots, but also six pieces of scrap gold, and many engraved gemstones to be set in rings. The presence of scrap gold and silver and absence of base metals indicates that the jeweller dealt mainly with high-status customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canterbury Treasure</span> Roman hoard

The Canterbury Treasure is an important late Roman silver hoard found in the city of Canterbury, Kent, south-east England, ancient Durovernum Cantiacorum, in 1962, and now in the Roman Museum, Canterbury, Kent. Copies of the main items are also kept in the British Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staffordshire helmet</span> 7th century Anglo-Saxon helmet

The Staffordshire helmet is an Anglo-Saxon helmet discovered in 2009 as part of the Staffordshire Hoard. It is part of the largest discovery of contemporary gold and silver metalwork in Britain, which contained more than 4,000 precious fragments, approximately a third of which came from a single high-status helmet. Following those found at Benty Grange (1848), Sutton Hoo (1939), Coppergate (1982), Wollaston (1997), and Shorwell (2004), it is only the sixth known Anglo-Saxon helmet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Bland</span> British curator and numismatist

Roger Farrant Bland, is a British curator and numismatist. At the British Museum, he served as Keeper of the Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure from 2005 to 2013, Keeper of the Department of Prehistory and Europe from 2012 to 2013, and Keeper of the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory from 2013 to 2015. Since 2015, he has been a visiting professor at the University of Leicester and a Senior Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Ogden (jewellery historian)</span> British jewellery historian

Jack Ogden, FSA, FGA, is a British jewellery historian with a particular interest in the development of Materials and technology. He is considered one of the foremost experts in his field. He is the current President of The Society of Jewellery Historians, having held the position since February 2018, and was appointed visiting professor of Ancient Jewellery, Material and Technology, at the Birmingham School of Jewellery Birmingham City University in 2019

Leslie Elizabeth Webster, is an English retired museum curator and art historian of Anglo-Saxon and Viking art. She worked from 1964 until 2007 at the British Museum, rising to Keeper, where she curated several major exhibitions, and published many works, on the Anglo-Saxons and Early Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marion Archibald</span> British numismatist

Marion MacCallum Archibald was a British numismatist, author and for 33-years a curator at the British Museum. She was the first woman to be appointed Assistant Keeper in the Department of Coins and Medals and is regarded as a pioneer in what had previously been a male-dominated field. Her 70th birthday was celebrated with the publication of a book of essays authored by 30 of her colleagues, collaborators and former students for whom Marion's name was "synonymous ... with the study of Anglo-Saxon coins at the British Museum".

Nina Crummy is a British archaeologist and artefact specialist, especially of Roman material culture.

Barbara Allison Birley is an archaeologist and museum curator.

References

  1. 1 2 "Fellows directory: Dr Catherine M Johns". Society of Antiquaries of London. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 House of Commons: Culture, Media and Sport Committee (7 June 2007). Caring for our Collections. Sixth Report. Volume II: Oral and Written Evidence (Report). House of Commons. p. 171.
  3. ↑ "Catherine Johns (Biographical details)". British Museum. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  4. ↑ Johns, C. (1997). The Snettisham Roman jeweller's hoard. British Museum.
  5. ↑ Bland, R.; Johns, C. (1993). The Hoxne treasure; an illustrated introduction. British Museum.
  6. ↑ Johns, C. (2010). The Hoxne Late Roman Treasure: Gold Jewellery and Silver Plate. British Museum. ISBN   978-0714118178.
  7. ↑ Johns, C. (March 2004). "The Barber Cup: a new acquisition for the British Museum". Gem and Jewellery News. 13 (1).
  8. ↑ "Public Appointment Press Notice (November 2010)" (PDF). Department for Culture, Media, and Sport. November 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  9. ↑ Fifield, N. (15 April 2009). "Export ban on Viking artefact found in North Yorkshire". York Press . Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  10. ↑ "Former trustees". Roman Research Trust. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  11. ↑ "Corresponding Members - Archaeological Institute of America". www.archaeological.org. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  12. ↑ Crummy, N., ed. (2005). Image, Craft and the Classical World: Essays in honour of Donald Bailey and Catherine Johns. Editions Monique Mergoil. ISBN   9782907303910.
  13. ↑ Johns, C. (15 September 2014). "Obituary: Donald Bailey". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
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