Cyprus’s strategic location has meant that, since prehistoric times, the Mediterranean island has been a melting pot of cultures. From the mainland came not only Greeks, Persians, Romans and Turks, but also plants. One of these is jasmine, which is widespread in Cyprus and will be the focus of a performance by Cypriot artists Eleni Mouzourou and Natis on 28 April. The ornamental plant is deeply rooted in local and emerging Cypriot communities and serves as a starting point for Mouzourou and Natis to explore stories of hybridity and change. The lecture performance “Distillation Conversations_yasemin” will take place at 6 pm at the English-language Archaeological Museum. Admission is free, but registration is required by 24 April at zypern@uni-muenster.de due to limited seating.

In 2021, the Archaeological Museum received 570 Roman-era coins from the City of Gelsenkirchen on permanent loan. The coins were once part of the collection of the Local History Museum in Buer (which has since been incorporated into Gelsenkirchen and is now a district of the city), and later of the Gelsenkirchen Municipal Museum. Using the inventory list, coin curator Dr Katharina Martin has now been able to prove that eight of the coins belonged to a hoard found in 1924 on the grounds of Haus Berge in Buer. The whereabouts of these coins had previously been unknown. The coins, which date from the time of Constantine the Great, are now available to all interested parties via the Digital Coin Cabinet. 

In the latest issue of the university newspaper, Sudanese archaeologist Prof. Mohamed Albdri Sliman Bashir discusses the destruction wrought by the war that has been raging in his homeland since 2023, including the damage inflicted on the African country’s archaeological treasures. The professor from the University of Khartoum is currently in Münster at the invitation of Prof. Angelika Lohwasser, Director of the Institute of Egyptology and Coptology.

At the Alter Sudan research centre there, he is conducting research into the archaeology of Sudan. Bashir is a specialist in settlement patterns and ancient urbanisation in the Kingdom of Kush (c. 1000 BC to 350 AD). In his current research, he combines traditional archaeological analyses with molecular approaches, such as DNA and isotope studies, and interviews with local communities, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the region’s past and present.

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