Mr. John McNamara

Director and Founder — World Museum of Man

Not one to being confined in an office or lab, Mr. McNamara's thirst for both, exploration and the quest for answers to Man's past drove him to spend a lifelong pursuit in study of the origin and timeline of humanity. Each year, the field experience and world exploration he undertakes exceeds what most upper level members of academia ever achieve in a lifetime. Mr. McNamara is not bound or silenced by university politics or influenced by the pressures of an elite academic society. With such freedom, Mr. McNamara has been able to analyze what we can touch and hold in our hand, the remnants of Man's existence, in a completely objective light. In doing so, he has come to realize there is very little we can rely on as truly known fact and the most important questions of Man's existence and origin remain unanswered.

Mr. McNamara is an accomplished metalsmith and lapidarist with several decades of experience in all techniques of stone and metal jewelry / sculpture manufacture. His extensive work in the lapidary arts along with metal alloying, casting, forging and fabrication allow him a unique insight into how many objects were crafted in ancient times. This experience has also proven invaluable in the identification of authentic items from cleverly crafted forgeries by understanding the differences and clues to identify modern manufacturing processes from ancient methods. Mr. McNamara's lifelong work in artificial metal patination combined with personally handling thousands of genuine metal antiquities, as well as forgeries, has played an important role in the development of his special expertise in the identification of ancient metal objects from modern-made copies. Through analysis of patinas, much can be learned not only in the establishment of authenticity of an unexcavated piece but also, in the determination of whether the specimen is in an original state or has been altered through restoration or repair.

Another specialty Mr. McNamara passionately pursues is the restoration and conservation of ancient artifacts and fossil preparation and conservation. Operating a large, fully equipped preparation lab facility, he especially enjoys the challenges of artifact conservation regarding fragile and problematic specimens. Mr. McNamara has developed special procedures regarding the most extreme challenges in specimen conservation to save and permanently preserve certain types of artifacts that otherwise, would have been lost to deterioration.

The World Museum of Man is the brainchild of Mr. McNamara. By organizing an online exhibit of various tools, weapons and artifacts hidden in small public and private collections around the globe, it is his belief that both amateur and professional alike, can make their own personal observations of Man's achievement with a comprehensive and convenient photo catalog of these creations of ancient and prehistoric humans. As director and founder of the World Museum of Man, John brings a bottomless passion to document our past and boundless energy that fuels the development of this unique marriage of both, professional and amateur enthusiasts of Man's yesterday.