Looking for fun ways to pass the time at home? The Archaeological Institute of America challenges you to build your own monument!
After receiving fabulous submissions for Stonehenge, Chichen Itza (El Castillo), the Colosseum, and the Pyramids at Giza in our inaugural contest in 2020, we’re back for more! We invite you to try your hand at replicating some of the most iconic archaeological sites of all time. There will be separate competitions for youth, families, and adults and considerations will be made for the sites that are the most realistic and/or use the most original materials. We also encourage edible submissions!
So dig into your pantries or arts and crafts supplies and let your creativity shine! Winners will receive an AIA prize pack.
Tips: Try to an include an object in your photo as a scale so we can get a sense of how big your monument is. And don’t forget to include #BuildYourOwnMonument when sharing your work on social media!
Schedule
| Deadline | Online Voting | Site | Results |
| April 9 | April 12-15 | Parthenon at the Acropolis, Greece | |
| April 16 | April 19-22 | Central temple structure at Angkor Wat, Cambodia | |
| April 23 | April 26-29 | Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico | |
| April 30 | May 3-6 | Pick Your Own Monument |
Joan Breton Connelly, Professor of Classics at New York University and Director of the NYU Yeronisos Island Excavations and Field School in Cyprus, has received the AIA’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award and the AIA’s James R. Wiseman Book Award for Portrait of a Priestess, while her Parthenon Enigma received the Phi Beta Kappa Society’s Ralph Waldo Emerson Award for best book in the Humanities. Connelly’s first paying job was as a tennis instructor.
Dougald O’Reilly, Associate Professor of Archaeology at the Australian National University in Canberra, is currently investigating the mysterious Plain of Jars culture in Laos. He is the director of Heritage Watch, an organization dedicated to stopping the destruction of cultural heritage in Cambodia, and in his spare time makes art of questionable quality and works on a board game that has nothing to do with archaeology!
Joe Watkins is a Senior Consultant at Archaeological and Cultural Education Consultants, LLC, and a Designated Campus Colleague (Adjunct Associate Professor) in the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. While he has always looked forward to retirement, he has found over the course of the last three years that it is not for the weak-hearted!
Laetitia La Follette is Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and President of the AIA. Although her current research focuses on Roman portraits, her first love was ancient architecture so she is looking forward to this year’s Build your Own Monument competition.
