Archaeological Institute of America

Petra (Jordan): A Wonder of the World Between a Rock and a Hard Place
2026-10-24 18:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Southern Methodist University, Moody Hall Auditorium, Airline Rd, Dallas, TX, 75205, United States
Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship

Isis, Mistress of the Southern Lands: From Heliodorus’ Aethiopica to Meroe, an ancient kingdom on the Nile
2026-10-27 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CT
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureships
Location TBA

Bundles of Meaning: Interpreting Rock Art Through Indigenous Knowledge
2026-10-29 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Denver) | https://www.archaeological.org/event/bundles-of-meaning-interpreting-rock-art-through-indigenous-knowledge/
Doris Z. Stone New World Archaeology Lectures
Virtual event, registration to be posted.

Buried in Enemy Territory: A Spartan Tomb in Athens and the Politics of Commemoration
2026-10-29 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | CT
Lecture will take place at Concordia University, exact location TBA.

Vigna Randanini: The Jewish Catacombs of Rome
2026-10-29 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Rehm Library, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College St., Worcester, MA, 01610, United States
Join Dr. Jessica Dello Russo for an engaging exploration of the Jewish catacombs of ancient Rome and the discoveries that are transforming our understanding of Jewish life and burial practices in antiquity. A specialist in Roman topography, funerary archaeology, and the history of archaeology, Dr. Dello Russo has developed and curated major scholarly initiatives, including the DAPICS image archive, the BiblioSelect research indices, the Luminaria blog, and the ongoing digitization of the archives of ICS founder Estelle Shohet Brettman.
Dr. Dello Russo’s archaeological and archival research has yielded significant discoveries, including pieces of the renowned “Sarcophagus of the Menorah” from the Jewish Catacombs of Vigna Randanini, the rediscovery of the long-inaccessible Jewish catacomb of Vigna Cimarra, and previously unpublished documentation from the earliest excavations of Rome’s Jewish catacombs. These findings have shed new light on the history and preservation of these extraordinary underground cemeteries. Drawing on her doctoral research, Dr. Dello Russo will discuss the history, archaeology, and enduring significance of Rome’s Jewish catacombs, offering fresh insights into one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Diaspora and the remarkable subterranean monuments that preserve its legacy.

Finger Lakes Society George F. Bass Lecture with Dr. Nicholas Bartos
2026-11-03 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | CT
The George F. Bass Lectures
Topic and venue TBA

November AIA Archaeology Hour with Joe Bagley: An Archaeology of the Battle of Bunker Hill
2026-11-04 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | CT
Join the AIA as Joe Bagley (City of Boston) presents the November AIA Archaeology Hour talk of the 2026-2027 season: “An Archaeology of the Battle of Bunker Hill.”
This presentation will be held on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Pacific.
Register Here!
This lecture will also be available in American Sign Language (ASL). ASL interpretation will be provided by Trail Blazing Interpreters. Due to Zoom limitations on mobile devices and tablets, participants interested in accessing ASL interpretation should log in using the desktop version of Zoom.

Ariadne’s Thread: Weaving 200,000 Years of Naxos’ History
2026-11-05 12:30 - 21:30, 2026-11-12 12:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | CT
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureship
Time and venue TBA

New Brunswick Society National Lecture with Dr. Matthew Notarian
2026-11-06 12:30 - 21:30 (America/Halifax) | CT
Time, venue, and topic TBA

Boulder Society National Lecture with Dr. Derek Kennet
2026-11-09 12:30 - 21:00 (America/Denver) | CT

Evidence of Mobile Religious Practice from Roman Coins
2026-11-09 12:30 - 21:30 (America/Chicago) | CT
William E. Metcalf Lectures in Numismatics
Time and venue TBA

The Changing Power of the Past at the Late Bronze Age Cemetery of Aidonia, Greece
2026-11-11 12:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | CT
Time and venue TBA

"The Changing Power of the Past at the Late Bronze Age Cemetery of Aidonia, Greece”
2026-11-12 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Jepson Hall, Room 109, 221 Richmond Way, Richmond, VA, 23173, United States
Lecture by Lynne Kvapil (Professor of Classics, Butler University)

Into the Mani: Death, Burial, and Legend on the Southern Greek Mainland
2026-11-15 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Concordia University, Denault Auditorium, 1530 Concordia West, Irvine, CA, 92612, United States
Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Alumni Lecture

Foreign Faces in Etruscan Art
2026-11-18 16:30 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | CT
Location TBA

St. Louis Society National Lecture with Dr. Derek Kennet
2026-11-21 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Chicago) | CT
Topic and Venue TBA

Tess Davis, “Blood Antiquities: Tomb Raiders, Art Smugglers, and the Black Market in Cultural Treasures”
2027-01-26 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Semans Auditorium (Room 117), Belk Visual Arts Center, 315 N. Main St., Davidson, NC, 28036, United States
We all know the thrill of tomb raiding adventure novels and Hollywood films—Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, Thomas Crown—hunting for hidden treasures. But the real stories of looted and trafficked cultural property are far darker. In reality, it’s no longer daring explorers who dig up the past, but opportunistic criminals, war profiteers, mafia networks, armed insurgents, and even terrorist organizations.
The Antiquities Coalition, founded in 2014 by Deborah Lehr, was created to combat this cultural racketeering. As a “think and do tank,” the Coalition unites business leaders, government officials, lawyers, security experts, and other professionals in working towards a future when the past is preserved for the next generation, not looted, smuggled, and sold to the highest bidder.
In this exclusive talk, Executive Director and attorney Tess Davis takes you behind the scenes to reveal the high-stakes, illicit world where stolen art and cultural treasures fuel crime, conflict, and corruption—and the ways we can fight back.

"The Strait of Hormuz through time: tracing the archaeology of a key global trading connection from the Bronze Age to the Portuguese"
2027-03-07 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, Ontario, L2S3A1, Canada
Derek Kennet (University of Chicago)

The Queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace: Beauty, Power, and Presence in the Neo-Assyrian World, c. 8
2027-04-04 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Too often overshadowed by the legacy of Assyria’s ancient kings, this presentation illuminates
the queens who reigned with them in ancient Iraq during the ninth and centuries BCE. We focus
on the queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace because it is here that Iraqi archaeologists
discovered their royal tombs. The tombs contained heaps of precious jewelry and regalia, along
with cuneiform inscriptions, and even some skeletal remains. Putting together these artifacts of
death, and connecting them to the art, architecture, and written record of the era, we can
reconstruct the beauty, power, and presence of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace queens in life and for
eternity.
