Replacing Empires. The Archaeology of Political Transformation and Spatial Dynamics in 1st Millennium BCE Mesopotamia
2025-10-02 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, the Pennsylvania State University, 201 Old Main, University Park, PA, 16802, United States
Kershaw Lectures in Near East Archaeology

Mountain Archaeology and Climate Change
2025-10-03 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Thurman J. White Forum Building, 1704 Asp Ave, Norman, OK, 73072, United States
Dr. Aldenderfer will examine how past mountain peoples adapted to shifting climates, asking whether their strategies can inform those living in highland environments today. Drawing on archaeological evidence from regions such as the Alps, Andes, and Himalayas, he will discuss human resilience and vulnerability in the face of glacier retreat, variable precipitation, biodiversity loss, and climate-driven hazards.

Learn at Lunchtime virtual Lectures PHMC The PA State Museum
2025-10-03 12:00 - 13:00, 2025-10-10 12:00 - 13:00, 2025-10-17 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA, United States
Series of 4 Friday virtual lectures on archaeological subjects with four different lecturers.

Spokane Archaeology Day
2025-10-04 10:00 - 15:00 (America/Vancouver) | Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, 2316 West 1st Avenue, Spokane, WA, 99201, United States
The Spokane Society, along with other archaeological organizations, will welcome the public at booths on the grounds of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. Activities will be available for all ages.

2025 Archaeological investigations at Fort Brewerton.
2025-10-04 10:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Fort Brewerton & Oliver Stevens Blockhouse Museum, Box 392 9 US Route 11, Brewerton, NY, 13029, United States
Join us for a day of archaeological investigations at Fort Brewerton.
Following a successful ground penetrating radar and magnetometer survey in the spring, we can now use this new data to give us more confidence in finding the remains of the north wall of blockhouse # 4. Previous excavations in this area over the last 4 years have yielded many interesting artifacts and features, giving us clues and its layout and use. Our first excavation on the 4th will be followed up by our second excavation on the 18th on international archaeology day.
Current Fort Brewerton Historical Society members are welcome to assist in the excavation, members of the public are welcome to observe. Please message us if you plan on volunteering to assist in the excavation. The blockhouse museum will not be open for tours on the 4th.
Additionally, members of the New York State Archaeological Association are welcomed to participate with written permission from their chapter representative. Please contact us for more information.

(Early) International Archaeology Day at the Rochester Museum and Science Center
2025-10-04 11:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Rochester Museum and Science Center, 657 East Avenue, Rochester, NY, 14607, United States
Meet members of the Rochester Society of the Archaeological Institute of America for hands-on family activities including a mini-dig, arts and crafts, and play-doh, and have a chance to check out archaeology books, magazines, and real and reproduction artifacts!

Arkansas ArcheOlympics
2025-10-04 11:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Arkansas Archeological Survey Research Station, Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, 1 Rockefeller Dr, Morrilton, AR, 72110, United States
The ArcheOlympics is an annual competition that brings together teams of archeology students, Arkansas Archeological Society members, middle school students, and anyone else interested in archeology and having fun. The games consist of 3 events in which teams compete to show off their skills and knowledge in archeology-based games. The first is throwing a spear with an atlatl. This takes some skill, so most teams get together and practice before the event. Archeoletes throw for both distance and accuracy during the competition. The second event is the trivia contest. This event changes slightly each year based on the gameshow format that we choose, but archeoletes answer questions about archeology, important archeological sites, archeological ethics, and other topics related to the theme. This event directly pits teams against each other in answering the questions. The third event is the Excavation to Curation Obstacle course. The course changes slightly each year, but teams work together to make their way through the simulated stages of archeological research. They must lay out a 1m x 1m unit, “excavate” the unit, collect artifacts and interpret them, curate the artifacts, write the report, and get it accepted for publication.

The Missing Link: A Wari-Related Burial in Huanchaco, North Coast of Peru
2025-10-08 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | University of Florida, Library West, Room 212, 400 SW 13th Street, Gainesville, FL, 32601, United States
Despite more than 100 years of archaeological research on the North Coast of Peru, very little is known about the transition from the so-called Moche society into the Chimu empire.
This timeframe, CIRCA A.D. 850-1000/1050, is poorly understood not only in the North Coast of Peru, but more broadly all over the Central Andean Region. Current models explain this period of time as a moment of political, economic, and militaristic control of the Wari Society.
This southern highland group has expanded as a well-organized state-like formation. Indeed, some scholars suggest that it may be the first Andean empire, and current models also suggest alternative scenarios. The recent burial in Huanchaco provides insight into the behavior of lower elites following the collapse of the Moche society and its transition into the Chimu Empire, highlighting the persistence of religious and artistic traditions from earlier times, as well as the innovations introduced from the highlands to the coast.

Buried in Enemy territory: A Spartan tomb in Athens
2025-10-09 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Edmonton) | Business Building 2-09, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Oscar Broneer Memorial Lecture

Young archaeologists
2025-10-10 00:00 - 13:00, 2025-10-10 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Tirane) | Museum of Peja, Haxhi Zeka Square, Peja, Kosova, 38000
We will conduct (simulated) archaeological excavations with primary school students, dividing them into five groups: Archaeologist, Restorer, Conservator, Documentarian, and Repository Recorder. The activity will be held in the Archaeological Park near the Museum of Peja and will last one hour from 12:00 to 13:00.

Family Archeology Day
2025-10-11 10:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | Camp Nelson National Monument, 6614 Danville Rd Loop 2, Nicholasville, KY, 40356, United States
Join Camp Nelson National Monument on October 11 from 10am-12:30pm for a fun filled day of family activities and learning! Learn about archeological excavations through our Dig in a box, analyze an artifact, go on a museum scavenger hunt, and learn about the park’s many cultural resources.

Archaeology Day - Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex
2025-10-11 11:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex, 801 Jefferson Ave., Moundsville, WV, 26041, United States
Archaeology Day at Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex is an all-ages day of hands-on activities and demonstrations. Visitors get the chance to learn about past peoples from professional archaeologists, view exhibits, and visit the Indigenous burial site, Grave Creek Mound.

Archaeology Game Day!
2025-10-11 13:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Penn Hills Library, 1037 Stotler Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15235, United States
Play the new Archaeology Day Game at Penn Hills Library (1037 Stotler Road Pittsburgh, PA 15235). Fun for kids of all ages! This game involves a treasure hunt, teamwork, putting together a puzzle, library skills, and solving a mystery. Win prizes, make new friends, find cool books to read! Please register in advance with the library so we know how many players to set the game up for. See the library’s event calendar for more details (https://pennhills.librarycalendar.com/events/month/2025/10).

Community Archaeology Day at IUP
2025-10-11 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Indiana University of Pennsylvania, McElhaney Hall, Indiana, PA, 15701, United States
Public open house to enjoy all things archaeology including primitive technologies and mock excavations.

A monumental undertaking: conservation for the Penn Museum’s new Ancient Egypt and Nubia Galleries
2025-10-11 15:30 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Saturday, Oct. 11
3:30 PM EST
Penn Museum, Classroom 2
In-person; no registration required
International Archaeology Day Lecture!!
Speaker: Molly Gleeson, Head Conservator, Penn Museum
Title: A monumental undertaking: conservation for the Penn Museum’s new Ancient Egypt and Nubia Galleries
Abstract:
In 2018, the Penn Museum began planning for the renovation of its signature Ancient Egypt galleries. The ambitious plans include reconstructing components of an Old Kingdom funerary chapel and an 18th Dynasty palace complex and displaying thousands of artifacts from the Penn Museum’s collections. While many of the objects are well preserved, all of them require conservation treatment, which is taking place at the Museum and at an off-site purpose-built conservation lab by a large team of conservators. In this lecture, conservator Molly Gleeson will discuss the range of preservation challenges and innovative conservation approaches that conservation team has developed to make this monumental project possible, as well as the discoveries they have made along the way.
Speaker Bio:
Molly Gleeson is the Head of Conservation at the Penn Museum. Molly’s career in conservation began at the University of Delaware as an Art Conservation undergraduate student. She continued her studies as a graduate student in the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage. As a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation with over 20 years of experience in the field, Molly has worked in museums and archaeological sites in the United States, Chile, Easter Island, and Egypt. Molly is currently pursuing a PhD in the Preservation Studies Program at the University of Delaware.
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Lectures are FREE to ARCE Members, $7 for University of Pennsylvania Museum Members and UPenn Staff and Faculty, $5 for Students with ID, and $10 for the general public.
Light refreshments served starting at 3pm.
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The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1948 by a consortium of educational and cultural institutions to support research on all aspects of Egyptian history and culture, foster broader knowledge among the general public, and strengthen American-Egyptian cultural ties. The ARCE Pennsylvania Chapter (ARCE-PA) is the local branch of the national institution. We host monthly events including scholarly lectures, Egyptian-themed workshops, social events, and guided tours of the Penn Museum’s Egyptian galleries. For more information or to learn about the perks of membership, please send an e-mail to info@arce-pa.org, or visit our website at www.arce-pa.org.

INTERNATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY DAY
2025-10-14 09:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Museum of History in Mohelnice, Kostelní náměstí 3, Mohelnice, 78985, Czech Republic
To celebrate the occasion of the International Archaeology Day, the Museum of History in Mohelnice has organized a program for schools, kindergartens, families with children, and other interested parties.
Visitors will be able to test their knowledge and improve their understanding of our ancestral cultures by exploring real archaeological finds and prehistoric crafts.
Participants can experience first-hand what life was like in prehistoric times. Craft stations will be established to enable hands-on demonstrations of common prehistoric techniques. There will also be displays of genuine archaeological findings from individual periods of our history.
The celebration program is suitable for all ages.

Alexandria: New Archaeological Perspectives on the City and its Legendary Lighthouse
2025-10-14 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | MA
International Archaeology Day 2025 and UW Classics Ridgway Lecture. Presenter: Dr. Thomas Faucher (Centre d’Études Alexandrines)
For three decades, the Centre d’Études Alexandrines has reshaped our understanding of Alexandria, moving its history from ancient texts to a tangible reality. Terrestrial digs reveal the city’s daily life, while underwater excavations at the site of the legendary Lighthouse have yielded spectacular monumental discoveries. These integrated findings present a multi-layered city, allowing us to write a new history of Alexandria grounded in its material culture of adaptation and reuse.
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 5:30 – 7pm
University of Washington, Dempsey 112 and on Zoom (link here)

Mavericks: Three Visionary Pharaohs of Egypt
2025-10-15 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Wednesday, October 15, 6:00–7:00 pm ET, Advance registration recommended for online and in-person attendance
Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Speaker: Lawrence M. Berman is John F. Cogan, Jr. and Mary L. Cornille Chair, Art of Ancient Egypt, Nubia, and the Near East, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III, and Akhenaten each ruled Egypt for long periods, leaving a lasting impact on its art, politics, and religion. Though all were powerful leaders, each tells a distinct story. In this lecture, Lawrence M. Berman explores the reigns and legacies of these three remarkable Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs, considering questions such as: What made them successful—or controversial? How were they viewed in their own time, and how have archaeologists and the public interpreted them since? The talk also examines broader themes—from the power of images and identity to iconoclasm and the writing of history—inviting reflection on who gets to shape history, and why it still matters today.
Free admission. Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage starting at 4:00 pm. Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture.
Head of Amenhotep III. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III, 1390–1352 BCE. Quartzite. Museum purchase with funds donated by Miss Anna D. Slocum, 09.288. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Detail of relief of Akhenaten as a sphinx. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten, 1349–1336 BCE. Limestone. Egyptian Curator’s Fund, 64.1944. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Detail of fragment from Hatshepsut’s fallen obelisk at Karnak. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Hatshepsut, 1473–1458 BCE. Granite. Gift of heirs of Francis Cabot Lowell, 75.12. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

International Archaeology Day
2025-10-16 09:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Museum of History in Šumperk, Hlavní třída 342/22, Šumperk, 78731, Czech Republic
To celebrate the occasion of the International Archaeology Day, the Museum of History in Šumperk has organized a program for schools, kindergartens, families with children, and other interested parties.
Visitors will be able to test their knowledge and improve their understanding of our ancestral cultures by exploring real archaeological finds and prehistoric crafts.
Participants can experience first-hand what life was like in prehistoric times. Craft stations will be established to enable hands-on demonstrations of common prehistoric techniques. There will also be displays of genuine archaeological findings from individual periods of our history.
The celebration program is suitable for all ages.

"Abraham, David and the Ark of the Covenant"
2025-10-16 15:30 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Upper House, 365 East Campus Mall, Madison, WI, 53715, United States
New evidence on how Jerusalem became a holy city will be explored in this presentation by MBAS Secretary Gordon Govier. An enigmatic news release early in 2025 sparked an investigation that opens the door to the amazing discoveries that have been made in Jerusalem’s ancient City of David during the first quarter of the 21st century.

“Using Archaeology to Reveal the Intellectual Contributions of the Enslaved: Archaeology at Montpelier”
2025-10-16 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Jepson Hall, Room 118, Richmond Way 221, Richmond, VA, 23226, United States
Lecture by Matthew Reeves, Director of Archaeology at James Madison’s Montpelier. Celebration of Virginia Archaeology Month and International Archaeology Day.

Public Lecture by Dr. Eric Cline
2025-10-16 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Room 100, McCool Hall (Rogers Auditorium), Mississippi State, MS, 39762, United States
The Cobb Institute is turning 50! Please join us for a free lecture to kick off our anniversary celebration by Dr. Eric Cline, titled “1177 BC Revisited: Updating the Late Bronze Age Collapse”, on Thursday, October 16th at 6pm in Rogers Auditorium (McCool Hall, room 100).
Dr. Eric H. Cline is Professor of Classics and Anthropology, the former Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the current Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at George Washington University, in Washington DC. A two-time Fulbright Scholar, National Geographic Explorer, NEH Public Scholar, Getty Scholar, and member of the Explorers Club, with degrees from Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, he is an active field archaeologist with more than 30 seasons of excavation and survey experience in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, and the United States, including ten seasons at Megiddo (1994-2014), where he served as co-director before retiring from the project in 2014, and another ten seasons at Tel Kabri, where he currently serves as Co-Director. He is the author or editor of more than twenty books and nearly one hundred articles; translations of his books have appeared in nineteen different languages. He is perhaps best known for 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed, which has sold more than a quarter of a million copies world-wide and was considered for a Pulitzer Prize in 2015. Two of his lectures on the topic, posted on YouTube by the sponsoring societies, have been viewed a total of more than ten million times.
Abstract:
For more than three hundred years during the Late Bronze Age, from about 1500 BC to 1200 BC, the Mediterranean region played host to a complex international world in which Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Cypriots, and Canaanites all interacted, creating a cosmopolitan and globalized world-system such as has only rarely been seen before the current day. It may have been this very internationalism that contributed to the apocalyptic disaster that ended the Bronze Age. When the end came, as it did after centuries of cultural and technological evolution, the civilized and international world of the Mediterranean regions came to a dramatic halt in a vast area stretching from Greece and Italy in the west to Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia in the east. Large empires and small kingdoms collapsed rapidly. It was not until centuries later that a new cultural renaissance emerged in Greece and the other affected areas, setting the stage for the evolution of Western society as we know it today. In recent years, more data relevant to the potential causes of the Late Bronze Age Collapse in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean have become available. The new information includes additional texts from Ugarit in north Syria documenting both famine and invaders; DNA analyses of burials found in the Philistine city of Ashkelon; and new studies of lake sediments, stalagmites in caves, and coring from lakes and lagoons in regions stretching from Italy and Greece to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Iran, all of which suggest that there was an ongoing megadrought. Studying such an ancient catastrophe remains relevant to us today, for we are not as far removed from those days as one might think.

One Woman's Fight to Protect Ancient Maya Legacy
2025-10-16 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Hybrid Event: Tatiana Proskouriakoff Award Lecture Series
One Woman’s Fight to Protect Ancient Maya Legacy
Thursday, October 16, 6:00–7:00 pm ET, Advance registration recommended for online and in-person attendance
Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Speaker: Dr. Clemency Chase Coggins, Professor Emerita of Archaeology and Art History, Boston University; Research Associate, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University
When the looting and illicit trade of cultural artifacts surged In the 1960s, one voice rose in defense of archaeological sites in the Americas—Clemency Coggins. A pioneering art historian and legendary figure in Maya archaeology, Dr. Coggins stood with Ian Graham in calling for ethical stewardship of cultural heritage.
Join us for an illuminating evening as Dr. Coggins recounts her groundbreaking advocacy that helped shape U.S. policy and UNESCO conventions on cultural property. With vivid stories and a special video presentation, she reflects on her collaborations with notable figures such as Tatiana Proskouriakoff and the role of the Peabody Museum in the protection of Maya heritage. This conversation, moderated by Maya Corpus Director Barbara Fash and research associate Steven Quinchia, will bring to life the intersection of scholarship, activism, and international policy—and the extraordinary woman who helped change the course of cultural preservation.
A reception will follow in the galleries of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue.
Free admission. Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage starting at 4:00 pm. Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture.
Photo: Tikal central plaza, Guatemala

Matrilineal Kinship in Aegean Prehistory: Settlements, Figurines, and the Absence of Men
2025-10-16 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W 1st Ave, Spokane, WA, 99201, United States
Dr. Sabina Cveček
Were communities in prehistoric Greece matriarchal, matrilineal, or simply centered around women? This question has fascinated archaeologists for decades. Early on, figurines of women were often seen as “Mother Goddesses,” meaning female deities often representing motherhood, fertility, and creation, but feminist scholars later cautioned against such broad interpretations. Still, the idea that ancient societies may have been organized around maternal kinship and matrilineal descent—where family ties pass through the mother—has resurfaced in recent years. In this talk, Sabina Cveček revisits the debate, exploring what different types of evidence—from how settlements were laid out to how figurines were used—can tell us about gender and family life in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Aegean. She draws on ethnographic examples to show that matrilineal kinship does not automatically mean women ruled, a key distinction for better understanding how these early societies were structured. This lecture is sponsored by the National AIA organization.

International Archaeology Day 2025: Discovering Macedonia’s Past
2025-10-17 - 2025-10-19 | MA
Join us in celebrating the International Archaeology Day on October 18th, 2025 with a special online event at the Archaeological Institute of America and Archaeological Museum of the Republic of North Macedonia.
As part of the celebration, we are premiering a short video featuring five archaeological excavations carried out across Macedonia in 2025. Each segment highlights the discoveries, teamwork, and dedication of our archaeologists in uncovering and interpreting the past.
Visitors are also invited to enjoy free admission to the Museum on the day of the event.
We extend our special thanks to all archaeologists that were in charge of the excavations: Aleksandra Chevreska, Jane Klekovski, Aleksandra Papazovska, Elena Stojanova Kanzurova, Valentina Todoroska, Bunjamin Xemaili and Trajan Zafirovski. Also special thanks to all other archaeologists, students, collaborators, and institutions who took part in this year’s excavations and contributed to the making of the video. Their commitment and passion continue to preserve and promote our common heritage.

Archaeology Walk of the Nauset Marsh Trail
2025-10-17 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Cape Cod National Seashore, Salt Pond Visitor Center, 50 Nauset Road, Eastham, MA, 02642, United States
Join National Park Service Archaeologist Dan Zoto for a guided walk of the Nauset Marsh Trail to learn about the archaeology, geology, and history of the Nauset estuary. The program will include an approximate 20-minute terrace talk at the Salt Pond Visitor Center and a 1.5-hour trail walk. Topics will include Native American and historical period land use. The trail is 1.3 miles and classified as easy with some long steps, moderate grade, and an elevation change of 37 feet. The event is free. Rain or shine.
