Archaeological Institute of America

Horace and Rodolfo construct the Esquiline: examining garbage and graves at Rome and beyond
2026-03-19 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W 1st Ave, Spokane, WA, 99201, United States
Join us for a lecture by Dr. Kevin Dicus, University of Oregon at Eugene, discussing investigations at Rome’s Esquiline Hill.
Abstract:
Archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani captivated the public with his account of excavations on Rome’s
Esquiline Hill. No doubt influenced by Horace’s Satire 1.8 about the same region, his portrayal
of mass graves (puticuli) embedded within a vast field of municipal waste offered a thrilling,
dystopian vision that continues to resonate nearly 150 years later. Ancient Rome’s reputation has
yet to recover, as his report continues to shape perceptions of the metropolis as filthy and
mismanaged.
This talk revises Lanciani’s portrayal of the Esquiline as a wasteland of rotting corpses and
garbage and offers a new interpretation of Horace’s Satire 1.8. I argue that Horace describes not
mass graves on the hill but rather a modest cemetery where multiple graves shared the same plot
of land that also received the city’s refuse. The misreading that these were instead puticuli
originated with his imperial scholiasts and persisted to directly influence Lanciani.
Archaeological comparanda from across the Roman world demonstrate that individual, modest
graves dug into suburban municipal dumps were a common and legitimate form of burial for the
urban poor. This intersection between the city’s dumps and its dead provides new insight into
Roman attitudes toward waste: although the disposal of refuse beyond the city walls transformed
the suburban landscape, it did little to alter the cultural meaning of the extramural zone. People
continued to use these areas much as they had before their appropriation for refuse, including the
symbolically charged act of burying loved ones.

The Shipwreck at Gnalić—Gagliana Grossa (1569-1583)
2026-03-22 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Philadelphia), Philadelphia, PA, United States
The George F. Bass Lectures

Landscapes of Time and Memory: Foragers in the Mojave Desert 3
2026-03-24 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Tallahassee 1), Tallahassee, FL, United States
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureship

New Approaches to Roman Urbanism: The Excavations of the Falerii Novi Project (Lazio, Italy) 3
2026-03-25 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Buffalo), Buffalo, NY, United States
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureship Time TBA

New Archaeological Research in the Republic of North Macedonia.
2026-03-28 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago)
ZOOM Lecture by Prof. Barbara Klesig, Dept. of Anthropology at Cal Poly Humboldt discussing new archaeological discoveries in the Republic of North Macedonia.

Stress, Sex and Death: Health and Survival in the Context of Medieval Famine and Plague
2026-03-29 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | 303 Paterson Hall, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
The Ann Santen Endowed Lecture Time

TBA (Southwest Texas (San Antonio))
2026-03-31 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (San Antonio 1), San Antonio, TX, United States
Anna Marguerite McCann and Robert D. Taggart Lectureship in Underwater Archaeology Time TBA

Diving the Pyramids: Underwater Tombs and Excavation at the Royal Cemetery of Nuri, Sudan
2026-03-31 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | TBA (Northern New Jersey), Montclair, NY, United States
The Frederick R. and Margaret B. Matson Lectureship for Near Eastern Archaeology and Archaeological Technology

Justinian’s Tree: Underwater Environmental Histories in Byzantine Harbors 2
2026-04-01 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Austin), Austin, TX, United States

Mothers, Wives, Warriors, Slaves
2026-04-14 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Valparaiso), Valparaiso, IN, United States
Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship Time TBA

Cities and Politics of Ecology in the Hittite Borderlands: the Fortress and Urban Settlement of Karaköy Kale Tepesi
2026-04-14 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Orlando 2), Orlando, FL, United States

TBA (Finger Lakes (Ithaca))
2026-04-14 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Finger Lakes), Ithaca, NY, United States
William E. Metcalf Lectures in Numismatics

The Vindolanda Coins from a Century of Excavations
2026-04-15 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Lean Lecture Room, Wishart Hall on the College of Wooster (to be confirmed), 1189 Beall Avenue, Wooster, OH, United States

Replacing Empires. The Archaeology of Political Transformation and Spatial Dynamics in 1st Millennium BCE Mesopotamia 2
2026-04-16 00:00 - 01:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Chicago 1), Chicago, IL, United States
Kershaw Lectures in Near East Archaeology Time TBA

Blood in the Villages: Massacres in Early Pre-State Societies
2026-04-16 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Central Indiana), IN, United States

TBA (South Pennsylvania (Carlisle))
2026-04-16 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (South Pennsylvania), Carlisle, PA, United States
William E. Metcalf Lectures in Numismatics Time TBA

TBA (Richmond)
2026-04-16 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Richmond ), Richmond, VA, United States

Crafting and Trade: Stone Tool Production and Ancient Maya Economies
2026-04-16 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W 1st Ave, Spokane, WA, 99201, United States
Join us for a lecture by Dr. Rachel Horowitz, “Crafting and Trade: Stone Tool Production and Ancient Maya Economies “.
Abstract: Today, and in the past, economic activities are important ways of making connections between people. In the Maya area, modern-day Mexico and northern Central America, economies are less studied than other aspects of past Maya lifeways. In this talk, I use recently collected data about stone tool production to provide information about the Classic period Maya economy (600-900 CE). This lecture will use a case-study of stone tool producers western Belize to explore the lives of Classic period Maya stone tool producers, and how stone tools circulated throughout the economy.

TBA (Puget Sound)
2026-04-17 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | TBA (Puget Sound), WA, United States
Time TBA

TBA (Jacksonville)
2026-04-18 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Jacksonville 1), Jacksonville, FL, United States

Archaeology and the Art Museum
2026-04-22 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Western Illinois), Monmouth, IL, United States

Landscapes of Time and Memory: Foragers in the Mojave Desert 4
2026-04-23 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology, 60 George St., Providence, RI, 02912, United States

Digging in Circles: Miami's Prehistoric Legacy 2
2026-04-23 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | TBA (Rochester), Rochester, NY, United States

TBA (Albany)
2026-04-24 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Albany), Albany, NY, United States

TBA (Toronto)
2026-04-24 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Toronto), Toronto
The Ann Santen Endowed Lecture Time TBA

Beyond the Swidden: Mesoamerican Agricultural Practices Past, Present, and Future
2026-04-25 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | TBA (Dayton), Dayton, OH
Doris Z. Stone New World Archaeology Lectures

TBA (St. Louis)
2026-04-25 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (St. Louis), St. Louis, MO

The Archaeology of Ancient Greek Dress
2026-04-28 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Rockford), Rockford, IL, United States
The Barbara Tsakirgis Memorial Lecture Time TBA

New Insights into Changing Lifeways in Ancient Nubia
2026-04-30 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Phoenix) | Zoom
Brenda J. Baker, PhD
Professor of Anthropology
Center for Bioarchaeological Research
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
“New Insights into Changing Lifeways in Ancient Nubia”
The Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition (BONE) focuses on the area between the Fourth and Fifth Cataracts of the Nile River in northern Sudan, enriching our understanding of the extent to which people peripheral to core areas where state-level societies operated were integrated. Interconnections are evident from the Kerma period (c. 2500-1500 BCE) on, incorporating exotic items such as carnelian and Red Sea mollusc shell beads and Egyptian vessels, though local craft production is evident. Analysis of strontium isotopes from tooth enamel shows a decrease in mobility throughout the Kerma period in this area, likely reflecting a shift in subsistence practices. Late Meroitic through Post-Meroitic period burials from the Qinifab School site cemetery (used c. 250-1450 CE) include extra-local items indicative of continuing access to far-flung exchange networks despite the construction of a network of stone-walled forts in the region and evidence of conflict commencing during this time. Inclusion of archery equipment in the graves of several males coincides with high rates of trauma reflecting interpersonal violence. These trends suggest that the disintegration of the Meroitic empire led to ongoing incursions and that control by the kingdom of Makuria and conversion of the local populace to Christianity was fraught. Avulsion of lower incisor teeth in nearly 10% of adult males and females became a new marker of identity in late Meroitic to medieval people of the region and new work reveals that tattoos were also far more common in ancient Nubia than previously recognized.
Biography
Brenda J. Baker is a professor of anthropology in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, a core faculty member of the Center for Bioarchaeological Research and curator of the ancient Nubian collections housed at ASU. She directs the Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition (BONE) in northern Sudan and is the founding co-editor-in-chief of Bioarchaeology International (2015-present). Baker taught previously at Tufts University (1992) and Minnesota State University Moorhead (1993-94), and was director of the Repatriation Program and curator of Human Osteology at the New York State Museum from 1994-1998. She has served on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (2012-2015), as an associate editor of the International Journal of Paleopathology (2010-2015) and Journal of Human Evolution (2020-present), and was a founding Steering Committee member of the Western Bioarchaeology Group (2012-2022). She is also a founding member of the American-Sudanese Archaeological Research Cener, serving on its advisory panel (2017-present). Baker’s teaching includes upper-division undergraduate courses such as the Global History of Health, Life and Death in Ancient Egypt, Bioarchaeology, undergraduate and graduate courses in human osteology, and graduate courses in Paleopathology, Children and Childhood in the Past, Nubian Bioarchaeology, and field methods.
Registration is required. Follow this link to register: https://asu.zoom.us/meeting/register/VrIBqv9sQ_CwgC39LZu8MQ#/registration

Walter Farmer collection and Akenaton
2026-05-30 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Indiana
Dr. Jack Green (Direcor, Miami University Art Museum) will discuss the Walter Farmer collection with special interest to at least one artifact associated with Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton. A reception and chance to talk with the speaker will be held afterwards.
