Using AI and Remote Sensing to Fight Looting and the Archaeo-Mafie
2025-03-27 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Rome) | John Cabot University – Aula Magna Regina, Via della Lungara 233, Roma, Roma, 00165, Italy
Looting of historical sites and monuments still happens in Italy, every day. There is only one reason for this criminal activity: money. And with illegal revenues comes organized crime. Indeed Italian Mafias are involved in trafficking illicit antiquities and supporting professional looters who can now use tools like drones for rapid site identification and theft.
To counter these threats, the Centre for Cultural Heritage Technology (CCHT) of the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (ITT) has pioneered the use of Artificial Intelligence. Their tools can now sift through vast amounts of satellite imagery to pinpoint illegal excavations and analyze online communications to reconstruct major trafficking groups and their criminal networks.
In this talk, CCHT Director Dr. Arianna Traviglia will detail how these tools can be used to detect and prevent looting and to provide intelligence against illicit trafficking of cultural goods.

The deep prehistory of the human presence in the world’s high mountains and plateaus
2025-03-27 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave, Rochester, NY, 14607

Amelia Edwards’ United States Lecture Tour and the Beginnings of American Egyptology
2025-03-29 15:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
ANNUAL KORSYN LECTURE
In-Person Lecture
Saturday, March 29 at 3:30 pm EST
Penn Museum, Classroom L2
Speaker: Dr. Kathleen Sheppard
Lecture Topic: Amelia Edwards’ United States Lecture Tour and the Beginnings of American Egyptology
Abstract:
On a cold November evening in 1889, Amelia Edwards took the stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York. The lecture she gave to 2,400 people that night, entitled “The buried cities of Ancient Egypt,” was a success. Over the next four months, Edwards gave over 100 lectures all over the northeastern US, and as far West as Chicago and Minneapolis, exciting interest in Egypt everywhere she went. Alongside her every step of the way was her secretary, assistant, hair and makeup artist, and friend, Kate Bradbury.
Often we talk about Egyptology in the US beginning in Chicago with the Cairo exhibit on the Midway at the World Columbian Exhibition in 1892. Or we say interest in Egypt began when the University of Chicago was founded, with a department and a museum dedicated to the subject, in 1895. Others place importance in the earlier collections, like the Abbott Collection in New York as early as the 1860s. However, using Bradbury’s letters home during the tour, newspaper reports, Edwards’ lectures, and other contemporaneous materials, I argue that it wasn’t wealthy men who started building Egyptological institutions in the US. Instead, the catalyst for widespread public interest in Egyptology in the United States was the initial encounters with ancient Egypt made possible by a women-led lecture tour in the winter of 1889-90.
Obviously these women did not travel a thousand miles on the Hudson River, but they easily traversed that distance in the time they were in the US, speaking to and meeting with influential people across the country. This presentation will outline the journey of Amelia Edwards and Kate Bradbury and the impact they had on the Egyptology in the US.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Kathleen Sheppard is a Professor in the History and Political Science department at Missouri S&T in Rolla, Missouri. She earned her MA in Egyptian Archaeology at University College London in 2002, and her PhD in History of Science from the University of Oklahoma in 2010. Her first book was a scientific biography of Margaret Alice Murray (2013) that focused on Murray’s life and career, both in and out of Egyptology. She has spent her whole career telling the stories of women in Egyptology. Her most recent book, Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age (St. Martins Press, 2024) is a grand retelling of the history of Egyptology through the work that women did.
******************
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.
******************
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.

Things you probably didn't know about New Hampshire Archaeology
2025-04-01 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Deerfield Community Church, 15 Church St, Deerfield, NH, 03037, United States
Tuesday April 1, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – in person
Things you probably didn’t know about New Hampshire Archaeology- Dr. Richard Boisvert, retired NH State Archaeologist
New Hampshire may not have archaeological monuments like cliff dwellings or burial mounds but it does have a remarkable number of important and unusual archaeological sites and artifacts.
Dr. Boisvert will take us on a virtual tour of the state’s unusual and notable archaeological past.
Co-hosted by Philbrick James Library, Deerfield Heritage Commission, and Deerfield Historical Society.
Location: Deerfield Community Church, 15 Church St, Deerfield, NH

New Light on King Herod's Harbor
2025-04-02 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Nashville Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN, 37203, United States
Anna Marguerite McCann and Robert D. Taggart Lectureship in Underwater Archaeology

Hybrid lecture: Teotihuacan: Origins, Urbanism, and Daily Life
2025-04-02 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
2025 Gordon R. Willey Lecture
David M. Carballo, Professor of Anthropology, Archaeology, and Latin American Studies, Boston University
Teotihuacan, one of the largest cities in the world over 1,500 years ago, stands today as a premier archaeological site and a powerful symbol of Mexico’s precolonial heritage. Despite its enduring fame and millions of annual visitors, much remains misunderstood about the Teotihuacanos who built and inhabited this extraordinary city. This lecture delves into the intricate history of Teotihuacan, exploring its rise as a multiethnic metropolis and a center of innovation. David Carballo will examine the city’s immediate antecedents and urbanization, its unique architectural hallmark of apartment-style living, and the dynamic networks of migration and cultural exchange that shaped its identity. By connecting the iconic pyramids to the daily lives of the city’s inhabitants, this talk offers a deeper understanding of one of the ancient world’s most fascinating urban centers.
Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage. Advance registration recommended for in-person and online attendance
Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and Harvard Museums of Science & Culture in collaboration with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University.
Photo: Jennifer Carballo

Making a Spectacle of Oneself: Reflections on Mirrors and Dress in Classical Antiquity
2025-04-03 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum at Miami University, 801 S. Patterson Ave, Oxford, Ohio, 45056
A joint program sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America Dayton Society, the Miami University Department of History, and the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum at Miami University.
Although we often take them for granted, mirrors in antiquity were powerful tools for the construction of feminine identity. Building on the idea of the mirror as speculum, we will explore how the mirror reflected concepts of beauty, care of the body, economic status, marital status, and social role, throughout the female life-cycle. The ritual functions of mirrors connected women to the divine, and even determined their fate. We will also consider the post-classical “lives” of ancient mirrors, several of which can be found in museums throughout Ohio. This public lecture is in association with HST 210S “Roman Civilization and Roman Spectacle”
Mireille Lee is the Founder and Executive Director of the Foundation for Ethical Stewardship of Cultural Heritage (FESCH), and Project Director for the Mediterranean Antiquities Provenance Research Alliance (MAPRA). A classical archaeologist by
training, she earned her AB from Occidental College, and her MA and PhD from Bryn Mawr. She has published widely on ancient Greek art, gender studies, and object biography. Her first monograph, Body, Dress, and Identity in Ancient Greece, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2015. Her current book project, on ancient Greek mirrors, is under contract with Oxford University Press.

The Past in the Past: Traditionalism in Archaic Crete
2025-04-06 08:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Santa Rosa Junior College Campus, Petaluma, CA
The Barbara Tsakirgis Memorial Lecture
Time and venue TBA

The Archaeology of Democracy: Recent Excavations in the Agora of Athens
2025-04-06 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Brown-Alley Room, Weinstein Hall, 231 Richmond Way, Richmond, VA, 23173, United States
Lecture by Dr. John McKesson Camp, II (Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor Emeritus of Classics, Randolph-Macon College; Director of Agora Excavations, Athens, 1994–2022; Winner of the AIA’s 2024 Gold Medal for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement). Co-sponsored by the University of Richmond Department of Classical Studies, this lecture is the 14th Stuart L. Wheeler Gallery of the Ancient World Lecture and will be followed by open house reception at the Ancient World Gallery, Humanities Building 419, University of Richmond.

Archive Archaeology: The Invisible Hands of Colonial-Era Excavations in the Middle East
2025-04-07 16:30 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Princeton University, East Pyne Building 010, East Pyne Hall, Princeton, NJ, 08544
The Elizabeth S. Ettinghausen Lecture

In search of Artemis-Tyche: the cult and sanctuary of Artemis in the Decapolis city of Gerasa
2025-04-08 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Doe Library, Room 308A, Campanile Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
The AIA San Francisco Society is thrilled to welcome Dr. Rubina Raja (Aarhus University) back to Berkeley. Please join us to hear Dr. Raja speak about the archaeology and history of ancient Gerasa. This will be the final lecture of the AIA San Francisco Society’s 2024-2025 lecture series.
Abstract: The Antonine period Artemis sanctuary in the Decapolis city Gerasa is one of the largest sanctuaries in the Roman world. With its impressive architecture and central location in the city, which also was named Antioch on the Gold River, the sanctuary has received a lot of attention in scholarship for more than a century. What is less known, however, is the fact that the sanctuary had a forerunner, which has until now not been located. This presentation takes its point of departure in new research undertaken on the archaeology and history of Gerasa, which has been aimed at, among other things, reinvestigating the pre-Antonine Artemis cult in Gerasa.
Speaker: Dr. Rubina Raja, Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art, Director of The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions, Aarhus University, Denmark

Augustus’ war against Antony and Cleopatra as Seen through the Coins
2025-04-08 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | University of Akron, Folk Hall 165, 150 E. Exchange St, Akron, OH, 44304
William E. Metcalf Lectures in Numismatics

Research and Excavations at Sardis
2025-04-08 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
In this year’s Sardis Biennial Lecture, Professor Nicholas Cahill of the University of Wisconsin–Madison will discuss recent excavations at Sardis in Türkiye. The Archaeological Exploration of Sardis has been sponsored by Harvard University and Cornell University since 1958 and is authorized by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Discoveries include monumental remains of the early Lydian palace and a new sector of well-preserved houses destroyed by Cyrus the Great in 547 BCE. Work continues on the largest Roman arch in the world and on late antique houses built atop a sanctuary to the emperor Claudius. A protective roof was built over the Lydian fortification, and a team of local women conserved the mosaics of the Synagogue—the largest in the ancient world.
Speaker: Nicholas D. Cahill, Field Director, Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, and Professor of Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Free admission, but seating is limited and registration is encouraged. For more information and to register, please click on the Event Website link noted below.
This lecture will be recorded and made available for online viewing; check the Event Website link after the event for details on how to view.

Kush and the Roman World: Warrior Queens along the Nile
2025-04-08 18:30 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Reed College, Performing Arts Building 320, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR, 97202
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureships

Family Matters: The Social Role of the Dionysiac Frescoes in the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii
2025-04-08 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | George Washington University, Funger Hall 108 (2201 G St NW Washington, DC 20052), Funger Hall, Room 108 (2201 G St. NW), Washington, DC, 20052, United States
Professor Elaine K. Gazda, University of Michigan, delivers the DC-AIA Annual Howland Lecture in Classical Archaeology

Augustus’ war against Antony and Cleopatra as Seen through the Coins
2025-04-09 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Augustana College, Hanson Hall of Science, Room 102, 738 35th St, Rock Island, IL, 61201

Archaeology of the Ọyọ Empire: Domesticity of Governance & Politics of Dependency, 1600-1836
2025-04-10 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | UMass Amherst, Integrated Learning Center S211, 650 N Pleasant St, Amherst, 01003, United States
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureships
Dr. Akin Ogundiran, “Archaeology of the Ọyọ Empire: Domesticity of Governance and Politics of Dependency, 1600-1836”
Thursday, April 10 at 5:30pm EST
UMass Amherst, Integrated Learning Center S211
For Zoom attendance, register here: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/UU0SqUeGS8mVuL6k98vAnA
Between ca. 1650 and 1800, the Ọyọ Empire was the largest political formation in West Africa, south of the River Niger. Over the past twenty years, Akin Ogundiran has conducted archaeological research in the capital, colonies, and provinces of the empire to understand the strategies of Ọyọ expansion and the everyday lives of different segments of its population. In this talk, Ogundiran juxtaposes the materialities of military conquest, colonization strategies, and household politics to tell an intimate story of one of the most important imperial formations in Africa during the Early Modern Period. Here, the regional and multi-sited scope and the residential contexts of the archaeological research allow for a fine-scale understanding of how domesticity, gender, class, labor, technology, mobility, and the landscape were manipulated to fashion the Ọyọ Empire. In the process, ideas about personhood, family, and sexuality were also transformed. The archaeology of the Ọyọ Empire contributes to a truly global understanding of the Early Modern Period.
About the Speaker
Akin Ogundiran is the Cardiss Collins Professor of Arts and Sciences, Professor of History, and Courtesy Professor of Anthropology and of Black Studies at Northwestern University. He is the current President of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists. His research interests include the topics of empire and community formation in West Africa and the African Diaspora over the past 2,500 years, with emphasis on the archaeology and cultural history of the Yoruba World. Professor Ogundiran’s publications include The Yoruba: A New History (Indiana University Press, 2020), recipient of the 2022 Vinson Sutlive Book Prize and the 2022 Isaac Oluwole Delano Prize for Yoruba Studies. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a Member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.
This year’s AIA National Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lecture is co-sponsored by the AIA–Western Massachusetts Society, UMass Amherst Department of Classics, UMass Amherst Department of Anthropology, and W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies

Kush and the Roman World: Warrior Queens along the Nile
2025-04-10 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eugene Public Library, 100 W 10th Avenue, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States

Lecture: Susan Downie (Carleton University), "Sparta and Totalitarianism"
2025-04-10 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Concordia University, LB 322, 1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
On Thursday, April 10th, at 600pm, Dr. Susan Downie (Carleton University) will deliver the lecture, “Sparta and Totalitarianism,” in room LB 322 of Concordia University’s Webster Library.
Abstract
The ancient Greek city-state of Sparta has never really left the imagination of western civilization. From political philosophers like Plato and Aristotle to modern political parties such as Greece’s Χρυσή Αυγή “Golden Dawn”, the Spartan state and its citizens have represented an “ideal” for which to strive. What elements of the ancient Spartan state and society have made it the poster-child for modern Totalitarianism? Given the significant problems with our sources about ancient Sparta, can we ever understand exactly how the state and its citizens functioned, or must we forever deal with the “Spartan mirage”?

Africans, Europeans, and Finding Castle Cormantine: Archaeology and Cultural Entanglement on the 17th Century Gold Coast
2025-04-10 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Valparaiso University, Room TBA, 1700 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso, IN, 46383, United States

Augustus’ war against Antony and Cleopatra as Seen through the Coins
2025-04-11 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | University of Oklahoma, Room TBA, Norman, OK, 73019

Inside the Temple of Murals: Teen Saturdays Workshop
2025-04-12 13:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
In-Person Youth Program
Join us for an immersive virtual reality workshop at the Harvard Peabody Museum, where teens can discover the fascinating art of the ancient Maya through the Bonampak murals located in Chiapas, Mexico. Through engaging activities and discussions, teens will explore the themes depicted in these murals, including dance, music, and ceremonial rituals. In a hands-on activity, they will recreate elements from the murals using similar pigments and traditional Maya art techniques, encouraging them to appreciate the materials and methods of Maya artists.
Teen Saturday Workshops are offered bilingually in Spanish and English. They are designed to build community and improve the museum experience for multicultural teens. Snacks provided!
$10 fee includes free admission to all HMSC museums following the workshop.
Advance registration required.
Teens receive a membership worth $100 after attending three or more Teen Saturday Workshops per semester. Or, receive a free admission pass (worth $15) for a return visit if you attend one of the four sessions.
February 8: Writing Maya Glyphs
March 8: Divine Maya Cacao
April 12: Inside the Temple of Murals
May 17: Cochineal Red
Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.

A DEM-onstration of Quantitative 3D Analysis: Lower Nubia in the Recent and Distant Past
2025-04-12 15:30 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | NY
Saturday, April 12
3:30 pm EST
Penn Museum, Classroom L2
In-person; no registration required
Speaker: Rolland Long, PhD Candidate, UPenn
Title: “A DEM-onstration of Quantitative 3D Analysis: Lower Nubia in the Recent and Distant Past”
Abstract:
Soon after the declassification of satellite imagery from the CORONA satellite spy-mission in the mid-1990’s, archaeologists working around the world recognized quickly recognized their value. The spy mission, which had originally been designed to provide intelligence on Soviet bomber and missile capabilities during the Cold War, also recorded the appearance of archaeological sites and landscapes heavily altered or destroyed by recent urban development. This talk focuses on a burgeoning new application of CORONA imagery: the generation of historical Digital Elevation Models (DEM) from such images, which can yield important quantitative insights about terrain no longer in existence.
Specifically, this talk will produce several DEM’s produced over Lower Nubia, which has been subject to flooding and rising water levels since the establishment of the Aswan High Dam about half-a-century ago. Though a heroic international effort had sought to salvage as much archaeological information as possible prior to its construction, much about the ancient history of the area has been swept away forever. These DEM’s will situate the Egyptian forts of several areas, including Semna and Askut, within their larger geographical context. Certain physical features of these fortresses, such as intervisibility between forts and their proximity to overland routes, can now be verified quantitatively with these DEM’s in conjunction with GIS toolkits.
Speaker Bio:
Rolland Long is a PhD Candidate in Egyptian archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to attending Penn, he earned his BA from the University of Chicago, where he graduated with honors in Egyptology. His research focuses on the post-Middle Kingdom occupation of Wah-Sut, on which he currently dissertates, as well as the general character of ancient urbanism in Egypt. He works primarily as a field archaeologist, and has worked 7 field seasons in South Abydos with Penn.
In addition, Rolland is interested in the larger, quantitative problems that concern ancient Egypt, such as demography, as well as remote sensing and the analytical utilization of 3D modeling. He also possesses a strong curiosity regarding philology and grammar; he worked several years as a research assistant at the Chicago Demotic Dictionary (CDD) during his graduate career.
******************
Lectures are FREE to ARCE-PA chapter members, $7 for University of Pennsylvania Museum Members and UPenn Staff and Faculty, $5 for Students with ID, and $10 for the general public.
Coffee, tea, and cookies served starting at 3pm.
******************
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.

The world in between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa ∙Telling the story through museum artifacts
2025-04-14 16:30 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Princeton University, East Pyne Building 010, East Pyne Hall, Princeton, NJ, 08544
Homer A. and Dorothy B. Thompson Lectureship

What Do We Owe To Already-Looted Objects?
2025-04-14 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Cornell University, G22 Goldwin Smith Hall, Ithaca, NY, United States

The Past in the Past: Traditionalism in Archaic Crete
2025-04-14 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | NY
The Barbara Tsakirgis Memorial Lecture
Co-sponsored by the Department of Classics, Yale University

Archive Archaeology: The Invisible Hands of Colonial-Era Excavations in the Middle East
2025-04-15 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | NY

11th Century Turkey Management in the Mimbres Valley
2025-04-15 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Denver) | 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Lecture. Sean Dolan (Los Alamos Laboratories). For nearly two millennia, people in the US Southwest and Mexican Northwest have maintained a significant relationship with turkeys, a bird they domesticated for their feathers, meat, and other resources. Recent archaeological studies reveal diverse regional and temporal patterns in turkey management, but how and why did people in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico from CE 1000-1130 manage and interact with these birds? In this presentation, Sean Dolan incorporates Mimbres pottery iconography, bone isotope analysis, and ancient DNA to explore the role and treatment of turkeys in this region.

The Hidden Dead: Bioarchaeology of Ancient Maya Cave Ritual
2025-04-16 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology, Rhode Island Hall, Brown University, 60 George Street, Providence, RI, 02912, United States
Doris Z. Stone New World Archaeology Lectures

Funerary Dining or Offerings for the Dead? Archaeobotanical Evidence from the Shaft Tombs at Petra, Jordan
2025-04-16 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd, Cleveland, 44106, United States
The Frederick R. and Margaret B. Matson Lectureship for Near Eastern Archaeology and Archaeological Technology
