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) | AZ
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.
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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.
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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.

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) | AZ
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) | AZ

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

Exploring Human Origins at Kenya’s Lake Turkana
2025-04-17 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Free Public Lecture – Online & In Person
2025 Hallam L. Movius, Jr. Lecture Series
Louise Leakey, Director, Koobi Fora Research Project; Research Professor, Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University; National Geographic Explorer at Large
Kenya’s fossil-rich Turkana Basin has been—for over five decades—a cornerstone in unraveling the story of human origins in Africa. In this lecture, renowned paleoanthropologist Louise Leakey will delve into the groundbreaking discoveries at Lake Turkana, including hominins and fossil fauna that have reshaped our understanding of human ancestry. She will discuss the challenges of early exploration, and the impact of the Koobi Fora research camp, the National Museums of Kenya, and the Turkana Basin Institute, in advancing paleoscience. In closing, she will address opportunities to enhance research, collections care, and capacity-building at Lake Turkana through innovative funding, collaborations, and citizen science projects.
Advance registration recommended for in-person and online attendance. Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.
Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture, and the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University.
Louise Leakey is a third-generation Kenyan paleoanthropologist who is carrying on the legacy of the famed Leakey family in the search for human origins in Kenya’s fossil-rich Turkana Basin. A National Geographic Explorer at Large, Leakey, daughter of Meave and Richard Leakey, and granddaughter of Louis and Mary Leakey, all renowned paleoanthropologists, became actively involved in fossil discoveries at age five when she was proclaimed the youngest documented person to find a hominid fossil. Educated in the UK, she earned a PhD in Biology from University College London in 2001. Leakey also serves as a research professor in Anthropology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a research associate at the National Museums of Kenya. Louise directs the paleo-anthropological expeditions of the Koobi Fora Research Project in northern Kenya. New discoveries by her team in recent years include multiple hominin fossils, as well as the 1.5 million-year hominin trackway published in Science in 2024. A new species discovered at Lake Turkana in 1999 extended human fossil diversity back to 3.5 million years and, according to the New York Times, “overturns the prevailing view that a single line of descent stretched through the early stages of human ancestry.” Additional fossils recovered from this time period in recent years have contributed to the understanding of the diversity in the hominin fossil record. In addition to her long-term field studies in the Turkana Basin, Leakey also works closely with local communities and alongside wildlife authorities to preserve Kenya’s unique plants and animals of Kenya’s north. A lively lecturer, she gives talks and distributes science stories to Kenyan school children as part of the outreach efforts of her research project through her organization Leakey Journeys and Expeditions. Born and brought up in East Africa, she has travelled widely throughout the continent. Her family has been involved in the field of human origins for several generations and has contributed enormously to the understanding of our African origins through their work in both Kenya and Tanzania. Her family has been involved in politics and government, national museums, and wildlife conservation. Her husband, Emmanuel de Merode, is Director of Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa’s oldest national park and home to endangered mountain gorillas. His team has worked tirelessly to secure the future of this protected area through significant investments in renewable energy in this war-torn region. Louise is a mother of two adult daughters, a pilot, and an educator. She has many colorful experiences and insights to share.

Dr Eleanor Breen, "Buried Beneath the Waterfront: The Ships That Built Alexandria"
2025-04-17 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W 1st Ave, Spokane, WA, 99201, United States
Dr Eleanor Breen, Alexandria Archaeology
Founded in 1749, Alexandria, Virginia, is a vibrant city just seven miles south of Washington, D.C. In recent years, the City of Alexandria has embarked on a major revitalization of its historic waterfront, integrating new development with park and infrastructure improvements. With a nearly 50-year-old Alexandria Archaeology program and a pioneering Archaeological Protection Code, the city remains deeply committed to preserving its buried history. The code ensures that archaeological review and excavation are factored into the development process.
As plans to transform the waterfront took shape, archaeologists launched an intensive exploration of some of the most historically significant sites within the National Register Historic District. Over the past decade, excavations have uncovered the remnants of wharves, warehouses, industries, houselots, privies, and four ship hull remnants—preserved in the waterlogged soil along the Potomac River’s edge. This talk will trace the remarkable journeys of these four ships: from their time at sea to their reuse as landfill, their rediscovery centuries later, and the efforts to preserve them for future generations.

Repair and Restore: Embracing Change, Preserving Memory, and Building Community through the Conservation of Cultural Heritage
2025-04-22 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Though often understood as a purely technical or aesthetic pursuit that focuses on restoring historical objects to their former splendor, the conservation of cultural heritage is a profoundly human and complex endeavor. Objects and places gain significance from the people who make, value, and care for them. Change is inevitable and becomes part of the history of any object or place. Thus, heritage conservation is a collective undertaking that involves collaboration and community to understand both what is to be safeguarded and how to pass the object on to future generations.
Through case studies on conservation projects dealing with the Tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt and archaeological mosaics in the Mediterranean region, this presentation by architectural conservator Jeanne Marie Teutonico will highlight the fundamentally collaborative nature of cultural heritage conservation and how it engages and builds community.
Speaker: Jeanne Marie Teutonico, Architectural Conservator
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.

Monumental Queens in the Hellenistic World
2025-04-23 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | University of Buffalo, Goetz Library, Academic Center 320, 155 Lee Rd, Amherst, NY, 14228, United States

Kush and the Roman World: Warrior Queens along the Nile
2025-04-26 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | University of North Florida, Building 51 (Social Sciences), 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL, 32224, United States

New Archaeologica Discoveries in Oman - Sinbad, Pirates, and Treasures
2025-04-26 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Auditorium at the St. Louis Public Library, Olive Street, St. Louis, MO, 63103, United States
Lecture by Dr. Derek Kennet, Professor of Arabian Peninsula and Gulf State Archaeology at the University of Chicago.

Teaching Ma'at in Prison
2025-05-04 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | ARCE Egyptology Lectures Room 56 Social Sciences Building, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
The American Research Center in Egypt, Northern California chapter, and the UC Berkeley Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures invite you to attend a lecture by Dr. Rita Lucarelli, UC Berkeley:
“Teaching Ma’at in Prison”
Sunday May 4, 2025, 3 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Room 56 Social Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
This is an in-person lecture and is not virtual. No registration is required.
The lecture will be recorded.
About the Lecture:
The lecture will discuss the innovative experience of teaching a course on Ancient Egypt at San Quentin State Prison, focusing on the engagement of incarcerated students with the subject matter. Dr. Lucarelli will detail the significance of discussing concepts such as Ma’at, justice, and ethics within the context of both ancient Egyptian culture and the contemporary experiences of the students. The results indicate that the study of Egyptology offers meaningful insights for rehabilitation and education, breaking the boundaries of the prison environment and facilitating a unique learning atmosphere.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Rita Lucarelli is an Associate Professor of Egyptology in the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Culture, and the Class of 1939 Chair of Undergraduate Education. She is the Faculty Curator of Egyptology at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and a Fellow of the Digital Humanities at UC Berkeley. She is presently working at a project aiming at realizing 3D models of ancient Egyptian coffins, the Book of the Dead in 3D. She is also completing a new monograph on demonology in ancient Egypt entitled Agents of punishment and protection: ancient Egyptian Demonology in the First Millenium BCE. Dr. Lucarelli teaches, lectures and researches Egyptomania and the reception of ancient Egypt in the contemporary world, in particular on the representation of ancient Egypt in Afrofuturism. She also teaches courses of Egyptology, Comparative Religion and Interdisciplinary Writing at San Quentin State Prison through the Mount Tamalpais College (https://www.mttamcollege.org/).
Dr. Lucarelli studied at the University of Naples “L’Orientale,” Italy, where she received her MA degree in Classical Languages and Egyptology. She holds her Ph.D. from Leiden University, the Netherlands. Her Ph.D. thesis was published as The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen: Ancient Egyptian Funerary Religion in the 10th Century BC. She worked as a Research Scholar and a Lecturer at the Department of Egyptology of Bonn University, where she was part of the team of the “Book of the Dead Project”.
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Parking is available in UC lots all day on weekends, for a fee. Ticket dispensing machines accept debit or credit cards. Parking is available in lots around the Social Sciences Building, and in lots along Bancroft. A map of the campus is available online at http://www.berkeley.edu/map/ .
About Northern California ARCE:
For more information, please visit https://facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE/, https://arce-nc.org/, https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://khentiamentiu.org and https://bsky.app/profile/khentiamentiu.bsky.social. To join the chapter or renew your membership, please go to https://arce.org/membership/ and select “Berkeley, CA” as your chapter when you sign up.

The cemeteries of Deir el-Bahari and Asasif in the early Middle Kingdom: Recent work by the University of Alcalá expedition to Luxor
2025-05-10 15:30 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Saturday, May 10
3:30 pm EST
Penn Museum, Classroom L2
In-person; no registration required
Speaker: Dr. Antonio Morales, Associate Professor of Egyptology, University of Alcala
Title: The cemeteries of Deir el-Bahari and Asasif in the early Middle Kingdom: Recent work by the University of Alcalá expedition to Luxor
Abstract:
The reunification achieved during the reign of king Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II signified the emergence of a pristine Egyptian state built upon a culture of traditions and transformations centralized at Thebes. The city became a melting-pot of political, religious, and cultural decisions, mostly aiming at the reconstruction of the administrative system, the control of the land and its resources, and –more importantly– the boosting of kingship and the new dynasty. In this setting, the role of the high officials became pivotal.
In the last ten years, the University of Alcalá Expedition and its Middle Kingdom Theban Project (thebanproject.com/en/) have set up a multidisciplinary and international team of experts that is conducting archaeological excavation, epigraphic work, and conservation in the tombs of some of these officials from the late Eleventh and early Twelfth dynasties. The documentation and study of the tombs of the viziers Dagi (TT 103) and Ipi (TT 315), the hight steward Henenu (TT 313), and the overseer of prisons Djari (TT 366), among others, will no doubt allow scholars to have a better understanding of the role of Thebes in the construction of the classical age in pharaonic history: the Middle Kingdom. The ARCE-PA lecture will cover the major questions posed by this research, the major lines of investigation of the project, and the results of this expedition after ten years working in the areas of Asasif and Deir el-Bahari (2014-2024).
Speaker Bio:
Antonio Morales is Associate Professor in Egyptology in the Seminar of Ancient History at the University of Alcalá (UAH). This past January, he joined the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale University as Fulbright Visiting Scholar for one semester. In 2022, he was visiting professor at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. Previously, he was Research Associate in Egyptology at Freie Universität Berlin, postdoctoral researcher at Heidelberg Universität, and research collaborator at the Department of Egypt and Sudan in the British Museum (London). He obtained his PhD in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia 2013) with a dissertation dealing with the transmission of the Pyramid Texts from the Old to the Middle Kingdoms. Antonio Morales has participated in various expeditions to Egypt (Abydos, Dra Abu el-Naga, El-Amra, Qaw el-Kebir, Qubbet el-Hawa, Saqqara), and is currently the director of The Middle Kingdom Theban Project. He has published multiple articles in scientific journals and contributions to books, including a recent co-edition (with Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano) on Middle Kingdom archaeology and history in the Harvard Egyptological Studies (Brill 2022), and a monograph on the transmission of Pyramid Texts of Nut (Hamburg, Buske Verlag, 2019).
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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.

SAIG 2025 Dissertation Lecture: "Burial Practices, Chamber Tombs, and Non-Palatial Communities in the Mycenaean Argolid" with Sophie Cushman
2025-05-14 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | AZ
Please join the Student Affairs Interest Group for their annual Dissertation Lecture featuring Sophie Cushman, PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, for her talk, “Burial Practices, Chamber Tombs, and Non-Palatial Communities in the Mycenaean Argolid” on Wednesday, May 14th at 5:00 PM ET/2:00 PM PT. The lecture will be held on Zoom – please register here.

Abstract:
With over 4,000 documented examples, rock-carved chamber tombs were by far the most common type of tomb in Late Bronze Age Greece (ca. 1600-1070 BCE). In the Argolid in particular, over 650 chamber tombs are known. However, previous interpretations of Mycenaean burial practices in this region have focused on the same, limited number of “wealthy” cemeteries and tombs, primarily located around the Argive plain. This talk instead considers Mycenaean burial practices from a bottom-up perspective based on a comprehensive study of all known cemeteries and tombs in the Argolid, tracing developments in chamber tomb use from the adoption of the type by select groups at the transition to the Late Bronze Age to the adaptation of existing burial practices in the second half of the period. First, I analyze the chronological and geographical distribution of chamber tomb cemeteries, proving that the type was adopted throughout the entire Argolid before the institutionalization of the palatial system. In fact, very few sites adopted chamber tombs for the first time during the palatial period. This conclusion challenges existing top-down narratives that see mortuary developments in the Argolid as imposed by or radiating out from the palatial centers of Mycenae and Tiryns. Next, I identify a change in secondary burial practices at the start of the palatial period. Drawing on a wide body of anthropological and archaeological theory, I argue that local burying groups actively adapted their mortuary behavior to emphasize local, kin-based claims to resources–both material and immaterial–in response to the increasing political and economic authority of the palace centers. I ultimately suggest that the chamber tomb took on new, and potentially subversive, meanings within the context of the palatial period. By shifting focus from wealthy tombs and the palace to the decision making processes of local burying groups, this project offers a fresh perspective on Mycenaean burial practices and social structure and contributes to our knowledge of those beyond the center of Mycenaean society.

About the speaker:
Sophie Cushman is a PhD candidate in Classical Archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley. Sophie specializes in Aegean prehistory, especially the second millennium BCE. Her research focuses on burial practices, sociopolitical organization, and pottery and material culture. An active field archaeologist, Sophie has excavated on Crete and throughout the Peloponnese. She is currently a senior staff member of the Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology’s excavation and publication projects at the Sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, the multi-period cemetery of Aidonia, and Petsas House, Mycenae. Her dissertation offers the first comprehensive study of chamber tombs in the northeast Peloponnese, examining developments in burial practices from the perspective of small local communities as they responded to the increasing authority and subsequent collapse of regional centers during the Mycenaean period.

Environmental Histories Of The Ancient Mediterranean In Ten Objects
2025-05-17 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Auditorium at the St. Louis Public Library, 1301 Olive Street, St. Louis, 63103, United States
