Archaeological Institute of America

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
William E. Metcalf Lectures in Numismatics

Emeralds
2025-04-12 09:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Emeralds is a new, intimate collection of stunning crystals, gemstones, and jewelry on display in the Earth & Planetary Sciences Gallery.
Highly coveted by a wide variety of cultures, emeralds have played a significant role in shaping human history, helping to facilitate trade and even build empires. From rough stones to sophisticated jewelry, emeralds continue to captivate with their beauty and historical significance, symbolizing luxury and power across cultures and eras. While emeralds are rare, they can be found in countries throughout the world, including Colombia, Madagascar, and Egypt, to name a few. Emeralds formed inside rocks millions of years ago. Those from South Africa are known to be about 2.9 billion years old, while Colombian emeralds date back over 48 million years! The unique characteristics of emeralds provide valuable insights into the processes that formed them. With the use of new AI technologies, scientists are making major advances in unraveling their stories and tracing their origins.
Through November 30
Photo: Metamorphosis. Brooch created by Wallace Chan. Emerald 16 pcs 52.44 tcw. Diamond, Ruby, Amethyst, Citrine, Blue Topaz, Crystal, Butterfly Wings, Mother of Pearl, Tsavorite Garnet, Sapphire, Yellow Diamond, 18K. White Gold, Titanium. On loan from George and Sherry Huang Collection

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) | MI
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.

Türkiye: Ancient Splendors of the Aegean & Mediterranean
2025-04-13 - 2025-04-26 | MI
Many of the most magnificent and best-preserved ancient Greek and Roman sites are found along Türkiye’s beautiful Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. Visit world-famous, plus little-visited yet spectacular, Greco-Roman sites, Byzantine churches, Crusader castles, and Ottoman palaces. Your engaging AIA lecturer/host, Yaşar Ersoy, teaches classical art and archaeology and has been doing fieldwork in Türkiye since 1980. Throughout the program he will offer illustrated talks and informal discussions about the sites you are visiting and their places within the larger ancient Mediterranean world. Along the way, you will enjoy delicious cuisine, comfortable accommodations, and the company of a small group of like-minded fellow travelers. An expert tour manager/local guide will handle logistics and smooth the way.
Highlights:
• Visit four UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
1. Historic Areas of Istanbul, including the 6th-century Byzantine church-turned-mosque of Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace, the imperial residence of the Ottoman sultans.
2. Ephesus, the best-preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean, whose treasures include ancient villas with splendid frescoes and mosaics, and the 2nd-century A.D. Library of Celsus.
3. Aphrodisias, whose Temple of Aphrodite, tetrapylon, large stadium, and baths of Hadrian are unforgettable.
4. Hierapolis-Pamukkale, where we see the ruins of the baths and temples of a famous 2nd-century B.C. thermal spa.
• Marvel at a variety of Greco-Roman sites, including:
1. Sardis, former capital of the Lydian Empire and King Croesus, who was defeated by Persian king Cyrus the Great in 546 B.C.
2. Didyma’s 7th-century B.C. Temple of Apollo, one of the leading oracles in the ancient world; and the 4th-century B.C. Temple of Athena at Priene, which became the classical model of Greek city planning.
3. Magnesia on the Meander, renowned for its Artemis cult, which has the ruins of a well-preserved theater and a stadium that could seat 30,000 spectators.
4. Kibyra, with its magnificent stadium, odeon covered with a Medusa mosaic, late Roman bath, and underground tombs.
5. Sagalassos, a rarely visited and recently excavated site at an elevation of 5,000 feet, with breathtaking views.
6. Aspendos, with one of the best-preserved ancient theaters in the world, renowned for its acoustics; and Perge, with its splendid theater, stadium, and enormous Hellenistic and Roman gates.
• Explore several fine museum collections, including Istanbul’s Archaeological Museum, Denizli Atatürk House and Ethnographic Museum, Burdur’s Archaeological Museum, and the Antalya Archaeological Museum.
•An optional extension to central Türkiye is also available, including three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, Hattusha: the Hittite Capital, and the Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük; Ankara, with its superb Museum of Anatolian Civilizations; and Konya, the famous center of Sufi mystic Rumi and his followers.

Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East Tours Led by Harvard Students
2025-04-13 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-04-20 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-04-27 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Available during the Harvard academic year Sundays at 1:00 pm, October 6, 2024–April 27, 2025. See blackout dates.*
*Blackout dates: December 1, 2024–January 26, 2025; and March 16–23, 2025.
This free tour, led by Harvard students, explores the Mediterranean Marketplaces: Connecting the Ancient World exhibition and how the movement of goods, peoples, and ideas around the ancient Mediterranean transformed the lives and livelihoods of people at all levels of society. Touch replicas and smell “ancient” scents as the students bring the past alive.
Visitors may drop in at the scheduled times. No reservation is required. Tours meet in the lobby and last approximately 45 minutes.
Tours for groups of ten or more may be scheduled at other times. Tours may be available by advance request in these languages: Hindi, Bengali, and Mandarin.

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
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureships

The Past in the Past: Traditionalism in Archaic Crete
2025-04-14 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | MI
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) | MI

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

Bound in Stone: the Captive Body in Ancient Maya Art
2025-04-17 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Jepson Hall, Room 118, Richmond Way 221, Richmond, VA, 23226, United States
Lecture by Dr. Caitlin Early, Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Washington and Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks (AIA’s Nadzia Borowski Lecture)

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.

Uncovering the Lake George Battlefield
2025-04-17 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | MI
Uncovering the Lake George Battlefield
Speaker: Siobhan M. Hart, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Chair Anthropology Department, Skidmore College
Location: Rye Free Reading Room, Rye, NY (Virtual)
Date: April 17, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm
The Lake George Battlefield State Park (Warren County, New York) contains the remains of twenty-five years of military action and encampment spanning the French and Indian War through the American Revolution. Within the park are the intact remains of notable battles and evidence of the daily life of soldiering in the 18th century. In 1776, the area became home to the largest smallpox hospitals in the American colonies, with several thousand smallpox patients brought and cared for here. This presentation will discuss past and current archaeological research at the Lake George Battlefield State Park and a shift towards the use of non-invasive geophysical techniques, limited excavation, and existing collections research.
Siobhan Hart (she/her) is an anthropologist and professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Her work is concerned with using material culture, place, and community collaboration to address inequities in the world today. As an anthropological archaeologist, she is interested in what we know about the past, how we know it, and how it matters to people today. She is curator of the Skidmore Archaeological Collection and author of the book Colonialism, Community, and Heritage in Native New England (2019, University Press Florida).

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

The Daily Lives of Ancient Egyptian Artists
2025-04-23 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Hana Navratilova, Fellow, Royal Historical Society, UK; Supernumerary Fellow, University of Oxford, Harris Manchester College
Jaroslav Černý (1898–1970) was a distinguished Egyptologist known for his groundbreaking work on the social and cultural history of ancient Egypt, particularly the community of artisans at Deir el-Medina, a village near the Valley of the Kings. His research on ostraca (pottery sherds and limestone flakes bearing written inscriptions) and Theban “graffiti” texts is fundamental for understanding the daily lives, literacy, administration, and religious practices of ancient Egyptian artisans. In this lecture, Hana Navratilova will explore Černý’s lifelong research at Deir el-Medina, his groundbreaking studies of texts, artifacts, and the Western Theban landscape, and his indelible mark on twentieth-century Egyptology.
Free admission. Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage. Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture.
Photo: Detail of Ipuy and Wife Receive Offerings from Their Children (substantially restored), facsimile (tempera on paper) by Norman de Garis Davies (1865–1941); Rogers Fund, 1930, 30.4.114; The Metropolitan Museum of Art CC0
The original is from Deir el-Medina, New Kingdom, Ramesside,Dynasty: Dynasty 19, Reign: reign of Ramesses II, ca. 1279–1213 B.C.E.

2025 ARCE Annual meeting
2025-04-25 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square, 335 Powell St., San Francisco, CA, 94102, United States
ARCE’s Annual Meeting will take place from April 25-27, 2025, at The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square.
Join us in San Francisco for an engaging blend of in-person presentations, panels, workshops, and networking opportunities. Showcase your expertise and connect with a vibrant scholarly community as we delve into the wonders of Egyptian history, heritage, fieldwork, and technological advancements!
With lectures, panels, and dynamic discussions, the Annual Meeting offers an in-depth exploration of Egypt’s rich cultural heritage.
Discover a wide array of topics—from ancient Egypt to Islamic and Coptic studies, and cutting-edge discoveries—while engaging with leading Egyptologists and researchers.
Visit arce.org/annual-meeting to register and learn more. For assistance, please email AMHelp@arce.org.
American Research Center in Egypt
909 N Washington Street, Suite 320 | Alexandria, VA 22314
www.arce.org/

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.

Constructed Realities: Ancient Roman Triclinium Grottoes
2025-04-27 11:30 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Humanity has long sought escape from reality. Today, the options to do so are numerous and varied, from 3D movies to augmented or virtual reality, which immerse users through headsets, speakers, and other devices. However, experiential immersion existed long before the advent of modern technology. In ancient Rome, an early form of “virtual reality” could be found in artificial grottos. Triclinium grottoes and “chamber nymphaea” became incorporated into residences ranging from large scale villas to moderately sized urban houses. Though the viewer’s experience varied depending on the setting, the goal was always the same: to artificially construct the reality of a grotto in a domestic setting. Focusing on examples from the Julio-Claudian and Flavian periods, such as the dining grottoes of the Domus Transitoria in Rome and the Praedia of Julia Felix in Pompeii, this paper explores not only how the constructed realities of triclinium grottoes differed from real grottoes but also examines the various methods through which viewers were manipulated to accept these artificial grottoes as reality in different settings.

Classical Washington: Greece and Rome in the Art and Architecture of DC
2025-05-01 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | The Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN, 37203, United States
Join us for a free virtual talk on Wednesday, May 1, at 6 PM Central. Registration required.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qGNBDPkWRKWJUSOevFDg_A#/registration
Join art historian Elise Friedland for a free virtual talk on her investigation of the meaning and reception of Classical art and architecture in our nation’s capital.
Washington, D.C., is a city like no other in the United States. A Greek Doric temple (the Lincoln Memorial) sits at one end of the city’s central forum (The Mall), housing a colossal cult statue (Abraham Lincoln). A Roman triumphal arch monumentalizes the front of the main train depot (Union Station). Roman equestrian statues stand amidst circular plazas, celebrating victorious American generals (Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Plaza). This talk explores the role of Greek and Roman art and architecture in the planning, building and decorating of America’s capital city.
This discussion provides broader historical perspective for Neoclassical architecture in Nashville, especially the choice of Neoclassical models and styles used for the Centennial Exposition of 1897.
This lecture is the Archaeological Institute for America John H. and Penelope Biggs Lecture for 2025, a grant awarded to the AIA Nashville Society.

Excavating a Shipwrecked Marble Column Destined for the Temple of Apollo at Claros
2025-05-04 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | MI
Excavating a Shipwrecked Marble Column Destined for the Temple of Apollo at Claros
Dr. Deborah N. Carlson
Professor, Sara W. and George O. Yamini Endowed Family Chair in Nautical Archaeology
President of Institute of Nautical Archaeology
Nautical Program Coordinator
Texas A&M
Between 2005 and 2011, researchers from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University excavated and raised the remains of an ancient ship that was wrecked off the Aegean coast of Turkey at Kızılburun in the first century B.C. This ship was transporting about 60 tons of white marble blocks and architectural elements that originated in the quarries on Proconnesus Island in the Sea of Marmara. Ceramic artifacts and coins help narrow the date of the shipwreck, but the pieces of a single monumental Doric column suggest that the ship was destined for one of the most important oracular sanctuaries in the ancient Mediterranean. Join underwater archaeologist Deborah Carlson as she lays out the evidence to solve this maritime mystery!

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.

AIA-Nashville Society Book Club
2025-05-05 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | The Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN, 37203, United States
Join the Parthenon and AIA-Nashville Society for a free Book Club meeting on Monday, May 5, at 6 PM. This event is free and open to the public, with RSVP required. All are welcome.
RSVP Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/parthenon-book-club-the-last-painting-of-sara-de-vos-tickets-1118053420879?aff=oddtdtcreator
Mention “Book Club” at the Ticket Counter, receive free admission, and proceed to the Treasury on Level 2 for the friendly, informal discussion.
THIS QUARTER’S BOOK SELECTION: We will be discussing The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith. Reserve your seat with a free RSVP.
Looking to purchase the book? Head over to Parnassus Books and mention the Archaeological Institute of America-Nashville Society book club at the Parthenon for a 10% discount.
ABOUT THE BOOK: The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
Description from Nashville Public Library:
“Written in prose so clear that we absorb its images as if by mind meld, “The Last Painting” is gorgeous storytelling: wry, playful, and utterly alive, with an almost tactile awareness of the emotional contours of the human heart. Vividly detailed, acutely sensitive to stratifications of gender and class, it’s fiction that keeps you up at night — first because you’re barreling through the book, then because you’ve slowed your pace to a crawl, savoring the suspense.” — Boston Globe
Amsterdam, 1631: Sara de Vos becomes the first woman to be admitted as a master painter to the city’s Guild of St. Luke. Though women do not paint landscapes (they are generally restricted to indoor subjects), a wintry outdoor scene haunts Sara: She cannot shake the image of a young girl from a nearby village, standing alone beside a silver birch at dusk, staring out at a group of skaters on the frozen river below. Defying the expectations of her time, she decides to paint it.
New York City, 1957: The only known surviving work of Sara de Vos, At the Edge of a Wood , hangs in the bedroom of a wealthy Manhattan lawyer, Marty de Groot, a descendant of the original owner. It is a beautiful but comfortless landscape. The lawyer’s marriage is prominent but comfortless, too. When a struggling art history grad student, Ellie Shipley, agrees to forge the painting for a dubious art dealer, she finds herself entangled with its owner in ways no one could predict.
Sydney, 2000: Now a celebrated art historian and curator, Ellie Shipley is mounting an exhibition in her field of specialization: female painters of the Dutch Golden Age. When it becomes apparent that both the original At the Edge of a Wood and her forgery are en route to her museum, the life she has carefully constructed threatens to unravel entirely and irrevocably.
2024 BOOK CLUB DATES:
Monday, August 4, 2025 — Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters by Emily Roberson
Monday, November 3, 2025 — The Feather Thief by Kirk W. Johnson
BOOK CLUB SPONSOR: AIA-Nashville Society
The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) promotes archaeological inquiry and public understanding of the material record of the human past to foster an appreciation of diverse cultures and our shared humanity. The AIA supports archaeologists, their research and its dissemination, and the ethical practice of archaeology. The AIA educates people of all ages about the significance of archaeological discovery and advocates for the preservation of the world’s archaeological heritage. Learn more.
ADDITIONAL BOOK CLUB SPONSORS:
Centennial Park Conservancy
Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation
