Archaeological Institute of America

Of Cities and Landscapes: Results from the Polatlı (Türkiye) Landscape Archaeology and Survey Project (PLAS)
2024-10-29 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Presented by Asst. Prof. Müge Durusu-Tanriover, Temple University
Polatlı Landscape Archaeology and Survey Project (PLAS) is a regional survey covering the district of Polatlı in Ankara (the capital of Türkiye), primarily known for its first millennium BCE archaeological heritage featuring the Phrygian capital, Gordion. Since its inception in 2019, PLAS has aimed to shed light on the relatively under-studied Bronze Age in this region, with a particular focus on investigating the Hittite Empire’s imperial strategies along its western border. In this talk, I will present the results of four seasons of fieldwork conducted between 2019 and 2023.

Radical Sovereignty: Documenting Indigenous Autonomy Across Indian Country During the Boarding School Era
2024-10-29 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the U.S. federal government engaged in a systematic project of conquest through civilization. A key facet of this imperial endeavor by the imposition of Western forms of architecture onto Indigenous landscapes, including day and boarding schools. These concrete structures were accompanied by assimilationist policies that imposed the English language, Christianity, sedentism, agriculture, nuclear households, and “civilized dress” onto Indigenous people. While day and boarding schools were part of an oppressive colonial system, these institutions also existed within a broader set of everyday place-making practices informed by Indigenous cultural values and goals.
Collectively, Native place-making practices represent what Laura Harjo calls “radical sovereignty”; spatial expressions of Indigenous worldviews that ensured community futurity. Drawing on archival evidence from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Jesse
H. Bratley collections at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and object-based interviews conducted with tribal members, I document acts of radical sovereignty on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota and the Cheyenne and Arapaho reserve in Oklahoma. This comparative approach points to the central role of mobility and kinship networks in facilitating Lakota, Cheynne, and Arapaho autonomy and the collective survival of these communities.
Register online here: https://oklahoma.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUocOiupzMjGtSuPmwzxcxJQzs7cwZRFMfA

“When Informants Become Knowledge Producers: Rethinking Great Zimbabwe”
2024-10-30 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
Lecture by Prof. Shadreck Chirikure, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford: Using the lenses of insurgent scholarship, this paper addresses itself to a contradiction that characterised southern African archaeology from the 1980s and has residuals in the present. Archaeology in Africa’ southern third, like elsewhere, was introduced as a tool of empire. The first westerners (antiquarians) to encounter Great Zimbabwe speculated that it was exotic in origin because Africans lacked capacity to make such a unique achievement. Professional archaeologists such as Gertrude Caton-Thompson overturned this exotic origins speculation. Interestingly, both antiquarians and professional archaeologists relied on local informants to explain features and identify material culture at Great Zimbabwe and related sites. Both groups collected ethnographies and oral traditions from African informants who were never mentioned by name in publications. The first cohort of homegrown archaeologists emerged in the 1980s when Zimbabwe achieved independence. Inevitably, some of the interpretations by established western archaeologists came under challenge. In defence, some professional archaeologists insinuated that indigenous archaeologists did not know features they were excavating. Ironically, they provided information used by western archaeologists to interpret the same features! What new meanings emerge when experiential knowledge is combined with scientific approaches to reignite a homegrown understanding of Great Zimbabwe? We use the results of new excavations and scientific work performed at Great Zimbabwe over the past ten years, to develop new interpretations of everyday life, urbanism and economic connections at various scales.

The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks and World Heritage
2024-10-30 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Siegal Lifelong Learning Auditorium, Landmark Centre, 25700 Science Park Dr #100, Beachwood, 44122, United States
Ohio’s Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks are enormous earthen enclosures, many in precise geometric shapes, that were built 2,000 years ago by Native Americans known today as the Hopewell. Their creators designed the earthworks as places of ceremony, connecting them to the cosmos by aligning them with carefully observed movements of the moon and sun, including those of an 18.6-year lunar cycle. Dr. Brad Lepper (Ohio History Connection) and Chief Glenna Wallace (Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma) will discuss the history, function, astonishing complexity, and contemporary Indigenous views of the earthworks on the occasion of their recent designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—the first in Ohio and 25th in the United States. Wallace and Lepper both participated in preparing the UNESCO nomination, the result of a multi-year effort by a broad group of partners.
THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY OHIO HUMANITIES, A STATE AFFILIATE OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES

“Hercules and Holy Water” (Professor Ann Glennie)
2024-10-31 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | College of the Holy Cross, Smith Labs 154 (Fauci Integrated Science Complex), College Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, 01610, United States
While in the common imagination, Hercules might be most well known for his heroic deeds and feats of strength, across the ancient Mediterranean he was also a deity closely associated with fresh water. In one of his canonical labors in Greece, he dug canals to redirect the Alpheus and Peneus rivers to clean out the notoriously filthy stables of Augeus. In yet another Greek labor, he cleared the deadly birds from the banks of the Stymphalian Lake to make this body of water and the surrounding countryside safe to its inhabitants once more. During his exploits in Italy, he was responsible for the creation of several freshwater springs across the peninsula. And even the story of his defeat of the monster Cacus in the area which would become Rome’s Forum Boarium, or cattle market, reveals his long term connection with the economically important Tiber River. At the colony of Cosa, founded by the Romans in southern Tuscany in 273 BCE, Hercules was also a crucial figure. This settlement had no natural source of water and therefore utilized rainwater harvesting to provide this vital resource to the colony. The colony’s chief temple, which had its own water cistern, appears to have been dedicated to Hercules, in part because of his freshwater associations, if not also for his association with salubrity via water.

The Impact of Roman Military Presence on the Arid Landscapes of Southern Jordan and Israel
2024-11-01 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Provincial Archives Building, UNB Campus, 23 Dineen Drive, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 5H1, Canada
The Frederick R. and Margaret B. Matson Lectureship for Near Eastern Archaeology and Archaeological Technology

New Hampshire Archeological Society Annual Meeting
2024-11-02 10:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Manchester Community College – Student Union, 1066 Front St, Manchester, NH, 03102, United States
Zoom options available
Speakers will include:
William Griswold, Ph.D., retired National Park Service (NPS) archeologist. Owner of Hadley Woods Archaeological Services, LLC in Nashua, NH.. Reconstructing the Beginning of the second Revolutionary War battle of Saratoga
Mark Doperalski, NH State Archaeologist, Updates from SCRAP Work at Mollidgewock State Park
Kimberly Kulesza, Behavioral & Social Science Program Coordinator, Manchester Community College, Navigating Sacred Spaces: Cosmoeconomics and Religious Hybridization in Viking and Early Medieval Gotland
Bruce Bradley PhD., Principal Investigator, Wallace Ruin Project, Museum of Primitive Technology.Cortez, Colorado, Recent Developments at the Wallace Ruins Site

Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East Tours Led by Harvard Students
2024-11-03 13:00 - 14:00, 2024-11-10 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.

Uncovering Easter Island
2024-11-03 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | https://csudh.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrcOGhrjktHdyFdkpLjqa_0Id9htgaTUyt
Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg
Director, UCLA Rock Art Archive
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA
Easter Island, more correctly known as Rapa Nui, is a small, remote island in the Southeast Pacific discovered and settled by Polynesian mariners ca. AD 1000. It was rediscovered by the Dutch in 1722 and, since then, has captured the world’s attention and admiration. Basic to that phenomenon are hundreds of perplexing monolithic statues (moai) dotting the Rapa Nui landscape. This presentation celebrates four decades of community archaeology, tackles persistent speculations about settlement origins and moai meaning but also raises a new question: Why is the Rapa Nui past important to those of us living in the modern world?
This event will be hybrid – please join us in-person at 1201 9th St. in Manhattan Beach, or via Zoom.

AIA-Nashville Society Book Club: Pericles and Aspasia
2024-11-04 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Nashville Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN, 37203, United States
Join us for a free AIA-Nashville Society Book Club meeting at the Nashville Parthenon on Monday, November 4, 2024, at 6 PM. This event is free and open to the public, with RSVP required. All are welcome. 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 Pericles and Aspasia by Yvonne Korshak. 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: Pericles and Aspasia by Yvonne Korshak
Description from Nashville Public Library:
Two lovers crest the wave of the golden age of Athens: Pericles, statesman and general, and Aspasia, his courtesan, a philosopher’s daughter, and a brilliant woman in her own right. In a world of hierarchies, he is at the top when she arrives as little more than flotsam cast up on Athenian shores. Their love transcends social sanctions, enduring and deepening despite the grave threat it presents to Pericles’ reputation as a leader of the Athenian democracy.
The novel unfolds against the background of the arts and history of the Golden Age, seen through the eyes of two individuals who lent their particular brilliance to make it “golden”: Pericles, the great orator and visionary of democracy, and its most influential woman, Aspasia. Their story takes them from the Agora-Athens’ marketplace to the Acropolis, from the raunchy Athenian Port Piraeus mercantile across the Aegean Sea to East Greece. Pericles and Aspasia—together and apart—navigate treacherous paths from venal calculations to impassioned philosophical inquiry, from high-stakes sea battles to the passions of family life.
Pericles and Aspasia engages issues that are vital today—the paradoxes of democracy, the tensions of hierarchy, the ironies of gender, and others—but this novel is immersed in classical Athens: the city, its sunshine, its physical presence, its people, and their struggles and aspirations.
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
PREVIOUS AIA-NASHVILLE SOCIETY BOOK CLUB SELECTIONS:
The Art of the Con: the Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World discussed August 5, 2024
Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes discussed May 6, 2024
Digging for Richard III by Mike Pitts discussed February 5, 2024
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood discussed November 13, 2023
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips discussed August 21, 2023
Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker discussed May 8, 2023
Circe by Madeline Miller discussed February 22, 2023

The Ancient Egyptian Prisoner Statues: Manifestations of Pharaoh’s Power
2024-11-06 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Emory University, White Hall, Room 103, 301 Dowman Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322, United States

Experiencing Epiphany in the Ancient Greek Sanctuary presented by Dr. Jess Paga (William & Mary)
2024-11-06 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Eaton Humanities, 1610 Pleasant Street, Boulder, CO, 80309, United States
Sensory studies of embodiment have gained traction in recent years as unparalleled tools for examining the vicissitudes of ancient lived experience. When used in conjunction with cognitive studies, it becomes possible to tease out the links between (over)stimulation, deprivation, and religious transformation. Kinesthetics, in particular, can facilitate a nuanced embodied account of approach, (in)accessibility, and viewshed orchestration, by prioritizing the role of the body in movement within the landscapes and edifices of the built environment. The intersection of space, place, and body within the religious setting of the sanctuary thus becomes a nexus of gradually unfolding experience, understanding, and transformation.
Through a series of three case studies drawn from the 5th-3rd c. BCE, this talk reveals the role of multisensory experience in the religious transformation that lies at the heart of Greek ritual practice by foregrounding kinesthetics as the link between the human participant and sacred built environment.

Decolonizing Museums and the Case of the 'Elgin Marbles': Exceptionalism vs Solidarity
2024-11-07 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Edmonton) | Tory Breezeway 1, University of Alberta, 6-5 Humanities Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E5, Canada
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureships

Collecting the Ancient World: Early Explorations, Encyclopedic Museums, and World's Exhibitions
2024-11-07 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Denver) | Strand Union Building 235, Montana State University, 613 West Harrison Street, Bozeman, MT, 59715, United States
Kershaw Lectures in Near East Archaeology

When Democracies Vote to Overthrow Themselves: Lessons from Classical Athens.
2024-11-07 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Rome) | John Cabot University – Room F.G.4 @ Frohring Campus, Lungotevere Raffaello Sanzio, Roma, Città metropolitana di Roma Capitale, 00153, Italy
Democracy most often ends not with a violent spasm, but with a vote.
Oligarchic challengers leverage their small numbers to coordinate dis-informing campaigns, hoping that enough citizens will withhold their support for democratic rule. Already in the fifth- and fourth-centuries BCE, Greek democracies experimented with strategies to overcome these problems, such as the Solonian law against political neutrality and tyrant-killing legislation.
This talk will demonstrate the continuing relevance of ancient political theory and practice to contemporary democratic politics.
About the speaker:
Prof. Robert Sobak (Bowdoin College, USA) is a Greek historian researching the emergence of collective intelligence among laborers in Democratic Athens.
The AIA has selected this talk as one of the “Alan Boegehold Lectures in Athenian Archaeology and Letters” for the academic year 2024/2025.

The Representation of Ramses II's Enemies in the Battle of Kadesh Reliefs
2024-11-07 19:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Wilson Hall 168, 301 Sparkman Drive Northwest, Huntsville, AL, 35816, United States

“the way we lived was shaped by objects”: Contemporary Reflections on Black Materiality
2024-11-08 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | The Standish Room, Science Library, UAlbany Uptown Campus, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY, 12222, United States
Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship

Sailing at the Edge of Empire: The Roman Red Sea and Beyond
2024-11-08 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Toledo Museum of Art, 2445 Monroe St, Toledo, OH, 43620, United States
The George F. Bass Lectures

Animating Ancient Assyria: Teen Saturdays Workshop
2024-11-09 13:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Take a time machine to an ancient Assyrian royal palace! In this workshop, teens will be introduced to augmented reality using Snapchat features to overlay digital content on exhibits.
Explore art from 640 BCE that depicts royal victories, lion hunts, epic battles, and ancient rituals. Watch stone monuments spring to life with color and movement. Through activities, teens will decide what other exhibits should get the Snapchat lens treatment.
Teen Saturdays Workshops are designed to build community and improve the museum experience for multicultural and Spanish-speaking teens. Workshops are presented bilingually in Spanish and English. Snacks provided!
$10 fee includes free admission to all HMSC museums following the workshop.
Teens in high school ages 14–18 receive a membership worth $100 after attending three or more 2024 fall semester Teen Saturday Workshops. Or, receive a free admission pass (worth $15) for a return visit if you attend one of the four sessions.
September 14: Inside Egyptian Tombs
October 5: Creative 3D Design
November 9: Animating Ancient Assyria
December 7: Marvelous Holograms
Bring a smartphone. A limited number of tablets will be available for loan. Make a note on your registration form if you want to borrow one.
Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.

No Ordinary Dogs: Canine Behavior in Theban Tombs
2024-11-09 15:30 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
In-person lecture
Saturday, November 9, 3:30 pm EST
Penn Museum, Classroom 2
Speaker: Dr. Chelsea Kaufman
Title: No Ordinary Dogs: Canine Behavior in Theban Tombs
Abstract:
The wall scenes of the rock-cut Theban tombs of the New Kingdom are filled with richly painted imagery that captures the lives and beliefs of the people who built them, offering modern viewers a window through which to recognize and relate to a distant past. Depictions of familiar animals abound in tomb scenes, but perhaps no animal is more familiar to a modern viewer than the domestic dog. Scholars have long been drawn to and commented on canine imagery in Egyptian tombs, often remarking on their proficiency as hunting hounds and their status as beloved companions, many of which were endearingly named and shown alongside the tomb owner receiving offerings. But is there more to the icon than a testament to a cherished pet? Past approaches to dogs in Egyptian art have taken an anthropocentric view, focusing on what dogs tell us about the lives of people while ignoring the animal’s unique ethology. As this talk will show, applying an ethological approach to the images of dogs in tomb scenes can offer a nuanced understanding of the dog’s role within the scenes and the scene itself.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Chelsea L. Kaufman recently received her Ph.D in Near Eastern Studies from Johns Hopkins University. Her dissertation research centered on representations of domestic dogs in 18th Dynasty Theban tombs, applying an ethological approach to better understand the role that dogs played both in funerary art and society. Kaufman holds a master’s degree in archaeology from Yale and a bachelor’s degree in art from Moravian University, focusing on studio art, art history, and archaeology. She has 10 years of archaeological survey, excavation, and illustration experience within and outside of Egypt including the Mut Temple Precinct in Karnak, Deir el-Medina, the Outer Hebrides, and various historic and prehistoric sites throughout northeastern Pennsylvania and Alabama. Kaufman’s interests are varied, being involved in an ongoing experimental Egyptian metalworking project both before and during her dissertation research. Kaufman is currently working on publishing her dissertation and expanding on topics within it through a series of upcoming articles.
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Registration is NOT required. 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.

Archaeology Day Fair
2024-11-10 11:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Come learn about archaeology with faculty and graduate students in the Classics, Archaeology and Religion and Anthropology Departments! Join us on Lowry Mall and the Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri for some fun all-ages educational activities and demonstrations, fieldwork presentations by local archaeologists, tours of the university collections, and a bake sale!

Harry’s Bracelet: a Canadian battlefield archaeology case study
2024-11-10 14:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | University of Ottawa Desmarais Building DMS 1110 (main floor), Laurier Avenue East 55, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada
A bracelet found in a slit trench in Normandy in 2014 led to the identification of Harry Edward Fox, a Canadian Gunner who fought during the Second World War and returned to Canada. Denis Renaud identified this soldier in 2017 and connected with his family. Harry passed away in 2005. This discovery is a case study for Battlefield Archaeology in Canada.
Denis Renaud is an archaeologist who has been teaching archaeology at the University of Ottawa since 2003.His interest in the military started as a young child and this childhood hobby became his passion. In 2008, his book of short stories about French-Canadian soldiers was published in France. His field of research shifted from his initial specialization in ancient Greece after completing a degree in battlefield archaeology in Paris in 2013. Over the years, he participated in digs in Greece, France, and Canada.

Harry’s Bracelet: a Canadian battlefield archaeology case study
2024-11-10 14:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | University of Ottawa Desmarais Bldg., DMS 1110, Laurier Avenue East 55, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada
A bracelet found in a slit trench in Normandy in 2014 led to the identification of Harry Edward Fox, a Canadian Gunner who fought during the Second World War and returned to Canada. Denis Renaud identified this soldier in 2017 and connected with his family. Harry passed away in 2005. This discovery is a case study for Battlefield Archaeology in Canada.

Dr. Eric Cline - 1177 BC and After: The Collapse and Survival of Civilizations
2024-11-12 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus, Baltimore, Maryland, 21210, United States
Dr. Cline will discuss what happened after the Bronze Age world of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean collapsed. He will highlight why some civilizations endured, some gave way to new ones, and some disappeared forever. It is a story of resilience, transformation, and success, as well as failures, in an age of chaos and reconfiguration.

Treasures from the Sea Floor: Military Finds from the Battle of the Aegates Islands
2024-11-12 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | https://blogspot.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5470d27c613f2c360d4f786a8&id=bf6706d199&e=7b113911eb
Dr. Andrew L. Goldman, Professor of History, Gonzaga University
On 10 March, 241 BCE, the final naval battle of the First Punic War was fought off western Sicily, where a large Roman fleet engaged an equally large Carthaginian fleet near the Aegates Islands. Almost 2300 years later, the battle site has been located. Between 2005 and 2024, a wide scatter of artifacts has been raised from the sea floor, relics from the first maritime battlefield of ancient times which has ever been explored. This lecture will discuss briefly the field project and its background, followed by an overview of the major finds, including some of the earliest Latin inscriptions and Roman iconographic representations ever discovered. Among the more important artifacts brought to the surface are the military equipment finds: helmets, swords, and sling bullets.

Forever Is Now: Contemporary Art at the Pyramids of Giza
2024-11-13 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, Founder & Curator, CulturVator|Art D’Égypte
Forever Is Now is a contemporary art exhibition at the 4500-year-old UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Pyramids of Giza. Against the backdrop of ancient Egypt’s cultural heritage, the contemporary installations are a testament to the continual evolution of art, the transformative power of storytelling, and cross-cultural exchange. Join Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, founder of CulturVator|Art D’Égypte, to explore how contemporary art intersects with ancient history, and how artists from diverse backgrounds use this historical space to celebrate humanity’s timelessness and the search for meaning and connection in art.
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: Hesham E. Saifi

Age of Wolf and Wind: The Viking World and the Norse Settlement of the North Atlantic
2024-11-13 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Siegal Lifelong Learning Auditorium, Landmark Centre, 25700 Science Park Dr #100, Beachwood, 44122, United States
The Vikings continue to fascinate us because their compelling stories connect with universal human desires for exploration and adventure. In Age of Wolf and Wind: Voyages through the Viking World, Dr. Davide Zori (Baylor University) argues that recent advances in excavation and archaeological science, coupled with a re-evaluation of oral traditions and written sources, inspire the telling of new and engaging stories that further our understanding of the Viking Age. Drawing upon his fieldwork experience across the Viking world, he proposes that the best method for weaving together these narratives is a balanced, interdisciplinary approach that integrates history, archaeology, and new scientific techniques. The dialogues he creates between these three separate data sets result in an entanglement of confirmation (texts, archaeology, and science affirming the same story), contradiction (texts, archaeology, and science telling incompatible stories) and complementarity (texts, archaeology, and science contributing mutually enriching stories). This optimistic yet critical treatment of the sources allows for a holistic picture of the Viking Age to emerge. This lecture presents the general arguments of Dr. Zori’s book before offering a case study of this approach from his research on Viking Age Iceland. He examines the Viking experience in Iceland through the discoveries and excavations of the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP) in Iceland’s Mosfell Valley. His team’s work brings together the disciplines of archaeology, history, saga studies, osteology, zoology, paleobotany, genetics, isotope studies, place-names studies, environmental science, and historical architecture. The decade-long research of MAP has led to the discovery of an exceptionally well-preserved Viking chieftain’s farmstead, including a longhouse, a pagan cremation site, a conversion-era stave church, and a Christian graveyard. The results of this interdisciplinary work offer a new view into the Viking Age in Iceland.

Archaeology & Ale: Suhar, An Early Medieval Port on the Indian Ocean
2024-11-13 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
In this presentation Dr. Derek Kennet, Howard E. Hallengren Professor in Arabian Peninsula and Gulf States Archaeology, ISAC, University of Chicago, will discuss one of the most important and least understood periods in the development of the world economy. About 1,200 years ago, at a time when the early Islamic empire of the Abbasids in the Middle East and Tang China were the two global economic superpowers, merchant seafarers began—for the first time in history—sailing directly from the Middle East to China. Their activities brought the two ends of the known world into close contact and seem to represent the first steps towards the development of the modern global economy. Despite their important contribution, almost nothing is known of these seafarers, who they were or how they operated. All that is left to us is the archaeological evidence at port sites around the Indian Ocean. But how do we turn this evidence into a history of trade? Derek Kennet will set out some examples and ideas and describe the current UChicago (ISAC) excavations at Suhar (Sultanate of Oman). Warning: this talk is really only suitable for people who like long, hot sandy beaches, palm groves and exotic locations. Piña coladas are recommended.

POSTPONED AIA Archaeology Hour with Alison Futrell: The People's Arena
2024-11-13 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
Apologies–this event is canceled. We will put information out about rescheduling when available!
