Archaeological Institute of America

Street Theater: A Pompeian Neighborhood in Five Acts
2022-04-14 19:00 (America/Denver) | CU Boulder ECCR 265, 2055 Regent Dr, Boulder, 80305
Russell Lecture

Ruined Gardens of Babylon: Dark Ecology and Heritage Politics in the Middle East
2022-04-14 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Kershaw Lecture

Street Theater: A Pompeian Neighborhood in Five Acts by Dr. Jeremy Hartnett
2022-04-14 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Denver)
When we think of Roman cities, it is tempting to conjure images of temples, baths, and amphitheaters. This talk storms into the narrow streets of Pompeii to make the case that, for most Romans, the real action happened on the neighborhood level. As told through five different stories, we will see how ancient historians repopulate “empty” ancient spaces with a raucous cast of upper-class politicians, slaves, hucksters, donkeys, and so many more – all trying to scratch out a living, make their mark, and upstage competitors in the street.

Bronze Age Monkeys and the Case for Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration
2022-04-14 19:30 (America/New_York) | Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Avenue, Rochester, NY, 14607, United States
Eisenpreis Lecture

The Wakefield Rail Yard - NH Archeology Month
2022-04-16 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Victoria Bunker, Principal Archeologist, Victoria Bunker Inc, Recipient of the NHAS Chester Price Award 2022
Archeological survey conducted for the Wakefield Heritage Commission resulted in the definition of the Turntable Park Archeological Site, an important cultural resource within the Sanbornville Historic Area. Features and components corresponding to the nineteenth-twentieth century rail yard were recorded through historic research, field documentation and ground penetrating radar; with some surprises. REGISTER: bit.ly/22signupNHAS

Listing the Potter Paleo Indian Site on the National Register of Historic Places - NH Archeology Month
2022-04-18 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Richard Boisvert, New Hampshire Archeological Society
Presentation of the process of placing the Potter site on the National Register of Historic Places. This involves integrating the summary of the field work, laboratory work and the large amount of research analysis performed by many different individuals over nearly two decades into a suitable format. The process involves multiple layers of review at both the state and federal level as well as coordination with staff of the Keeper of the National Register. REGISTER: bit.ly/22signupNHAS

The Lost Valley of the Crescent Moon: 30 years of research in Petra, Jordan
2022-04-20 | TBA (Austin), Austin, TX, United States
Joukowsky Lecture

Cochineal: How Mexico Made the World See Red (Online Exhibit Spotlight) / Cochinilla: Cómo México Hizo que el Mundo Viera el Rojo (Exposición en Línea)
2022-04-20 - 2022-12-31 | Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (Virtual), 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Cochineal, a tiny insect found on certain species of Oaxacan cacti, was harvested for millennia by Indigenous peoples to dye fabrics a vibrant red color. But following the European invasion of the Americas in the sixteenth century, it became a widely coveted, globally traded commodity that transformed textiles and art, and made Mexico a center for technological innovation. Cochineal: How Mexico Made the World See Red explores how this Indigenous technology changed the world, becoming an international symbol of power, while simultaneously disenfranchising its discoverers.
La cochinilla, un diminuto insecto que se encuentra en ciertas especies de cactus oaxaqueños, fue cosechada durante milenios por los pueblos indígenas para teñir las telas de un vibrante color rojo. Pero tras la invasión europea de las Américas en el siglo XVI, se convirtió en un producto ampliamente codiciado y comercializado a nivel mundial que transformó los tejidos y el arte, y convirtió a México en un centro de innovación tecnológica. Cochinilla: Cómo México Hizo que el Mundo Viera el Rojo explora cómo esta tecnología indígena cambió el mundo, convirtiéndose en un símbolo internacional de poder, al tiempo que privaba de derechos a sus descubridores.

Geographic Information Systems in Archaeology – NH Archeology Month
2022-04-20 07:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Heather Rockwell, Assistant Professor, Salve Regina University
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has become the industry standard for recording site locations and building statewide databases. It has also helped us to explore the relationships between sites in new ways. This talk will discuss what GIS is and what it can do and show a few examples of projects where the presenter utilized this technology to explore archaeology in New England and beyond. REGISTER: bit.ly/22signupNHAS

Mexican Red: The Perfect Color that Changed the World (Free Virtual Event) / Rojo Mexicano: El Color Perfecto que Cambió el Mundo (Conferencia Virtual Gratuita)
2022-04-20 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico, Harvard University
Cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) is a small insect that produces a brilliant red pigment. Found in textiles, paintings, cosmetics, and many other objects that span the globe, cochineal is an integral part of world history. Cochineal pigment was used by Mesoamerican peoples long before the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century. After being introduced to Europe, it quickly became a precious commodity and control over its global trade was a source of conflict and competition for over three centuries. In this lecture, Gabriela Soto Laveaga will trace the fascinating history of cochineal production and the many efforts to control its trade.
Presented in English with live Spanish interpretation by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture in collaboration with the Mexico Program​​​​​​​ of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.
Visit the related bilingual online exhibit launching April 20, Cochineal: How Mexico Made the World See Red, at https://hmsc.harvard.edu/exhibit-spotlight.
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La cochinilla (Dactylopius coccus) es un pequeño insecto que produce un pigmento rojo brillante. Utilizada en textiles, pinturas, cosméticos y muchos otros objetos alrededor del mundo, la cochinilla es una parte integral de la historia mundial. La grana cochinilla fue utilizada por los pueblos mesoamericanos mucho antes de la llegada de los españoles en el siglo XVI. Una vez introducida en Europa, se convirtió rápidamente en un bien preciado y el control de su comercio mundial fue fuente de conflictos y competencia durante más de tres siglos. En esta conferencia, Gabriela Soto Laveaga recorrerá la fascinante historia de la producción de grana cochinilla y los numerosos esfuerzos por controlar su comercio.
Presentada en inglés con interpretación en vivo en español por el Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard Museums of Science & Culture y el Programa de México del David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.
Visite la exposición bilingüe en línea que se inaugurará el 20 de abril del 2022, Cochinilla: Cómo México Hizo que el Mundo Viera el Rojo, en https://hmsc.harvard.edu/exhibit-spotlight.

Decorated Caves of the Pyrenees & the Rhone Valley
2022-04-21
Discover a collection of magnificent but largely unheralded examples of Ice Age art while in the company of acclaimed paleoanthropologist and popular trip leader Ian Tattersall. Admire unusual, elegant bas-relief animal images in Basque caves, a profusion of handprints at Gargas, and the famous panels of line-drawn and subtly shaded bison, horse, and ibex at Niaux. The trip concludes with a visit to the spectacular Chauvet cave replica at Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, which expertly re-creates the earliest, and perhaps most impressive, of the many masterpieces of Ice Age art dated to some 35,000 years ago. Enjoy fine food and delightful accommodations while an expert trip manager handles all the logistics.

The Power of Antiquity in the Making of Modern Egypt (Free Virtual Lecture)
2022-04-21 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Wendy Doyon, Historian of Archaeology and Modern Egypt
Ancient Egypt conjures images of pharaonic temples, tombs, and pyramids, and perhaps, even the familiar illustrations from children’s books and magazines showing kilted workers on the Nile toiling away on their kings’ great monuments. But what is the relationship between these images—along with the deep history they evoke and the processes of discovery that made them visible—and the history of modern Egypt? In this talk, Wendy Doyon will discuss the relationship between state, archaeology, and labor in Mehmed (or Muhammad) Ali’s Egypt—an autonomous khedival, or viceregal, state within the late Ottoman Empire—and explain how the power of the Egyptian state in the nineteenth century was built, in large part, on the creation of modern antiquities land and the organization of Egyptian workers as state assets controlled by Mehmed Ali Pasha and his dynasty-building successors.
Presented by Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and Harvard Museums of Science & Culture

Why We Repatriate: 15 Years on the Arc of Restorative Justice at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science
2022-04-21 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, 2316 West 1st Avenue, Spokane, WA, 99201, United States

This Land Will Perish Having Ruined France:” Geospatial Analysis of Frontier Instability in Northeastern America - NH Archeology Month
2022-04-21 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Matthew D. O’Leary, Doctoral Student, Syracuse University
This presentation discusses the construction of the Anglo-French frontier in Northeastern America, with specific focus on European fortifications. Forts across the Northeast shifted from defense against Amerindian Nations during the 17th century to reflecting fears of European field-armies marching against them during the 18th century. This paper examines travel times and control over natural lines of drift through the implementation of a least-cost path geospatial analysis in ArcGIS Pro. Through this, imperial political and economic systems are reinterpreted towards an understanding of the material and geographic realities of increasing tensions across the late 17th to mid-18th century frontier. Rather than a mere subsidiary of European imperial politics, the circumstances of frontier entanglement and settler-colonialism in the Northeast resulted in a century of petite guerre between the colonists, indigenous, and imperial authorities. REGISTER: bit.ly/22signupNHAS

The Lost Valley of the Crescent Moon: 30 years of research in Petra, Jordan
2022-04-21 19:30 (America/Chicago)

After Teotihuacan: Perspectives on Regeneration from beyond the Metropolis
2022-04-22 19:00 (America/New_York) | TBA (Toledo), Toledo, OH, United States
Stone Lecture

Dying to Explore: The Archaeology of Sir John Franklin’s 3rd Arctic Expedition
2022-04-23 10:30 (America/New_York) | University of Dayton Science Center 255 (Chudd Auditorium), 300 College Park Avenue, Dayton, OH, 45469, United States
Bass Lecture

Hannibal's War Elephants
2022-04-23 13:00 (America/Denver) | TBA (Denver 2), Denver, CO, United States

Death comes to the Theban Sacred Band: Skeletons from the Battle of Chaironeia (338 BC)
2022-04-25 17:30 (America/Chicago)
Matson Lecture
Register in advance here: https://uiowa.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUod-mtrjIvGNDmi2RwRVqAkMlF9UrJotr0

AIA Giving Day
2022-04-26
On Tuesday, April 26, 2022, we’re asking thousands of archaeology enthusiasts like you to join together to support professional archaeologists and their important work by participating in our inaugural AIA Giving Day. Your gift will help protect threatened archaeological sites, provide scholarships to future archaeologists, and promote archaeology across the globe.
What if we told you your impact could be doubled if you give on or before AIA Giving Day? It’s true! A group of generous donors have agreed to match all donations, dollar for dollar, up to $25,000! That means your gift, no matter the amount, will go further.
Join us on AIA Giving Day as the archaeological community comes together in the name of philanthropy and the love of archaeology
Don’t want to wait until April 26? Click here to give now and be part of AIA Giving Day!

Bronze Age Monkeys and the Case for Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration
2022-04-26 18:30 (America/New_York) | Dickinson College, Denny Hall #317, 272 W High St, Carlisle, PA, 17013, United States

Dreams, Drugs, and Fumigations: Doctoring in Ancient Athens
2022-04-26 19:30 (America/Chicago)
Broneer Lecture

The Archaeology of a Viking Age Chieftain’s Power Center in Mosfell Valley, Iceland
2022-04-26 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Burpee Museum of Natural History, 737 North Main St., Rockford, IL, 61103, United States
Forsyth Lecture

“Dreams, Drugs, and Fumigations: Doctoring in Ancient Athens”
2022-04-26 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
In ancient Athens, as today, people got sick. Suffering from anything from epidemic disease and accidents to chronic illness and passing indisposition, they required treatment. Much of what we know about that treatment comes from texts, particularly the body of medical lore known as the Hippocratic Corpus, which began to be written down in the 5th century BC. But the practice of medicine also left an archaeological trail, from the well-known healing sanctuaries to simple artifacts associated with medical treatment. This lecture examines some of this evidence, focusing particularly on objects preserved in the trash-heaps of Athens (and other cities) — including the equipment of a family of healers who lived just to the south of the city’s agora (public square) — to shed a more intimate light on the practice and practitioners of the healing arts.
Susan Rotroff, Jarvis Thurston & Mona Van Duyn Professor Emerita, Washington University, St. Louis (srotroff@wustl.edu).
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/qjq-qcfi-tnm
Or dial: ‪(US) +1 470-207-5898‬ PIN: ‪775 460 413‬#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/qjq-qcfi-tnm?pin=3546236027796

Rockford Society Lecture
2022-04-26 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Burpee Museum of Natural History, 737 North Main St., Rockford, IL, 61103, United States
The Archaeology of a Viking Age Chieftain’s Power Center in Mosfell Valley, Iceland Forsyth Lecture

Members Night at the Museum (Hybrid Event)
2022-04-27 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture members are invited to a fun, informative, rotating tour of our newest exhibitions. Curators, exhibitions staff, and educators will discuss the making of Mediterranean Marketplaces in the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Muchos Méxicos in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, and From the Hands of the Makers in the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Come learn about the objects chosen for display and find out how HMSC designs and installs such exhibitions.
Registration is required for both in-person and Zoom options. Those attending in person will be required to follow all Covid-19 visitor protocols. Capacity is limited, so please reserve early.
Not a member of Harvard Museums of Science & Culture? Become a member today so you can join us on April 27th! Visit us at https://hmsc.harvard.edu/membership

Ritual at the Crossroads: A Sacred Stone in Ancient Athens
2022-04-27 19:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
Susan Rotroff, Jarvis Thurston & Mona Van Duyn Professor Emerita, Washington University, St. Louis (srotroff@wustl.edu)
A large, irregular boulder fenced off by a parapet of stone slabs lies at a crossroads on the north side of the Agora (the public square) of ancient Athens. When excavated, in the 1970s, I, t was covered with hundreds of small vessels, placed there in the latter part of the 5th century BCE, along with an eclectic collection of unusual objects, including gilded pebbles, knucklebones, writing styli, and fragments of broken sculpture. The lecturer and her colleagues at the Agora have embarked on a detailed study of the monument, now nicknamed the Crossroads Enclosure. Although it was located at one of the busiest spots in the city, its ancient identity remains a mystery. This lecture examines the architecture, contents, position, and environment of the Enclosure, looking for clues to that identity and the nature of the rituals and other activities that took place there, and placing it within its historical context in the turbulent last decades of the 5th century BCE.
This lecture is hosted by Knox College in Galesburg, IL.
It will be presented virtually.
Instructions for accessing the lecture are forthcoming.

Rituals of the Everyday: Neighborhood Diversity in the Urbanization of Cahokia
2022-04-28 17:30 (America/New_York)

The Problem With Prostitutes
2022-04-28 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Breasted Hall at the OI, University of Chicago, 1155 East 58th Street, Chicago, 60637

Ancient Graffiti and Ancient Voices: Culture and Communication Across Pompeii and Herculaneum
2022-04-28 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Public Lecture by Rebecca Benefiel, Professor of Classics, Washington and Lee University.
Rebecca Benefiel is a Professor of Classics who specializes in Latin literature and Roman archaeology. Her research interests focus on the social and cultural history of the Roman Empire and Latin epigraphy. She is a supervisor for the Epigraphic Database Roma, part of the EU best practice network, EAGLE (The Europeana Network of Ancient Greek and Latin Epigraphy), and is overseeing the preparation of ancient graffiti from Pompeii and Herculaneum. She is also Director of the Ancient Graffiti Project.
