Archaeological Institute of America

A High Altitude "Big Bang": Late Formative Period Archaeology of the Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia 2
2025-11-13 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | TBA (Western Carolina), NC, United States
Doris Z. Stone New World Archaeology Lectures

Ancient Egypt In Its African Context and at a Crossroads
2025-11-14 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Architecture School, UVA, CAM 160, 110 Bayly Dr, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, United States
Shomarka Keita, a biological anthropologist affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution and the Institute for Historical Biology, William and Mary, has written extensively on identity and biology in Egypt and Nubia. Egypt is in the northeastern corner of Africa, in essence a 930 mi linear oasis in the eastern Sahara. Due to the history of Egypt’s exploration and reception by the European gaze, it has traditionally been regarded as ‘Western’ or ‘Near Eastern’, divorced from its place of emergence and cultural connections with Africa. This lecture will address the origins of ancient Egyptian culture including aspects of its interconnections with Nubia. Evidence from linguistics, biology and archaeology will be explored.

The Second Style at Saqqara during the Late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period: Results of an Investigation and New Observations
2025-11-15 15:30 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Florence, Florence, - None -, 9121, India
Saturday, October 15
3:30 pm EST
Penn Museum, Anthro Classroom 345
In-person; no registration required
Speaker: Dr. Valentina Anselmi, PhD, UPenn
Title: The Second Style at Saqqara during the Late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period: Results of an Investigation and New Observations
Abstract:
In the late Old Kingdom, an unusual corpus of artistic production, royal and non-royal, appeared on the scene. Funerary statuary and reliefs from that time display atypical proportions when depicting aspects of the human form: limbs appear longer, eyes and heads seem larger. Overall, these changes, which appear to distort traditional canons, exude pervasive dynamism and expressiveness. In the past, art historians and Egyptologists dismissed the phenomenon as “bad art” resulting from political decentralization and cultural decline. Then two scholars in particular, Edna Russmann and Edward Brovarski, reevaluated these artistic productions, assessing them as voluntary innovations. Such manner of representation has been called the “Second Style.” The research for my dissertation set out to review the phenomenon in theoretical terms and determined its existence, assessing and verifying known occurrences of the style in statuary and relief at Saqqara, as well as surveying the archaeological context for unreported occurrences. The finds revealed an early onset of the style with diffused use of its idiosyncratic elements during the Fifth Dynasty, which seemingly emerged in the royal workshops as early as the reign of Raneferef, per Prakash’s previous assessment of the phenomenon in the royal realm. During the Sixth Dynasty, the style found favor with the courtiers, with its employment in private statuary reaching its peak during the reign of Pepy II. The Second Style then continued to exert its influence on the production of statuary and relief of the Middle and Upper Egyptian sites, in particular during the First Intermediate Period and well into the early Middle Kingdom, when the artistic representations of the upcoming Theban dynasty show some of the style characteristics. This lecture will cover the finds of my research, which has further extended to investigating female representation during the same time period, as well as the appearance of nude statues that is also associated with the Late Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Valentina Anselmi is a recent PhD in the Graduate Program in Egyptology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Her dissertation, An Investigation of the So-Called Second Style at Saqqara in the Later Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period, examines shifts in artistic conventions during a critical time in ancient Egyptian history. With an M.Phil. in Egyptology from Penn and a B.A. from the American University in Cairo, she has also received the Felix J. Korsyn Prize in Egyptology. Her teaching experience includes courses on Art and Architecture in Ancient Egypt and Coptic. Her research and public engagement work include fieldwork at Abydos, a recently published article on a Ka-statue at the Glencairn Museum, and ongoing museum experience at the Penn Museum. Her work has also explored the use of 3D imagining to better understand the nature of Egyptian art.
******************
Lectures are FREE to ARCE Members, $7 for University of Pennsylvania Museum Members and UPenn Staff and Faculty, $5 for Students with ID, and $10 for the general public.
Light refreshments served starting at 3pm.
******************
The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1948 by a consortium of educational and cultural institutions to support research on all aspects of Egyptian history and culture, foster broader knowledge among the general public, and strengthen American-Egyptian cultural ties. The ARCE Pennsylvania Chapter (ARCE-PA) is the local branch of the national institution. We host monthly events including scholarly lectures, Egyptian-themed workshops, social events, and guided tours of the Penn Museum’s Egyptian galleries. For more information or to learn about the perks of membership, please send an e-mail to info@arce-pa.org, or visit our website at www.arce-pa.org.

Pattern-Making Workshop with Artist Zahra Almajidi
2025-11-16 14:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Islamic Center of Greater Worcester, 57 Laurel St, Worcester, 01605, United States
Do you ever wonder how artists design patterns for jewelry, prints, and textiles? This workshop gives audiences a chance to learn about design elements and principles from Detroit-based Middle Eastern artist Zahra Almajidi. Participants will also participate in a hands-on activity, generating their own unique patterns.
Registration required. If you are interested in joining the workshop, please contact Elizabeth Knott at eknott@holycross.edu

Professor Amy Gansell, "The Queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace: Beauty, Power, and Presence in the Neo-Assyrian World, c. 865–705 BCE"
2025-11-18 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | OK
Nearly three thousand years ago, at the ancient site of Nimrud (near modern Mosul, Iraq), a succession of ten Neo-Assyrian kings reigned in collaboration with their queens from the magnificence of the Northwest Palace, the seat of the empire and center of their world. Too often overshadowed by the well documented legacy of Neo-Assyrian kings, Professor Gansell will shed light on the queens who reigned with them. Piece by piece, and layer by layer, across about 150 years of evidence, Professor Gansell discovers the beauty, power, and presence of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace queens in life, death, and for eternity.

How the Inkas built Sacsayhuaman, Revisited
2025-11-18 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | OK
About the lecture:
This lecture will discuss new ideas about how the Inkas constructed their megalithic walls, such as those of Sacsayhuaman above Cusco in Peru. Although scholars know the technology the Inkas used to quarry, transport, and shape the stones that were used in their high-quality structures, the exact process of how they maneuvered and fit the building blocks of their megalithic walls has long been elusive. Proposed solutions have remained speculative. Fieldwork in 2024 involving excavation and observation of unfinished terrace walls at the site of Sacsayhuaman in Cusco provided direct evidence for how blocks were put into place.
About the speaker:
A member of AIA Society 333, Dennis Ogburn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and an affiliate of the Latin American Studies Program at UNC Charlotte. His research focuses on archaeology of the Andean region of South America, where he specializes in the use of geochemical analysis, ethnohistory, and radiocarbon dating to study the expansion and maintenance of the Inka Empire. His interests include the development of political power in ancient empires, the role of monumental architecture in state societies, and Inka warfare. He is conducting a long-term investigation of sources of Inka building stones in the Cusco region of Peru and is part of a multinational team conducting excavations at Sacsayhuaman on the edge of Cusco.

What is Industrial Archeology: Its Past and Future
2025-11-19 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, 154 Moody Street, Waltham, 02453, United States
The field of industrial archeology (IA) is now about 70 years old and has passed through stages of life, from an exuberant youth filled with discovery – the period when the Charles River Museum of Industry was founded – to its sedate present. Interest in the field seems to be waning, judging from declining membership in IA groups, and even the name of the field confuses people. Those of us who would like to see the field survive and flourish wonder how it can be re-energized, in what direction should it go?
This presentation will explain what industrial archeology is. It will trace the history of the field, from its beginnings in England in the 1950s and the founding of the U.S. Society for Industrial Archeology in 1971, to the present, and describe some of its contributions, like the early surveys of historic textile mills. It will cover its connections to allied history and practice fields, like history of technology and historic preservation. Sara Wermiel will conclude by presenting her ideas for what the field might focus on, to have a purpose that can sustain it.
Speaker Bio:
Sara E. Wermiel is an independent scholar, historic preservation consultant, and teacher. Her research focuses on nineteenth century building technology, construction history, building types, and industrialization. She currently teaches Preservation Planning in the Preservation Studies Program at Boston University.

Life in a Garrison of the Imperial Frontieron the Lower Danube in the 6th and 11th centuries
2025-11-20 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | University of Florida, Library West, Room 212, 400 SW 13th Street, Gainesville, FL, 32601, United States
Capidava was a Roman and Byzantine fort on the Lower Danube. Although the object of extensive archaeological study, the living conditions of the soldiers stationed there in the 6th and the 11th century have never been examined in a detailed, comparative mode. In both centuries, the population inside the fort included both women and children, as indicated by jewelry and skeletal material in the cemetery. The most important provisions supplied by the state were olive oil and wine, both transported from afar in amphorae. There are also clear signs of self-sufficient behavior, particularly of stock breeding and hunting. Very few weapons have been found in Capidava. However, there are clear signs of religious activity and personal devotion.

Poggio Civitate’s Etruscan Workshop: A Cross-Craft Perspective
2025-11-20 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W 1st Ave, Spokane, WA, 99201, United States
Dr. Nora Donoghue, Gonzaga University visiting professor, will present her research into Etruscan workshop crafting interrelationships at Poggio Civitate.
Abstract:
Craft production in the ancient world is frequently analyzed by specialists who concentrate on a specific material or class of artifact. This approach overlooks the strong probability that ancient production processes were interrelated through shared resources, technological knowledge, or common workspaces. In this talk, Dr. Donoghue considers these cross-craft relations within a 7th-century BCE Etruscan workshop at the site of Poggio Civitate. This structure preserves a wide variety of evidence, including artifacts related to glass, ceramic, and metal production, alongside animal butchering, bone carving, and the assembly of composite objects like furniture. Focusing on production occurring within and around this structure, the talk will demonstrate that labor within this workshop was highly specialized and was ultimately carried out by craftspeople who worked in multiple media or maintained collaborative relationships with craftspeople of other related crafts.

Navajo/Dene Rock Art
2025-11-22 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Longview Park, 13525 Clayton Road, Town and Country, MO, 63141, United States
Powerpoint presentation by Richard Jenkison (Independent Researcher) who has spent decades studying the Navajo rock art sites in New Mexico.

Battlefield Archaeology
2025-11-23 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Zoom lecture by Douglas D Scott (Retired Supervisory Archaeologist with the Natinal Park Service). He will discuss theoretical and practical concerns in Battlefield Archaeology and bring examples from his field work at Little Bighorn and various Civil War battlefields.

Megiddo: Past, Present, and Future
2025-11-23 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | OK
Dr. Zachary Dunseth, University of California – San Diego will deliver the Kershaw Lecture.

Entangled Christianities (100-1500 CE)
2025-11-24 - 2025-11-26 | Orthodox Academy of Crete, Kolymvari, 73006, Greece
This conference explores the diverse manifestations of global Christianities from the early first to the mid-second Millennium CE and its “entanglement” with diverse local cultures and contexts. For example, what did it mean to be Christian in medieval Kiev? What enabled Christians in the Middle East to maintain their faith identity under Muslim domination? To what extent did Christianity lend a sense of homogeneity to its practitioners through its eclectic nature and vast global reach? We invite papers dealing with the theme of “entanglement” and the complex influences, interactions, and intersections within and between different varieties of global Christianity across the period 100–1500. The history of Christianity is not a monolithic narrative but a tapestry woven from diverse threads of doctrine, theology, practice, and belief. Entangled Christianities aims to unravel the individual threads that form this complex tapestry to gain a more nuanced understanding of the overall makeup of historical Christianity in its global contexts.

Urban Regeneration and Sustainability (URS) – 6th Edition
2025-11-25 - 2025-11-27 | Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
The “Urban Regeneration and Sustainability” conference explores the intersection of urban renewal, environmental sustainability, and social inclusivity in city development. It addresses the methodologies and strategies for revitalizing urban spaces, including infrastructure enhancement, sustainable architecture, and economic revitalization. The conference highlights best practices in smart city technologies, heritage preservation, green infrastructure, and innovative urban design solutions that foster resilient and livable cities. It also examines policies and governance frameworks that drive successful urban regeneration projects, ensuring that urban transformation efforts align with sustainability goals.
By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange, the conference encourages discussions on integrating technology, community engagement, and policy interventions to create sustainable urban landscapes. Participants will have the opportunity to disseminate research outcomes, exchange experiential insights, and partake in substantive dialogues that influence the trajectory of urban regeneration and sustainability.

"Lanka - The Crucial Hub of the Ancient Maritime Silk Road" with Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona
2025-11-25 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Dr. Palitha Kohona — Sri Lanka’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, former Head of the UN Treaty Section, and former Ambassador to China — discusses the importance of Sri Lanka to the Chinese Silk Road. Sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean at the southern tip of India, meeting point of monsoon winds and swirling ocean currents, Sri Lanka occupies a strategic geographical position. Throughout history, Lanka has attracted a multitude of sailors from friendly and marauding navel powers, merchants seeking its exotic products or exchanging them for wares from distant lands, Buddhist monks searching for the sublime Dhamma, invading empire builders who vainly attempted to conquer the island. Archaeology suggests that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of ships from China visited Lanka, serving as a lucrative hub and central link in trading ventures within the Southern Maritime Silk Route.
Register for the online stream here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1749161622499?aff=oddtdtcreator

Public Lecture: Dr. Scott Gallimore (Wilfrid Laurier University)
2025-11-27 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | OK
On Thursday, Nov. 27th, 530-630pm, Dr. Scott Gallimore will deliver the key-note lecture, Looking for People Behind the Crafts: Evidence for Production and Industry at Sikyon, Greece, as part of a two-day student conference. This lecture will take place at Concordia University in MB 2.130.

Lecture: Claire Balandier (Université d’Avignon)
2025-12-02 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | https://umontreal.zoom.us/j/87997826260?pwd=[REDACTED]
On Tuesday, December 2nd, at 400pm Dr. Claire Balandier (Université d’Avignon) will deliver the lecture, L’Urbanisme de Chypre À L’époque Hellénistique. This lecture will take place in the Centre d’Études Classiques, Room 515-43 (3744 Rue Jean-Brillant). The lecture will be in French

"Exploring the life of the Latin city of Gabii through new technologies: the Gabii Project area AB digital publication." Prof. Anna Gallone.
2025-12-02 18:30 - 19:30 (Europe/Rome) | John Cabot University – New Campus – Aula Magna Renella, Lungotevere Raffaello Sanzio 11, Roma, Italy
Since 2007, the Gabii Project has launched archaeological initiative aiming at understanding the long trajectory of a Latin center from its formation phase to the end of its ancient life. Five city blocks have been extensively excavated exposing a continuous sequence of occupation spanning from the Early Iron Age to Late Antiquity.
This talk will focus on the evidence uncovered in the so-called A-B areas, documenting the birth of enucleated settlements in pre-urban centers, the establishment of a quasi-orthogonal urban grid in the late 5th century BCE, the construction of private houses in the mid-Republican times, and the repurposing of the block with a small burial ground and the installation of a quarry of the local bedrock during the Empire. The dynamics that led to this last transformation, the co-existence of industrial activities and tombs traditionally relegated to outside the perimeter of cities, give us the opportunity to explore perceptions of “urban” and “not urban” spaces.
The talk will explore these dynamics through the digital publication of the final report on area AB city block (A Cemetery and Quarry from Imperial Gabii ) presenting a new holistic approach to archaeological publication. This open access report, featuring a layered narrative, combines texts, traditional illustrations, and databases with an interactive digital 3D model.
Anna Gallone is a Roman archaeologist and lecturer at John Cabot University whose research focuses on urban development in Tyrrhenian Italy and the Romanization of central and southern Italy. She has served as the field director of the Gabii Project since 2007, and was awarded the AIA prize for digital archaeology in 2024 for her editorial work on A Cemetery and Quarry from Imperial Gabii.
This lecture has been selected as the 2025–2026 Ernest R. Graham Lecture in Ancient Architecture by the Archaeological Institute of America.
The talk will last 40 minutes, followed by a Q&A session.
The event is open to all AIA members, the general public, and the JCU community, but registration is required to access the New Campus in John Cabot University.
The event is organized by Prof. Massimo Betello (Secretary of Rome-SPQR AIA; History and Humanities Dept, JCU) in collaboration with John Cabot University and the Archaeological Institute of America (https://www.archaeological.org/)

ArtsThursdays at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology
2025-12-04 17:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Join us for a free, fun night at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology! Come with a date, come with friends, or make new friends while strolling through the galleries. All ages are welcome.
Explore Castaway: The Afterlife of Plastic, a new, innovative exhibition that documents the art collective TRES’s journey along the beaches of Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania, where they collected and photographed debris that had washed up from places as far away as China. The exhibition is presented in English and Spanish.
Free and open to the public. Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage 4:30–9:30 pm.
ArtsThursdays is a university-wide initiative supported by Harvard University Committee on the Arts.
Photo © Neal Hamberg

Archaeology-Hour Screening: The People's Arena
2025-12-11 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Whitman College Maxey Hall 207, 173 Stanton St., Walla Walla, WA, 99362, United States
Please join us for an in-person screening and informal discussion of the Archaeology Hour talk by Alison Futrell (University of Arizona).
In ancient-Roman ‘arenas’ — structures and spaces like the Colosseum in Rome — mass events were staged that exaggerated, aestheticized, and then normalized extreme and shocking forms of violence, deploying a twisted, voyeuristic ‘pleasure’ intended to be derived from unreal genres of amplified bloodshed and death reserved *only* for those presented as variously criminal, exotic/strange, non-human and/or lesser-human… and fully disposable. This presentation will ask: how did the arena impact the lives of ordinary individuals… in the sands, the seats, and the substructures, beyond the emperor’s box?

Games of the Ancient Near East: Teen Saturdays Workshop
2025-12-13 13:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
In Person Teen Program
Games of the Ancient Near East: Teen Saturdays Workshop
Saturday, December 13, 1:00–3:30 pm, Advance registration required
Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
Leer en español
Travel back in time and explore some of the world’s oldest board games from the ancient Near East! In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn the origins of games like senet, mancala, the Royal Game of Ur, and al-qirkat. Play, win, and learn how strategy and luck have connected people for thousands of years. Whether you love history, puzzles, or friendly competition, this workshop is for you. Come ready to play, learn, and experience ancient fun that still inspires today!
Teen Saturdays Workshops are offered bilingually in Spanish and English and are designed to build community and enrich the museum experience for multicultural and Spanish-speaking teens.
The $10 fee includes free admission to all Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (HMSC) museums immediately following the workshop.
Teens receive an HMSC membership (worth $100) after attending three or more Teen Saturdays Workshops per semester. Or, receive a free admission pass (worth $15) for a return visit if you attend one of the four sessions.
Photo: Андрей Журавлев

More Than a Cosmetic Fix: How Experimental Archaeology Can Address the Issue of Burial Goods in the Museum Setting. Talk and Workshop
2025-12-13 14:30 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Saturday, December 13
2:30 pm EST
Penn Museum, Classroom L2
In-person; RSVP required for workshop: https://forms.gle/FTwpThdMhwV7gPhS6
Talk and Hands-on Workshop
Holiday Party to follow!
Speakers: Isabella Pilla and Dr. Jane Hill
Title: More Than a Cosmetic Fix: How Experimental Archaeology Can Address the Issue of Burial Goods in the Museum Setting. Talk and Workshop
Abstract:
The Egyptian mummy as a cultural artifact has for more than a century been a focal point of interest within the Egyptological community and the museum-going public. In more recent years, however, the public has begun to raise concerns over the display of human bodies as museum objects. Is there another way to share with the public the richness of Egyptian funerary belief and tradition without invading the bodies of the individuals who were at the center of these practices? In this talk and workshop the authors will argue that by using the imaging, scanning, and 3-D printing technologies available to us today, it is possible to both scientifically study Egyptian mummification practices and share those findings with the public while still respecting the humans who provide us that information.
Lecture attendees will be invited to create their own Predynastic Egyptian style cosmetic palette. All the necessary tools and materials will be provided, but we ask that you RSVP (https://forms.gle/FTwpThdMhwV7gPhS6) for this event to be sure we have enough materials!
Speaker Bios:
Dr. Jane Hill
Dr. Jane Hill holds a doctorate in Egyptian Archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. She also holds masters degrees in anthropology and art history/Egyptology from the University of Memphis. She has excavated and done epigraphic work on archaeological projects at the sites of Giza, Abydos, el-Amra, Saqqara, and Karnak Temple in Luxor Egypt. At el-Amra she discovered evidence of a Predynastic Egyptian town and cult center. In the U.S., Dr. Hill has excavated Native American sites of the Mississippian Period in the southeast region. Currently Dr. Hill teaches anthropology, archaeology and Egyptian Archaeology at Rowan University where she serves as curator of the Museum of Anthropology at Rowan University (MARU). Her research interests include co-development of major elite cemeteries and urbanism in Upper Egypt’s formative period, and the development of Egyptian administrative and writing systems.
Isabella Pilla
Isabella is an emerging museum professional and recent graduate from Rowan University, where she earned a dual degree in Anthropology and Psychology. During her time as a research assistant at Rowan’s Museum of Anthropology, she curated a project to explore the ancient Egyptian material culture and public engagement through archaeology. Her research focuses on the ethical concerns of ancient mummified displays and the application of experimental archaeological to research ancient artifacts in a non-invasive manner. Isabella currently works at Edelman Fossil Park and Museum where she continues to support educational programming and visitor engagement.
******************
Refreshments are served beginning at 2pm. The ARCE-PA Holiday Party will follow the workshop. You do not have to attend the workshop or party to attend the lecture.
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.
******************
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.

Dreadful were the vestiges of (the Revolutionary) War.
2025-12-27 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago)
ZOOM lecture by Douglas Scott (Retired Supervisory Archaeologist with the National Park Service); A study of surviving bullet struck structures and objects from the first day of the American Revolution: Employing Forensic Firearm Examination Techniques to Historic Contexts.

Zoom Lecture: Forgotten Saint-Simonian Travelers in Egypt
2026-01-11 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | https://www.archaeological.org/event/zoom-lecture-forgotten-saint-simonian-travelers-in-egypt/
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 Zoom lecture by Dr. John David Ragan, Independent Scholar (PhD, NYU):
Forgotten Saint-Simonian Travelers in Egypt
Sunday, January 11 2026, 3 PM PST
Register in advance for this lecture:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/cAzvIld9RvanelhVxNRq1A
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
There are a few things you should know before you join the lecture:
* Advance registration is required. When you click on the link to “Register in advance for this lecture” you will receive instructions by email on how and when to join, along with a link on which you will click to join the meeting. Save the email, as you will need the link it contains to join the meeting. Please register now. Please do not share the join link with anyone, it is unique to your email address. Try to join at least 10 minutes before the meeting. When you do join the meeting, be prepared to be put in the waiting room until the lecture starts at 3 pm. This is a security measure.
* If you haven’t already installed Zoom, you should download and install the Zoom program (app) well before you try to join the meeting. There IS an option to use your web browser to join the meeting instead of the Zoom program, but the browser interface is limited and depends greatly on what browser and what operating system you’re using.
* For tutorials on how to use Zoom, go to https://learn-zoom.us/show-me. In particular, “Joining a Zoom Meeting” should show you what you need to do to join our lecture.
* All meeting attendees can communicate with everyone, or with individual participants, using the chat window, which can be opened by clicking on the chat button and which you can probably find at the bottom middle of your Zoom viewing screen. Participants will be encouraged to hold their questions for the speaker until after the lecture, and will also be encouraged to address their questions for the speaker to everyone, not just to the speaker, so that all can see them. “Everyone” is the default chat option.
If you have any questions, please email glenn@glennmeyer.net or arcencZoom@gmail.com.
About the Lecture:
This lecture and a book with the same title tell the stories of two French women and a French African man, travelers connected to the Saint-Simonian utopian socialists, who came to work for the Egyptian government in the 1830s. They have been marginalized and excluded from the historical record, because they were women, not part of the colonial elite, or of mixed racial heritage. This history brings them alive through extensive archival research and vibrant storytelling.
There is Suzanne Voilquin, a practicing midwife in Cairo who was involved in left-wing popular politics in Paris and became the editor of one of the first feminist newspapers ever published (1832–34). The second traveler, Thomas Ismayl Urbain, was born in French Guyana, where his mother was born a slave and his father was a French sea captain. “Jehan d’Ivray” is the pen name of the third traveler, a teenage woman who married an Egyptian studying medicine in France, and traveled with him to Egypt in 1879. She wrote more than twenty books, including a retrospective look at Suzanne Voilquin and women in the Saint-Simonian movement, bringing the story full circle to another generation.
Their stories brilliantly illustrate the paradoxes of nineteenth century colonialism in Egypt. Suzanne Voilquin grew up in the Parisian working class and sympathized deeply with Egyptians but initially exoticized the differences between Egypt and her home country, while Urbain, a literary pioneer in black pride, nevertheless joined the French army and saw his role in the colonial occupation as a means of helping indigenous people. These characters transcend the neat binary of East and West and offer a rich, nuanced window onto the experiences of French travelers in Egypt during the nineteenth century.
About the Speaker:
Dr. John David Ragan has a PhD in history from New York University and degrees from the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, the University of Cincinnati, and Binghamton University. He has traveled in fifty countries, across Europe, North Africa, Latin America, New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Himalayas, studying French in Paris, Arabic in Cairo and Tunis, German in Berlin, and Spanish in Salamanca and Mexico City. He is a working member of Laborers Union Local 942, Fairbanks, Alaska, and has published two books and numerous articles.
About Northern California ARCE:
For more information, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://www.facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://arce-nc.org, https://bsky.app/profile/khentiamentiu.bsky.social, and https://khentiamentiu.org. 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.

Early Peoples in the Plateau: Nimíipuu Knowledge and Landscape Adaptation in the Bitterroot Mountains
2026-01-15 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W 1st Ave, Spokane, WA, 99201, United States
Join us for a lecture by WSU grad Student Jordan Thompson on early Northwest culture.
Abstract: Mountain environments and resources have played a significant role in Indigenous cultural and subsistence lifeways and knowledge systems yet remain underrepresented in landscape research. Recent archaeological evidence points to the Southern Columbia Plateau as an early entry point for the Peopling of the Americas. Understanding the landscape is essential to adaptation in new and changing environments, and archaeological methods combined with Indigenous knowledge are uniquely positioned to investigate these human-environment relationships. Indigenous oral narratives, correlated with geologic processes, reveal a deep record of landscape knowledge that may offer insight into early migration, environmental adaptation, and landscape exploration. In this talk, I will present on collaborative research which integrates geoarchaeology and ethnogeology to examine how land use, mobility, and placemaking shaped the establishment of seasonal subsistence cycle among the Nimíipuu (Nez Perce). Ethnogeology foregrounds Indigenous perspectives of place, complementing archaeological investigation by contextualizing the cultural meanings of stone artifacts. This talk will focus on Nimíipuu subsistence in an understudied portion of the western Bitterroot Mountain uplands, a segment of the Northern Rockies, in the North Fork Clearwater River watershed of Idaho by examining toolstone sources, their distribution across the landscape, and how these features acquire meaning. By combining geoarchaeological and ethnogeological frameworks, this talk explores how people come to know, understand, and connect to landscapes while developing a sense of place with reciprocal subsistence systems.

The Southern Mani Archaeological Project: Fieldwork at the End of the World
2026-01-18 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | 303 Paterson Hall, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Speaker: Chelsea A.M. Gardner (Acadia University)
The Mani peninsula is the literal (geographical) and metaphorical “end of the world”, since it occupies the southernmost point of mainland Greece and the mythical entrance to Hades, the ancient Greek underworld. Mani’s occupation history includes being home to the earliest hominid caves in Greece up to modern tower-houses and intergenerational feuding. I have been working in Mani since 2012, and this talk will introduce Mani, its liminality, and its storied past through three separate archaeological initiatives: the Diros Project (2012-2015), the CARTography Project (2018-2022), and the first season of the Southern Mani Archaeological Project, a SSHRC-funded survey that began in May 2025.

10,000 years of Oaxaca Cuisines from Mesquite Pods to Mezcal
2026-01-20 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | TBA (Santa Fe), Santa Fe, NM, United States
Doris Z. Stone New World Archaeology Lectures Time TBA

TBA (North Alabama (Huntsville))
2026-01-20 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (North Alabama (Huntsville)), Huntsville, AL, United States
Kershaw Lectures in Near East Archaeology Time TBA

Life, Death, and Disease: Insights form Petra’s Tombs and Cemeteries 2
2026-01-21 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Nashville), Nasvhille, TN

Seeing the Past Anew: The Digital Epigraphy and Archaeology’s Toolkit for Accessible 3D Heritage
2026-01-21 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | University of Florida, Library West, Room 212, 400 SW 13th Street, Gainesville, FL, 32601, United States
Lecturer: Dr. Eleni Bozia
Associate Professor, Department of Classics
Head of the Data-Driven Humanities Research Group
University of Florida
Archaeology, epigraphy, and heritage sites point to and recall the past, and reasonably so. People usually turn to them for Instagram photos or contemplate on them because they are told that “history may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” However, in reality, there is still a large disconnect between the past and the present, the value of one for the other, and overall, the purpose of sustaining, supporting, and engaging with these fields and their objects of interest. This talk will traverse the history of digital preservation and dissemination, and digital world heritage through the lens of the Digital Epigraphy and Archaeology project to emphasize that nothing is more urgent for the present than the past, and how technology and AI can bring archaeology and epigraphy to a new, more responsible ecosystem of valued knowledge. Ultimately, this talk advocates for a future in which the digital humanities not only preserve the traces of antiquity but also empower new ways of engaging with them, transforming the past into a living, collaborative resource for global society.
