Archaeological Institute of America

TBA (Mississippi/Memphis)
2026-03-18 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Oxford MS/Memphis TN), United States
Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship

Horace and Rodolfo construct the Esquiline: examining garbage and graves at Rome and beyond
2026-03-19 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 Dr. Kevin Dicus, University of Oregon at Eugene, discussing investigations at Rome’s Esquiline Hill.
Abstract:
Archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani captivated the public with his account of excavations on Rome’s
Esquiline Hill. No doubt influenced by Horace’s Satire 1.8 about the same region, his portrayal
of mass graves (puticuli) embedded within a vast field of municipal waste offered a thrilling,
dystopian vision that continues to resonate nearly 150 years later. Ancient Rome’s reputation has
yet to recover, as his report continues to shape perceptions of the metropolis as filthy and
mismanaged.
This talk revises Lanciani’s portrayal of the Esquiline as a wasteland of rotting corpses and
garbage and offers a new interpretation of Horace’s Satire 1.8. I argue that Horace describes not
mass graves on the hill but rather a modest cemetery where multiple graves shared the same plot
of land that also received the city’s refuse. The misreading that these were instead puticuli
originated with his imperial scholiasts and persisted to directly influence Lanciani.
Archaeological comparanda from across the Roman world demonstrate that individual, modest
graves dug into suburban municipal dumps were a common and legitimate form of burial for the
urban poor. This intersection between the city’s dumps and its dead provides new insight into
Roman attitudes toward waste: although the disposal of refuse beyond the city walls transformed
the suburban landscape, it did little to alter the cultural meaning of the extramural zone. People
continued to use these areas much as they had before their appropriation for refuse, including the
symbolically charged act of burying loved ones.

The Shipwreck at Gnalić—Gagliana Grossa (1569-1583)
2026-03-22 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Philadelphia), Philadelphia, PA, United States
The George F. Bass Lectures

Landscapes of Time and Memory: Foragers in the Mojave Desert 3
2026-03-24 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Tallahassee 1), Tallahassee, FL, United States
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureship

"Beauty, Power, and Presence: The Neo-Assyrian Queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace, c. 865–705 BCE"
2026-03-24 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | CA
Lecture by Professor Amy Rebecca Gansell, St. John’s University

Beauty, Power, and Presence: The Neo- Assyrian Queens of Nimrud's Northwest Palace, c. 865-705 BCE
2026-03-24 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | CA
DC Society Annual Louise Davison Lecture, delivered by Professor Amy Rebecca Gansell, St. John’s University.
Reception at 6:15 pm; DC Society Business Meeting at 6:45 pm; Lecture at 7:00 pm. Location and hybrid Zoom registration link TBA.

New Approaches to Roman Urbanism: The Excavations of the Falerii Novi Project (Lazio, Italy) 3
2026-03-25 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Buffalo), Buffalo, NY, United States
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureship Time TBA

AIA Archaeology Hour March 2026: Dating Australia’s Oldest Rock Art
2026-03-25 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | CA
Take a virtual trip Down Under with the AIA as we catch up with Helen Green (University of Melbourne) as she presents the March edition of AIA Archaeology Hour: “Dating Australia’s Oldest Rock Art.”
This presentation will be given at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Pacific.
Register here.

New Archaeological Research in the Republic of North Macedonia.
2026-03-28 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago)
ZOOM Lecture by Prof. Barbara Klesig, Dept. of Anthropology at Cal Poly Humboldt discussing new archaeological discoveries in the Republic of North Macedonia.

Stress, Sex and Death: Health and Survival in the Context of Medieval Famine and Plague
2026-03-29 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | 303 Paterson Hall, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
The Ann Santen Endowed Lecture Time

“The Search for Coffins and Carpenters: Insights into Technology and Religion in Ancient Egypt”
2026-03-29 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Jepson Hall, Room 118, Richmond Way 221, Richmond, VA, 23226, United States
Lecture by Carrie Arbuckle MacLeod (University of Saskatchewan). 15th Stuart L. Wheeler Gallery of the Ancient World Lecture, followed by open house reception at the Ancient World Gallery, Humanities Building 419.

TBA (Southwest Texas (San Antonio))
2026-03-31 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (San Antonio 1), San Antonio, TX, United States
Anna Marguerite McCann and Robert D. Taggart Lectureship in Underwater Archaeology Time TBA

Diving the Pyramids: Underwater Tombs and Excavation at the Royal Cemetery of Nuri, Sudan
2026-03-31 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | TBA (Northern New Jersey), Montclair, NY, United States
The Frederick R. and Margaret B. Matson Lectureship for Near Eastern Archaeology and Archaeological Technology

Justinian’s Tree: Underwater Environmental Histories in Byzantine Harbors 2
2026-04-01 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Austin), Austin, TX, United States

TBA (Kansas City/Lawrence)
2026-04-02 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Kansas City/Lawrence), Lawrence, KS
George M.A. Hanfmann Memorial Lecture Time TBA

TBA (Cleveland)
2026-04-08 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Cleveland), Cleveland, OH, United States
Time TBA

Cooking in the Bronze Age: What Ancient Pots Can Tell Us About Everyday Life in Crete
2026-04-09 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | UNCG Greensboro
A great variety of cooking pots are found in the archaeological record across geographical areas and time periods. Significant distinctions exist in vessel morphologies, fabrics, sizes and manufacturing techniques. To offer one explanation as to why these design differences exist, I have utilized an experimental approach to building and testing pottery to illuminate the probable pathways ancient people took to prepare cooked food on the Aegean Island of Crete during the Bronze Age. As a case study, I have applied a specific approach to domestic cooking assemblages that have been unearthed at the East Cretan coastal sites of Mochlos and at Papadiokambos, where evidence for Late Minoan I (LM I) cooking technology is preserved. This presentation defines the LM I cooking wares from these sites and outlines the experimental exercises that helped provide a greater insight into the individual ways individuals might have used them to prepare food.

Interpreting Variability in Ancient House Forms: the example of Iron Age Greece
2026-04-09 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (North Carolina), NC, United States

A Deep Dive into Deep Time: Archaeology Underwater
2026-04-10 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Toledo Museum of Art (Little Theater), 2445 Monroe St., Toledo, OH, 43697, United States
A lecture: The phrase “underwater archaeology” conjures notions of shipwrecks, ships lost at sea, and the dramatic catastrophes that sank them; however, the archaeology underwater can also reveal details about ancient landscapes that contain a record of past human occupations. Many of these sites are on the earth’s continental shelves where vast stretches of shallow, coastal lands were exposed at the end of the last Ice Age. These once dry landscapes supported life for plants, animals, and humans for thousands of years. Learn about these ancient submerged sites, the role they play in the global archaeological record and what unique data they have about the past. The talk will provide a general overview and the focus on 9,000 year old submerged sites in the North American Great Lakes.

TBA (Orange County)
2026-04-12 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | TBA (Orange County)
Kershaw Lectures in Near East Archaeology Time TBA

TBA (Princeton)
2026-04-13 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Princeton), Princeton, NJ, United States
The Elizabeth S. Ettinghausen Lecture Time TBA

Mothers, Wives, Warriors, Slaves
2026-04-14 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Valparaiso), Valparaiso, IN, United States
Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship Time TBA

Cities and Politics of Ecology in the Hittite Borderlands: the Fortress and Urban Settlement of Karaköy Kale Tepesi
2026-04-14 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Orlando 2), Orlando, FL, United States

TBA (Finger Lakes (Ithaca))
2026-04-14 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Finger Lakes), Ithaca, NY, United States
William E. Metcalf Lectures in Numismatics

Haute Couture in Ancient Greece: The Spectacular Costumes of the Minoans and Mycenaeans
2026-04-14 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Leigh Hall, room 208, 308 Buchtel Commons, Akron, OH, 44325, United States
Evening lecture for a general audience by Bernice Jones on dress and adornment in ancient Aegean world. The speaker will bring samples of costumes that student volunteers will model at the talk.

The Vindolanda Coins from a Century of Excavations
2026-04-15 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Lean Lecture Room, Wishart Hall on the College of Wooster (to be confirmed), 1189 Beall Avenue, Wooster, OH, United States

Replacing Empires. The Archaeology of Political Transformation and Spatial Dynamics in 1st Millennium BCE Mesopotamia 2
2026-04-16 00:00 - 01:30 (America/Chicago) | TBA (Chicago 1), Chicago, IL, United States

Blood in the Villages: Massacres in Early Pre-State Societies
2026-04-16 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (Central Indiana), IN, United States

TBA (South Pennsylvania (Carlisle))
2026-04-16 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | TBA (South Pennsylvania), Carlisle, PA, United States
William E. Metcalf Lectures in Numismatics Time TBA

“Digging in Circles: Miami’s Prehistoric Legacy”
2026-04-16 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Jepson Hall, Room 118, Richmond Way 221, Richmond, VA, 23226, United States
Lecture by Robert S. Carr, Director of the Archaeological and Historical Conservancy (https://www.archaeological.org/lecturer/robert-carr/) – Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lecture
