Archaeological Institute of America

Can You Dig It? 2025
2025-10-19 12:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park, Knoxville, TN, 37996, United States
Event description
Join us for a FREE family program at the McClung Museum celebrating International Archaeology Day. Can You Dig it? invites you to learn about the past and present with professional archaeologists from UT through engaging hands-on activities.
Date: Sunday, October 19
Time: 12:00-4:00 p.m.
**Tickets available starting October 4 via Eventbrite **
Families of all ages are invited to the McClung Museum for a FREE day of hands-on family fun celebrating International Archaeology Day. Attendees will dig deep into the past at our activity stations and learn from professional archaeologists, University of Tennessee professors, and graduate students.
Our interactive stations offer a wide array of engaging activities, including cave art painting, hunter-gatherer games, and the chance to craft pottery, mini lab activites, and so much more.

Can You Dig It?
2025-10-19 12:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | McClung Museum, 1327 Circle Park Drive, Knoxville, TN, 37996, United States
Families with children of all ages are invited to a day of fun and hands-on learning at the McClung Museum. Dig deep into the past, learn from professional archaeologists, and explore a wide array of engaging activities like cave art painting, hunter-gatherer games, and so much more.

International Archaeology Day Family Event
2025-10-19 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Cooper Gristmill, 66 Route 24, Chester Township, NJ, 07424, United States
Come drop by for a family-friendly event to learn about archaeology along the trails at the historic Cooper Gristmill. Hands-on activities include mapping and excavating chocolate chips from cookies, digging for and reconstructing pottery, name-writing in hieroglyphics, storytime, and more.
This event is run by Girl Power Robotics, a Girl Scout robotics team, with the support of the Morris County Parks Commission

Meanwhile…at Giza: The Central Field Cemetery in the Fifth Dynasty
2025-10-19 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | https://www.archaeological.org/event/meanwhileat-giza-the-central-field-cemetery-in-the-fifth-dynasty/
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 Julia Puglisi, Harvard University:
“Meanwhile…at Giza: The Central Field Cemetery in the Fifth Dynasty”
Sunday, October 19, 2025, 3 PM PDT
This virtual lecture will not be recorded.
Register in advance for this lecture:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/yukMKqdBSCO8QInIP4ViPA
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:
Despite the southern shift of the royal necropolises during the Fifth Dynasty, the Giza Plateau remained an important locus of non‐royal burials until the end of the Old Kingdom. While explanations for choosing Giza as a necropolis after the Fourth Dynasty range from royal cultic activity to the perpetuation of generational funerary traditions, the nearby settlements reveal a more complex picture of human activity on the plateau.
At the heart of this landscape lies the “Central Field,” a cemetery whose characteristic landscape originated from its use as a quarry basin for the construction of Khufu’s pyramid. While often cast in historiography as a Fourth Dynasty site, the Central Field is in fact dominated by tombs of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. Despite its significance for understanding the broader history of the Giza Necropolis, the cemetery has not been extensively studied since the excavations of Selim Hassan (1886–1961) in the early twentieth century.
Drawing on my ongoing dissertation research, I here present new documentation from the Central Field, including several previously unpublished Fifth Dynasty mastabas and their unique adaptations to the quarried terrain. Case studies include the tombs of Khafreankh (G 8840) and Nisutpunetjer (G 8740), excavated prior to the Egyptian initiatives, alongside published monuments whose owners may be referenced in the Abusir archives: Rawer (G 8988) and Khuwiwer (G 8764 = LG 95). By combining an analysis of construction practices with the social history of those interred here, this lecture explores the Central Field to understand the enduring draw of the Giza after the construction of its pyramids.
About the Speaker:
Julia Viani Puglisi received her B.A. in Classical Languages at the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in Egyptology at Indiana University, Bloomington. She is currently completing her PhD at Harvard University, where her dissertation, “Transformation at the Giza Pyramids: The Central Field Cemetery,” examines landscape change in the quarry-cemetery of the Central Field.
Since 2022, Puglisi has been working in the Central Field at Giza with the support of an American Research Center in Egypt-Council of American Overseas Research Centers Fellowship (2022–2024) and the Margaret Weyerhaeuser Jewett Memorial Fellowship (2024). Her research investigates how anthropogenic sites are maintained, reused, and transformed over time. Drawing on archaeological documentation and 3D modeling, she traces these changes to reconstruct a social history of the Giza Plateau after the pyramids were built. As a member of the Giza Project at Harvard, Puglisi is producing improved site maps for use by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, while also working to protect the cemetery from human and environmental threats.
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.

Diving the Pyramids: Underwater Tombs and Excavation at the Royal Cemetery of Nuri, Sudan
2025-10-19 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Chicago) | Mitchell Hall, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3202 Downer Avenue, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
The Frederick R. and Margaret B. Matson Lectureship for Near Eastern Archaeology and Archaeological Technology

IAD 2025: Pearce Paul Creasman, “Diving the Pyramids: Underwater Tombs and Excavation at the Royal Cemetery of Nuri, Sudan”
2025-10-19 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Mitchell Hall, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3202 Downer Avenue, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Archaeology Lecture in celebration of International Archaeology Day

The Impact of Roman Military Presence on the Arid Landscapes of Southern Jordan and Israel
2025-10-19 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | 118 St Johns College, University of Manitoba, 65 Chancellors Cir, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lectureship

Living in the Glen of Sorrow: an archaeology of life before and after the 1692 Massacre of Glencoe
2025-10-20 10:00 - 11:00 (Europe/London), 2025-10-20 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York) | Online by Zoom, United Kingdom
This talk will explore the archaeology of Glencoe, among Scotland’s most famous and iconic glens, home to the MacDonald clan and setting for the Glencoe Massacre of 1692. Based on archaeological fieldwork by researchers from the National Trust for Scotland, University of Glasgow and Archaeology Scotland at settlement sites dating to the 17th and 18th centuries we will explore the lives of those who called Glencoe home in this period, the events of the Glencoe massacre and the material remains this tragic event left behind, and how people returned to this landscape to live again along the waters of Coe.
This will be a journey through everyday artefacts and moments which defined the fate of a country.
Dr Edward C Stewart, Archaeology Scotland

Unearthing Sentinum: Discoveries from a Roman City in Italy’s Marche Region
2025-10-21 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Leigh Hall, room 208, 308 Buchtel Commons, Akron, OH, 44325, United States
Matt Notarian (Hiram College) will introduce us to the Sentinum City Archaeological Research Project (SCARP), a recently launched collaboration based in Sassoferrato, Italy, involving Hiram College, the Kansas City Art Institute, and the Superintendency for the provinces of Ancona and Pesaro-Urbino. Its purpose is to examine Sentinum, an ancient Roman town renowned as the site of the “Battle of the Nations” in 295 BCE. At its height during the imperial era, Sentinum functioned as a municipium strategically positioned east of the Apennines, along routes connecting the Via Flaminia to the Adriatic coast. This talk introduces the project in its regional setting in central Marche and presents highlights from its first field season in 2025.
SCARP’s research looks beyond monumental architecture to investigate the city’s residential and working quarters, areas that have seen little systematic study. Of particular interest is how the archaeological record may relate to major historical events, such as the celebrated battle or Sentinum’s involvement in the Perusine War during Augustus’ rise to power. More broadly, the project aims to place Sentinum within current debates on Roman urbanism in central Adriatic Italy, a region attracting increasing scholarly attention.
Although the 2025 season was brief, its results are promising. Excavation focused on two areas of a likely intramural insula first identified by a 2022 magnetometry survey. Evidence points to a well-developed urban environment with public, commercial, and domestic spaces, some adorned with luxurious polychrome marble. The campaign also shed light on late antique reuse and spoliation at the site. While the precise functions of the explored areas and the extent of later activity remain to be clarified, the findings establish a strong foundation for addressing key research questions and planning future seasons of investigation.

The Lumbee River Archaeology Project (LRAP)
2025-10-21 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Semans Auditorium (Room 117), Belk Visual Arts Center, Davidson College, 315 N. Main St., Davidson, NC, 28036, United States
About the lecture:
The Lumbee Tribe, one of the largest tribes in the US, has a rich history in the Carolinas, yet a recent executive memorandum from President Trump has reignited debates around federal recognition policies. This talk will situate the current discourse around the Lumbee Tribe within the historical framework of evolving federal policies on recognition, and introduce the Lumbee River Archaeology Project. Founded in 2024 in collaboration with the Lumbee Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO), LRAP aims to provide archaeological training to the THPO staff, document and preserve ancestral sites, pursue research questions developed with tribal leaders, and share our findings with the community in addition to publishing in academic journals.
About the speaker:
An anthropological archaeologist, Dr. Seth Grooms works primarily in the Eastern Woodlands of North America. His research focuses on crafting archaeological narratives of Native histories that are, as much as possible, informed by Native American perspectives. He uses methods from geoarchaeology, landscape archaeology, and chronological modeling, and he interprets the resulting data within a theoretical framework comprising traditional anthropological theory as well as Native American philosophies and epistemologies. Grooms’ work in Mississippi and Louisiana has focused on early monumentality in North America at sites that participated in the Poverty Point phenomenon (ca. 4500-3000 cal yr BP). His interests in community-based archaeology led him to work with the Crow Tribe (Apsáalooke) in Montana in 2016. Dr. Grooms’ most recent project is the Lumbee River Archaeology Project.

"Tutankhamun’s Funeral—What We Know from KV62"
2025-10-22 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Rehm Library, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College St., Worcester, MA, 01610, United States
Dr. Nicholas R. Brown, a postdoctoral fellow in Egyptology at Yale University and director of excavations at the ancient site of Deir el-Ballas, will explore what the archaeological record reveals about the state funeral in ancient Egypt. Dr. Brown will analyze the unique funeral procession scene depicted in the tomb’s Burial Chamber and its connection to a funerary rite known as the “Awakening of Osiris.” This talk will show how these images and artifacts were meant to transform the king into a divine being. The talk begins at 7 PM in Rehm Library, College of the Holy Cross, but there will be a small welcome reception at 6:30 PM, immediately upstairs in the Moran Lounge.

Talking with archaeologists: an overview of Archaeology in Brazil
2025-10-22 19:00 - 22:00 (America/Sao_Paulo) | Universidade La Salle – Sala 213 – Prédio 1, Av. Victor Barreto, 2288, Centro, Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, 92010-000, Brazil
To celebrate International Archaeology Day, the History Program at La Salle University (Canoas, Brazil) will host a session dedicated to reflecting on Archaeology in Brazil. The event will feature Professor Fábio Chang de Almeida, PhD, and archaeologists Fabiano Aiub Branchelli and Jefferson Batista Garcia, who will share their experiences and discuss the challenges and prospects of the field in the country. The activity will take place in Room 213, Building 1 (Canoas Campus), at 7:00 PM, in a hybrid format with live streaming via Google Meet. Participation is free and open to the public, with prior registration required.

AIA Archaeology Hour October 2025: Shipping Stone for Justinian’s Empire?
2025-10-22 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | https://www.archaeological.org/event/aia-archaeology-hour-october-2025-shipping-stone-for-justinians-empire/
Join the AIA for a fascinating evening with Justin Leidwanger as he gives the International Archaeology Day month AIA Archaeology Hour talk “Shipping Stone for Justinian’s Empire?”
This presentation will be given at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Pacific.

Register here!

Prehistoric Pioneers: Celebrating Scotland’s earliest megalithic monuments and the legacies of the women who investigated them
2025-10-23 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York) | Online by Zoom, United Kingdom
Neolithic chambered tombs are some of the oldest and most iconic monuments found in Scotland. Dating back almost 6,000 years, these stone monuments were build to hold the remains of the dead at a time of huge change for people living in Scotland as they began to farm the land, create new types of artefacts and adopt new lifestyles. New research into these sites can help to refine our understanding of when the Neolithic began in Scotland, as well as allowing us to find out more about the people who built these tombs. Hundreds of these monuments were visited and carefully surveyed by Audrey Henshall, an archaeologist who produced an incredible volume of work on Scottish prehistory, including the seminal volumes The Chambered Tombs of Scotland (1963, 1972) which still prove essential for researchers today. In 2024, Archaeology Scotland received funding from the Henshall Legacy Grant, via the Society for Antiquaries of Scotland, for ‘Scotland’s Earliest Megalithic Monuments’, a project aiming to celebrate the legacy of Henshall and fund three new excavations of chambered tombs. This talk will introduce Archaeology Scotland’s ‘Scotland’s Earliest Megalithic Monuments’ Project, as well as our surrounding work celebrating the legacy of the women who pioneered research into the Neolithic of the west coast of Scotland.

Visualizing the Roman Villa: Virtual Preservation and Digital Archaeology at Oplontis
2025-10-23 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080, United States
Dr. Michael Thomas, co-director of the Oplontis Project since 2005, has focused his research on two sites at ancient Oplontis: Villa A, a monumental seaside residence, and “Villa” B, a commercial complex dedicated to wine storage and distribution. This lecture explores how digital heritage methods have shaped the study and preservation of both sites. Through 3D laser scanning, photogrammetry, GIS mapping, and a linked database, the project has documented the architectural remains and decorative programs of both sites. A navigable digital model not only preserves both of these fragile sites in virtual form but also enables scholars and the public to explore, analyze, and interpret them in ways that extend far beyond the limitations of physical access. The commitment to born-digital publication ensures that these records and reconstructions remain open, adaptable, and sustainable. In combining preservation, accessibility, and interpretation, the Oplontis Project offers a model for how digital heritage can reframe our understanding of the environments in which ancient Roman lived and worked.

Windows on the Ancient Mediterranean: Glass and Society
2025-10-23 17:30 - 18:30 (America/Chicago)
A lecture co-sponsored by Tulane University’s Department of Classical Studies & the New Orleans Society of the AIA
Dr. Allison Sterrett-Krause, College of Charleston (SC) will lecture on Roman glass
As archaeologists, we are all familiar with artifacts of daily life, like pottery vessels, and artworks, like architecture, statues, mosaics, and wall paintings, from the ancient world. Glass straddled the line between artwork and object of daily life in the Greek and Roman worlds. We often see glass in museum collections and marvel at its beauty and preservation, but we rarely learn about this material in our studies. In this lecture, we’ll use glass as a lens to explore ancient society. We will investigate religious and commemorative practices, evidence for recycling and trade, the use of glass vessels as a social marker, and—of course—windows.
NOTE: a photo ID is needed for entry into the university library.

A High Altitude "Big Bang": Late Formative Period Archaeology of the Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia
2025-10-23 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Concordia University, H533, 1455 Blvd. De Maisonneuve Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Doris Z. Stone New World Archaeology Lectures

Archaeology and the Art Museum: How To Be an Archaeologically Informed Curator.
2025-10-23 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Chazen Museum of Art, University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States

Justinian’s Tree: Underwater Environmental Histories in Byzantine Harbors
2025-10-23 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Denver) | Hale Building, Room 260, University of Colorado, Boulder campus, 1350 Pleasant St, Boulder, CO, 80309, United States
Anna Marguerite McCann and Robert D. Taggart Lectureship in Underwater Archaeology

Learn at Lunchtime virtual Lectures PHMC The PA State Museum
2025-10-24 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA, United States
Series of 4 Friday virtual lectures on archaeological subjects with four different lecturers.

TBA (Denver)
2025-10-24 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Denver) | TBA (Denver 1), Denver, CO, United States
Anna Marguerite McCann and Robert D. Taggart Lectureship in Underwater Archaeology Time TBA

The Myth of Ariadne from the Labyrinth to the Walls of Pompeii
2025-10-25 10:00 - 11:30 (America/New_York) | Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum at Miami University, 801 S. Patterson Ave, Oxford, Ohio, 45056
The Archaeological Institute of America- Dayton Society, Miami University Department of History, and the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum (RCCAM) at Miami University present the Archaeological Institute of America’s Peter H. von Blanckenhagen Memorial Lecture by Dr. Lillian Joyce, Associate Professor of Art History at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Most people are familiar with the story of Ariadne helping Theseus escape the Minotaur’s labyrinth, saving him from a situation not unlike the Hunger Games. Ariadne leaves Crete by necessity as well as for her love of Theseus. En route to Athens, they stop at the island of Naxos, where the exhausted Ariadne falls asleep. While she slumbers, Theseus sets sail and abandons her. Alone on the island, she is discovered by the wine god Dionysus and his entourage. Smitten, Dionysus makes Ariadne his consort. This story was explored by Greek writers from Homer onward, but as it comes into the Roman world, poets, patrons, and painters are more interested in the plight of Ariadne rather than the feats of Theseus. Ariadne captivates the Romans and she appears in a great variety of media: glass, gems, sculpture, mosaics, and especially Pompeiian wall painting where the complementary episodes of Ariadne’s abandonment and rescue are the single most common theme in central panel paintings. This talk will explore the strategies that artists employed to make the episodes recognizable and compelling and then expand out to examine the spaces in which Ariadne appears and think about how people experienced these images of the wronged maiden who becomes the consort of a god.

Archaeology Day – University of Alberta
2025-10-25 10:00 - 16:00 (America/Edmonton) | Business/ Tory Atrium, University of Alberta, 11211 Saskatchewan Dr NW, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Archaeology Day
Presented by The Department of History, Classics, and Religion and the Department of Anthropology, in collaboration with the Archaeological Institute of America.
Generous funding for this event is also provided by the Kule Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Alberta
October 25, 2025
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: Tory/Business Atrium, North Campus, University of Alberta
Join us for Archaeology Day! An event to celebrate and learn about research, teaching, and outreach related to archaeology at the University of Alberta. The event will include talks about current research and community engagement being done by staff, activities like stone tool making, pottery drawing, a student poster competition, tours of the Archaeology Labs and WG Hardy Classics Museum, other fun demonstrations, and information tables about archaeology in the province.
The event is hosted by the Department of Anthropology and the Department of History, Classics, and Religion, in collaboration with the Archaeological Institute of America.
This is a free public event and is family friendly!
Schedule of Events:
10:00 a.m. Event Opening
10:30 a.m. Flint Knapping and Stone Tool Demonstration
11:00 a.m. Talk: So you would like to become a Mediterranean Archaeologist? Opportunities at the University of Alberta, Dr. Margriet Haagsma, Professor, Dept. of History, Classics, and Religion, Room TBD
12:00 p.m. Student Poster Competition.
01:00 p.m. Talk: Stories Objects Carry: Working with Legacy Collections and Building Relationships, Christine Conciatori, Director, University of Alberta Museums, Room TBD
02:00 p.m. Public Archaeology activity
02:30 p.m. Flint Knapping and Stone Tool Demonstration
03:00 p.m. Pottery Drawing
04:00 p.m. Event Closing
Throughout the day there will be information tables, tours of the WG Hardy Museum, Archaeology Lab, Fossil Hominid Lab, and other activities.
Note that the Second Cup café will be open from 10-4!
Vendor participants will include:
– Archaeological Institute of America
– UAlberta Archaeology Certificate Program
– Bodo Archaeology
– Archaeological Society of Alberta
– Humayma Excavation Project
– Carthage Lamp Lab
– Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology
– UAlberta Anthropology Undergraduate Association
– Archaeology Survey of Alberta
– Cultural Resource Management Firms

Slip Into the Past
2025-10-25 12:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Alexandria Archaeology Museum, 105 N Union St, #327, Alexandria, VA, 22314, United States
Experiment with 19th-century pottery slip designs, like marbling and dendritic patterns, and apply your own temporary tattoo in the style of transfer printed ceramic. Take part in this free, walk-in activity between 12 and 4 p.m. at the Alexandria Archaeology Museum. While supplies last. This event coincides with the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Art Safari, happening throughout the building.

Spokane AIA Book Club
2025-10-26 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
This is the inaugural meeting of a new archaeology-focused book club sponsored by the Spokane chapter. We will likely meet monthly to discuss archeological news, books and to socialize among local archaeology enthusiasts.

Jodi Magness - The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
2025-10-27 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus, Baltimore, Maryland, 21210, United States
Monday Oct. 27, 5:00 – 6:00, Johns Hopkins Homewood campus, Room TBA
Jodi Magness
Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism
Department of Religious Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
In 1946-1947, the first Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by accident near the site of Qumran. Eventually the remains of approximately 1000 scrolls were found in 11 caves surrounding Qumran. In this slide-illustrated lecture, we explore the archaeological remains of Qumran, which was inhabited by members of a Jewish sect who deposited the scrolls in the nearby caves, and examine the meaning and significance of the scrolls.

The Origins of the Alphabet and How It Spread Across the World
2025-10-28 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Public Lecture by Professor Wayne T. Pitard
Abstract:
Essentially all of the alphabetic scripts in the world descend from a single script invented probably during the 20th century BCE by a Canaanite in the southern Levant. This lecture will provide a tour of the extraordinary development of the alphabet from its beginnings to its eventual spread across the Mediterranean and the world. We will examine the script’s origin and how the signs were conceptualized by their creator(s). We will look at the alphabet’s extension, first across the eastern Mediterranean where it developed into the distinctive Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic scripts, and then moved southward into the Arabian Peninsula, where it evolved into the Arabic system. Then we will examine how the early alphabet, which only expressed consonants, was revolutionized by the Greeks, who began using some of the letters as vowels. We will follow the development of the Greek alphabet into both the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets that exist throughout Europe and much of northern Asia. Finally, we will touch upon the spread of the Arabic alphabet across northern Africa and eastward into India, and the Latin alphabet’s movement to the Americas and parts of southern Africa during the European colonial period of the 15th-20th centuries. All of this has made the alphabetic writing system the most widespread method of writing in the world.
