Managing and Curating Yale University’s Numismatic Collection
2024-04-17 18:30 (America/Chicago) | WEBINAR (Kansas City/Lawrence 1), Lawrence, KS
Metcalf lecture
For registration, please email Phil Stinson of the University of Kansas (pstinson@ku.edu), or Jeff Rydberg-Cox of the Univ. of Missouri Kansas City (rydbergcoxj@umkc.edu).

AIA Archaeology Hour with Deborah Carlson
2024-04-17 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
Join the AIA for a fascinating evening as Deborah Carlson (Texas A&M) presents Excavating a Shipwrecked Marble Column Destined for the Temple of Apollo at Claros.
This presentation will be given at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Pacific.
Between 2005 and 2011, researchers from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University excavated and raised the remains of an ancient ship that was wrecked off the Aegean coast of Turkey at Kızılburun in the first century B.C. This ship was transporting about 60 tons of white marble blocks and architectural elements that originated in the quarries on Proconnesus Island in the Sea of Marmara. Ceramic artifacts and coins help narrow the date of the shipwreck, but the pieces of a single monumental Doric column suggest that the ship was destined for one of the most important oracular sanctuaries in the ancient Mediterranean. Join underwater archaeologist Deborah Carlson as she lays out the evidence to solve this maritime mystery!

Decorated Caves of the Pyrenees & the Rhone Valley
2024-04-18 - 2024-04-29
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 hand prints at Gargas, and the famous panels of line-drawn and subtly shaded bison, horse, and ibex at Niaux. Visit the recently opened Cosquer Méditerranée, a replica of a heavily decorated, now submerged, prehistoric cave that was discovered in 1985. The trip concludes with a visit to the spectacular Chauvet Cave replica at Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, which expertly recreates 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 tour manager handles all the logistics.

“We Are Shaped by Space”: Some Archaeological Perspectives of the Materiality of Black Life
2024-04-18 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | UMass Amherst, Herter Hall 227, 161 Presidents Drive, Amherst, MA, 01003, United States
Ellen and Charles S. La Follette Lecture
For Zoom attendance, please register here: https://tinyurl.com/2xcu7ntk
Dr. Whitney Battle-Baptiste (UMass Amherst) will present a hybrid lecture on the topic “’We Are Shaped by Space’: Some Archaeological Perspectives of the Materiality of Black Life.”

From Myth to Polis: Deciphering the Cultural Life of Ancient Aphidna Using Multi-Modal Landscape Analysis
2024-04-18 18:00 (America/New_York)

A Lecture about the Neolithic site of the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney (Scotland) by Scott Pike PhD, Environmental Science and Archaeology, Willamette University
2024-04-18 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Vancouver) | Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC), 2316 West 1st Avenue, Spokane, Washington, 99201, United States
Abstract coming soon.
About Dr. Scott Pike:
As both a trained geologist and archaeologist, my research uses geological theories and methodologies to tackle archaeological and art historical problems. Currently, I am pursuing two major research trajectories. The first is the development and application of portable instrumentation to study the synergistic relationships between societies and their changing landscapes. These projects use geologic principals and methods to understand how the landscape influences the development of human cultures and, in turn, how dynamic landscapes influence social and cultural stability and change. Research along this trajectory includes a systematic geochemical study of floor samples collected from multiple monumental structures at the Neolithic site of the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, Scotland. My second line of research focuses on the procurement, use, trade and aesthetics of white marble used in the ancient Mediterranean basin. Current marble research in this area includes analysis of marble samples from the Parthenon and Propylaea on the Athenian acropolis as well as the development of using aerial photography and other emerging technologies to record and study ancient marble quarries.
The lecture will broadcast in realtime via Zoom.
Join Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84120684037?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 841 2068 4037
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Peabody Museum Tours Led by Harvard Students
2024-04-19 14:00 - 14:45, 2024-04-20 14:00 - 14:45, 2024-04-21 14:00 - 14:45 (America/New_York) | Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 2:00 pm October 1, 2023–April 21, 2024. See blackout dates.* Regular museum admission rates apply.
*Blackout dates: November 24–26, 2023; December 4, 2023–January 21, 2024; and March 9–17, 2024.
Tours by Harvard students connect visitors with the research, teaching, and Indigenous engagement surrounding the cultural heritage in the museum’s care. How do items come to the museum? Who accesses them and how do items return home?
Visitors may drop in at the scheduled times. No reservation is required. Tours meet in the lobby and last approximately 45 minutes.
Tours for groups of ten or more may be scheduled at these and other times, student schedules permitting.
Photo: EJSP Visual | Julieta Sarmiento

Morocco: From the Desert to the Sea
2024-04-20 - 2024-05-04
Join us for a unique look at the history, architecture, archaeology, and art of Morocco in the company of Professor Emeritus Trevor Marchand and a professional national guide/ tour manager. Explore the magnificent landscapes that helped form the country’s ancient and modern cultures, from the wild Atlantic coast to the High Atlas Mountains, dense cedar forests, and vast Sahara Desert. It is a land of extraordinary contrasts, and on this custom-designed itinerary you will visit all of the country’s best-known historic sites, including six that are inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, as well as bustling casbahs, medinas, and souks.
Highlights include:
• The UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Aït ben Haddou casbah, with its tall adobe forts; all four of Morocco’s Imperial Cities: the vibrant medinas of 9thcentury Fes and 11th-century Marrakech, the historic city of Meknes, and the stately modern capital
and historic city of Rabat; plus the ruins of Volubilis, Rome’s regional commercial hub until the 3rd century A.D.
• Architectural gems such as Salé, a traditional Moroccan residential city untouched by mass tourism, including its restored, 14th-century medersa
• The former caravan center of Sijilmassa, Africa’s second largest city until the 14th century; and Aghmat, the recently uncovered first capital of the 11th-century Almoravid Dynasty, which is still being excavated and is closed to the public
• Several fascinating museums, including Rabat’s archaeological museum, the only one of its kind in the country; and Fes’s exquisite Museum of Wooden Arts and Crafts, housed in the 17th-century Nejjarine caravansary
• Scenic excursions into the mountains and the desert, including a drive across the Atlas ranges from Fes to the edge of the Sahara, taking four-wheel-drive vehicles to the great Erg Chebbi Dunes, and a drive over the spectacular Tizi-n-Tichka Pass
• Delicious Moroccan and Continental food, with opportunities to dine independently in Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, and Marrakech; as well as carefully-chosen hotels in each location
• An excellent touring pace, with 12 nights at 4-and 5-star hotels, and one night in Merzouga at the Desert Luxury Camp in deluxe tents.
• A small group of no more than twelve guests!

Corpse Wine: Dionysiac Imagery and the Fermentation of the Dead in Roman Sarcophagi
2024-04-20 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum, 801 S Patterson Ave, Oxford, OH, 45056, United States
A lecture by Mont Allen, Southern Illinois University
Why are roughly one-ninth of all surviving Roman sarcophagi shaped not like rectangular boxes with squared-off ends, but instead like lenoi: those large tubs or vats with rounded ends in which Greeks and Romans pressed grapes and fermented the juice to make wine, an association underscored by the Dionysiac imagery that often appears on the sides of these sarcophagi? What purpose did it serve within the funerary context? Or to put it most bluntly: Why did so many Romans want to imagine their dearly departed as resting within a wine vat?!
I suggest that it explicitly invited viewers — bereaved family members — to reconceive the corpse’s decomposition and moldering within the vat-like casket in Dionysiac terms: as a process of fermentation like that which transformed grapes into wine. It offered mourners a comforting fantasy, to reimagine the deceased’s putrefaction as instead a transubstantiation into a delicious elixir, something elevated, intoxicating, and divine. Exploring a wide variety of evidence — art historical, archaeological, and taphonomic — this talk examines the plausibility of such an argument, with special attention paid to the visual material and to what we can reconstruct about how Romans would have liquefied within their sarcophagi.

Peabody Museum Tours Led by Harvard Students
2024-04-21 11:00 - 11:45, 2024-04-28 11:00 - 11:45, 2024-05-05 11:00 - 11:45, 2024-05-12 11:00 - 11:45 (America/New_York) | Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Sundays at 11:00 am October 1, 2023–April 21, 2024. See blackout dates.* Regular museum admission rates apply. Free museum admission for Massachusetts residents every Sunday morning (year-round) from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Proof of residency required. Free museum admission is not available to commercial groups.
*Blackout dates: November 24–26, 2023; December 4, 2023–January 21, 2024; and March 9–17, 2024.
Tours by Harvard students connect visitors with the research, teaching, and Indigenous engagement surrounding the cultural heritage in the museum’s care. How do items come to the museum? Who accesses them and how do items return home?
Visitors may drop in at the scheduled times. No reservation is required. Tours meet in the lobby and last approximately 45 minutes.
Tours for groups of ten or more may be scheduled at these and other times.
Photo: EJSP Visual | Julieta Sarmiento

Assessing the Historicity of the Trojan War: Excavations at Troy 1988-2012
2024-04-23 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Burpee Museum of Natural History, 737 North Main St., Rockford, IL, 61103, United States
Santen lecture

AIA Annual Meeting Submission Webinar
2024-04-26 14:00 (America/New_York)
Do you want to participate in the upcoming AIA-SCS Annual Meeting but don’t know where to begin? Want to learn some tips on how to submit an abstract? Join the AIA for a workshop on the basics of the Annual Meeting, including the types of sessions at the Annual Meeting, advice on how to write an abstract, and how to find funding to attend the conference. Learn from long-time Annual Meeting attendees and ask questions to prepare for this year’s submission deadlines.
Co-sponsored by the AIA Student Affairs Interest Group.

Guided Tour of Newark Earthworks
2024-04-27 13:00 (America/New_York) | Newark Earthworks, 455 Hebron Rd, Heath, OH, 43056, United States
Join us for a guided tour of the Newark Earthworks, for members & friends of the AIA. Cost is $10, please bring cash to speed along check-in. RSVP is not required, but it’ll help us gauge interest. If you think you’ll attend, let us know here.

The Nubian Pharaohs of Egypt, a Lecture by Aidan Dodson
2024-04-28 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | ARCE Egyptology Lectures Room 20 Social Sciences Building, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
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 lecture by Dr. Aidan Dodson, University of Bristol:
“The Nubian Pharaohs of Egypt”
Sunday April 28, 2024, 3 PM Pacific Time
Room 20, Social Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
This in-person lecture will be recorded for later publication on YouTube.
About the Lecture:
For a few decades during the 8th to 7th centuries BC, there was a remarkable reversal of the age-old imperial domination of Nubia by Egypt. In the wake of the fragmentation of the Egyptian state during the 8th century, the Kushite state that had evolved in Nubia since Egyptian withdrawal at the beginning of the 11th century expanded northwards, ultimately absorbing the south of Egypt, including Thebes itself. Having established themselves as overlords of the various regional rulers in Egypt, the Nubian pharaohs led a national revival in Egypt, until an Assyrian onslaught drove them back into Nubia, where their composite of Egyptian and Nubian culture would survive into the 4th century AD.
About the Speaker:
Aidan Mark Dodson is an English Egyptologist and historian. He has been honorary professor of Egyptology at the University of Bristol since August 1, 2018. Born in London on September 11, 1962, he studied at Langley Grammar School (1975–81), before moving to Collingwood College, Durham (1981-2). He completed a BA at the University of Liverpool (1985), and an MPhil (1986, museum practice and archaeology) and PhD (1995, Egyptology) at Christ’s College, Cambridge. He began teaching at the University of Bristol in October 1996, also holding the post of Simpson Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo from January to July 2013. Dodson was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2003. His primary research interests concern Ancient Egypt, including dynastic history and chronology, tomb architecture, sarcophagus and coffin design, canopic equipment, and the history of Egyptology; he is also a historian of late 19th and early 20th century navies, and has written on the royal tombs of Great Britain. He is the author of some 27 books and 400 articles and reviews. His latest book, The Nubian Pharaohs of Egypt: Their Lives and Afterlives, was published by the American University in Cairo Press at the end of 2023.
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Parking is available in UC lots all day on weekends, for a fee. Ticket dispensing machines accept debit or credit cards. Parking is available in lots around the Social Sciences Building, and in lots along Bancroft. A map of the campus is available online at http://www.berkeley.edu/map/ .
About ARCE-NC:
For more information, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE/, http://www.arce-nc.org, https://twitter.com/ARCENCPostings, and https://khentiamentiu.org. To join the chapter or renew your membership, please go to https://arce.org/join-arce/ and select “Berkeley, CA” as your chapter when you sign up.

Israel Revisited
2024-05-04 - 2024-05-17
Join acclaimed AIA lecturer and archaeologist Jodi Magness and revisit Israel on this active, small-group adventure to explore ancient and natural sites, many of which are off the beaten path. This is a more strenuous itinerary than our other Israel tour, Treasures of the Holy Land, as it includes several hikes in nature reserves to see wildlife and geological wonders in addition to visiting a variety of archaeological and cultural sites. Estimated distances and difficulty of the hikes are indicated in red in the itinerary’s daily headings, but every day with group activities will involve walking, whether around archaeological sites or through towns and cities. End most days at a 5-star hotel/resort, where you can rest your weary but fulfilled traveler’s head and perhaps refresh yourself in their luxury pools or spas.
Highlights include:
• Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
o Tel Hazor National Park with the ancient city of Hazor which, twice in its history, was the largest fortified city in the area
o Ein Avdat, a vast canyon with caves where monks once resided, part of the “Incense Route – Desert Cities in the Negev”
• Walks and hikes in several nature reserves and national parks:
o Tel Dan Nature Reserve, with the ruins of a 5,000-year-old city and the world’s oldest-known gated archway
o Gamla Nature Reserve, home to Israel’s highest cascade (the 170-foot Gamla Waterfall), the remains of the ancient city of Gamla, and a Bronze Age field with 716 dolmens (megalithic structures of smaller vertical stones with one or more capstones)
o Banias Nature Reserve, where we find Israel’s largest waterfall and the ruins of a palace complex built by Agrippa II
o A walk on Mount Scopus, where we will visit the burial cave of Nicanor
o The lush oasis of Ein Gedi National Park, with a hike along sparkling David’s Stream and the ruins of an excavated ancient synagogue with a perfectly preserved mosaic floor
• Wadi Qelt’s monastery of St. George of Choziba, a breathtaking complex perched on the side of the valley’s walls
• A well-paced itinerary with four nights at our hotel in Tiberias, on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, including a boat ride; and four nights in Jerusalem, with visits to the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, the and the excavations on the southwest
side of Temple Mount
• The desert town of Nitzana, with ancient petroglyphs and the remains of a Byzantine church, plus a chance to enjoy the hospitality of the Negev Bedouins.

Studies on pithos as a storage and burial vessel in the ancient Classical and Byzantine world
2024-05-05 10:00 - 2024-05-08 16:00 (Europe/Athens)
Online conference

"Animals of the Bayeux Tapestry" by Dr. Gail Owen-Crocker
2024-05-05 14:00 (America/Chicago) | Missouri History Museum, AT&T Room, 5700 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, MO, 62113, United States
5 May 2024, Sunday at 2 PM (Central Standard Time Zone). Lecture by Dr. Gail Owen-Crocker, Professor Emerita of the University of Manchester, “Animals of the Bayeux Tapestry” . Lecture location – Missouri History Museum, AT & T room. Join us in the museum cafe for lunch (dutch treat) at noon to chat with the speaker.

How Egyptologist George Reisner Went Walking Among Pharaohs
2024-05-05 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Gunn Theater, 100 - 34th Avenue, Lincoln Park, San Francisco, CA, 94121
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 lecture by Dr. Peter Der Manuelian, Harvard:
How Egyptologist George Reisner Went Walking Among Pharaohs
May 5, 2024 (2 pm Pacific Time, live at the Legion of Honor, San Francisco)
Cosponsored by the Ancient Art Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Lecture is free and open to the public. It is also a hybrid program.
IN PERSON: Gunn Theater, 100 – 34th Avenue, Lincoln Park, San Francisco, CA 94121. Seating is limited and unassigned. Doors open at 1:30 pm.
LIVE STREAM: Please register here to receive a webinar link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2WLpssqfRcGtmfdl02bLEQ
About the Lecture:
Based on his new biography of George Reisner (1867–1942), Walking Among Pharaohs, the speaker’s lecture examines the life and work of America’s greatest Egyptian archaeologist, and Reisner’s legacy of 43 years of successful excavations at 23 archaeological sites in Egypt and the Sudan (ancient Nubia). Leading the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, Reisner put American Egyptology on the world stage, despite British control of Egyptian politics, French control of Egyptian antiquities, and an Egypt yearning for independence. The lecture considers Reisner’s life and impact within the context of Western colonialism, racism, and the soft power of early twentieth-century archaeology. It also explores new visualization technologies, particularly at the Giza Pyramids, that Reisner’s work makes possible today.
About the Speaker:
Peter Der Manuelian is the Barbara Bell Professor of Egyptology and holds a joint appointment in the Anthropology Department and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard. He is also director of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE). He came to Harvard in 2010, after serving on the curatorial staff of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), since 1987, and teaching for a decade at Tufts University. At the MFA he was Giza Archives Project Director from 2000 to 2011, and now directs the Giza Project at Harvard. In addition to Giza, his Egyptian archaeological and epigraphic site work includes New Kingdom temples at Luxor (Epigraphic Survey, University of Chicago), and the Predynastic site of Naqada.
His primary research interests include ancient Egyptian history and historiography, archaeology, epigraphy, the development of mortuary architecture, and the (icono)graphic nature of Egyptian language and culture. He has published on diverse topics and periods in Egyptian history, but currently focuses on the third millennium BCE, and specifically on the famous Giza Necropolis, just west of modern Cairo.
Interested in both ancient and modern graphic design—publishing in the broadest sense of the word—he believes in bringing new technologies into his research and into the classroom. Recent efforts have focused on photogrammetry, AR and VR visualizations, and other immersive technologies as an aid to archaeological research. He is directing the Arabic Diaries Project, focusing on 73 Arabic Expedition diary books from the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition (1905–1947) that give voice to the historically voiceless Egyptians working on the dig.
(Text from Harvard University website: https://anthropology.fas.harvard.edu/people/peter-der-manuelian)
About ARCE-NC:
For more information, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE/, http://www.arce-nc.org, https://twitter.com/ARCENCPostings, and https://khentiamentiu.org. To join the chapter or renew your membership, please go to https://arce.org/join-arce/ and select “Berkeley, CA” as your chapter when you sign up.

Archaeology, Museums, and War: Strategies for the 21st Century
2024-05-05 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Getty Villa, 17985 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades, 90272, United States
Heritage destruction during wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and more recent conflicts have vastly increased the obligation of scholars to help preserve the art and material culture of antiquity. Classical archaeologist C. Brian Rose has first-hand experience with destruction and preservation efforts in conflict zones. He draws from his deep understanding of excavations and museums to reflect on cultural heritage today, repatriation requests, and the importance of the past for the present.
C. Brian Rose is an American archaeologist, classical scholar, and author. He is the James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Ferry Curator-in-Charge of the Mediterranean Section of the Penn Museum. He currently serves as director for the Gordion excavations and as head of the Post-Bronze Age excavations at Troy. His publications have focused on the archaeological sites of Troy and Gordion (both in present-day Turkey), and on the political and artistic relationship between Rome and the provinces. Rose has also offered pre-deployment education and training for armed-forces personnel bound for Iraq and Afghanistan to emphasize cultural heritage awareness and protection.

AIA Student Affairs Interest Group Dissertation Lecture: "In Search of Border Sanctuaries: Religion, Landscape, and Territory in the Peloponnese"
2024-05-07 14:00 (America/New_York)
Every year, the AIA Student Affairs Interest Group (SAIG)Dissertation Lecture speaker is Shannon M. Dunn (Bryn Mawr College), who will be presenting her lecture: “In Search of Border Sanctuaries: Religion, Landscape, and Territory in the Peloponnese”.
Join us for her virtual lecture on Zoom on Tuesday, May 7th at 2pm Eastern. Register for the lecture here.
Ancient Greek border sanctuaries have been commonly understood within scholarship as sacred places that reflected or reinforced the territorial boundaries of different political entities. Though implied to be a distinct group of sacred places, there is no agreement about how these sanctuaries functioned as/at borders. Despite the lasting impact of scholarly models of the distribution and function of sanctuaries in the Greek landscape, the type of site often referred to as a “border sanctuary” has not been subject to a large-scale study which comprehensively addresses this category, and which uses sufficient data to critically discuss the usefulness and verity of such terminology. As those models rely on sanctuary landscapes, both in terms of terrain and of spatial relationships, this study maintains the same focus. In the Peloponnese alone, there were different strategies for border delineation and land claims, and different deities preferred by poleis to guard these marginal or contested areas. Major landscape features tended to be used to determine borders, often associated with sacred sites, such as mountain-top temples at the edges of a territory, or shrines in a pass between two regions. The usage of and access to the sanctuaries are dependent on their relationships to regional routes as well as the local political histories, and can be traced through both votive material and written records, including disputes and arbitrations. Some sites reflect changing control of their associated border, while others suggest functions as places of connection and communication between territories. While the framework of “border sanctuary” does not result in a strict typology of site, it does provide a productive lens through which to approach an array of sacred places and to bring them into dialogue with their regional religious landscapes, moving beyond models which revolve around the polis. This project has implications for our understanding of Greek polytheism in general and for the interconnected religious landscapes of the Archaic and Classical Peloponnese.

Gordion: Recent Work and Unknotting Old Questions
2024-05-07 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Recent Field Work at Gordion
C. Brian Rose, James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology, Curator-in-Charge Penn Museum, Mediterranean Section & Director of Excavations at Gordion
Recent work has focused primarily on architectural conservation, research on tumuli, and remote sensing. On the south side of the Citadel Mound, the newly discovered city gate appears to have been in use for over 1200 years, from the 9th century BCE. to the 4th century CE, It features an approach road nearly 100 m long. The discoveries within the Mosaic Building include the only stone omphalos to have been found in Asia Minor and a gilded ivory sphinx that probably adorned a throne. The 8th century Tumulus 52 included over 3,000 beads of amber imported from the Baltic, and the 8-10 year old child found within the wooden chamber may have been a member of the family of Midas. Gordion was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 2023, the 20th site in Türkiye to be so honored.
From Legend to Reality: Ancient Vehicles from the City of Gordion
Gareth Darbyshire, Gordion Project Archivist and a Penn Museum Research Associate
The fabled, prophetic Gordian Knot was associated with a cart or wagon that was linked in legend with Phrygian kingship, and this vehicle was reportedly dedicated to a divine power at the citadel of Gordion. Recently, the actual building in which this vehicle was housed has perhaps now been identified. More tangibly, archaeological evidence for a number of ancient vehicles — seldom found anywhere — has been revealed by the Penn Museum’s longstanding excavations at Gordion.
Some Ivory, Bone and Horn Puzzles
Phoebe Sheftel, PhD
Among the nearly 1,000 objects of bone, ivory, antler, horn and shell recovered at Gordion between 1950 and 2005, are three groups of pieces that still provoke puzzled interpretation. Thirty-nine bone objects found in Hellenistic contexts have a distinct rectangular shape, often with pronged ends. Various interpretations have labeled them as handles or containers of some sort. A dozen examples of ivory attachments with cylinders engaged on flat or curved strips and found in Middle and Late Phrygian contexts have eluded explanation. Finally, two horn pieces with three attachment holes have been compared to other objects dating from the 2nd millennium BCE to the Carolingian period (8th-9th CE).

Pithoi in the Archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean
2024-05-08 10:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Istanbul)
STUDIES ON PITHOS AS A STORAGE AND BURIAL VESSEL IN THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL AND BYZANTINE WORLD
Zoom details
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYscO2tqDwrGNRlFl9z_wCGf1LI5IJAJZxJ
Meeting ID: 821 7456 7120.
Password: [REDACTED]

In search of a lost hydraulic treasure in Iraqi Kurdistan: how to virtually study abandoned subterranean qanat systems
2024-05-08 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | The Embassy Public House, 1425 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL, United States
Talk by Dr. Mehrnoush Soroush (Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of Chicago)
Throughout the Middle Ages, thousands of miles of underground water management infrastructure, known as qanats, were built to sustain thriving societies despite the arid environments of the Middle East and Central Asia. There is enormous interest in the history and functioning of qanat systems in archaeology and cultural heritage management. Unfortunately, the majority of ancient qanats have dried out and their visible parts have been eradicated, leaving us with many unanswered questions, including their construction history, engineering techniques, technology transmission, and the impact of migrations and changing climate on their diffusion and demise. The premise of my research is that the loss of visible remains should not end our learning about these archaeological and heritage assets. While we can use Satellite imagery to map the path and surface remains of the qanats, our understanding of main parts of the system that are subterranean is limited as none of the current archaeological techniques can map features buried that deep under the ground. Through a grant from the Institute for the Formation of Knowledge, I have explored whether a relatively low-cost geophysics technology named tomography can be used to model the buried shafts and channels.
Mehrnoush Soroush is a landscape archaeologist who examines the intersection between urban and water history in the Ancient Near East. She received her Ph.D. from the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) of New York University and her MA in Architecture from the University of Tehran, Iran. Mehrnoush’s research focuses on the resilience of ancient cities in adapting to environmental changes and socio-political developments by adopting new hydraulic strategies and technologies. She employs interdisciplinary approaches drawing on a broad set of data, including archaeological fieldwork, textual and archival research, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and related computational methods.
* *The event is free and open to those who are 21 and over** Please register at eventbrite

From the Green Sahara to Kushite Pharaohs: Common origins, differentiation, and the long term entanglements of Nubians and Egyptians
2024-05-11 15:30 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
In-person Lecture
Saturday, May 11 at 3:30 pm EST
Penn Museum, Classroom L2
Speaker: Dr. Stuart Tyson Smith
Lecture Topic: From the Green Sahara to Kushite Pharaohs: Common origins, differentiation, and the long term entanglements of Nubians and Egyptians
Abstract:
Egyptologists have for a long time seen Egypt as isolated along the Nile and a “civilizing” force that drove developments in Nubia. The archaeological evidence for the “green Sahara” (c. 12,000-3500 BCE) has led to an increasing realization that ancient Nubia and Egypt have common origins in a pastoral complex that thrived in what is today barren desert across a wide swath of northeast Africa. People and cultures entangled, creating related but still distinctive groups who shared sets of symbolic resources and cultural practices across the region in the grasslands that are now desert and along the Nile. Two great African traditions, Nubian and Egyptian, began to differentiate with the formation of the Pharaonic and early Kushite states as the rains marched southwards into the Sahel, but Nubians and Egyptians remained in constant contact, sometimes as rivals, sometimes as partners or allies. These entanglements and mutual influence deepened during the New Kingdom Egyptian empire and in its aftermath with the rise of the Kushite Dynasty. This presentation will discuss this changing picture of Nubian and Egyptian origins and long history of intercultural exchange using evidence from archaeological work at Tombos and other sites at the Third and Fourth Cataracts.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Stuart Tyson Smith is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published on the dynamics of Egyptian imperialism and royal ideology, the use of sealings in administration, death and burial, and the ethnic, social and economic dynamics of interaction between ancient Egypt and Nubia. He recently co-edited Origins and Afterlives of Kush, a special issue of the Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections (2022). He co-directs the UCSB-Purdue-Africa International University Tombos expedition to the third cataract of the Nile. In a new line of research, Smith applies a postcolonial critique to modern views of ancient Egypt as not truly African and Nubia as its subordinate. He served as Egyptological Consultant for the hit MGM movie ‘Stargate,’ recreating spoken ancient Egyptian for the film, and returned to Hollywood consulting for the Universal remake of ‘The Mummy,’ its sequel, ‘The Mummy Returns,’ and most recently for MGM’s 2018’s ‘Stargate Origins: Catherine.’
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Lectures are FREE to ARCE Members, $7 for University of Pennsylvania Museum Members and UPenn Staff and Faculty, $5 for Students with ID, and $10 for the general public.
Light refreshments served starting at 3pm.
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The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1948 by a consortium of educational and cultural institutions to support research on all aspects of Egyptian history and culture, foster broader knowledge among the general public, and strengthen American-Egyptian cultural ties. The ARCE Pennsylvania Chapter (ARCE-PA) is the local branch of the national institution. We host monthly events including scholarly lectures, Egyptian-themed workshops, social events, and guided tours of the Penn Museum’s Egyptian galleries. For more information or to learn about the perks of membership, please send an e-mail to info@arce-pa.org, or visit our website at www.arce-pa.org.

2024 Virtual Annual Meeting - American Research Center in Egypt
2024-05-17 - 2024-05-19
2024 ARCE Annual meeting
Virtual Annual Meeting
If you couldn’t join us at the ARCE Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, we hope you will join us for the ARCE Virtual Annual Meeting. The virtual meeting will be held on May 17-19, 2024, via Zoom. You’ll have the opportunity to view live presentations from leading scholars on topics related to Egyptian history, recent fieldwork, technological advances, and much more.
Register today for just $125: https://secure.everyaction.com/aWdvBVdR_E2GKc1ymV3TxA2
Virtual registrants will have access to our live virtual tour of Journey Through Time: Exploring the Coptic Museum’s Rich Legacy with Mary Missak on May 18th at 12 PM EST.
View the *Virtual Schedule:
https://click.everyaction.com/k/84125485/470542812/-93060125?nvep=ew0KICAiVGVuYW50VXJpIjogIm5ncHZhbjovL3Zhbi9FQS9FQTAwMi8xLzYyNjQ1IiwNCiAgIkRpc3RyaWJ1dGlvblVuaXF1ZUlkIjogIjgxY2I1ZDdhLWUwMDctZWYxMS05NmYzLTdjMWU1MjFiMDdmOSIsDQogICJFbWFpbEFkZHJlc3MiOiAiZ2xlbm5ybWV5ZXJAZ21haWwuY29tIg0KfQ%3D%3D&hmac=_zIkYa9Eu79YnV8V6VyqqUvBy1U9CToZmvXLG24s_vY=&emci=6a563f29-6a02-ef11-96f3-7c1e521b07f9&emdi=81cb5d7a-e007-ef11-96f3-7c1e521b07f9&ceid=1666070
More information will be sent to speakers and registrants soon.
For assistance and inquiries, please email AMHelp@arce.org. Fee waivers are available for student members and early career scholars in financial need.
*Schedule Subject to change
American Research Center in Egypt
909 N Washington Street, Suite 320 | Alexandria, VA 22314
www.arce.org
