Archaeological Institute of America

Peabody Museum Tours Led by Harvard Students
2023-12-29 14:00 - 14:45, 2023-12-30 14:00 - 14:45, 2023-12-31 14:00 - 14:45, 2024-01-05 14:00 - 14:45, 2024-01-06 14:00 - 14:45, 2024-01-07 14:00 - 14:45, 2024-01-12 14:00 - 14:45, 2024-01-13 14:00 - 14:45 (America/New_York) and 4 more dates | 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

Sketching the Marbles
2023-12-29 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | The Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN, 37203, United States
Sketching the Marbles
For centuries, artists have drawn the Parthenon’s pediment sculptures. Join us for special art sessions to create your own classical masterpiece. Sketching the Marbles is held on the final Friday afternoon of each month (except Metro Nashville holidays).
–Recommended for ages 12 and older.
–This program takes place in the Treasury.
–All supplies are included— but you are welcome to bring your own.
–Participation is free for Centennial Park Conservancy members, or included with museum admission.
–The most updated times and dates are listed on the Calendar.
Love to draw, but not able to make it to museum soon? Try your hand at creating Parthenon art— from home! Browse our Parthenon Create video playlist on our YouTube channel.
THANK YOU TO JERRY’S ARTARAMA FOR PROVIDING ART SUPPLIES!

"Archaeological Narratives and the First Nations of Australia"
2023-12-30 14:00 (America/Chicago) | WEBINAR (St. Louis), St. Louis, MO
30 December 2023, Saturday at 2 PM (Central Standard Time Zone). ZOOM lecture by Dr. Harry Allen, Fellow at the University of Auckland in New Zealand: “Archaeological Narratives and the First Nations of Australia”. Zoom room opens at 1:45 and lecture promptly starts at 2 PM. Sign in at 1:45, please…

Peabody Museum Tours Led by Harvard Students
2023-12-31 11:00 - 11:45, 2024-01-07 11:00 - 11:45, 2024-01-14 11:00 - 11:45, 2024-01-21 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

2024 AIA Annual Meeting
2024-01-04 08:00 - 2024-01-07 17:00 (America/New_York) | AIA Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States
The submission of organized sessions, papers, or posters that bring the archaeology of the Mediterranean world into conversation with that of the Americas and other regions around a shared thematic, methodological, or theoretical issue.

Archaeology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2024-01-09 - 2024-01-25 | MA
Join archaeologist Barbara A. Porter and a small group of fellow travelers for this in-depth travel experience in Saudi Arabia. This will be Dr. Porter’s fourth tour of the country, and you will also be accompanied by local guides and a tour manager. This tour opportunity allows us to see, experience, and learn about Saudi Arabia’s long history and rich culture, and how both were influenced by its dramatic geography; and to become familiar with some of the archaeological research and sites that are being uncovered and shared with the world. Following historic trade and pilgrimage routes, we will cross vast deserts, see irrigated lands teeming with agriculture, and enjoy scenic views with striking mountains and landscapes along the way.

Preserving the Wonders of Algeria and India
2024-01-10 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | MA
Join the AIA as we learn about the archaeology of two countries, Algeria and India, who have requested bilateral agreements with the US to preserve their cultural heritage. Professors Monica Smith and Elizabeth Fentress will take us on a whirlwind tour of India and Algeria, respectively, and explain how we can make public comment to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee to aid in protecting sites and objects abroad.
For more information, visit https://www.archaeological.org/preserving-algeria-and-india/
This presentation will be given at 12 pm Eastern/11am Central/10am Mountain/9am Pacific.

Connecticut Office of State Archaeology Year-in-Review Lecture
2024-01-11 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | University of Connecticut, 91 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT, 06269, United States
Dig into the new year with a lecture hosted by the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History (CSMNH) and the Office of State Archaeology.
The frozen winter ground puts most archaeological excavations on hold… but on Thursday, January 11th, State Archaeologist Dr. Sarah Sportman will be digging into Connecticut archaeology… in the form of a lecture! Dr. Sportman will highlight recent field work, research, and other activities undertaken by the Office of State Archaeology.
The lecture is free and open to the public! We hope to see you there!
If you require an accommodation to participate in this event, please contact the CSMNH at 860-486-4460 or CSMNHinfo@uconn.edu by Friday January 5.

Egypt Revisited
2024-01-12 - 2024-01-28 | MA
You are invited to return to Egypt to experience this 17-day, custom designed itinerary in the engaging company of Egyptologist Stephen Harvey plus an expert local Egyptology guide and a professional tour manager. This trio has been receiving accolades for many years.
Highlights are many and varied:
• Spend two full days visiting museums in Cairo (the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and the historic Egyptian Museum) OR two full days exploring Giza’s Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) if it is open.
• Gain inside access to the Red Pyramid at Dahshur, enter the burial chamber of the collapsed pyramid at Meidum, and visit two mud-brick pyramids at the Fayoum Oasis.
• Go behind-the-scenes at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara to see some of the new and remarkable excavations that are not open to the public, including (pending final confirmation) special access to the recently discovered, 5th-dynasty Tomb of Wah Ti.
• Explore the necropoli of Beni Hasan, known for its 39 rock-cut tombs with well-preserved paintings of dancing, acrobatics, juggling, fishing, hunting, and weaving; and Tuna el-Gebel, with huge catacombs for thousands of mummified ibises and baboons,
and much more.
• Visit Tell el-Amarna, which replaced Thebes (modern Luxor) as capital of Egypt under the heretic, 18th-dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaton and was significant for its monotheism and distinctive artistic style.
• Enjoy two in-depth visits to Abydos, where Stephen Harvey has worked since 1993, including visits to the spectacular Temple of Seti I, with its invaluable “Abydos King List” and chapels with exquisite reliefs; and special access to the subterranean Osireion
(symbolic tomb of Osiris), centered around a burial chamber that was once surrounded by water.
• Enjoy luxurious or best-available accommodations throughout, with two or three nights at each property.

Art Police, Tomb Robbers, and the Italian Model of Cultural Heritage
2024-01-12 16:30 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room, Rubenstein Library Rm. 153 , Duke University, 411 Chapel Drive, Durham, 27708, United States
Fiona Greenland is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia. She studies the construction of cultural heritage and the uses of antiquities in contemporary politics and markets. Greenland will discuss Italy’s efforts to bring their cultural artifacts home, crystallized in the Art Squad, the highly visible military-police art protection unit. Greenland reveals the contemporary actors in this tale, taking a close look at the Art Squad and state archaeologists on one side and unauthorized excavators, thieves, and smugglers on the other.

The Molly House of the Late 18th century
2024-01-14 11:30 (America/New_York) | MA
a lecture by Dr. Megan Rhodes Victor
One of my current research projects focuses on homosexuality and the 18th-century taverns which were known as molly houses in England and English Colonial North America. These molly houses served as clandestine locations for gay men and cross-dressers to interact, to socialize with others ‘like them’, to engage in more intimate relations, and to perform in elaborate gendered performances of marriage and birth. Taverns were largely male drinking spaces in the 18th century, and yet these were also one of the few places where women – especially unmarried or widowed women – could not only work but manage the business affairs. It is striking that these locations were the ones chosen for molly houses, rather than other, more gender-ambiguous locations. Currently, no archaeologists have excavated a known molly house or identified a tavern assemblage as possibly being connected to mollies – those homosexual males who frequented the molly houses.

Egypt Through The Ages
2024-01-16 - 2024-02-01 | MA
This unique trip combines the very best of the ancient pharaonic sites with later Coptic (early Christian) and medieval Islamic sites. This is a luxurious, in-depth, small-group, all-inclusive, well-paced, 17-day trip.
• Learn with a distinguished and engaging Egyptian scholar plus one of Egypt’s most experienced tour managers/guides.
• Travel with a maximum of just 16 guests plus your two leaders.
• Enjoy the best accommodations, including 11 nights at luxurious, 5-star hotels in Giza, Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan; and a three-night Nile cruise aboard a comfortable, eight-cabin dahabiya (traditional Nile sail boat).
Highlights include:
• Touring the amazing Giza pyramids and Sphinx as well as Saqqara’s Step Pyramid of Djoser and recently discovered, closed-to-the-public, Tomb of Wah Ti.
• Exploring spectacular museum collections in Cairo: the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, the Museum of Islamic Art, and either the historic Egyptian Museum OR, if it is open, enjoy a full day at the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza.
• Discovering with your experts one of the world’s greatest cities—Cairo, the “City of 1,000 Minarets.” See magnificent Islamic architecture spanning the Fatimid, Mameluke, Circassian, Ayyubid, and Ottoman periods.
• Exploring the astounding temple complex of Karnak as well as Luxor Temple, plus spectacular royal mortuary temples and tombs in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, such as those of Seti I and Nefertari.
• Cruising the Nile from Esna to Aswan aboard an eight-cabin sail boat, away from the convoys of large riverboats, so that we visit remarkable temples without the typical crowds. From the spacious top deck, observe timeless pastoral scenes of feluccas,
farmers, herders, and village life.
• Flying to Abu Simbel to visit the stunning and enormous rock-cut temples of Ramesses II and Nefertari.
• The option to extend your trip with the five-day, post-tour extension to Wadi El Natrun and Alexandria.
I hope that you will join our distinguished leaders to learn about “Egypt through the Ages.”

Accept No Imitation? Amphora Packaging and Roman Wine Consumption on the Bay of Naples
2024-01-17 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Roger’s Park Social, 6920 N Glenwood Ave, Chicago, 60626
Talk by Jennifer L. Muslin (Loyola University Chicago, Classical Studies)
Most ancient Romans enjoyed wine and believed that everyone, from emperors to enslaved peoples, should drink it daily. To meet such high demand, viticulture, winemaking, packaging, and trading happened all over the Mediterranean, with the highest quality vintages coming from Central and Southern Italy and Sicily. Roman wines were stored and traveled in large, ceramic containers called amphorae that were durable, heavy, and built to withstand multiple fillings. Winemaking regions in the Empire often manufactured their own versions of these vessels, perhaps to insure brand identification, and refurbished and reused amphorae from other regions to store and export their products. When different wines were packaged using the same recycled amphorae, how could a buyer trust that she was getting a good quality vintage and not a hangover in disguise? New research at the first century C.E. packaging facility of Oplontis B near Pompeii is changing what we know about the social history of Roman wine, amphora use and reuse, and consumer choices on the Bay of Naples and the ancient Mediterranean world.
**The event is free and open to those who are 21 and over** Please register at eventbrite
Dr. Jennifer L. Muslin (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) is the Director of Pottery Studies and Finds at the Roman industrial site of Oplontis B for the Oplontis Project, a UT Austin-sponsored archaeological excavation based in Torre Annunziata (NA), Italy. She has published articles and book chapters on Roman pottery, Roman houses, and Pompeian wall painting and is currently writing two books on more 1,500 amphorae that the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei excavations of Oplontis B recovered from 1973-1991. She teaches classical studies at Loyola University Chicago.

Maya Pyramids & Temples of Yucatan
2024-01-20 - 2024-01-28 | MA
This incredible nine-day holiday provides the best-paced itinerary available to see the sun-drenched Yucatán peninsula’s ancient sites, traditional Maya villages, and colonial architecture. Maya art and architecture abound, with visits to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Chichén Itzá and Uxmal, plus Ek Balam, Dzibilchaltun, and more: iconic as well as off-the-beaten-path sites with soaring pyramids, distinctive temple complexes, and wonderful sculpture. There is free time to bird watch, shop for crafts, or
relax, reflect, and enjoy our excellent accommodations. Dr. Jeff Karl Kowalski is an expert on Maya art and architecture. He is a Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University, where he taught from 1982 to 2015, after which he taught selected courses at Temple University. Professor Kowalski has worked for many years in the Maya region, with an emphasis on the majestic site of Uxmal, Yucatán, as well as two seasons spent assisting with work at Copán, Honduras. Uxmal’s impressive Nunnery Quadrangle palace group is the focus of his current research. Professor Kowalski has published extensively on the archaeology, art, and epigraphy of the Maya and their Mesoamerican neighbors

From Fish Skin Bags to Coconut Fiber Armor: Revitalizing Anthropological Collections in an Era of Climate Change
2024-01-20 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | University of Dayton, 300 College Drive Ave, SC 114, Dayton, OH, 45469, United States
A lecture by Amy Margaris, Oberlin College
Specimen collecting was a cornerstone of 19th century science and anthropology. 150 years later anthropological collections can still be found at many colleges, lingering in closets or forgotten on storeroom shelves. Using cultural heritage items at Oberlin College as my starting point, I’ll explore the question: What use are they today, and for whom?

Recent Work at Memphis and the Fayum: An Overview of Methodologies and Results
2024-01-21 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | MA
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 Raghda (Didi) El-Behaedi, University of Chicago:
“Recent Work at Memphis and the Fayum: An Overview of Methodologies and Results”
Sunday, January 21, 2024, 3 PM Pacific Time
Zoom Lecture. This meeting will not be recorded. A registration link will be automatically sent to ARCE-NC members. Non-members may request a registration link by sending email with your name and email address to arcencZoom@gmail.com. Non-members, please send any registration requests no later than Friday, January 19. Registrations are limited to 100, so the sooner you register, the better.
About the Lecture:
This lecture will present an overview of two cases studies, Memphis and the Fayum, to illustrate different methodologies of site exploration in Egypt. Memphis, the first capital of unified Egypt and one of the ancient world’s most recognizable cities, continues to be an enigma in the present day. Located at the confluence of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, Memphis’ strategic placement evoked the symbolic and geographic union of a once fragmented country. Despite its profound historical significance over more than 3,000 years, very little is known about the city itself. This is especially true for the area of Kom el-Fakhry, which houses the oldest in-situ remains found at Memphis so far. A preview of the results from the 2023 excavation season conducted at Kom el-Fakhry will be presented.
The Fayum, a natural depression located 100 km southwest of Cairo, is bounded by the Sahara Desert except for in the east, where a branch of the Nile River once fed its massive freshwater lake, Lake Moeris. For thousands of years, anthropic activity in the form of settlements, religious centers, harbors, and quarry sites continued in the Fayum, along the very shores of Lake Moeris. However, starting in the Holocene epoch, changing environmental and climatic conditions caused fluctuations of floodwaters from the Nile, which in turn caused drastic instabilities in the lake’s water level. The present work attempts to understand how the ancient Egyptians adapted to the shrinking lake from the Neolithic to Ptolemaic period, using cutting-edge satellite remote sensing, GIS, and geophysical techniques.
About the Speaker:
Didi El-Behaedi is an Egyptian Archaeology PhD candidate at the University of Chicago and a National Geographic Explorer. Her research interests include understanding ancient Egyptian settlement patterns and ancient landscapes through the lens of remote sensing, GIS, and 3D modeling. Didi is the co-director of the Memphis-Kom el-Fakhry Archaeological Project (MKAP) and has conducted archaeological fieldwork at several other sites in Egypt, including Tell Edfu, Deir el-Bahri, Asasif, and Hermopolis. She has also previously served as a research consultant at NASA Langley Research Center and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
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.
