Much like today, ancient “consumers” were connected to distant markets. Both basic and precious goods from faraway lands “shipped” to royal palaces, elite estates—sometimes even rural households—and technological advances in craftsmanship and commerce transcended boundaries of language, religion, or culture to spread rapidly. Mediterranean Marketplaces explores how the movement of goods, peoples, and ideas around […]
Muchos Méxicos explores Mexico’s rich history as a site of human innovation, creativity and cultural diversity. Featuring Mexican objects from the Peabody Museum collections, this bilingual exhibit tells the story of Mexico as a multicultural and geographic crossroads—one where the exchange of resources, products, and ideas among Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas before the Spanish […]
Ring in the new year as the AIA Societies Committee presents a virtual presentation and Q&A with Debby Sneed. This presentation will also be available in American Sign Language. ASL interpretation will be provided by Trail Blazing Interpreters and we will also enable auto captioning on Zoom. Due to Zoom limitations on mobile devices and […]
Previous participation and previous knowledge not required. In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the golden-woolled, winged ram, Chrysomallos, that rescued Phrixus and brought him to Colchis, where Phrixus then sacrificed it to Zeus. Phrixus gave the fleece to King Aeëtes who kept it in a sacred grove, whence Jason and the […]
Previous participation and previous knowledge not required. Are you curious about how Maya hieroglyphs are read and what they say? Maya glyphs are one of the most visually interesting writing systems in the world, and are still being deciphered today. In this reading group, we will learn about the process of decipherment, how to read […]
This tropical adventure provides the best-paced itinerary available to thoroughly explore ancient Maya sites in the lush jungles of Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. Maya art and architecture will “come alive” as you encounter enormous stelae (carved monoliths), painted frescoes, stucco friezes, carved lintels, and huge temple-pyramids that soar above the rainforest. Explore, in-depth, the sites […]
Chronologies fundamentally underpin all other aspects of archaeological thought. When our timeframes shift, so to does the historical interpretive framework or scaffolding upon which we build our explanations for how past events unfolded. In this talk, I will briefly summarize work completed to date by the Dating Iroquoia project. Our aim has been to construct […]
Previous participation and previous knowledge not required. Reading will focus around the Historians Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, and Tacitus, with appearances from Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Seneca. Sessions will be structured roughly chronologically (5th century. Roman Republic, The Pricipate), examining change and continuity in political theory and analysis, considering the parallels with our own times. Participants […]
Previous participation and previous knowledge not required. The reading group will explore how royal women participated in politics and court intrigue, focusing particularly on the city of Mari in ancient Syria (the wives and daughters of King Zimri-Lim) and the Achaemenid Persian empire. Readings would center on personal letters written to/by royal women as well […]
Previous participation and previous knowledge not required. For those new to this subject, the field of “Archaeo-Musicology” is engaged in the study of ancient music informed by archaeological finds. In the ancient Near-Eastern (Mesopotamia) the musical information is primarily deduced or retrieved from instruments, instrumental inlays, wall reliefs, and iconography. On occasion one will find […]
Zoom lecture by Nora-Miriam Voss of the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Vienna.
Prof. Bonnie. J. Clark (University of Denver, Department of Anthropology) The forced removal and subsequent incarceration of over 120,000 people of American of Japanese descent during World War II is a pivotal incident in world history. The sites of this confinement are significant resources for both research about and re-engagement with this critical, yet shadowed […]
Some of the most stunning jewelry from Ancient Egypt is made of amethyst. Its craftsmanship, opulence, and design epitomize quality in the ancient world. Yet the skill in making this jewelry started long before the cutting and buffing of the raw stone. Procuring amethyst in the Eastern Desert is fraught with many more perils and […]
The inhabitants of the ancient Mediterranean were mobile, and many of them lived in or passed through the large island of Sicily, which sits between the eastern and western Mediterranean basins and nearly unites the continents of Europe and Africa. Some moved more voluntarily, others less so, and still others were relocated with no choice […]
The Archaeology Committee is honoured to present The Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations. Her Excellency Ambassador Maria Theofili will address the audience at The National Arts Club in celebration of International Archaeology Day, begun by the Archaeological Institute of America. The focus of her unique presentation is the sacred island of Delos, the […]
This tour is in the planning stages for January 2022. If you are interested in traveling to this region in the future and would like to be contacted when a tour becomes available, please call 800-748-6262 or email aia@studytours.org. This exciting, nine-day holiday provides the best-paced itinerary available to see the sun-drenched Yucatan peninsula’s ancient […]
Abstract: How can we trace the relationship between climate change and culture change in the ancient past? A collaborative and interdisciplinary project coordinated by Katina Lillios, with Antonio Blanco-González, Brandon Lee Drake, and Jose Antonio López-Sáez, offered insights into this question through the lens of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE of Iberia. This project […]
Zoom lecture by Dr. Aaron Deter-Wolf, Tennessee Division of Archaeology.
