Until recently, the practice of tattooing in ancient Egypt was rarely attested with only scant evidence from a handful of mummified individuals spanning Pharaonic Egypt’s more than 3,000-year history. However, recent discoveries—including those from Deir el-Medina— have rewritten what was once thought about the practice. This talk coalesces physical and art historical evidence to offer […]
Today, there are about 12,000 archaeologists working in the US with less than 10 percent of them employed by universities. While university anthropology and archaeology departments are shrinking, the applied sector, known as cultural resource management (CRM) is growing. This lecture explores what accounts for these opposing trends and what, if anything, can we do […]
Father Edward A. Bader, CSB Lecture in Mediterranean Archaeology This talk applies a Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) and phenomenological approach to the Felt Shop of Verecundus (IX.7.5-7) from Pompeii. This shop sold fine footwear (socci, or soft-soled felted slippers) and other high-status textile products. We will explore how ancient consumers self-fashioned through public acts of […]
Vietnamese lore records that over two thousand years ago, the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam was home to powerful indigenous kingdoms, fortified capitals, and exquisite bronze craftsmanship. In contrast, the neighboring Chinese Han Empire claimed the region was inhabited by unsophisticated “barbarians” in need of “civilizing,” prompting imperial annexation of the region. This lecture […]
In May 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation in British Columbia, Canada, announced that 215 potential unmarked graves were located near the Kamloops Indian Residential School using ground-penetrating radar conducted by archaeologists. In this talk, Kisha Supernant (Métis/Papaschase/British) provides an overview of how archaeologists have been working with Indigenous communities in Canada to locate […]
This talk will share the latest research on underwater excavations of an ancient (1st century BCE) cargo-ship, which was carrying architectural marble when it sank off the Aegean coast of […]
Over three million years ago, our ancient ancestors realized that rocks could be broken into sharp-edged objects for slicing meat, making the first knives. This discovery resulted in a good meal—and eventually changed the fate of our species and our planet. In this talk, Chip Colwell shares his thrilling and accessible new book, So Much […]
This lecture will provide an introduction to the royal women of Kush/Nubia and the powerful, sole-ruling kandakas ('queens') of Meroë. Hear how Nubian families tracked filiation through their mothers. Learn about the high status and significant political, sacred, and military power of women in ancient African societies along the Nile. Please join us in-person to […]
How do we understand care in the ancient world? This talk will focus on current archaeological research conducted in the city of MohenjoDaro (a World Heritage Site) located in contemporary Pakistan (Sindh Province). Archaeological excavations at Mohenjo-Daro document hundreds of dwelling-houses and large buildings built along streets and lanes oriented towards cardinal points, which index […]
The history of archaeology as a scientific discipline has received a great deal of attention in recent years. As a result of extensive archival research and the reading of archives against the grain, alternative or indigenous archaeologies and earlier forms of relationships to the past—such as antiquarianism—have also begun to receive more serious scholarly attention. […]
For many people, the word "archaeology" conjures up images of monuments, often interpreted as traces of the lives of powerful rulers who can seem to be inevitable parts of any urban, agricultural society. But there are other stories archaeology can tell about societies in which there was no apparent ruler, but nevertheless show the hallmarks […]
Although historians and Tibetologists since the early 20th C have collected and interpreted religious documents describing in general terms rituals of death and safe passage to the afterlife among the early peoples of the Himalayas, the archaeological record offered little insight into them. But recent research by archaeologists across the region have made extraordinary discoveries […]
