SPEAKER:Dr. Arlen F. ChaseVisiting ProfessorDept. of AnthropologyPomona CollegeABSTRACT:Perceptions about the ancient Maya have changed significantly in the last decade with the advent of new technologies and as a result of continuous dedicated research that seeks to define their social and political organization. With its ability to penetrate dense tropical canopies, LiDAR has revolutionized the field […]

The UCLA/Getty Conservation Program presents “The man who can read the unreadable,” computer scientist and professor W. Brent Seales, the first speaker in the 50th Anniversary Lecture Series. Currently a Getty Conservation Institute Scholar, Seales and his team have been key to revealing texts on papyri that are too fragile to unroll, such as Homers […]

SPEAKER:George D. EversonAdjunct ProfessorDept. of AnthropologyMt. San Jacinto CollegeABSTRACT:Cultural Resource Management (CRM) has become a mainstay in our society for professional archaeologists and architectural historians. The California Department of Transportation (more commonly known as Caltrans) has their own staff of professionals to ensure that highway projects comply with applicable environmental laws. Specifically, Caltrans has professionals […]

Fowler Curator of Archaeology Wendy Giddens Teeter will discuss the importance of the collaborative web-based project Mapping Indigenous Los Angeles and her experiences working with the Tongva and indigenous communities to forefront the multiple historical layers of Los Angeles. She will also speak about national and international repatriation efforts as UCLA’s Native American Graves Protection […]

SPEAKER:Dr. Claudia MoserAssociate ProfessorDept. of History of Art & ArchitectureUC Santa BarbaraABSTRACT:This talk explores what we can learn about Roman Republican sacrifice through the study of the material remains of sacrifice and the architectural settings in which the ritual occurs. I will argue that by examining the material record of sacrifice --the aniconic altars of […]

Dr. Sonia Zarrillo will be presenting on "New Approaches to Tracing Cacao's Dispersal from the Amazon Basin” on January 23rd at 5pm in the Cotsen Seminar Room (A222). This event was sponsored by the Andean Working Group.

SPEAKER:Dr. Ryan NicholsAssociate Professor Dept. of PhilosophyCal State FullertonABSTRACT:The purpose of this paper is to preliminarily explain the initial conditions and key forces from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and pre-Imperial periods that contributed to distinctive features of subsequent Chinese culture, and to do so in accordance with an explicit model of cultural transmission. The paper opens with […]

The Old Kiyyangan Story, an anthropological film based on oral histories and archaeological excavations at the Old Kiyyangan Village, Ifugao, Philippines, will be presented January 31 at 5pm in the Anthropology Reading Room. In addition to the film screening, there will be a research presentation and Q & A with co-screenwriter and Associate Professor of […]

Cotsen faculty Jason De León will be a guest on the podcast "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard" on February 1, 2020. The UCLA Department of Anthropology is hosting a live taping of the podcast at 6:00pm in Korn Convocation Hall at UCLA.De León will also be speaking on February 11th as part of the Archaeology […]

SPEAKER:James E. SneadProfessorDepartment of AnthropologyCal State NorthridgeABSTACT: Historical archaeology in the western United States has traditionally focused on either the colonial-era "missions" or 19th century mining sites in remote locations.  Recently, however, historical archaeology itself has undergone a major conceptual shift, emphasizing the ways that the study of material culture can shed light on a wide […]