Dr. Avinoam ShalemDepartment of Art History and ArchaeologyColumbia UniversityAbstract:In this lecture, I would like to challenge the specific art historians’ interest in the question of the earliest and the first-in-sequence work of art. My inquiry does not aim at disregarding this query as a legitimate one or criticizing the art historian’s obsession with this mode […]
Dr. Ruth TringhamProfessorGraduate School (Anthropology)UC BerkeleyABSTRACT:This presentation describes a path to addressing the discomfort that I and many of my braver colleagues have had when putting words into the mouths and heads of prehistoric actors, knowing that these words say more about us than they do about prehistory. Yet without such speech, how are we […]
Ivan VasilevFounder and CEO Balkan Heritage FoundationABSTRACT:Occupying the eastern part of the Balkans along the Western Black Sea shore, Bulgaria has a rich and diverse archaeological heritage. Within its borders are the remains not only of the early humans and Neolithic farmers, but also of the arguably Europe’s oldest civilization dating to the 5th millennium BCE. A […]
Dr. Lisa Kealhofer Professor, Anthropology and Environmental Studies and Sciences, Santa Clara UniversityAbstract:Archaeologists have often assumed that agricultural strategies are significant factors in altering environments. Narratives of societal collapse typically point to environmental degradation as an outcome of population increase or political breakdown. We use a version of Niche Construction Theory to interpret the timing and […]
Corral Redondo, Peru: 75 Years LaterDr. Hans Barnard, UCLADr. Danny Zborover, Institute for Field ResearchVanessa Muros, UCLAABSTRACTCorral Redondo is located in southern Peru, where the Chorunga River joins the Ocoña River on its way from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean. In 1943 Corral Redondo briefly shot to fame after local villagers discovered the site and […]
Dr. Elizabeth (Lisa) Matisoo-SmithProfessor of Biological Anthropology and ChairDepartment of Anatomy, University of OtagoThe Powers and Pitfalls of Molecular ArchaeologyIn 1989 it was announced in Nature that DNA could successfully be extracted fromarchaeological bone, and thus was born the field of molecular archaeology. The lastdecade has seen the field flourish with the development of Next […]
Dr. Jennie EbelingAssociate ProfessorDepartment of ArchaeologyUniversity of Evansville in IndianaAbstract:Bread and other grain-based foods were not only staples in the ancient Israelite diet; they were also staples in the ritual acts that accompanied the worship of several deities in ancient Israel. In addition to the state god YHWH, who required regular offerings of lechem hapanim […]
Speaker:Dr. Sonia ZarrilloPostdoctoral FellowCotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLAAbstract:Throughout human history, from our earliest ancestors through to modern societies, plants were of vital significance. They have been essential to diet, used as medicines and in ceremonies, fashioned into a myriad of tools, containers, adornments, and musical instruments, depicted in artwork and used as emblems, and relied on […]
Speaker:Dr. Kathleen LynchUniversity of CincinnatiAbstract:Athenian pottery was exported throughout the Mediterranean in the Classical Period. Perhaps surprisingly, it found eager consumers in the Persian Empire, or rather, in territory controlled by the Persians during the Greek Classical period. The presentation will consider what the imported Greek pottery meant in the context of the Achaemenid empire, with […]