Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

Indigenous Perspectives in Chronology Building: Rejecting the Three-Age System in Philippine Archaeology
2021-02-05 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Presented byDr. Stephen AcabadoAssociate Professor, Department of Anthropology, UCLACurrent research in Philippine archaeology is pushing back against the colonial foundations of the discipline and the hegemonic status of the Three Age System in the region, including the broader Southeast Asian archaeology. The Three-Age Model, developed for Scandinavia, was imposed on Southeast Asia through its application in Northeast Thailand archaeological record, particularly the reference to the Bronze Age and the farmer-led migration in island Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Recent archaeological data now refute these models. In the Philippines, the long-accepted Neolithic migration by rice farmers, is repudiated the absence of wet-rice in the archaeological record that predates the 16th century. Following the lead of recent scholars, Acabado stresses that Philippine archaeology, in particular, and Southeast Asian archaeology, in general, must reject these essentialist frameworks in favor of forward-facing “emergent” paradigms. Doing so allows Southeast Asian archaeologists to decolonize chronology building and devote less time to worrying about origins to focus instead on understanding process and to incorporating Indigenous perspectives in archaeological interpretation.Register in advance for this meeting:https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMlf-2qpzIuGt02NbLgx-ULeGHi1lDJWNmC After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.Stephen Acabado is associate professor of anthropology at UCLA. His research revolves around indigenous responses to colonialism, particularly in the Philippines. He is a strong advocate of an engaged archaeology where descendant communities are involved in the research process.Grace Barretto-Tesoro is professor of archaeology at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her archaeological work is focused on changing representation of various segments of society from the late precolonial period to the early Spanish period Philippines.

VIRTUAL PIZZA TALK: Community-based Practice in Cultural Heritage Conservation: The Kamehameha I Sculpture of Hawai’i
2021-02-10 12:00
Dr. Glenn WhartonLore and Gerald Cunard Chair, UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLAWednesday February 10th, 12:00pm (PT)The community-based conservation of the Kamehameha I sculpture on the island of Hawai’i shows how local residents can engage in negotiating the meaning of cultural heritage and affect how their past is represented. Professor Wharton will discuss his three-year collaboration with residents in a semi-rural Hawaiian community to research the material and social history of the sculpture, leading to a community decision about how to conserve it. The Kamehameha I sculpture was commissioned in 1878 to commemorate Captain Cook’s “discovery” of the Hawaiian Islands and promote a western style monarchy. Modeled in the image of a Roman emperor while wearing highly symbolic feathered garments, the figure has come to function as a spiritual, economic, educational, cultural, and political object. The participatory project aimed not only to conserve the painted brass sculpture, but also to enable a process of local control over narratives of the Native Hawaiian past. Wharton’s ethnographic research reveals tensions that exist within the multicultural, post-plantation community, as local residents voiced notions of what it means to be Hawaiian and what stories should be told about the Native Hawaiian past.Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.

Networking in Archaeology
2021-02-16 17:00
Over Zoom Collaboration with Anthropology ClubDiscussion of informational interviews, networking, and how to use your network to find field school and internship opportunities

VIRTUAL PIZZA TALK: Indigenous Peoples, Iberian Colonists, and Culture Contact: Architectural Dialogues at the Berry Site, Upper Catawba Valley, Western North Carolina, 1400-1600
2021-02-17 12:00
Dr. Chris RodningProfessor, Department of Anthropology, Tulane UniversityWednesday February 17th, 12:00pm (PT)During the sixteenth century AD, several Spanish conquistadors led expeditions that traversed large areas of what is now the southeastern U.S., the province of the Americas known to Iberians as La Florida, and an area of Native North America home to groups of people associated with manifestations of the Mississippian cultural tradition, and the ancestors of historic and modern Catawba, Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and other Indigenous peoples. One of the most prolonged early encounters and entanglements between Indigenous people and Iberian colonists in the northern borderlands of La Florida was centered at the Berry site, located along the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina. This site represents the location of a major settlement within the Native American province and polity of Joara, and the location of the Spanish colonial outpost of Fort San Juan and its related town of Cuenca, which was founded in late 1566 but was abandoned in early 1568. Archaeological excavations at the Berry site have identified remnants of Native American occupation before the Spanish entradas led by Hernando de Soto (1539-1543) and Juan Pardo (1566-1568), the archaeological footprints of Fort San Juan and structures nearby that housed Pardo and his men, and remnants of structures and features that likely postdate the Indigenous conquest of Fort San Juan, including wood-and-earth structures and an earthen mound. This talk considers documentary evidence from the Soto and Pardo expeditions, with particular emphasis on the Pardo entradas between 1566 and 1568, as well as archaeological finds at the Berry site. My interpretive focus, and I hope the focus of some comment and conversation, will be the architectural history of the built environment at the site, and what we can learn from it about the nature and culture of “first contacts” and interactions among Indigenous peoples and Iberian colonists in the Native American South.Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.

VIRTUAL PIZZA TALK: Cultural Heritage? A Personal Tale from Tell Mozan in Syria
2021-02-24 12:00
Dr. Giorgio Buccellati, Research Professor and Director, Mesopotamian Lab, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLADr. Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati, Visiting Professor, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLAWednesday February 24th, 12:00pm (PT)Urkesh was one of the first cities in history, dating back to the fourth millennium. It is, today, a large cultural hill, known as Tell Mozan, in northeastern Syria, an area ravaged by war.The Mesopotamians were already aware of the history hidden in the tells which, even then, dotted the countryside. Here is a Sumerian text:Where is Gilgameš, who, like (his ancestor) Ziusudra, sought (eternal) life? Where are those great kings who came long before our own days? Above there are the houses where they dwelt, but it is below that there are the houses that last forever.And here is a Babylonian text:Go up any of the ancient tells and walk about see the skulls of people from ages past and from yesteryear: can you tell the difference?Even the word for “tell” is still the same today as it was then. We may see here, four millennia ago, the beginning of community archaeology. It is the awareness of a life hidden in the ground where our roots sink deeply.This will be both a personal tale and one about theory. Personal, because we want to share how we have come gradually to feel more and more the impact of what the question mark in the title of our talk implies. And yet theoretical, because we have always questioned this growing awareness of ours for conservation and heritage, trying to see why community archaeology is in fact, as it must be, simply and purely “better” archaeology.Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.

A conservator, architectural historian, and architect discuss the fate of confederate monuments
2021-02-26 11:00 - 12:30
Katherine Ridgway, Dr. Dell Upton, Burt PinnockFriday February 26th, 11:00am – 12:30pm (PT)Register hereConservation and Confederate Monuments preserve and protect what and howThe question of how Americans should address public monuments to the Confederacy, problematic symbols of white supremacy, received significant re-examination in the summer of 2020, sparking fresh discourse on how these monuments contribute to our understanding of history, cultural values, and identity and what actions can and should be taken in response.This panel will explore how professionals in the fields of architecture, conservation, and history are currently addressing these topics and their visions for the fate of these works. Katherine Ridgway Katherine Ridgway has been the State Archaeological Conservator for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) for eight years. In this position, she has recently provided advice on the conservation and preservation considerations involved when communities and agencies in the Commonwealth are working with Confederate and other contested monuments. She helped to write the DHR Guidance Regarding Confederate Monuments document and participated in the AIC Contested Monument Working Group.Katherine is a William and Mary graduate and received her Master’s degree from Durham University in Northern England in the Conservation of Historic Objects. She has over 20 years of conservation experience, including working as an Assistant Conservator at the Field Museum in Chicago and as the Fine and Decorative Arts Conservator for George Washington’s Mount Vernon. She is also a Fellow in the AIC and the President of the Virginia Conservation Association.Dr. Dell Upton Architectural historian Dell Upton is Distinguished Research Professor in the Art History Department at UCLA where he taught for twelve years before retiring in 2020. He previously taught at Berkeley and the University of Virginia. Upton is the author of What Can and Can’t Be Said: Race, Uplift and Monument Building in the Contemporary South (Yale, 2015), as well as numerous articles about contemporary monument debates in the United States and Italy. Among his other books are American Architecture: A Thematic History (Oxford, 2019) and Another City: Urban Life and Urban Spaces in the New American Republic (Yale, 2008). During the current academic year, he is serving as Kress-Beinecke Professor at the Center for Advanced Studying the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.Burt Pinnock, FAIA is a principal and chairman of the board at Baskervill, a 123-year-old design firm. For Burt, architecture and design isn’t a job; it’s his personal contribution to the wellbeing and vitality of our communities. Over his 30-year career Burt’s commitment and passion has created impactful work for neighborhoods, cultural institutions and forward-thinking companies, including the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, Civil Rights Memorial Plaza at the Virginia Capitol, Colbrook Affordable Housing masterplan and more. A founder and board member of the nonprofit Storefront for Community Design, Burt currently serves as Chairman of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Art and Architectural Review Board and is a board member of the Legal Aid Justice Center, amongst numerous other board and committee engagements. Burt is a graduate of Virginia Tech and calls Richmond, Virginia home.

VIRTUAL PIZZA TALK: The People and Population of Angkor
2021-03-03 12:00
Dr. Alison CarterAssistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of OregonWednesday March 3rd, 12:00pmThe Angkor civilization was the major regional power in Southeast Asia from the 9-15th centuries CE. However, despite more than a century of archaeological research within Angkor’s capital, little is known about the lives of non-elites. This presentation discusses recent research on Angkor’s population at two scales. First, I present recent work by the Greater Angkor Project that has focused on understanding Angkor’s residential occupation through the investigation of habitation mounds within Angkor’s temple enclosures. Then, I present new collaborative research on the diachronic demographic growth of Greater Angkor, including updated population estimates, which highlight Angkor’s place as one of the world’s largest preindustrial settlements.Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.

Conservation of In-Situ and Post-Excavation Glass
2021-03-12 11:00 - 12:00
Stephen KoobChief Conservator Emeritus of The Corning Museum of GlassFriday March 12th, 11:00am – 12:00pm (PT)Register hereArchaeological glass encompasses glass that has been buried, either in the ground or in fresh or salt water. In some cases glass was intentionally buried as grave gifts and can be found in archaeological cemeteries or tombs. Most glasses in museum and private collections do not have provenances and their place of manufacture or origin is unknown, or only known by comparison with actual excavated sources. Archaeological glasses can be preserved in many various states. In some cases the glass has not changed at all, or very little since manufacture, in other cases the glass may be heavily deteriorated and extremely fragile. Archaeologists, excavation personnel, volunteers and conservators who will be responsible for handling glass should be familiar with the proper procedures, materials and techniques that are used in the lifting, handling, packing, transportation and storage of glass vessels and fragments. Severely deteriorated or “weathered” layers on archaeological glasses are extremely sensitive to touch, and should be handled as little as possible.In general, excavated archaeological glasses should be kept dry if found dry; wet, if found wet (underwater retrieval); or damp, if found damp; until careful examination is possible and time is available for treatment.Safe retrieval is a priority.Treatment can involve simple cleaning, or not; consolidation of fragile or lifting surfaces, and possible reassembly using the adhesive Paraloid B-72. The eventual disposition of an object, or group of objects, should be considered before any intervention is carried outwhether the object is to be housed in storage, studied, published, or placed on display. Assembled objects also often require a significantly larger storage space (shelving or cabinets) than individual fragments, which can be bagged or placed in drawers. Restoration beyond this is rarely done in the field, but may be done in a museum.Stephen Koob is Chief Conservator Emeritus of The Corning Museum of Glass, having recently retired from the Museum. Koob holds an MA in Classical Archaeology from Indiana University, and a B.Sc. in Archaeological Conservation and Materials Science from the Institute of Archaeology, University of London. Before joining the Corning Museum staff in 1998, Koob worked for 11 years as conservator, specializing in ceramics and glass, at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. A member of numerous professional organizations, including the Archaeological Institute of America, Koob is also a Fellow of the International Institute of Conservation and the American Institute for Conservation. He recently replaced Dr. Robert Brill as Chairman of Technical Committee 17, which studies the Archaeometry and Conservation of Glass, as part of the International Commission on Glass. He is the author of the book, Conservation and Care of Glass Objects (2006). He is an expert in dealing with “crizzling,” a condition that affects unstable glass. In 2014 Koob received the Sheldon and Caroline Keck Award from the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). The award is given to an individual who has “a sustained record of excellence in the education and training of conservation professionals.” For decades he has devoted time to training conservation interns at The Corning Museum of Glass, and he has taught conservation courses around the world. [https://blog.cmog.org/2014/07/30/conservator-stephen-koob-wins-award-for-dedication-to-training-and-mentoring/]. He has worked, taught and supervised on numerous archaeological sites, including the Agora in Athens, Gordion, Turkey, and Samothrace, Greece.

Virtual Pizza Talk: Reconstructing the Lives of Ancient Panamanians through Isotope Analysis
2021-04-07 12:00 - 13:00
Ashley SharpeStaff scientist and archaeologist Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in PanamaRegister hereIn recent years, multi-isotope analyses have become an increasingly popular method for examining the lives of past humans. Isotope studies can examine questions regarding the diets, health, and movements of people in the past. In combination with osteological, genetic, and archaeological data, we can begin to reconstruct the histories of both individuals and entire communities. This study presents results of an ongoing multi-isotope investigation of pre-Colombian humans in Panama, and compares these results with other isotope studies elsewhere in the Americas. The results illustrate the complex nature of human activities, and the value of incorporating multiple lines of social and ecological evidence to draw interpretations. New and developing methods in isotope research are also explored.Ashley Sharpe is a staff scientist and archaeologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, where she has worked since 2017. Her research examines human and environmental (particularly animal) interactions in the past, including how humans adapted to different environments over time, and what effects they had on the landscape. She has worked as an archaeologist and faunal analyst on projects throughout Central America, including Ceibal, San Bartolo-Xultun, and Kaminaljuyu in Guatemala, Aguada Fénix in Mexico, Selin Farm in Honduras, and most recently projects in Panama. She obtained a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida in 2016.

Ritualized Stone and Public Art on Easter Island Highlights and Insights of Recent Excavations in Statue Quarry
2021-04-09 11:00 - 12:00
Jo Anne Van TilburgDirector, Easter Island Statue ProjectRock Art Archive, UCLA Cotsen InstituteRegister hereAn international, multidisciplinary team directed by Jo Anne Van Tilburg conducted a major archeological survey of monolithic sculpture on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Beginning in 2002, the team mapped the inner basin of Rano Raraku, the island’s famed statue quarry. This was followed in 2010 by excavations of four statues in the inner basin. This presentation summarizes highlights of the excavations and their resulting insights into the past. It examines the role of sanctity as expressed in ritualized stone and describes the interactive forces key to the actualization of community expressed as megalithic public art.Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg is an archaeologist and the Director of the Easter Island Statue Project, an archaeological inventory and database project that has produced a stylistic analysis of nearly 900 monolithic statues (moai). Her research interest addresses the integration of symbolism and structure and the complex ways in which humans employ cultural resources, social practices, and ancient aesthetics to relate to and alter, shape, and impact the natural landscape. Social processes and the interactive roles of art, history, and ecology are explored in on-going field and museum studies. Her most recent field project is the digital mapping of the interior of Rano Raraku Statue Quarry, Easter Island. Van Tilburg is an appointed member of the National Landmarks Committee, US National Park Service Advisory Board; a Research Associate of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, where she directs the UCLA Rock Art Archive; recipient of the 2001 California Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

So, You’re Thinking About Grad School
2021-04-15 17:00 - 18:00
Over ZoomOverview of the graduate school application process including things to consider before applying, M.A. versus Ph.D. programs, application components, and things you can do during undergrad to prepare; followed by Q&A.

Authorship and Ownership, a Conversation Between Glenn Wharton and Artist Andrea Geyer
2021-04-23 11:00 - 12:00
Glenn Wharton, Andrea GeyerFriday April 23rd, 11:00am – 12:00pm (PT)Register hereUCLA/Getty Conservation Program Chair Glenn Wharton will interview artist Andrea Geyer about the conservation and display of 9 Scripts for a Nation at War, a work that was acquired by MoMA when Wharton served as the museum’s Media Conservator. Geyer is a German born multi-disciplinary artist who lives in New York City. Her work focuses on themes of gender, class, and national identity. 9 Scriptsis a ten-channel, co-authored video installation that includes interviews about the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and touches on themes of identity in times of conflict. Andrea Geyer is a multi-disciplinary artist un-sensing the construction and politics of time. Her works use performance and video to activate the lingering potential of specific events, places, or biographies as lived in woman identified bodies. She materializes the entanglement of presence and absence of such bodies due to ideologically motivated omissions in archives and memories. Exhibitions include: Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York; IMMA in Dublin; TATE Modern in London; Generali Foundation, Secession in Vienna; Witte De White in Rotterdam; Sao Paulo Biennal and documenta12/ Kassel. She is represented by Hales Gallery in London/New York, Galerie Thomas Zander in Cologne. She lives and works in New York. www.andreageyer.info

Virtual Pizza Talk: Mestizo Aesthetics: Image and Appropriation in the Colonial Southwest, 1600-1900 CE
2021-04-28 12:00 - 13:00
Severin FowlesAssociate Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the American Studies DepartmentBarnard College, Columbia UniversityRegister hereThe European invasion of the Americas unleashed a period of heightened global exchange as technologies, religions, political structures, foodways, languages, diseases, mineral resources, labor and more began to circulate with unprecedented velocity and scale. For the colonized, many of these cultural movements happened forcibly, at the tip of a spear, but there were also moments of Indigenous appropriation and creative reinvention of European traditions. This was particularly true with respect to image production and modes of graphic representation, as Indigenous communities sought out new visual cultures to assist them in understanding and intervening in colonial worlds. In this presentation, I consider what might be called the mestizo aesthetics that arose within colonial New Mexico following the arrival of Spanish settlers in 1598. Theoretically, my focus is on the power of images as technologies of action and intercession, no less than of representation. Historically, I pay special attention to image production among the Indigenous communities referred to by the Spanish as “barbarians”—groups like the Apache and Comanche who were themselves the fast-moving, intercultural choreographers of social life at the edge of empire.Severin Fowles is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the American Studies Department at Barnard College, Columbia University. For the past 25 years he has directed excavations and surveys in northern New Mexico, examining the history of Archaic hunter-gatherers through to the hippies of the 1960s. He is the author ofAn Archaeology of Doings: Secularism and the Study of Pueblo Religion(SAR) and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Southwest Archaeology(Oxford University Press). His current research has been designed in collaboration with Picuris Pueblo and is focused on the tribe’s ancestral landscapes and farming practices.

Virtual Pizza Talk: The Construction and Deconstruction of Authenticity in Chinese Art
2021-05-05 12:00 - 13:00
David A. ScottDistinguished Professor EmeritusUCLA Department of Art HistoryRegister hereChinese Art presents especially challenging problems in terms of authenticity of monuments, sites, and artefacts of all kinds. Professor Emeritus David A. Scott will examine the conceptual framework of authenticity, a metonymy, where the vagaries of the word can be replaced with intangible authenticity, material authenticity and historic authenticity. Authenticity can also be regarded as contested, debated and performative, particularly in terms of its social and political signification. At the same time, it is important to remember that authentication is a necessary attribute of material authenticity. Scott examines how different conceptions of authenticity can be applied to a discussion of hanging scrolls on paper and silk, bronze artefacts, and monuments and sites. The works of the most famous Chinese artist, copyist and forger, Zhang Daquian, will be briefly discussed. The nature and extent of copies in Chinese art and how they are perceived or valorized is an important issue and one of philosophical interest. Philosophical debates concerning how instances of copies are regarded, and how the intention of the original artist impinges on the reception and appreciation of copies will be discussed.

Virtual Pizza Talk: Recording the Inscribed Spaces of Wadi el-Hudi: Challenges and Promises of Digital Rescue Archaeology in a Uniquely Inscribed Archaeological Landscape
2021-05-12 12:00 - 13:00
Bryan KraemerEgyptologist at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of ArtCalifornia State University, San BernardinoRegister hereSince 2014, the Wadi el-Hudi Expedition has been surveying archaeological sites in Egypt’s Eastern Desert connected with ancient amethyst and gold mines. The ancient activity was concentrated in two periods, Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (circa 2000 -1700 BCE), and the Early Roman Period (late 1st century BCE to 2nd century CE). During the first period, the ancient miners, guardians, and administrators left an abundant epigraphic record of their activities. To date, 270 separate inscriptions have been recorded at Wadi el-Hudi. These show a wide range of formality in inscriptional technique between carefully crafted monumental stelae with long hieroglyphic texts on one hand to rock-pecked petroglyphs on the other. Partially published by Ahmed Fakhry in 1952 and Ahmed Sadek in 1980-85, the inscriptions of Wadi el-Hudi have contributed significantly to our understanding of how ancient Egyptian desert mining expeditions operated. The Wadi el-Hudi Expedition has now for the first time recorded these inscriptions within their archaeological context using a photogrammetry-based epigraphic methodology. This record is fully integrated into the 3-dimensional survey of the entire Wadi el-Hudi topography and archaeological remains. It therefore allows us not only to record but also to present the inscriptions in a digital reproduction of their original context. This detailed 3D record is especially important since modern gold mining threatens the existence of archaeological sites in this remote area of the desert.In this talk, I will present a selection of the current results of the Wadi el-Hudi Expedition’s epigraphic and archaeological survey. Taking from interpretive theories of Geosemiotics, I will present case studies from the results of the epigraphic working understanding how the inscriptions at Wadi el-Hudi were embedded in a nexus of social and linguistic actions that contributed to their meaning and defined the local versions of what one might call an epigraphic habit. Additionally, I will outline how we have incorporated 3D capture into every aspect of recording at Wadi el-Hudi and show the results and challenges of using this methodology.The Wadi el-Hudi Expedition works under the auspices of California State University, San Bernardino and in compliance with the Ministry of Antiquities in Egypt. The expedition has conducted fiveseasons since 2014from which Iwill draw these results.Bryan Kraemer is an Egyptologist at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (California State University, San Bernardino -CSUSB),where he is in charge of developing content related to the museum’s collections of artifact’s from Ancient Egypt. He is also a lecturer in the History Department at CSUSB. Bryanhas a Masters in Egyptology from the University of Chicago and a Masters in Archaeological Computing from Southampton University. He is also working on finishing his Ph.D. in Egyptology at the University of Chicago. Bryan’s research interests are in Ancient Egyptian religion and ritual, Ancient Egypt and the Classical World, Ancient Egyptian language, art, and archaeology, digital humanities, GIS, and digital frontiers in museums. He has worked and studied in Egypt over the last twenty years and taught Ancient Egyptian language and archaeology at University of Chicago, Princeton University, and California State University, San Bernardino. Bryan is currently working on a monograph on his work with the festival of Osiris at Abydos and a 3D archaeological atlas of maps from his work as co-director of the Wadi el-Hudi Expedition (www.wadielhudi.com).

Senses of Autonomy in the Los Angeles Basin Colonial Hinterlands
2021-05-14 11:00 - 12:00
Nathan Acebo, MA, PhDUniversity of California, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Scholar and Critical Mission Studies Postdoctoral ScholarAnthropology & Heritage StudiesUniversity of California, MercedRegister hereThe study of the written history of Indigenous communities continues to evolve following new contributions from collaboration-based research partnerships committed to practicing Indigenous Archaeology. As a form of archaeology practiced with, by, and for Indigenous peoples, Indigenous Archaeology is reshaping our understanding of North American colonization by providing new perspectives on the vibrancy of Indigenous cultures and enduring political traditions. This talk showcases how Indigenous Archaeology was practiced in partnership with Tongva, Acjachemen and Payómkawichum communities in southern California to illuminate forms of political and economic autonomy beyond the reach of Spanish and Californio colonial authorities in the southern Los Angeles Basin hinterlands (1770-1848 CE). I present how the Black Star Canyon Archaeology Project’s (BSCAP: 2013-2021) analyses of orphan collections were specifically guided by Indigenous collaborators’ concept of “thrivance”—a condition of existence focused on political and economic dimensions of Indigenous autonomy—to yield said history and use archaeology as a tool for Indigenous storytelling on said peoples’ terms.Dr. Nathan Acebo is the University of California Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in Critical Mission Studies for the 2020–2021 year at the University California, Merced and holds the position of Assistant Professor of Anthropology-Native American and Indigenous Studies at University of Connecticut beginning in August 2021. Dr. Acebo received his Ph.D. at Stanford University and was a fellow in the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Doctoral Program (EDGE: 2013-2020), Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS: 2019-2020), and Mellon Humanities Program (2019-2020). His research in southern California and Hawaii focuses on Indigenous networks, subaltern resistance, and decolonizing practices.

Spirituality and Diaspora: Considering Yoruba and Kongo Objects in Museums
2021-05-18 10:00 - 11:00
A conversation between Bárbaro Martínez-Ruiz and José Bedia,Moderated by Manuel JordánMay 18th, 10am – 11am PSTRegister hereThis program follows an exciting interdisciplinary seminar on African Objects in Museums, where students examined a series of objects including painted Yoruba drums and Kongo minkisi. To continue discussions, the Fowler Museum, the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program, UCLA Information Studies, and the UCLA Africa Studies Center are hosting a program where we will engage three specialists who are artists, scholars, and/or practitioners. The two speakers are members of the Afro-Cuban and Cuban diaspora, respectively.

Virtual Pizza Talk: Archaeological and Biometric Perspective on the Diversity and Origin of African Chickens
2021-05-19 12:00 - 13:00
Helina WoldekirosAssistant Professor, Department of AnthropologyWashington UniversityRegister hereDomestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus L. 1758) are one of the most valued farm animals in the world today. Chickens are economically and socially significant in Africa. They are often associated with cuisine and identity as well as their ability to generate income for poor rural communities. Despite their importance, little is known about the nature of their introduction and subsequent integration into African economies. In this paper I present archaeological and biometric perspective on the introduction and development of chicken landraces in the Horn of Africa.Dr. Helina Woldekiros is an assistant professor at the Department of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. Woldekiros completed her Ph.D. at Washington University in St. Louis and her MA at the University of Florida. After completing a postdoctoral research at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, Woldekiros joined the Department of Anthropology at WU in 2015.Woldekiros’s research interest includes state formation, the origin of food production, agriculture, pastoralism, salt trade, caravan archaeology, and livestock biodiversity in the Horn of Africa. Her upcoming book entitled “The Boundaries of Ancient Trade” re-conceptualizes state formation in the Horn Africa by looking at not only hierarchical political models but also heterarchical political models. She is also an expert in the domestication and spread of chickens globally.

Comparing Conservation Between Countries
2021-05-21 11:00 - 12:30
Tessa de Alarcon, Grace Jan, Almoatz-bellah ElshahawiFriday May 21st, 11:00am – 12:30pm (PT)Register hereTessa de AlarconHow working in the US and Guatemala has Influenced the Way I Think About ConservationI will briefly discuss my experiences working in Guatemala as compared to working in the United States and reflect on how those experiences have impacted the way I work as a conservator. I am a Guatemalan American, I was born and raised in the US but have lived and worked in both the US and Guatemala. My introduction to conservation occurred in Guatemala and my first pre-program internship was there, as well. As a result, my introduction to best practices, ethics, and material evaluation all occurred in Guatemala. I then returned to the US for graduate school. Since obtaining my degree, I have worked on site in Guatemala and taught workshops there, in addition to working at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia as a project conservator. My exposure to different approaches, challenges, and issues in cultural heritage preservation has shaped me as a conservator. It has given me a unique perspective on decision making. In particular, I think it has helped me challenge assumptions and reflect on the way that a single problem can have many different possible solutions.This is not intended to be a formal presentation and will be very much based on my personal experiences and perspective.Tessa de Alarcon has been a project conservator at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia since 2012. She was born and raised in the US but has lived and worked both in the US and Guatemala. Her introduction to conservation occurred while working as an intern at Casa Santo Domingo in Antigua,Guatemala. During her time at the Penn Museum she has worked on a variety of different projects including condition assessments, and gallery renovation projects. She has also worked as an archaeological field conservator.The bulk of her field work has been in Guatemala,but most recently she had the opportunity to work in Azerbaijan. She has also taught workshops on documentation and archaeological conservation at the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnologíain Guatemala City.She received her MA from the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation ofArchaeological and Ethnographic Materials in 2012.Grace JanThe Cross-cultural Evolution of Chinese Painting ConservationFreer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian ArtMy ten-year career in Chinese painting conservation has provided cross-cultural experiences and insights into this evolving field. This talk will discuss this evolution in Chinese painting conservation education and training, culturalinitiatives, and techniques.Chinese painting conservation requires specialized skills that were traditionally passed down through apprenticeship training. But over the last twenty years, significant changes to access and knowledge of Chinese painting conservation haveled toprogress and challenges in the field, impacting its practice domestically and within China.This evolution is reflected in U.S. initiatives by the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art,and theAndrew W. Mellon Foundation. In 2000, the Freer and Sackler established the Chinese Painting Conservation Program, an initiative to train young professionals and develop cooperative projects promoting the care of Chinese paintings.In 2012, the Mellon Foundation furthered support of trainingand exchanges among conservators, and helped to endow a Chinese painting conservation position and fellowship program. These efforts helped establish a training pipeline of conservators.Concurrently in China, I have observed a shift in training, from a traditional apprenticeship model to formalized degree programs. This has occurred alongside a nationwide prioritization of Chinese culture and heritage resulting in new museums and state-of-the-art conservation facilities. In addition, conservators have increased exposure to the diversity of conservation approaches across different regions of China.My cross-cultural career has provided perspective on how the field could integrate Western and Chinesemethods. Shortened formalized training could be integrated with the apprenticeship model, ensuring the sustainability of Chinese traditional conservation. Implicit in all this is the merging of these cultures. In response, domestic and international collaboration and networks are crucial to advancing the field and leveraging knowledge and resources across the field.Grace Jan is the Yao Wenqing Chinese Painting Conservator at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. Since 2009, she has worked on the museum’s Chinese painting and calligraphy collection and supported the museum’s Chinese Painting Conservation Program to promote domestic and international exchange and collaboration. She is active in facilitating the Andrew W. Mellon supported initiative to develop and promote this specialization across the U.S. Ms. Jan received anMAin Art History and Advanced Certificate in Conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center, New York University. Shetrained at the Shanghai Museum, Beijing Palace Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.Almoatz-bellah ElshahawiAn Ancient Egyptian Ptolemaic Coinage: History and Preservation MethodsAncient coins are one of the most important sources of information from which archaeologists and historians can interpret the past. Through the study of coins, we can obtain valuable information about the culture of that time since most coins can be easily dated. This is partly because, unlike most other ancient artifacts, they are often stamped with text and images of rulers from a specific period in time. Coins also shed light on which countries were trading partners. Additionally, the materials used for minting coins, such as bronze, silver, gold, has further helped historians date the coins and reveal the affluence of that culture. My presentation will focus on the study a group of Ptolemaic coins in the antiquities collection of the Grand Egyptian Museum and Karnak temple. I will discuss the history of the coins, their documentation process and conclude with treatment, cataloguing and storage recommendations.Almoatzbellah Elshahawi a PhD candidate in the conservation at Cairo University, specializing in ancient Egyptian works on Metals and Coins. He is a graduatedintern at the J. Paul Getty Museum for one year(2019-2020). For the dissertation, he is researching on the evaluation of the efficiency of environmental inhibitors with Nano-reinforcement for the protection of archaeological bronze. He received a Master’s degree in Conservation, Cairo University, 2017. AlmoatzbellahElshahawi was a 2013-2017 Cairo university Fellow. A 2005-2009 Abou-Qir high conservation institute Fellow and most recently, an objectconservator at the Grand Egyptian Museum-Conservation Center (GEM-CC).

Virtual Pizza Talk: Ancient Andean Houses: Making, Inhabiting and Studying
2021-05-26 12:00 - 13:00
Jerry MooreDepartment of AnthropologyCalifornia State University Dominguez HillsRegister hereMoore’s principal expertise is on the prehistoric architecture and cultural landscapes in the Andes. Archaeologists typically view architectural features of dwellings and other domestic architecture as built projects in which materials are modified according to a preconceived design in the builders’ minds. Although archaeologists usually acknowledge the different processes that transform buildings into archaeological features and sites, they tend not to understand how different buildings and construction methods inherently shape the archaeological record. This has direct implications for archaeological inferences about ancient households. Dr. Moore will discuss these issues referencing select case studies from Mesoamerica and the Andes.

Virtual Pizza Talk: Human remains in Tibetan material religion: Conservation as research methodology
2021-06-02 12:00 - 13:00
Ayesha FuentesStride Lecturer in Arts ConservationNorthumbria UniversityRegister hereAyesha Fuentes will discuss Tibetan and Himalayan religious use of ritual objects made with human skulls and femurs. Fuentes incorporates conservation methods, documentation, and interpretation of the material knowledge and techniques used to select, prepare, activate, maintain and exchange these objects. This project combines the technical examination of objects in museum collections with interviews and observations made across the Himalayan region and investigations of historical sources and cultural narratives. Her research highlights the longevity, function and value of these ritual instruments within diverse communities.Ayesha Fuentes, Stride Lecturer in Arts Conservation at Northumbria University, is an objects conservator and technical art historian specializing in Asian material heritage. She is a graduate of the UCLA/Getty MA program in Conservation of Ethnographic Materials (2014) and a former employee at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. She recently submitted her doctoral dissertation on the use of human remains in Tibetan ritual objects at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where she was a Neil Kreitman and Overseas Research Scholar.

Documenting Diversity in Thessaloniki and Its Hinterlands: Three Archaeological Stories
2021-10-09 10:00
UCLA SNF Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture | UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology | Archaeological Institute of America–Los Angeles County Society presentDr. Anastassios C. AntonarasHead of Exhibitions, Communication and Education Department Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki Register hereAfter registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.This lecture examines the diverse population that lived in Byzantine Thessaloniki and the surrounding area through three case studies: a young girl with African religious beliefs who lived in the late 3rd century, a Slavic lady of the late 8th century, and a group of archers from the 14th – 15th century who were trained in the east. The first case study is a young girl who was buried in a simple pit tomb in the eastern necropolis of Thessaloniki. She wore two amulets: a wooden one, probably of ebony, in the shape of a male head with strong African features, and an amber one in the shape of feline bust. A Slavic lady, the second case study, is identified by a special bead that was found during excavations in the castle of Rentina, east of Thessaloniki. Such beads are characteristic of the Slavic tribes and similar examples have been found from the Volga region and Germany to Greece. A special type of men’s utilitarian jewelry, the ring of an archer, presents the third case study. This is a type of ring that initially had the sole purpose of protecting the thumb when the reflective bow’s string was released. These case studies demonstrate that among the population that lived in Byzantine Thessaloniki were a number of foreigners whose identity is only revealed through the careful examination of excavated objects.Dr. Anastassios C. Antonaras, a specialist in the history of glass, jewelry and textiles, is an archaeologist and curator. He is Head of the Exhibitions, Communication and Education Department at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki. His books include: Glassworking, Ancient and Medieval: Terminology, Technology and Typology (2008); Roman and Early Christian Glassworking: Vessels from Thessaloniki and Its Region (which received a prize from the Academy of Athens in 2010); Fire and Sand: Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum (2012); Artisanal Production in Ancient and Byzantine Thessaloniki: Archaeological, Literary and Epigraphic Evidence (2016; repr. 2019); Glassware and Glassworking in Thessaloniki: 1st Century BC – 6th Century AD (2017); and The Art of Glass. Works from the Collection of the Museum of Byzantine Culture (2019). He is currently researching different aspects of glass production and glassware in Byzantine and Ottoman Empire and publishing the rich and diverse, ancient and Islamic glass collection of the Getty Villa Museum.

The Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidauros: New Finds Rewrite the Function and History of the Most Important Sanatorium in Antiquity
2021-10-16 10:00
UCLA SNF Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture | Embassy of Greece in USA | UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology | Archaeological Institute of America–LA County Society | presentVassilis LambrinoudakisProfessor Emeritus of Classical ArchaeologyUniversity of AthensRegister hereAfter registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.The unexpected finds during recent excavations in the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidauros shed new light on the origins, cult, and function of Asclepius, the main Divine Healer of the Graeco-Roman world. An amazing ground-floor building that features α peristyle and basement hewn into the rock was excavated at the Tholos, the famous classical circular building with underground, meander-like passages. It defines the highly debated and mysterious function of the Tholos as the cult place of chthonic Asclepius, and explains his presence in Epidauros in the 7th century BC. A small portico, found under the later Abaton, preceded the latter as a primitive dormitory hall. It provides evidence for healing through incubation already in early archaic times. An ash altar and accommodations for ritual meals around it explains the parallel magic cure through the consumption of sacred food from the very beginning of the cult. The new finds enrich our knowledge of the sanctuary’s history and general healthcare in antiquity.Her Excellency Alexandra Papadopoulou, Ambassador of Greece to the United States, will provide introductory remarks.Vassilis Lambrinoudakis is professor emeritus of the University of Athens; corresponding member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Paris; and the Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna. He studied History and Archaeology at the Universities of Athens, Munich and Bonn. He is member of the German Archeological Institute and the Austrian Archaeological Institute. He excavates mainly in Epidauros/Argolid and the island of Naxos in the Aegean See. He also conducted excavations on the island of Chios, in Marathon/Attica and in Palaiomanina/Acarnania. He directs projects of enhancement of archaeological sites in Naxos and Epidauros. In 2003, he earned the first prize of Europa Nostra for the excavation and the enhancement of the sites Yria and Sangri/Naxos. He has published 14 books and monographs, as well as 186 papers on ancient Greek architecture and art, ancient topography, ancient Greek religion, epigraphy, theory of Archaeology, and management of monuments. He was co-editor of the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC I-VIII) and of the Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA I-VIII). In 2003, he was honored by the President of the Hellenic Republic “for promoting the Archaeology and the History of Greece throughout the world.”

Welcome Event
2021-10-21 17:30 - 19:30
In person with pizzaGeneral introduction to the program and experimental archaeology with Dr. Wake demonstrating and teaching cordage makingOur first ever in person event

Marija Gimbutas: A Magnificent Vindication
2021-10-22 10:00 - 11:30
Join us for a virtual Round Table to celebrate Marija Gimbutas (1921–1994), UNESCO’s 2021 Centennial honoree. Marija Gimbutas was a professor of archaeology at UCLA and internationally renowned for her study of the arrival of the Proto-Indo-European languages and culture in Europe. One of her most original (and controversial) contributions has been validated recently by aDNA: the Kurgan Hypothesis and the arrival into Europe of the Proto-Indo-European speakers around 3500 BC. Introduced by Ernestine S. Elster, the participants include James Mallory, David Anthony, and Dorcas Brown with Willeke Wendrich as moderator.Register to attend here James Mallory was born in 1945 in California and educated at Occidental College (AB, 1963) and UCLA where he received his PhD in Indo-European Studies (European Archaeology) in 1975. In 1977 he joined the Archaeology Department at Queen’s University Belfast from which he retired as Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology in 2011. He has specialized in both Indo-European archaeology where he has published In Search of the Indo-Europeans (1989), The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (1997), and The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World (2006) and Irish Archaeology (The Archaeology of Ulster, 1991; The Origins of the Irish, 2013; and In Search of the Irish Dreamtime, 2016). He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy. David Anthony is an archaeologist of the Eurasian steppes (esp. Russia, Ukraine, & Kazakhstan), known for his interdisciplinary research on the origins and spread of Indo-European languages, combining evidence from archaeology, ancient human DNA, linguistics, and comparative mythology. His most significant book, The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, won the Society for American Archaeology prize for best scientific book in 2010. His entry into the Indo-European debate was facilitated by Marija Gimbutas’s groundbreaking English-language syntheses of eastern European archaeology. He is an associate in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, working in David Reich’s ancient DNA lab; and an emeritus professor at Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY. Dorcas Brown was co-director of grant-supported studies of museum collections in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Hungary (her advanced degree is in Museum Studies); and later of archaeological excavations in the steppes near Samara, Russia and Razdolnoe, Ukraine. Singly or together, Brown and Anthony have published 70+ articles and chapters, including since 2015 three co-authored in Science and three in Nature on a variety of related topics: Bronze Age migrations out of the steppes proven by ancient DNA, with profound implications for the Indo-European debate; the domestication of the dog, from ancient wolf & dog DNA; the domestication of the horse, from ancient horse DNA; the origin of dairying in the steppes, based on dairy peptides preserved in dental calculus; and male adolescent initiation-into-warrior rituals, connected with their discovery and excavation of a Bronze Age boys’ initiation site in the Volga steppes. She is retired from Hartwick College.Introductions by Ernestine S. Elster. Elster was a graduate student of Gimbutas and participated in four of her archaeological expeditions. She is currently the director of the Mediterranean Laboratory at the Cotsen Institute. Moderated by Willeke Wendrich, Professor, UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, is the Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

Conservation & Revitalisation of Rajbagh Silk Factory, Srinagar, India – Connecting Memory & Material Culture Towards Building a Future.
2021-10-22 11:00 - 12:00
Gurmeet S RaiMs. Director, CRCI (India) Pvt LtdRegister hereThe Rajbagh Silk factory is a strand of the cultural legacy of Kashmir. Silk from Kashmir finds references in ancient, medieval and modern period narratives. In the 19th-20thC the bivoltine silk and crafts such as pashmina shawls from the valley were much in demand across the globe.Embedded in the legacy of silk are also memories of pain. Kashmir has been embroiled in geo politics for decades which has caused much suffering in the valley. Further it was in 2014 that a massive flood hit the valley that devastated many lives and properties. The Rajbagh Silk factory was inundated with flood waters for over four weeks. Not losing hope, the workers managed to repair about 10 of 150 looms and several preloom machines and work at the factory resumed.The Government is supporting conservation and revitalisation of the factory under a flood recovery program. The conservation plan seeks to use this opportunity as a trigger to conserve the built heritage, revitalise silk and handicraft based economy using innovation and creativity to enhance lines of communication between artisans and entrepreneurs across the nation and abroad, thus ushering in opportunities and hope for the artisans in the valley.Gurmeet S Rai is an architect with specialisation in heritage conservation and management. She is among the first generation conservation architects in India and has undertaken projects across India related to architectural conservation, management plans for world heritage sites, urban conservation and development strategies for historic settlements, sustainable cultural heritage tourism plans, preparation of advisory and policy documents. Gurmeet was awarded ‘Award of Distinction’ by UNESCO under the Asia Pacific Architectural Heritage Awards in 2002 and 2004 following which she has been on their jury for over 15 years. In 2011, UNESCO appointed her as the lead consultant for preparation of ‘Cultural Heritage policy for Punjab’. She has also undertaken international assignments in Nepal and Myanmar and has been an advisor to UNESCO in heritage sector in several countries in South East Asia. She is currently a member of the Steering committee of TERRA2022, World Congress on Earthen Architectural Heritage (Getty Conservation Institute).

New Evidence on a Spartan Religious Center: The Sanctuary of Apollo Amyklaios at Sparta and the Current Research Project
2021-10-23 10:00
UCLA SNF Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture | UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology | Archaeological Institute of America–LA County Society | Pan-Laconian Federation of United States and Canada presentStavros Vlizos Associate Professor, Ionian UniversityVicky Vlachou Université Libre de Bruxelles, BrusselsRegister hereAfter registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.The Sanctuary of Apollon at Amyklai (Sparta) was inextricably associated in antiquity with the celebrated festival of the Hyakinthia. Ancient literary sources describe salient aspects of the festival and the cult that was centered around the tomb of the hero Hyakinthos and the altar of Apollo in two succeeding stages that never overlapped each other. Material evidence from the sanctuary area demonstrates the early beginnings of the cult and ritual, already since the mid-10th century BC. By the late 8th to early 7th century BC, the formal delimitation of the sanctuary area, the quantity and quality of the material deposits support the importance of the sanctuary and its festival within the formal institutions of the Spartan polis. It can be argued that the importance of the sanctuary may be related with the seniority of the shrine and the continuity of the ritual activities in this area over the centuries. The lecture shall focus on shifts in use and function of material culture that are parallel to transformations and changes of the social, political, and religious landscape of Sparta. Furthermore, the connection of the cult site to neighboring areas in proximity, further away, and parallel trajectory to the rest of the Spartan sanctuaries shall be discussed.After completing his studies at the University of Ioannina and the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich (Dr.Phil.), Stavros Vlizos first worked as a contract archaeologist at the Ministry of Culture (1997-2001) and then as a researcher and scientific associate at the Benaki Museum (2002-2013). As an Associate Professor, he teaches a wide range of courses in Museology and Archaeology in the Department of Archives, Library Studies and Museology at Ionian University. He is director of the Amykles Research Project, associate of the Athens Archaeological Society, corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute, and co-founder of the Athens “Roman Seminar.” His research interests and publications refer to issues of promotion and management of cultural heritage and archaeological goods, as well as topics highlighting the material culture of Ancient and Roman Greece and the importance of ancient sanctuaries diachronically.Vicky Vlachou studied History, Archaeology and History of Art at the University of Athens. She is currently a scientific member (Belgian) at the École française d’Athènes (EfA, membre). She is a scholar of the Early Iron Age Aegean (ca. 1000-600 BC). Her doctoral thesis (2010) was awarded the G.P. Oikonomos prize of the Class of Letters and Fine Arts of the Academy of Athens. She is a member of fieldwork and publication projects at Xobourgo on Tenos (Cyclades), Amykles (Sparta), Itanos, and Anavlochos (Eastern Crete). She is the editor of the collective volume Pots, Workshops and Early Iron Age Society: Function and Role of Ceramics in Early Greece (Études d’archéologie 8, Brussels 2015).

Archaeology Research Support Workshop
2021-11-01 18:00 - 19:00
Over Zoom

The Joys and Blunders of 25 Years of Work at the 9000 Year-old Town of Çatalhöyük
2021-11-06 11:00 - 12:00
The Teen Friends of Archaeology is excited to invite you to a lecture on the extensive site of Çatalhöyük by Dr. Ian Hodder:The joys and blunders of 25 years of work at the 9000 year-old town of ÇatalhöyükRegister at https://bit.ly/3BBWF0NIan Hodder is the Dunlevie Family Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford, and Director of the Stanford Archaeology Center. He previously taught in the Cambridge Archaeology department. Professor Hodder has also been conducting the excavation of the 9,000 year-old Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey since 1993. He is a well-published author who is known for his numerous books and papers on a wide variety of archaeological subjects. Photos by Jason Quinlan, courtesy of the Çatalhöyük Research Project.

Benin Royal Art and Questions of Restitution
2021-11-12 11:00
Dr. Glenn WhartonChair, UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritageinvites you to attendUCLA/Getty Program’s Distinguished Speaker SeriesfeaturingDr. Ndubuisi EzeluombaFrançoise Billion Richardson Curator of African ArtNew Orleans Museum of ArtFriday, November 12, 2021 at 11:00am PDTLive streaming via ZoomRegister hereInstructions to join the webinar will be provided once your registrationhas been confirmed.Please submit your questions in advance of the webinar via email to:hnadworny@support.ucla.edu by Wednesday, November 10 at 12:00 p.m.About the program: Dr. Ezeluoma will discuss the restitution of Benin cultural patrimony. In 1897, the British government acted on a request from the Royal Niger Company to remove the Benin Oba (king), who was seen as an obstacle to trade. A British force of about twelve hundred men supported by several hundred African auxiliaries besieged Benin City. The raid (British Punitive Expedition), as the colonial force was called, bombarded the city and looted five hundred years’ worth of bronze, brass and ivory sculptures. This was a national treasure that constituted the royal archive of Benin’s history. Oba Ovonramwen (ruled 1888-1914) was deposed and sent to die in exile and the Benin kingdom was incorporated into the colonial nation of Nigeria. Conversation on the repatriation of this cultural patrimony rages on today. Dr. Ezeluona will point to current progress and speak to the important role American cultural institutions are playing in the process.
