Pizza Talk: “Samoan Hybridity: Fa’a Samoa and Lotu”

Speaker: Dr. Brian Alofaituli, Visiting Scholar, Asian American Studies Department, UCLAThe syncretism of Sāmoa’s past and new religion blended different ideas that defined the way these Polynesians understood Christianity. The new belief system unsuccessfully suppressed the pre-Christian past of myths and legends, and faʻa-sāmoa (Sāmoan way of life and culture) navigated through the new terminologies […]

Annual AIA Los Angeles County Society Fall Garden Party

The Annual AIA Los Angeles County Society Fall Garden Party will be in the amphiteaterat the Fowler Museum on the UCLA campus on Sunday, October 7th from 2-4pm. Afterrefreshments and conversation we will move into Fowler A222 to hear reports from our two 2018Field School Scholarship awardees: Alexander Lin and Samantha Stott both of USC. […]

An Enduring Legacy of Discard: The Archaeology of Garbage

Since our humble beginnings, human’s have created and discarded unwanted objects: garbage is a human universal, and the archaeological record is brimming with it.  Indeed, the everyday human experience – the routine domestic tasks we perform, the foods we process and eat, the goods we consume – is arguably best documented with our discards.  Rarely […]

FRIDAY SEMINAR: Material History: New Insights from the Study of Ancient Binding Media, Tutankhamun’s Dagger, and Red Lake Pigments

Dr. Austin Nevin CNR Researcher, Politecnico MilanoBinding media, metals and pigments in works of art are material history - and are evidence of technology, artist practice, exchange and trade. Through the study and identification of materials, crucial data can be collected regarding physical and chemical stability thus informing conservation decisions. Three case studies of works […]

FRIDAY SEMINAR:The Origins and Spread of Agriculture in SW Asia: A Zooarchaeological Perspective from Anatolia

 Dr. Levent Atici, Associate Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas The revolutionary socioeconomic transformation of societies from foraging to farming in Southwest Asia shortly after 10,000 calibrated years BC and the subsequent spread of emergent agropastoral lifeways across Anatolia and into Southeast Europe (a.k.a., Neolithization) have been one of the most ruminated topics in archaeology. Recent […]