Panel 8: Indigenous Rights and Heritage Laws
2020-11-04 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Panelists: Teddy Baguilat (Indigenous Conserved Communities Areas); Awi Mona (National Taiwan University); Claire Charter (University of Auckland)Moderator: Marcelle Burns (University of New England)November 4, 2020, 6:00 PM (PDT) / November 5, 2020, 10:00 AM (TWN)Webinar Series: Indigenous Peoples, Heritage and Landscape in the Asia Pacific: Knowledge Co-Production, Policy Change, and EmpowermentThe United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was ratified in 2007. It was a product of a long and slow process that started in 1982 with the establishment of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations. A draft declaration was submitted in 1994, which became the basis for several state parties establishing statutes on the rights of Indigenous populations. In the Asia Pacific, countries that have a long history of colonialism adopted measures to provide some form of redress to the injustices received by Indigenous groups. These statutes were based on the 1994 draft declaration, which predated the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as local regulations. In this panel, we discuss various issues that Indigenous groups have experienced since the ratification of Indigenous Peoples rights laws in different countries. We provide examples from Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, and Cambodia. The panel discusses how these laws have empowered Indigenous groups and how the lessons from the last 20 years could help strengthen these statutes.For more information about the event and panelists, visit the event site.

New Light on the Neolithization of the Armenia and beyond: Data from the recent excavation at Lernagog - 1 site and Areni-2 Cave in Armenia
2020-11-06 12:00
Artur PetrosyanArchaeologist, Researcher, Department of Early ArchaeologyInstitute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences Republic of ArmeniaNovember 6th 2020 12:00pm PT (contingent on the developing situation in Armenia)Register here Until recently the Early Holocene sites of the Kura and the Araxes river basins were not known and the question of Neolithization in the region were based on the study of Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic settlements grouped into the “Aratashen-Shulaveri-Shomutepe” tradition, located in valleys and plains. Fieldwork activities implemented during last 20 years led to the discovery of series of Old and Early Holocene sites in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan including a stratified cave and rock-shelter as well as open-air sites and settlements, filling the gap between the 10th and early 6th millennium BC. While excavations and research of the Early and Middle Holocene sites continues, the accumulated information to date allows us to look at the process of Neolithization in the Kura and the Araxes river basins from a new perspective. The data suggests dividing the Early Holocene archaeological sequence into two chronological groups or steps. Group 1/Step 1 with chronometric dates between 10.000 – 7300 Cal BC is described by seasonal hunting and habitation camps on higher elevations organized inside caves and rock-shelters in combination with built structures in front of them as well as short-term open-air activities. Some shifts in the economic lifeways and technological production of tools (so-called “apnagyugh” tools) is obvious even though many similarities can be noticed with the lifestyle of the Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. Group 2/Step 2 span between 7300 – 6200 Cal BC, when the first settlements and sites with ritual function appeared, in parallel with the cave sites. New data indicate that the origin of the early farming culture in the Araxes River valley is local even though there is noticeable influence from the southern cultural centers.Artur Petrosyan received his PhD at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of NAS RA in 2010, where he has worked since 2007 as an Archaeologist and Researcher. He has participated in a number of archaeological expeditions in Armenia, Italy (Calvatone, Sassofortino) and UAE (Vadi al Hello). Currently he is the co-director of Armenian – Italian, Armenian – Japanese, Armenian – German and Armenian – Chinese expeditions in Kotayk, Vayots Dzor, Ararat and Armavir regions of Armenia. Petrosyan has published extensively.

Black and Indigenous Storytelling as Counter-History
2020-11-11 13:00 - 15:00
For untold centuries, storytelling has been foundational to the ways Black and Indigenous people understand and connect to the world around them. However, knowledge systems upheld in academic settings continually disavow these narratives and those who hold them as valid sites of intellectual production. For BIPOC heritage professionals, storytelling taps into historically marginalized ways of knowing. It offers ways to reclaim and retell histories that often counter the harmful and one-sided narratives told about Black and Indigenous peoples through archaeology, museums, and heritage sites. In this webinar, we explore storytelling through artifacts, cultural landscapes, comics, graphic novels, and video games as a means of counter-history, illuminating news ways of imagining pasts, presents, and futures for Black and Indigenous people. Panelists will discuss how they engage storytelling as an intellectual entryway to interpretations of the material evidence of Black and Indigenous histories November 11th from 4-6 pm ET / 1-3 pm PT Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HXSihZjSSP2AgkgFCz1y2w

Panel 9: Preserving Textiles: Indigenous Knowledge and Methods
2020-11-11 18:00
Panelists: Julia M. Brennan (Senior Consulting Conservator, Caring for Textiles); Annissa M. Gultom (Director, National Museum of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE); Lilian García Alonso-Alba (Conservation Scientist/Professor, Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía, Mexico); Mohd Syahrul bin Ab Ghani (Curator, Division of Research and Documentation, Department of Museums Malaysia, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia)Moderator: Linh Anh Moreau (SEAMEO SPAFA)November 11, 2020, 6:00 PM (PST) / November 12, 2020, 10:00 AM (TWN)Webinar Series: Indigenous Peoples, Heritage and Landscape in the Asia Pacific: Knowledge Co-Production, Policy Change, and EmpowermentSoutheast Asian traditional textiles are world renowned and valued as expressions of cultural identity, from the weaving and dyeing processes to the symbolism of their aesthetics and uses. However, local knowledge and actual methods to preserve such deterioration-prone organic material is an under-studied field. To identify tropical-climate appropriate, locally sourced, sustainable, and cost-effective methods that can be adopted by local practitioners working in the preservation of traditional textiles, SEAMEO SPAFA collaborated with local researchers on a region-wide project to collect, document, and compile invaluable indigenous knowledge on caring for textiles. Data collected includes plant materials and methods for wet cleaning, dry cleaning, stain removal, insect mitigation, storage, and associated spiritual beliefs. A first study of its kind, it brought together a dynamic group of textile professionals, museum experts, conservators, historians, scientists, and anthropologists, eager to research, chronicle and learn more about their own national and indigenous practices – before the knowledge is lost.For more information about the event and panelists, visit the event site.

VIRTUAL PIZZA TALK: An Authenticity Study of an Egyptian Bronze Cat: Modern to Ancient
2020-11-18 12:00 - 13:00
Almoatz-bellah Elshahawi, Conservator, Grand Egyptian MuseumWednesday, November 18th, 12:00pm – 1:00pm PTAcquired in 1955 by the J. Paul Getty Museum an Egyptian bronze cat was thought to be a fake. Authenticity questions initially arose from the presence of several odd repairs on the cat’s tail. Additionally, the surface appeared stripped and was very glossy giving it an artificial look and contributing to its suspicious appearance. Removal of the bronze from its historic wooden base revealed the signature of a 19th century British restorer. Comparisons of the interior to the exterior bronze surface indicate that the cat had been aggressively cleaned leaving a smooth and atypical corrosion pattern on the surface. A technical study of the cat using visible and microscopic examination, x radiography, metallography, x ray fluorescence spectroscopy and most significantly, thermoluminescence dating of the core material within the head, confirmed the cat’s authenticity.Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.

Panel 10: Tying Ends Together: Translating Engagement and Empowerment
2020-11-18 18:00
Panelists: Georgina Lloyd (UNEP); Khylee Quince (Auckland University of Technology); Marcelle Burns (University of New England); Neyooxet Greymorning (University of Montana)Moderator: Dada Docot (Purdue University)November 18, 2020, 6:00 PM (PST) / November 19, 2020, 10:00 AM (TWN)Webinar Series: Indigenous Peoples, Heritage and Landscape in the Asia Pacific: Knowledge Co-Production, Policy Change, and EmpowermentVarious examples of community engagement from multiple regions in the Asia Pacific were discussed in this webinar series. Collaboration between researchers and community members highlighted the empowering nature of such partnership. This panel will discuss the lessons learned from these examples and propose means to translate the outcomes of community involvement in research/development projects into concrete programs that will further enable Indigenous/local communities to take control of their heritage and intellectual properties. In addition, the panel will discuss how these collaborations can influence curricular development, policy changes, and institutionalizing of community involvement. Panelists provide examples from their respective works in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand.For more information about the event and panelists, visit the event site.

Getty Conservation Institute Field Projects: 3 cases: Tutankhamun, Mosaikon, Peru
2020-11-20 11:00 - 12:00
Jeanne Marie TeutonicoAssociate Director, Strategy and Special InitiativesGetty Conservation InstituteFriday November 20th, 11:00am – 12:00pm (PT)Please note, this talk will not be recorded.Register hereThe Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) is best described as a private, international research organization that is part of a larger philanthropic enterprise dedicated to the understanding, conservation and enjoyment of the visual arts. In this, the GCI is somewhat unique in the constellation of not-for-profit organizations operating in the heritage sector. The presentation will provide an introduction to the Getty Conservation Institute – its mission, strategic priorities and methodological approach to heritage conservation. Select examples of GCI field work (in Egypt, Peru and the Mediterranean) will be used to illustrate diverse conservation contexts and challenges, and to reflect on the evolution of conservation practice over the last twenty years.The presentation will conclude with some consideration of future challenges –both global concerns and specific issues facing the heritage conservation field.Jeanne Marie Teutonico is currently Associate Director, Strategy and Special Initiatives,atthe Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles where her responsibilities include the development of strategic priorities for the Institute and oversight of GCI publications. An architectural conservator with over thirty years of experiencein the conservation of buildings and sites, she holds an A.B. (Hons) in art history from Princeton University and an M.Sc. in historic preservation from Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Prior to joining the GCI in 1999, Jeanne Marie was a conservator and educator on the staff of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in Rome and, later, of English Heritage in Londonwhere she led a large technical research and publications program. She is published widely and maintains research interests in the conservation and sustainable use of traditional building materials. She was an invited Resident at the American Academy in Rome in 2008 and is a Fellow of the Association for Preservation Technology, the Society of Antiquaries, and the International Institute for Conservation.Figure 1. Conservation of the wall paintings in the burial chamber of the Tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. The Getty Conservation Institute, in collaboration with Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities, has recently completed a multi-year project that included study and conservation of the tomb’s wall paintings, environmental and infrastructure improvements, and training for future care of the site.Figure 2. Training regarding the conservation and management of archaeological sites and mosaics at the ancient site of Paphos in Cyprus. Over the last ten years, the Getty Conservation Institute has collaborated with the Getty Foundation, ICCROM and the International Committee fortheConservation of Mosaics(ICCM) in an initiative known as MOSAIKON with the aim of improving the conservation, presentation and maintenance of archaeological mosaics in the Mediterranean region. Activities have included education and capacity building, the development of locally sustainable conservation practices, model field projects, and the dissemination of information in a variety of forms.Figure 3. The church of Santiago Apóstolin Kuño Tambo, Peru. This seventeenth century earthen building, located in a remote village high in the Andes, is richly decorated with wall paintings and has been in continuous use as a place of worship since its original construction. As part of its Earthen Architecture Initiative, the Getty ConservationInstitute, in collaboration with the School of Science and Engineering at the Catholic University in Lima and the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, has developed and implemented seismic retrofit techniques that will enhance the building’s performance without negatively impacting the significant decorative finishes.

VIRTUAL PIZZA TALK: From the Canopy to the Caye: Two of Britain's Colonial Ventures in Nineteenth-Century Belize
2020-12-02 12:00 - 13:00
Dr. Tracie Mayfield, Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Southern CaliforniaWednesday, December 2nd, 12:00pm – 1:00pm PTDuring the nineteenth-century, Latin America was a hotbed of trade and commerce driven principally by extractive industries such as agriculture (principally sugar) and hardwood collection. Such ventures required large injections of capital into the creation and maintenance of productive landscapes as well as for hiring, housing, and feeding the workers who provided labor and management. This presentation will explore two such sites in Belize. Lamanai, an inland site, which is located in what is now the Orange Walk District of northwestern Belize and San Pedro Town, which is located off the coast of Belize on Ambergris Caye. During the nineteenth-century British colonists established settlements at these sites: at Lamanai, to plant sugar cane and harvest logwood and mahogany and, on Ambergris Caye to cultivate a coconut plantation. Along with wild fauna, chicken, beef, and bottled, canned, or barreled products such as soda water, salted pork, and potted meat, the residents of nineteenth-century Lamanai and San Pedro Town were also active consumers of tobacco and bottled alcoholic beverages. In addition, earned labor money was used to purchase bottled medicines, health and hygiene products (e.g. chamber pots), and wearable objects such as buttons and boot heels. Here we compare and contrast these two contemporary sites, situated in very different landscapes, but both within the Latin American, British colonial-industrial complex. Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.

VIRTUAL PIZZA TALK: Material, Function, and Colonialism: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Akan Copper-Alloy Gold Weights
2020-12-09 12:00 - 13:00
Marci J. Burton, Mellon Conservation Fellow, Fowler Museum; Carlee Forbes, Mellon Curatorial Fellow, Fowler Museum; Erica P. Jones, Associate Curator of African Arts, Fowler MuseumWednesday, December 9th, 12:00pm – 1:00pm PTAkan-speaking communities on the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) have long been home to a vibrant brass-casting culture. From the 15th century, brass-casting focused on producing equipment for the local gold trade: boxes, scales, and weights. Weights cast from copper alloy, known colloquially as gold weights, were made in two varieties: smaller geometric ones seemingly used as the counterbalance for weighing gold, and figurative models that referenced Akan daily life, proverbs, and stories. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these weights were simultaneously used to weigh gold while also exchanged as tourist souvenirs. This presentation considers a group of 449 copper-alloy objects in the Fowler’s Sir Henry Wellcome Collection. A Fowler team has been examining these weights, their histories, material compositions, and meanings. Central to the study of these objects has been analysis with Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) to determine their elemental compositions. Furthermore, measurements of mass and analysis of modifications (additions/reductions) contribute to ongoing efforts in the field to reconstruct Akan weight-systems. The collective results provide insights to address research questions of materiality, intended use, African art markets, and colonial-era collecting.Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.Image courtesy of Fowler Wellcome Team

Conservation of functional objects: horological conservation
2020-12-18 11:00 - 12:00
Brittany CoxHorological Conservator, Memoria TechnicaFriday December 18th, 11:00am – 12:00pm (PT)Register hereIn conservation there is always the question of tangible versus intangible qualities. Is one more important than the other? Should form follow function, or function follow form? If a functional object is beautifully presented and preserved, but doesn’t actually work, is it successful? The conservation of dynamic objects, especially in the case of automata and mechanical magic, confront these questions head-on. We will examine these questions by looking at a number of objects and their treatments.Brittany Nicole Cox founded her private conservation practice and studio Memoria Technica in 2015. Her lifelong passion for horology has seen her through nine years in higher education where she earned her WOSTEP, CW21, and SAWTA watchmaking certifications, two clockmaking certifications, and a Masters in the Conservation of Clocks and Related Dynamic Objects from West Dean College, UK. Her original work has been exhibited at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and she is currently working on a series of bestiary automata inspired by illuminated texts and a manuscript to be published by Penguin Press.

Ruling an Empire through Compassion: Angkorian Infrastructure of Public Health and Accommodation
2021-01-19 10:00 - 11:00
Dr. Piphal Heng, ACLS Postdoctoral Fellow, Northern Illinois UniversityTuesday, January 19, 2021 10:00 AM (Pacific Time) Zoom Webinar“Compassion” was an instrumental state’s infrastructure in building, maintaining, and expanding Angkor’s power from the 9th through 15th centuries CE. Angkorian civilization is known for its intricately carved monumental architecture, large water reservoirs, and interconnected road and canal systems. The relative importance of religion in Angkorian state governance has been debated for more than a century: to what extent can we separate Angkorian “church” from Angkorian state? This lecture provides a background to Angkor and emphasizes two rulers. The first was Yaśovarman I (889-910 CE), who established religious foundations throughout his polity to support his population and nurture religious pluralism. Attention concentrates on Jayavarman VII (1181-1218 CE), whose embrace of Buddhism and state projects were undergirded by a commitment to compassion. His many religious foundations (temples with reservoirs, etc.) housed religious specialists, hosted universities, and served as community anchors. They also expressed state power, marked its territories, and provided myriad social services to Angkorian Khmers.Dr. Piphal Heng is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University. He received his PhD degree in Anthropology from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Heng’s archaeological research themes include religious change, urbanism, settlement patterns, political economy, and sociopolitical organizational shift. He is also interested in the intersection between heritage management, collaborative/public archaeology, knowledge production, and urban development. His current project explores the transformation of urban and rural settlements in response to the demographic and political changes that took place with the adoption of Theravada Buddhism in Angkor (14th-18th century Cambodia).Registration for Zoom Link:CLICK TO REGISTER HERESponsored by the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies

VIRTUAL PIZZA TALK: Infrastructures of Race and War: An Indigenous Archaeology of Insurrection
2021-01-27 12:00
Dr. Tiffany FryerCotsen Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton Society of Fellows, Princeton UniversityWednesday January 27th, 12:00pm (PT)Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.

Colleagues, Communities, and Conservators: Partnerships towards repatriation and ethical stewardship
2021-01-29 11:00 - 12:00
Lylliam PosadasFriday January 29th, 11:00am – 12:00pm (PT)Register hereConservators can play a significant role in the repatriation process and in addressing concerns in the care of sensitive collections. Conservators and repatriation staff can work together with tribal and community representatives to address some of the unjust histories of museum acquisitions and develop new approaches for collections stewardship. Professional ethics in the conservation field,as well as technical knowledge and skill sets, can be a source of support for repatriationand ethical stewardship. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEAI) policies and programs are critical in building systems that encourage considerate and conscientious professional practices that can support tribal and community ownership and control of collections.This program will discuss how conservators, both students and professionals, can support the repatriation of Indigenous belongings under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). It will also explore how conservators can address concerns beyond NAGPRA that are relevant to the repatriation process and experience and to the training of future generations of conservators. Lylliam Posadas has experience with repatriation and collaborative and community-driven research within museums, universities, and community organizations. She is interested in how institutional policies support the development and sustainability of collaborative research and collections care practices. Lylliam focuses on systemic institutional change in support of repatriation, collections care and access, representation and diversity initiatives, and the use of non-destructive and non-invasive methods of investigating community-driven research questions. She received an MSc in the Technology and Analysis of Archaeological Materials from University College London and a double BA in Anthropology and Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Lylliam has participated in field research, including preservation efforts in Ghana, Peru, Louisiana, and California and also serves on several boards and committees, including the Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation. Lylliam is also involved in community-driven research, policy development, and advocacy in public health which informs her approach to heritage work

Introduction to the Archaeology Mentorship Program
2021-01-29 17:00
Over ZoomPanel featuring three Cotsen graduate student volunteers who described their subfields and path to graduate school followed by general Q&A

VIRTUAL PIZZA TALK: The H.L. Hunley Submarine: A Project Overview
2021-02-03 12:00
Anna FunkeConservator, Warren Lasch Conservation Center, Clemson UniversityFebruary 3rd, Wednesday 12:00pm (PT)The Warren Lasch Conservation Center has been working on the H.L. Hunley submarine since it was raised from Charleston Harbor in 2000. Renown for being the first successful combat submarine, it was designed to break the blockade of Charleston, in the later years of the Civil War. The archaeological work on the submarine has provided fascinating insights into the military, social and technological history of the time. Now that the excavations are largely completed, the project is primarily focused on the complex conservation process to prepare the submarine for broader public display. This talk will give an overview of the history of the submarine itself as well as the interdisciplinary project that has been built up around it.Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.

Indigenous Perspectives in Chronology Building: Rejecting the Three-Age System in Philippine Archaeology
2021-02-05 11:00 - 12:00
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).
