Friday Seminar: “Density, Defense, Agriculture and Access: Lessons from LiDAR in the Maya lowlands”

Speaker: Dr. Thomas Garrison, Ithaca CollegeIn 2016, the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) acquired over 2100 square km of data over the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala, representing the largest single LiDAR acquisition for archaeological research. Sponsored by PACUNAM, a consortium of scholars representing different archaeological projects and nationalities have come together to […]

Pizza Talk: “Bioarchaeological investigations in China and Mongolia: Mongol soldiers, Silk Road merchants, Manichaean infants, and bound feet women”

Speaker: Dr. Christine Lee, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cal State LAMy research focuses on ethnic identity and how it is expressed in the human skeleton and its burial context. The populations I study were seldom represented in contemporary historical texts. These people included nomadic pastoralists, migrants and merchants, and finally women and children. The first population sample […]

Friday Seminar: “Snake Queens and Statecraft: Kaanul Women and their Political Legacies at Waka'”

Speaker: Dr. Olivia Navarro-Farr, College of WoosterRecent investigations in Waka’s primary civic-ceremonial structure discovered a royal tomb including the remains of Queen K’abel. These excavations also revealed the name of an earlier, previously unknown Kaanul queen, Ikoom Sak Wayis, likely pertaining to the interment of a royal female excavated at the site’s palace complex in 2004. This discussion focuses on the wide-ranging evidence that underscores […]

Friday Seminar: “Destroying the Archive: Sex, Racism, Image and Contemporary Archaeology

Speaker: Dr. Doug Bailey, Professor, Department of Anthropology, San Francisco State UniversityWhat happens when people attempt to discard and destroy a museum archive that contains many thousands of visual and material objects? In this workshop, we discuss the politics, potential, and violence of archive objects (specifically a cache of over 1200, 35-mm transparencies from the mid-late […]

Vertical Archaeology, Horizontal Stratigraphy: A Century of LA Graffiti

Willeke Wendrich, Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, cordially invites Friends of Archaeology members to a special dinner and lecture on January 16, 2018 with Susan Parker, Academic Director, Pitzer in Ontario Program Associate Professor of Environmental Analysis Pitzer College, Claremont, CA. The reception will begin at 6:00pm and be followed by […]

Pizza Talk: “Macroscale multimodal imaging and spectroscopy reveals raw material selection and production technology of Fayum Portraits”

Speaker: Dr. Ioanna Kakoulli, Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UCLAFayum portraits are paintings mainly on wooden support reflecting Greek painting traditions and Egyptian funerary practices. These paintings are naturalistic portraits of the deceased and provide a snapshot of Greek civic life and customs in Egypt during the Ptolemaic and Roman rule. Non-invasive and […]

Friday Seminar: January 19, 2018

This will be a series of two 30-minute lectures"Perception in Palatial Architecture: The Example of the Tupkish Palace at Tell Mozan" by Dr. Federico BuccellatiSpace, as an expression of the architectural volumes expressed in Mesopotamian palatial architecture, can seem an abstract, distant concept, visible but not understood, and lacking interaction. These volumes, however, carry a deeper meaning: […]

Pizza Talk: “Achaemenid Stone Towers and Recent Excavations at Pasargadae, Iran”

Speaker: Dr. Ali Mousavi, Lecturer, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLAThe World Heritage site of Pasargadae, in southern Iran, is the first dynastic center of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century B.C. Pasargadae’s palaces, gardens and the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great are outstanding examples of the first phase of royal Achaemenid […]

Critical Archaeological Gaming Workshop

This workshop focuses on the design of archaeological games that entice users to engage with archaeological skills, methods, questions and results. What are possible goals of such games, and how can these be reached through narratives, interactive mechanics and visual, aural and motive stimulants.Beyond providing exercises in archaeological approaches, can emergent gameplay have a significant […]

Friday Seminar: “Data Games: Cognitive Mapping in Ancient Pompeii”

Speaker: Dr. David Fredrick, Associate Professor, Department of Classical Studies, University of Arkansas3:00pm -- Panel Discussion on Critical Archaeological Gaming with Chris Johanson, Demetri Terzopoulos, Eddo Stern, and Lisa Snyder4:00pm -- Reception5:00pm -- David Fredrick Lecture: Data Games: Cognitive Mapping in Ancient Pompeii