Speaker: Dr. Tamara L. Bray, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Wayne State UniversityNew understandings of matter and materiality are being driven by recent theoretical developments in the realm of science, particularly physics and ecology. These evolving orientations are, in turn, contributing to new philosophical thinking on the nature of being and reality. The trickle-down effects of these developments are, […]

Speakers: Dr. Megan O'Neil, Associate Curator, Art of the Ancient Americas, LACMA; Laura Maccarelli, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Conservation Science, LACMA"This presentation features the Maya Vase Research Project, a collaboration of LACMA's (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Conservation Center and the Art of the Ancient Americas Program, which is studying Classic-period Maya ceramics […]

Speaker: Dr. Jessica I. Cerezo-Román, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Cal Poly PomonaChanging perspectives on concepts of personhood are explored by deconstructing cremation mortuary customs among the Prehispanic Hohokam of the Tucson Basin, southern Arizona, from the Preclassic to Classic periods (AD 475-1450/1500). The approach used analyzes how people were represented in mortuary rituals […]

Speaker: Dr. Lothar von Falkenhausen, Professor of Art History, UCLAThe Presidential Cultural Property Advisory Committee is charged with implementing the 1970 UNESCO convention in order to curb the illegal inflow of cultural property into the United States.  Lothar von Falkenhausen has served on this Committee since 2012.  He will report on the legal framework under […]

Speaker: Dr. Pavel Avetisyan, Director, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of ArmeniaThis talk is dedicated to the investigation of the main concepts in World-system analysis such as border, border-line, frontier, and contact zone. Taking in to account the privileges of World-system analysis in archaeological investigations, this contribution, through demonstration of concrete […]

ConnectionsArchaeology is a collaborative field and archaeological teams always consist of specialists from many disciplines. This interconnectedness is an integral part of a holistic understanding of our past. Join us for an open house that illuminates the relationship between the Fowler Museum and archaeological research, beginning with two gallery talks in the Fowler Museum. These […]

Speakers: Morgan Burgess and Marci Burton, M.A. Students, Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials, UCLAThis study focuses on a privately owned, autographed, first edition (c. 1959) BarbieTM doll made from poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) plastic. Contrary to “sticky-leg syndrome”, where plasticizer migrates from the PVC and deposits to the surface as a tacky liquid, this doll […]

Speaker: Dr. Nerissa Russell, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cornell UniversityEthnography shows us that every society has some form of food taboos, often focused on the meat of particular animals. While the pig taboo, in particular, has received considerable archaeological attention in the eastern Mediterranean, there is little discussion of taboo in prehistory. The obvious reason is that, lacking textual […]

Speaker: Jeremy Williams, Ph.D. Candidate, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLAThe practice of digitally modelling archaeological sites has grown more and more common in recent years. Well-known ancient sites such as the Temple of Karnak, Khirbet Qumran, and the Roman Forum have benefited from such models.The recent digital model of the Late Bronze Egyptian fortress […]