Archaeological Institute of America 

Fiona Greenland, University of Virginia

Book talk and Q&A: Ruling Culture: Art Police, Tomb Raiders, and the Rise of Cultural Power in Italy (University of Chicago Press, 2021). 

Thursday, May 13, 6:00pm

Virtual. Register HERE.

Fiona Greenland is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Assistant Professor of Anthropology (by courtesy) at the University of Virginia. She studies cultural policy and the politics of national heritage. Her book, Ruling Culture: Art Police, Tomb Robbers, and the Rise of Cultural Power in Italy, will be published by the University of Chicago Press in 2021. It situates the emergence of national symbols and icons in Italy’s longer historical entanglements of cultural elites, state officials, and tombaroli, or tomb robbers. Her new work examines the relationship between cultural destruction and civilian deaths in the Syrian war. Greenland’s work has been published in Sociological Theory, Qualitative Sociology, Nations and Nationalism, and the International Journal of Cultural Property, among other outlets. She was a classical archaeologist for 10 years before training as a sociologist.

2021 Archaeology & Art History DMP Presentations

Wednesday, May 12, 4:00pm

Virtual: Zoom link

Meeting ID: 968 9794 2700

Passcode: DMP2021

Each of our four students will be briefly presenting their DMP research (around 15 minutes each), with around 5 minutes for questions and discussion. The students (in alphabetical order) and their projects are:

Emily Anderson, The Numismatics of Hiberno-Norse Acculturation, 10th-12th c.: A Study in Early Medieval Cultural Contact and Material Exchange [Archaeology]

Frankie Mananzan, Yves Klein: Performing Authorship [Art History]

Brian Pfeifer, Geophysics in Archaeology: the Kotroni Archaeological Survey Project (KASP) [Archaeology]

Savannah Stevens, Holy Transactions: Altars on Athenian Vases from the Acropolis and the Agora [Archaeology]

Archaeology Brown Bag Lecture

Justin Anthony Mann, University of Virginia

"Commanding the Sacred: Structures of Authority and the Sacred on the Byzantine Monastic Landscape'

Friday, April 22, 4:00pm

Virtual: Zoom link

Meeting ID: 926 0183 2454

Passcode: 201461

Abstract: Recent scholarship portrays the Byzantine monastery as a cultural microcosm that embodied broader social structures. However, the view of such structures is often focused on the core monastic complex, and not on how monastic communities could greatly alter natural and cultural landscapes, or, on the other hand, be influenced by the same landscapes. The work presented here envisions the landscape created and maintained by monasteries (i.e., the monastic landscape) as a composite entity composed of interwoven cultural landscapes of authority, economy, the sacred, and natural topography. Using extensive archaeological survey and both art historical and textual evidence, seven case studies from Central Greece are used to push the boundaries of the monastery beyond the katholikon (central church), and onto a complex monastic landscape.

This talk will focus specifically on two components of the monastic landscape, the authoritative and the sacred, and their layering through the lens of Middle Byzantine monastic communities in Central Greece. The goal here is twofold: to highlight the importance of less commonly studied monastic sites, such as outlying chapels, towers, footpaths, and the natural landscape, and to furthermore emphasize the multivalent purposes of monastic sites. Churches, for example, can be used both to sacralize topography and as a means to delimit, navigate, and control. The last portion of this talk will be to present future directions for this research and to suggest other usages for monastic sites that will be explored in further depth in my dissertation project, “Assembling a Monastic Landscape: Structures of Authority, Economy, and the Sacred in Middle Byzantine Greece.”

As usual we’ll begin at 4 and end by about 5:15.  Please circulate to others who may want to join!

Archaeology Brown Bag Lecture

Patricia McAnany, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“Imagining a Maya Archaeology That Is Anthropological and Attuned to Indigenous Cultural Heritage”

Friday, April 9, 4:00pm

Virtual

John Hessler, Library of Congress

"Video Ergo Scio: Using Markov Random Fields to Reconstruct Ancient Maya Ceramics and Inscriptions"

Thursday, April 8, 11:00am-12:15pm

This virtual seminar will introduce participants to the theory of Markov random fields applied to the reconstruction of ancient Maya ceramics found in archaeological contexts and to the understanding of damaged Maya inscriptions.

The Theory of Markov random fields (MRF) has recently emerged in artificial intelligence research, both as a tool for modeling computer vision, and as a means for making deep and powerful statistical inferences about 3D digital images. These inferences allow for the reconstruction of the underlying objects and scene structure, as well as solutions to such problems as image reconstruction, image segmentation, and the rebuilding of missing parts of damaged 3D archaeological objects. I will discuss my recent work on the reconstruction of ancient Maya pottery from fragments, the complexity of the jigsaw puzzle in computer vision, and the application of newly developed MRF algorithms to the reconstruction of Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions.

This event is co-sponsored by the Scholars' Lab, the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program, and the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH).  It is free and open to all, but advance registration is required. Please visit https://cal.lib.virginia.edu/calendar/events/JHessler2021 to register.

Dr. Carla Jaimes Betancourt, University of Bonn

"The ancient Amazon: Pre-Columbian monumental architecture and the origins of complex societies in the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia".

Monday, March 22, 9:00am

Virtual: Zoom link

Meeting ID: 974 0993 9357 

Passcode: 031470

Prof. Carla Jaimes Betancourt of the University of Bonn will be providing a guest lecture in Sonia Alconini’s class on Monday morning at 9:00 entitled ‘The ancient Amazon: Pre-Columbian monumental architecture and the origins of complex societies in the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia’.  The presentation will provide an overview of the history of southwestern Amazon, which dates back at least 10,000 years. It will focus on the monumental and cultural achievements of two specific areas of study: (a) the ring ditches in the Northeast or Iténez region and (b) the monumental mounds to the Southeast of the Llanos de Moxos. Their configuration, landscape transformation, regional patterns and internal organization show a long and complex social dynamic that was not exempt from the influence of broader regional processes. This presentation reflects on the political, ritual and defensive role of the mounds and ring ditches, and their relationship with the sudden transformations that occurred largely in Amazonia: the first during the first centuries A.D., and the second at the beginning of the second millennium. More information at https://indigenousarts.as.virginia.edu/carla-jaimes-betancourt-class-visit

Archaeology Brown Bag Lecture

Chris Downum and Leszek Pawlowicz, Northern Arizona University

“Can Deep Learning Solve The Problems With Southwestern Prehistoric Decorated Ceramic Typologies?”

Friday, March 5, 4:00pm

Virtual: Zoom link 

Meeting ID: 928 2295 8820

Passcode: 278689

Abstract: Decorated ceramic typology plays an important role in dating archaeological sites in the American Southwest, as well as evaluating cultural affiliations and trade networks. Despite over 100 years of work in this field, substantial levels of disagreement on artifact type identifications can exist, even between archaeologists with decades of experience. We will review the history of Southwestern decorated ceramic typology, and the current problems associated with it. We will then present our research on the use of Convolutional Neural Network deep-learning methods as a potential tool for decorated ceramic classification, analysis and visualization.

Archaeology Brown Bag Lecture

Michael Frachetti, Washington University in St. Louis

“Remapping the Silk Roads from Prehistory to the Medieval Era”

Friday, February 19, 4:00pm

Virtual: Zoom link 

Meeting ID: 966 3472 3846

Passcode: 540021

Coughlin Lecture on East Asia

Naomi Standen, Unviersity of Birmingham

"Taking China out of Premodern Global History: Bodies, Threads and Fabrics"

Thursday, November 18, 2:00-3:30pm

Virtual: please register at https://tinyurl.com/standenuva

Ali Rizvi

"The Recent Rise of Secular Thought in the Muslim World"

Wednesday, November 18, 5:00pm

Virtual: coordinated by Inger Kuin

**rescheduled to 2021**

Archaeology Brown Bag Lecture

Sonia Alconini, University of Virginia

“Cuisine, Identity and Status Negotiations in the Eastern Inka Imperial Fringes”

Friday, November 13, 4:00pm

Jackie Murray, University of Kentucky

"Apollonius and Callimachus and the Poetics of Controversy"

Thursday, November 12

details TBA

Virtual: coordinated by Ivana Petrovic

Archaeological Institute of America Joukowsky Lecture

Julie Hruby, Dartmouth College

"Using ugly pottery to understand elite Mycenaean cuisine"

Thursday, November 12, 5:30pm

Virtual:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://virginia.zoom.us/j/95739760519?pwd=Y1FKWFhjVEdXaXprZzlCZlI2cmZaQT09

Meeting ID: 957 3976 0519

Passcode: aiacville

For generations, Greek archaeologists interested in ceramics have mostly focused on the “pretty” kind, usually painted vessels that have been assumed to have changed quickly over time, making them good chronological indicators. Cooking pots and other plainer vessels have received much less attention. More recently, however, as we have started to focus on questions about how people in ancient cultures used objects and activities to build their own identities and shape their lives, we have started to realize that the “ugly” pottery is far more important than it traditionally has been considered to be.

One of the main ways that has happened is that we now recognize that feasting and food consumption practices were critically important in antiquity. Both hosts and attendees used food as a means to practice and display their economic, political, ritual, and social personas. For the prehistoric period, we have limited textual evidence for cuisine and for feasts, but we have vast quantities of the kinds of pottery used to cook, serve, and consume food. By examining the types of pots used at different sites, we can reconstruct what was cooked, how it was cooked, how it was served, and how each of these issues varied based on the socioeconomic class of the people consuming the food.

Archaeology Brown Bag Lecture

Dylan Rogers, University of Virginia

“Water and Sensory Experience: Revisiting the Procession of the Eleusinian Mysteries in Roman Greece”

Friday, October 2, 4:00pm

Virtual: Zoom link 

Meeting ID: 930 7843 8764

Passcode: 749239

The Eleusinian Mysteries that took place at the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis (outside of Athens, Greece) were a mystery cult that stretched back as far as the Bronze Age. While we do not know the full details of what occurred when a pilgrim was initiated into the cult, we have been able to reconstruct the procession initiates took from Athens to Eleusis--a 22-km-long sensorial tour de force. In the Roman period, particularly in the second century CE, with the arrival of an aqueduct commissioned by the emperor Hadrian, the forecourt of the sanctuary, where the procession culminated before the initiation, was drastically altered with the addition of a fountain. Employing the tenants of sensory archaeology, this talk will revisit the procession of the Mysteries to emphasize the role of flowing water and its impact on past encounters in the space, not only illustrating the complex experience initiates had in the Roman period, but also the unique expressions of Greek and Roman identity.

UVa Fralin Weedon Lectures

 Robert DeCaroli, George Mason University

"Making the Buddha: The Creation of the Buddha’s Image in Early South Asia"

Thursday, October 1, 6:30pm

Virtual: register here.

Robert DeCaroli is a Professor of South and Southeast Asian art history at George Mason University. He is a specialist in the early history of Buddhism and has conducted fieldwork in India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. His first book, Haunting the Buddha: Indian Popular Religions and the Formation of Buddhism was published by Oxford University Press 2004, and his second book, Image Problems: The Origin and Development of the Buddha’s Image in Early South Asia, was published by the University of Washington in 2015. More recently, he co-curated the Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across Asia exhibition at the Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. He is also the author of several articles and book chapters. He was awarded a Getty Research Institute Fellowship and is currently a Robert N.H. Ho Family Foundation Research Fellow.

Classical Association of Virginia fall meeting

Saturday, September 26, 10:00am-12:00noon 

Virtual: additional information TBA

Gerszten Lecture Series

Ralph Bauer, University of Maryland-College Park

Lecture: “The Matter of the Popol Vuh: Death, Transformation, and Survival in Early (Latin) American Indian Literatures”

Friday, September 25, 4:00 - 6:00pm

Virtual: Register HERE by September 14 to receive Zoom link and password

"The Matter of the Popol Vuh: Death, Transformation, and Survival in Early (Latin) American Indian Literatures" investigates the interactions between sixteenth-century European alphabetical literacy and Indigenous materialities and semioses, focusing on the Popol Vuh (Book of Council). Destruction, death, transformation, and survival are the central themes of the book's material history, as it transformed from Maya and Nahua graphic writing into Maya alphabetic script and Spanish translation. But destruction, death, transformation, and survival are also the dominant themes of the "matter" of the Popol Vuh--the content of its stories and the lessons it contained, focusing as they do on the survival of matter through perpetual transformation. To learn more abou the Popol Wuj at UVA, click here.

Gerszten Lecture Series

Ralph Bauer, University of Maryland-College Park

Seminar: “The Alchemy of Conquest”

Tuesday, September 22, 6:30 - 7:30pm

Virtual: Register HERE by September 14 to receive Zoom link and password

Archaeology Brown Bag Lecture

Jonah Augustine, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Uniformity, Variability, and Genres in Tiwanaku Ceramic Iconography, A.D. 500-1100”

Friday, September 18, 4:00pm

Virtual: https://virginia.zoom.us/j/2295725639

Tiwanaku, located in western Bolivia, was among the largest cities in the Americas during the Middle Horizon (c. AD 500 to 1100) and the capital of an eponymous Andean state. During the consolidation of Tiwanaku, people began to produce a variety of novel ceramic forms that were decorated with elaborate, polychrome iconography. These materials were ubiquitous throughout the Tiwanaku city and state. Archaeologists today find them in a variety of contexts, ranging from offerings left on the steps of pyramids to household trash heaps. What types of images were depicted upon these key media? What forms of archaeological analysis are available to evaluate and compare iconographic conventions between social spaces at Tiwanaku? Importantly, how do the characteristics of the forms and iconography of Tiwanaku ceramics reflect their variable social roles and political significances within Tiwanaku? This talk will address these questions, presenting the results of an analysis of polychrome ceramics from Tiwanaku.

Archaeology Brown Bag Lecture

Introductory Meeting

Friday, September 11, 4:00pm

Virtual: https://virginia.zoom.us/j/2295725639