Archive

+Lectures 2023-2024

September 13, 2023: Clarissa von Spee (Cleveland Museum of Art) From a “land of pestilential vapors” to “paradise on earth,” An introduction to the CMA’s exhibition, China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta

China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta will be the first exhibition in the West that focuses on the artistic production and cultural impact of a region located in the coastal area south of the Yangzi River. Called Jiangnan, this region has throughout large parts of its history been one of the wealthiest, most populous, and fertile lands. For millennia it has been an area of rich agriculture, extensive trade, and influential artistic production. Art from Jiangnan—home to such great cities as Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing, as well as to hilly picturesque landscapes stretched along rivers and lakes—has defined the image of traditional China for the world.

October 11, 2023: Brian Redmond (Cleveland Museum of Natural History) Identifying Indigenous Ceremonialism in Northern Ohio: Archaeological Discoveries at the Heckelman Site

For more than a century, Ohio archaeologists have studied the remains of ancient societies which created impressive mound and earthworks in the central Ohio Valley. Research by regional archaeologists now points to a northern expression of this ceremonialism best known for Ohio Adena and Hopewell cultural expressions to the south. For ten seasons, Museum archaeologists conducted excavations at the Heckelman site, one of the preeminent earthwork localities in northern Ohio. In this presentation, Dr. Redmond discusses investigations that identified a four acre ceremonial complex overlooking the Huron River in Erie County, Ohio. Geophysical survey and test excavations reveal the construction of ditch and post enclosures dating between 2800 and 1600 years ago and used for complex rituals involving communal feasting and the erection of large ritual poles. The utilization of water barriers, both natural and artificial, to enclose the core ritual precinct and the use of colored earths and mineral crystals point to possible cosmological associations of the Heckelman site ritual landscape.

November 8, 2023: Kathleen M. Lynch (University of Cincinnati) Trading with the Enemy: Greek Pottery in the Persian World

Gordion, in central Turkey, was the capital of the Phrygian empire in Anatolia until about 600 B.C. By the mid 6th century, it came under Persian control as the Medes expanded their territory westward from their Iranian heartland. During the over 200 years of Persian control, the residents of Gordion imported a surprising amount of high quality Athenian fine ware pottery. The presence of Athenian pottery at Gordion prompts a number of questions that we will examine in this talk: HOW did it get there? Gordion lies 500 km from the Aegean and Black Sea coasts, which is unusual because exported Athenian pottery usually clings to the coasts in the Eastern Mediterranean. WHY did the residents of Gordion want Athenian pottery? At the height of importation in the late 6th and early 5th centuries B.C. weren’t the Persians and Athenians archenemies?

In this talk, I will also demonstrate how a misguided research question can lead to unexpected answers. The mistake, it turns out, was to assume that the consumers and users of imported Athenian pottery were the Persians. In fact, actual Persians probably had little interest ceramic pots, which they deemed far inferior to metal vessels. Instead, throughout the Persian world, the pattern is clear: consumption of imported Athenian pottery continues at sites that had already been importing Athenian pottery before the shift to Persian control. In other words, it is not the Persian newcomers using the Athenian pottery but the indigenous Anatolian cultures. Connecting themselves to the Greeks (if not the Athenians, specifically) signaled a desire to maintain their existing cultural identities, and perhaps, a little resistance to the Persians.

February 7, 2024: Aidan Dodson (University of Bristol) The Modern Resurrection of Tutankhamun

While the tomb of Tutankhamun was found in 1922, the king’s true rediscovery had been nearly a century earlier, when John Gardner Wilkinson first noticed the king’s name. This lecture will explore how ideas about Tutankhamun have developed and changed over the past 200 years, and how much (or little) the discovery of his tomb contributed to this.

March 20, 2024: Andrew Hamilton (Art Institute of Chicago) The Royal Inca Tunic: A Biography of an Ancient Andean Masterpiece

The most famous work of ancient Andean art in the world is an enigmatic tunic in the collection of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC. Thought to be the only surviving royal vestment of the Inca Empire, it has also spawned controversial theories that its intricate patterns are a long-lost writing system. For over two decades, Andrew Hamilton, associate curator of Arts of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago and lecturer in Art History at the University of Chicago, has conducted careful physical studies of this rare, royal, and radiant object. In this talk, he will piece together its remarkable life history and preview his new book forthcoming with Princeton University Press in Spring 2024.

April 10, 2024: Noel Hidalgo Tan (SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts) Crouching Tigers, Hidden Elephants: Southeast Asia Rock Art

While a global phenomenon, rock art has been a relatively recent subject of study in Southeast Asia with the number of known sites growing from a handful in the 1960s to over a thousand today. Research accelerated in the last 20 years with better recording and analytical techniques as evidenced by the increased number of papers on Southeast Asian rock art in international conferences and journals since the 2000s. The majority of sites are located from Indonesia and Thailand, where sustained episodes of research have been conducted. New dates from Indonesia challenge long-standing ideas about the 'origin' of art while other discoveries shed light on the movements and activities of peoples across this diverse landscape. This lecture presents a survey of rock art across Southeast Asia from the deep past to more modern times and shows how rock art can help us better understand the archaeology of Southeast Asia.

+ Lectures 2022-2023

September 7, 2022: Sarah Levin-Richardson (University of Washington) “Moral Zoning” and the Visibility of Prostitution at Pompeii

Did Roman Pompeii have an equivalent of a “red-light” district, with brothels hidden out of sight and prostitutes lurking in the shadows? This talk presents evidence for the visibility both of establishments that sold sex and of those who sold sex, focusing on Pompeii’s (in)famous “purpose-built” brothel. From sight lines that allowed passersby to see directly into the brothel, to the seamless integration of the brothel into the residential and commercial fabric of the city, to the movement of prostitutes throughout the city (to fetch water, pick up clients, or return to their homes after a shift), prostitution was a visible part of the urban fabric of the ancient city.

October 5, 2022: Robert Chidester (The Mannik & Smith Group, Inc.) Rust Belt Archaeology: Recent Urban Excavations in Toledo, Ohio

Laypeople often scoff at the idea that modern cities might be a good place to look for archaeological sites, and yet, archaeologists have long understood the value of cities as repositories of the material vestiges of the past. This presentation will discuss two recent case studies from Toledo, Ohio – to date, the only urban excavations ever conducted in Toledo – to illustrate the archaeological potential of this classic Rust Belt city. One case study describes the documentation of the remnants of a late 19th-century gasometer structure (for the storage and distribution of manufactured gas) that was a critical part of the earliest utility infrastructure in Toledo, and the second case study concerns the excavation of several residential parcels dating to the first half of the 20th century adjacent to the downtown core.

November 9, 2022: Natalie Abell (University of Michigan) Craft Production and Culture Change in the Bronze Age Cyclades, Greece

During the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1900-1400 BCE), Cycladic islanders played key roles as intermediaries in regional exchange networks that linked the Minoan palaces of Crete and emerging elite societies on Aegina and mainland Greece. Over these centuries, the Cyclades experienced a great deal of material culture change, especially as part of the Minoanization phenomenon, by which Minoan ways of doing things were adopted and adapted beyond Crete. This presentation explores the important roles of mobile craftspeople and the spread of novel craft technologies in the promotion of new forms of material culture in the Cyclades during these eras.

February 8, 2023: Louis Rorimer (Cleveland Archaeological Society) Where Are They Now? The Fates of Selected Icons of European Art and History on the Path of the Monuments Men and Women during World War II

From Spain’s Lady of Elche to the Scythian Gold of Melitopol, Ukraine, war has always had a way of causing important archaeological relics, and other cultural property, to move—and sometimes disappear. This lecture will trace the route of the speaker’s father, James J. Rorimer, as he follows US troops from Normandy to the Nazi’s final redoubt in Bavaria, in support of the efforts of the Monuments Men and Women, to wrest Europe’s cultural patrimony from the grasp of Hitler and his henchmen. The talk will focus on the ultimate fate of some of the renowned relics and works of art he encountered on his mission.

March 8, 2023: Olivia C. Navarro-Farr (The College of Wooster) Snake Queens of Waka and Beyond: Royal Women of Kaanul and their Imprint on Classic Maya Politics

This talk focuses on the symbolic significance of Classic Maya royal queens of the snake realm (Kaanul) and their political power, which rose prominently during the Late Classic period (~AD 550-900). Their hypogamous marriages to subordinate vassal polities throughout the southern Maya lowlands created a network of alliances that elevated the snake realm’s hegemony. Utilizing the Indigenous ontology of gender complementarity as a foundational creation principle, I argue the power of these snake Queens was grounded not only in their association with that regime, but as women with the attendant implications of fecundity and reproductive power as central to their political cachet. These power domains, steeped in the potent magic of fertility, were also central to their rule as conjurers and diviners, acts of sorcery themselves metaphorically linked to birth and birth work. The substantial archaeological and epigraphic data surrounding two specific queens who ruled during the 6th and 7th centuries permits a keen understanding of their governing strategies and their wielding of sacred power, which cemented their legacy within Waka’s social and political landscape and beyond.

April 12, 2023: Darnell-Jamal Lisby (Cleveland Museum of Art) Egyptomania: Fashion Expounding on Prejudice Perpetuated by Egyptology

Egyptology and Egyptian archaeology were cemented by the early 20th century. After the 1922 discovery of King Tut’s tomb, fashion fiercely adopted Egyptomania as an inspiration despite Egypt’s sporadically having inspired design and branding in previous decades. Darnell-Jamal Lisby, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Assistant Curator of Fashion and curator of the CMA’s Egyptomania: Fashion’s Conflicted Obsession, discusses the impact of Egyptomania in fashion during the first half of the 20th century. He will also examine the dialogue around racism, fueled by Egyptology, that fashion participated in perpetuating.

May 6, 2023: May Fundraiser at The Wine Spot

+ Lectures 2021-2022

Sept 8, 2021: Dr. Tane Casserly (NOAA, Monitor National Marine Sanctuary) World War II on America’s Doorstep! U-Boats Off the Mid-Atlantic Coast

More than any other place in the United States, North Carolina serves as a uniquely accessible underwater museum and memorial to WWII’s Battle of the Atlantic. Since 2008, NOAA’s Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and partners have documented and surveyed this unique collection of WWII Allied and German vessels. NOAA’s goal is to protect these fragile historic resources for future generations, and to preserve the memory of the brave Allied service men and U.S. merchant mariners who fought to rid the world of tyranny. This presentation will discuss the danger posed by German U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic along the Mid-Atlantic coast, their effect on Allied shipping, and the naval adaptations and convoy system that finally ended the U-boat threat.

Oct 13, 2021: Dr. Rob Cook (The Ohio State University at Newark) Maize, Mounds, and Migration: Village Origins in the Middle Ohio Valley, AD 1000-1300

The spread of maize agriculture and a village way of life from its Mesoamerican homeland throughout much of the Americas has long been of interest to archaeologists. New evidence suggests that the Midwest U.S. rapidly experienced this shift around AD 900, transforming many in the region into Mississippian cultures. This presentation focuses on results of a long-term investigation of the Middle Ohio Valley that has documented the movement of Mississippians into the region, where they formed a novel variation of Mississippian culture in an area that had long been the home to the creators of the world-renowned Wooodland earthworks.

Nov 10, 2021: Chelsea Freeland (Foreign Affairs Officer, U.S. Department of State) The Role of the U.S. Department of State in Cultural Property Protection

Looting, theft, and trafficking of cultural property occurs in countries throughout the world. In collaboration with partner countries, the United States implements bilateral cultural property agreements to help combat these crimes. The goal of the agreements is to protect cultural heritage by reducing the incentive for further pillage of archaeological and ethnological material. The United States has agreements with several countries throughout the Mediterranean region, which allows us to prevent illicit material from coming onto the U.S. art market. They also allow us to build relationships for continued cultural exchange - including supporting archaeologists who excavate in those countries.

Feb 9, 2022: Dr. Ann Killebrew (Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Penn State University) The End of the Bronze Age in the Levant (ca. 1200 BCE): The Archaeology of Migration, Collapse, and Societal Transformation

Memorialized in fragmentary memories of a golden age in Homer’s Iliad, the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550–1200/1150 BCE) witnesses the rise of the Hittite and New Kingdom Egyptian empires and development of an interconnected global economy. The demise of this world in the eastern Mediterranean leaves an indelible footprint in the archaeological record as well as unforgettable descriptions in later literature of wandering warriors in the Odyssey and biblical traditions of runaway Semitic slaves from Egypt. This lecture explores possible factors responsible for this crisis, including climatic change, migration and increasing social inequality. It also examines its impact of the collapse on the Levant during the following centuries (ca. 1200/1150 – 1000 BCE), with a focus on resilient groups, such as the Philistines, Phoenicians and early Israel, who emerge as the “winners” from the ruins of the Bronze Age.

Mar 16, 2022: Dr. Seth Pevnick (Curator of Greek and Roman Art, Cleveland Museum of Art) Simon Says? Names and Other Messages from the Users of Ancient Greek Pottery

A prominently incised inscription (or graffito) on an Athenian red-figure column-krater in Cleveland likely marks the vase as the property of Simon. Beginning with this and other instances of the relatively common name Simon, this lecture will explore various types of messages scratched into Greek painted or black gloss pottery by its users. Distinct from those painted by the potters or painters who made the vessels, these messages include early alphabetic inscriptions, from the 8th century BC, as well as dedications and signs of private and public possession across succeeding centuries. Although often written in the voice of the vessel (as if it were speaking), such inscriptions only rarely include references to the painted or molded imagery of the vessels themselves. Other user inscriptions, often more discreetly placed, comprise trademarks and indications of contents, capacity, or prices.

April 13, 2022: Dr. Christopher Fisher (Anthropology and Geography and Environmental Affairs, Colorado State University) The Application of LiDAR Scanning for the Documentation of Ancient Cities and Regions

The application of airborne LiDAR for the detection and documentation of archaeological sites in arid and semi-arid regions of the Americas has initiated a ‘paradigm shift’ for Mesoamerican archaeology. Here I discuss results from two archaeological projects in disparate areas of Mesoamerica that have utilized LiDAR to both examine intra-site and extra-site patterning. The first, centered at the site of Angamuco in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, used LiDAR as a tool to examine the spatial patterning of individual units of architecture. The second used LiDAR to document the complete settlement pattern of an unexplored valley within the Mosquitia tropical wilderness of Honduras. Both of these studies confirm that value and promise of LiDAR technology.

May 2022: Dr. Salima Ikram (Department of Sociology, Egyptology and Anthropology, The American University in Cairo) Annual CAS Fundraiser & Lecture

+ Lectures 2020-2021

The Handmade’s Tale: The View from Figurines on Cult and Society in Ancient Corinth Susan Langdon, University of Missouri Wednesday, September 9, 2020, 7:00p.m., via Zoom

Although Corinth was one of the premier city-states of ancient Greece, Roman conquest and rebuilding eradicated much of the material evidence for the Greek city. An unexplored source of information for Corinthian culture and society in the 7th to 5th centuries BCE comes from terracotta figurines made in large numbers for the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on Acrocorinth, the rocky acropolis overlooking Corinth. New research on the production and dedication of the fully and partially handmade figurines of goddesses and mortals reveals a wealth of unexpected information. This talk explores the evidence from figurines for how a cult creates its divine iconography as well as local clothing styles, ideas on gender, and the role of women in the welfare of the city.

The Mississippian Iconography of Serpent Mound Brad Lepper, Ohio History Connection Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 7:00p.m., via Zoom

Serpent Mound is one of the most recognizable icons of American archaeology, yet there is ongoing debate over its age. Some archaeologists think it was built by the Adena culture at around 300 BC, whereas others think it was built by the Fort Ancient culture at around AD 1100. Without an understanding of its age and cultural context, it is difficult to address the broader question of what it might have meant to its builders. Various attempts to obtain radiocarbon dates for Serpent Mound have yielded inconclusive results. Another possible means of placing the site into its cultural context is comparing the iconography, or symbolism, of the mound with how various ancient American Indian cultures represented serpents in their art. Serpents are virtually absent in Adena art, but are an important part of Mississippian religious symbolism. Therefore, Serpent Mound fits comfortably into a Fort Ancient cultural context.

Land Labor and Coercion in Post-Emancipation Dominica Khadene Harris, Kenyon College Wednesday, November 11, 2020, 7:00p.m., via Zoom

In this talk, Dr. Khadene Harris examines land, labor, and coercion in post-emancipation Dominica. Each year since 1997, the majority of English-speaking Caribbean nations commemorate the passage of the Act of Emancipation on August 1 as a National holiday. For many Caribbean nationals, Emancipation has deep cultural resonance that is rooted in the joy and disillusionment that framed the post-slavery moment. Despite the promise of Emancipation, free people in the British Caribbean met the post-slavery years without access to land, citizenship, education, stable wages, or labor rights. At the same time, colonial officials and the planter elite actively tried to coerce the newly free to work on plantations under conditions that were reminiscent of slavery. This study draws on archival data, ethnohistory, survey data, and archaeological evidence to trace how the newly free on two plantations in Dominica, appropriated plantation space, restructured labor arrangements, and maintained socio-economic relationships despite exclusionary practices of the planter elite.

Mother of God: Global Textiles in Early Modern Ethiopian Paintings of the Virgin Mary Kristen Windmuller-Luna, Cleveland Museum of Art Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 7:00p.m., via Zoom

In this talk, Dr. Kristen Windmuller-Luna (Curator of African Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art) considers creativity in African dress practice through a time-based study of fifteenth to eighteenth-century Ethiopian Orthodox depictions of the Virgin Mary. Based on field and collection-based research, the talk examines paintings and manuscript illuminations to demonstrate the evolution of Marian dress, with special attention to the representation of local and imported textiles (especially those from the Indian Ocean trade). Particular attention will be given to the influence of transcultural court fashion on late Gondärine era Marian imagery (c. 1680s–1760s), drawing examples from the textile collection of the CMA. Combining visual analysis of paintings alongside primary sources and textile fragments, it argues that Ethiopian depictions of the Virgin demonstrate how global trade transformed elite Ethiopian dress.

The Antikythera Mechanism: Discoveries Old & New Paul Iversen, Case Western Reserve University Wednesday, March 17, 2021, 7:00p.m., via Zoom

The Antikythera Mechanism, so named after the Greek island in whose waters it was salvaged in 1901 from a shipwreck datable to ca. 70-60 BCE, is a remarkable geared device that was constructed in the 2nd or 1st century BCE to calculate and display various astronomical, calendrical and athletic time periods. No device of comparable technological complexity is known until 1,000 years later. In 2005, a group of researchers known as the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project (AMRP) examined the 82 fragments of this badly corroded and brittle device with two modern technologies called Micro-Focus X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT) and Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM, now more widely known as Reflectance Transformation Imaging or RTI). This talk will give a general overview of the history of the scholarship on the Mechanism, particularly recent discoveries made using these two technologies, including some new readings of the inscriptions incised on it not yet published.

A Phonetic Zoo: The Origins of Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing John and Colleen Darnell (Yale University & University of Hartford) Live: Wednesday, April 7, 2021, 12:00p.m., via Zoom - Click here for registration

Recording: Wednesday, April 7, 2021, 7:00p.m., via Zoom - Click here for registration

In May 2017, the Elkab Desert Survey Project (of Yale University and the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels) discovered the earliest monumental hieroglyphic inscription at the site of El Khawy, just north of the ancient city of Elkab. High on a cliff face along an ancient road, this ancient “billboard” is an undeniable expression of power by an early Upper Egyptian ruler, quite possibly King Scorpion, whose tomb at Abydos (ca. 3250 BCE) contained the other earliest datable proto-hieroglyphic texts. In combination with Predynastic rock art of the fourth millennium BCE in the Eastern and Western deserts of Egypt and Nubia (including several important tableaux also discovered by the Elkab Desert Survey Project), the El Khawy site offers an unparalleled glimpse into the “phonetic zoo” of hieroglyphic writing—the process by which the symbolic world of Predynastic animal imagery became the nascent script of pharaonic Egypt.

May Fundraiser: Another Look at the Parthenon Jenifer Neils (Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens) Saturday, May 8, 2021, 12:00p.m., via Zoom - click here for more details

Since 1750 dilettanti and scholars have been challenged by the partially preserved Temple of Athena Parthenos, and each generation has produced its own interpretations. Even today archaeologists working on the sculpture have identified new marble fragments; others working on the restoration project have made discoveries about the architecture of the temple, and art historians like Prof. Jenifer Neils have offered new interpretations of the decorative program. Now 3D digital technology is also helping us better understand the Parthenon in relation to the Acropolis landscape. This talk will present some of the newest ideas about what the ancient Athenians might be attempting to express in this, one of the most ambitious, buildings of all antiquity.

+ Lectures 2019-2020

“Magellan’s Pacific Crossing: New Discoveries in One of the World’s Greatest Voyages” Scott Fitzpatrick, University of Oregon Wednesday, September 11, 2019, 7:00p.m., Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History

On 28 November 1520, Ferdinand Magellan and his depleted fleet sailed around the tip of South America. After a tumultuous 38-day attempt to pass through the straits that now bear his name, Magellan gazed out into the vast sea and called it Mare Pacifico or ‘calm sea,’ which was appropriate (although misleading) considering what they had just endured. The passage through the Straits was notable for a number of reasons, not least because it was the first time Europeans had sailed to the other side of the Americas through a westerly route, ultimately leading to what would become the first successful circumnavigation of the globe. But why did he encounter such benign weather conditions when leaving the Straits and entering the Pacific? Most who followed him either through the Straits or via Cape Horn encountered inclement weather off the southern coast of Chile. Second, why did he travel considerably north of the equator — when his goal, the Moluccas, was known by him to lie along the equator — and cross the doldrums in a crippled ship with a starving crew? Third, why did he only see two uninhabited islands after crossing such a vast distance of ocean? Here I investigate these questions using computer simulations coupled with archaeological research.

“Where the Earth Meets the Sky: Recent Archaeological Investigations at the Fort Hill Earthwork Complex” Phil Wanyerka, Cleveland State University Wednesday, October 9, 2019, 7:00p.m., Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Geophysical and archaeological investigations have been conducted for the past three years at the Fort Hill Earthworks, the only known prehistoric earthwork complex, located in the Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks. Our investigations have not only revealed when the earthworks were created and by which prehistoric culture group, but we have also uncovered data to suggest how they were constructed and for what possible purpose they may have served.

“Spellbound: Magic and Witchcraft in an Ancient Egyptian Village” Andrew Wilburn, Oberlin College Wednesday, November 13, 2019, 7:00p.m., Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History

We often imagine magic around every corner in the ancient world: old women who curl fingers around thumbs to avoid the evil eye, ill townspeople seeking out spells and cures from the local wise woman at the edge of town, or ne’er do-wells enchanting young girls with more than their good looks. This picture is not wrong, as individuals in antiquity frequently employed rituals to achieve solutions to everyday problems as well as unusual crises. Situating magic in the local community proves a greater challenge. By integrating the study of archaeological objects, their contexts and documentary sources, it is possible to reconstruct and understand personal rituals as part of a lived environment. This lecture will focus on archaeological evidence from the Graeco-Roman site of Karanis in Egypt to identify and interpret two groups of magical objects: a burned figurine intended to compel the love of a victim, and a cache of painted bones deposited for mysterious reasons.

“From the Banks of the Tigris: Evidence for the Assyrian Army at Ziyaret Tepe, Turkey” Timothy Matney, University of Akron Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 7:00p.m., Recital Hall, Cleveland Museum of Art,

This talk presents results from on-going analyses of the excavations at Ziyaret Tepe on the Tigris River in the Diyarbakır Province of southeastern Turkey. Ziyaret Tepe – the Assyrian provincial capital of Tušhan – was excavated between 1997 and 2014 by an international team of archaeologists and specialists. As a provincial capital, Tušhan’s palace periodically housed the king and his army who used the city as a launching point for military campaigns into the rugged Taurus Mountains north of the Tigris. This talk will discuss some of the archaeological and epigraphic evidence discovered at Ziyaret Tepe for the presence of the army, its weapons and armor, and the role the city played in the Assyrian military conquest of the ancient Near East in the 1st millennium BC.

CANCELLED “Craft Production and Culture Change in the Bronze Age Cyclades, Greece” Natalie Abell, University of Michigan Wednesday, March 18, 2020, 7:00p.m., Recital Hall, Cleveland Museum of Art

During the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1900-1400 BCE), Cycladic islanders played key roles as intermediaries in regional exchange networks that linked the Minoan palaces of Crete and emerging elite societies on Aegina and mainland Greece. Over these centuries, the Cyclades experienced a great deal of material culture change, especially as part of the Minoanization phenomenon, by which Minoan ways of doing things were adopted and adapted beyond Crete. This presentation explores the important roles of mobile craftspeople and the spread of novel craft technologies in the promotion of new forms of material culture in the Cyclades during these eras.

CANCELLED “World War II on America’s Doorstep! U-Boats Off the Mid-Atlantic Coast” Tana Casserley, NOAA (The Donald R. Laing, Jr. Lectureship of CAS) Wednesday, April 8, 2020, 7:00p.m., Recital Hall, Cleveland Museum of Art

More than any other place in the United States, North Carolina serves as a uniquely accessible underwater museum and memorial to WWII’s Battle of the Atlantic. Since 2008, NOAA’s Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and partners have documented and surveyed this unique collection of WWII Allied and German vessels. NOAA’s goal is to protect these fragile historic resources for future generations, and to preserve the memory of the brave Allied service men and U.S. merchant mariners who fought to rid the world of tyranny. This presentation will discuss the danger posed by German U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic along the Mid-Atlantic coast, their effect on Allied shipping, and the naval adaptations and convoy system that finally ended the U-boat threat.

CANCELLED “The Parthenon: Then and Now” (CAS Fundraiser, Ticket Required) Jenifer Neil, Director, American School of Classical Studies at Athens Tuesday, May 12, 2020, 5:30p.m., The Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Prof. Jenifer Neils, Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, has devoted much of her academic career to studying the architecture and sculpture of the Parthenon in Athens. This monument is finally reaching the end of a long restoration project that began in 1975, a project that has revealed many new features of the temple and its extensive decoration. Her lecture will demonstrate how, in spite of 250 years of study, this iconic structure can continue to reveal exciting new archaeological discoveries.

+ Lectures 2018-2019

“Between Two Worlds: The Archaeological Conundrum of Wallacea” David McGahan, PhD candidate, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 7:30p.m. Lying at the geographic, ecological, and cultural crossroads between Sunda (mainland east Asia) and Sahul (Australia and Papua New Guinea), the islands of Wallacea are pivotal to understanding the prehistoric links that span these disparate worlds. Recent archaeological excavations in the region have yielded globally significant discoveries that challenge interpretations of human evolution, and our ancestors’ technological and expressive ingenuity. This presentation is a synopsis of Wallacea’s role in the hominin record, interpreting ancient DNA studies, the region’s many waves of population movement, the relationship to Aboriginal Australia, and includes findings from current excavations on Sulawesi.

“Active Landscapes and Dynamic Neighborhoods of Downton Cahokia” Dr. Melissa Baltus, Department of Anthropology, University of Toledo Wednesday, October 10, 2018, 7:30p.m.

“Illuminating the Ancient Egyptian Ritual Landscape” Dr. Meghan Strong, Research Associate, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Wednesday, November 14, 2018, 7:30p.m.

“Archeological Finds from China’s Lower Yangzi Delta” Dr. Clarissa von Spee, Chair of Asian Art and Curator of Chinese Art, CMA Wednesday, February 13, 2019, 7:30p.m.

“Kites, Tombs, and Houses in the ‘Land of Conjecture’: New Discoveries in the Black Desert, Jordan” Dr. Yorke Rowan, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 7:30p.m.

“Health, Wealth, and Death in Mesopotamia: Investigating Identity in the Nimrud Queens’ Tombs” Tracy Spurrier, University of Toronto (The Donald R. Laing, Jr. Lectureship of CAS) Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 7:30p.m.

“The Maya Mosaic: Solving the Puzzle of Ancient Maya Politics” (CAS Fundraiser, Ticket Required) Dr. Simon Martin, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Thursday, May 9, 2019, 5:30p.m., The Cleveland Museum of Natural History

+ Lectures 2017-2018

“Island Kingdoms of Ancient Hawai‘i” Dr. Mark McCoy, Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University Wednesday, September 13, 2017, 7:30p.m.

The evolution of the archaic form of state society marks a turning point that was fundamental to the creation of modern society. New research suggests the formation of an archaic state in the Hawaiian Islands. This archipelago is so naturally isolated that it remained undiscovered by people until Polynesian voyagers established a new settlement there around AD 1000. By the time of first contact with Europeans, 800 years later, it was home to hundreds of thousands of people governed by independent kingdoms. How did this occur, and what does it tell us about the moment in history when chiefs became kings? In this lecture, Dr. McCoy will outline what we currently know about the creation of these island kingdoms through archaeology and local oral histories, with the goal of explaining why society transformed and what these changes tell us about the larger course of human prehistory.

“Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks: The Archaeology of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park” Dr. Bret J. Ruby, U.S. National Park Service, Hopewell Culture Historical Park Wednesday, October 11, 2017, 7:30p.m.

Nearly 2000 years ago, Native Americans built dozens of monumental mounds and earthen enclosures in the valleys of southern Ohio. These earthwork complexes were ceremonial landscapes used for feasts, funerals, and rites of passage associated with an American Indian religious movement that spread to hundreds of communities, linking half the continent. The earthworks are unique and exceptional among ancient monuments worldwide in their enormous scale, geometric precision, and intricate astronomical alignments. Associated ritual deposits contain finely crafted objects fashioned from exotic raw materials obtained from distant parts of North America. Surprisingly, these gigantic sacred places were built and used by societies without hereditary leadership or intensive agriculture. Seven of these earthwork centers are poised for nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List as “Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks.”This presentation will sketch the history of Hopewell archaeology from its beginnings in the 19th century, through to a recent large-scale, high-resolution magnetic survey completed in collaboration with the German Archaeological Institute. The latest research is revealing a rich record of ritual architecture in the vast spaces between the mounds, including a huge Hopewell “woodhenge” that may have hosted prayerful feasts at the summer solstice.

“Recovering Stories and Histories of Medieval Cambodia: Archaeological Sites and Sculptures at the Cleveland Museum of Art” Dr. Sonya Rhie Mace, Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art, Cleveland Museum of Art Wednesday, November 8, 2017, 7:30p.m.

“The Discovery and Conservation of the Red Monastery Church (late 5th c. C.E.), Upper Egypt” Dr. Betsy Bolman, Department of Art History, CWRU Wednesday, February 14, 2018, 7:30p.m. The results of a ten-year conservation project at the Red Monastery church in Upper Egypt have revealed a fabulously dynamic, painted interior with close aesthetic and iconographic ties to major early Byzantine monuments. The church dates to the late fifth century, a formative period in the history of monasticism. It illustrates one of the earliest conjunctions of spectacular monumental architecture and asceticism, a fusion that has become so familiar that it seems natural. Initially, however, the choice to deploy such tools in a desert community of men who had chosen to leave the world behind was a contentious one.

“Archaeological Research at Notion, Turkey” Dr. Christopher Ratté, Departments of Classics and Art History, University of Michigan Wednesday, March 14, 2018, 7:30p.m.

Notion is a well preserved and almost completely unexcavated Greek city on the western coast in Turkey. The site was occupied from the early first millennium B.C. until the Middle Ages, and it played an important role in the history of the surrounding region in all periods, from the Ionian migration to the fall of the Roman Empire. The goals of archaeological research at Notion, begun in 2014, are to make a new map of the site and to begin to develop a long-term conservation plan. Notion is an ideal laboratory for the study of the long-term history of a Graeco-Roman city in Anatolia. Archaeological research at the site will contribute valuable new information on major issues of contemporary west Anatolian archaeology and secure the future of this invaluable cultural resource.

“Armed and Dangerous: An Iconography of Protective Ancient Egyptian Daemons” Dr. Kasia Szpakowska, Department of Classics, Ancient History and Egyptology, Swansea University Wednesday, April 11, 2018, 7:30p.m.

One of the most obvious characteristics of Middle Kingdom Egyptian iconography is the surfacing of new populations of beings, many of them creatively composite. They appear as both two and three-dimensional images on objects and as figurines themselves. Many are armed with weapons or potent religious icons, seemingly engaged in fierce warrior dances. During the New Kingdom, mundane household pieces of furniture also began to be decorated with strikingly similar imagery. However, these feature one remarkable transformation that is initially easily overlooked—the beings were depicted as wielding weapons not only in their front or primary limbs, but also on their feet or secondary limbs. This idiosyncrasy is rare not only in Egyptian art but in the religious art of other cultures as well.

The Ancient Egyptians’ goal in creating all these representations in the first place was to make visible and tangible powerful liminal beings capable of efficiently dispatching a range of anxieties, terrors, and afflictions, that troubled them in their everyday life. To make these publicly accessible, our Ancient Egyptian Demonology Project: 2K BC developed an online catalogue. Participants at the lecture will be introduced to this DemonBase: The Imaginal Realm of Ancient Egyptian Supernatural Beings.

CAS Annual Fundraiser “Pompeii from the Bottom-Up: Excavations into the History of Pompeii’s Working-Class Families” Dr. Steven Ellis, Associate Professor of Classics, University of Cincinnati Thursday, May 10, 2018, 5:30p.m., The Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Tucked away in a corner of ancient Pompeii lies a largely forgotten corner of the city once packed with houses, restaurants, and workshops. All of them quite humble, their (re)discovery and excavation by the University of Cincinnati’s ‘Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia’ (PARP:PS) now offers us a rare chance to piece together the livelihoods of Pompeii’s sub-elite. In this presentation we take a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at some of the stories that emerge from these newest directions and latest discoveries in Pompeian archaeology: from the topographic layout of the volcanic landscape prior to earliest human activity, to the discovery of household items under the collapse of the buildings when the city was destroyed in AD 79. This new look at a more ‘plebeian’ Pompeii reveals some of the complexities of Roman social and urban networks, ultimately helping us to determine the role that sub-elites played in the shaping of the ancient city, while also registering their response to city- and Mediterranean-wide historical, political, and economic developments.

+ Lectures 2016-2017

“The Search for the Earliest Ancestors in the Afar Region of Ethiopia.” Wednesday, September 14, 7:30pm, Murch Auditorium, CMNH Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, CWRU

“Configuring the Image of the East in Roman Triumphal Monuments.” Friday, September 23, 5:30 pm Cleveland Museum of Art, Recital Hall, 5:30 pm,
Dr. Brian Rose, University of Pennsylvania

Julius Fund Lecture in Ancient Art, CWRU Department of Art History

From the late Republic through the end of the empire, Rome was continually at war with the east, especially the Parthians. Triumphal monuments celebrating Rome’s eastern victories began to be constructed in the late first century BC, and their designs varied widely both geographically and temporally, in part because the Trojan ancestors of the Romans wore the same costumes as the Parthians. This talk reviews the evidence for the shifting iconography of the East in ancient Roman triumphal imagery, and concludes by examining war memorials involving the Middle East that were created in the U.S. and Iraq during the last 25 years.

“The Heart of it All, 11,000 B.P. ” Wednesday, October 12, 7:30pm, Murch Auditorium, CMNH Assistant Professor Metin Erin, Kent State University

We will explore the lives of the very first stone age humans to colonize Ohio. How did they survive in a new and dangerous ice-age landscape? What technological innovations did they develop to live and thrive in the area around Lake Erie?

National Archaeology Day – Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Saturday, October 15

“100 Years of Egyptian Art in Cleveland.” Wednesday, November 9, 7:30pm, Murch Auditorium, CMNH Professor Lawerence Berman, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The Cleveland Museum of Art began collecting Egyptian Art in 1913, three years before the building opened to the public in 1916. Now as the Museum is celebrating the centennial of that event, it seems an appropriate time to assess the growth and development of the Egyptian collection from then to now.

“The Myth and Reality in Ancient Sparta or What the 300 Didn’t Tell You.” Wednesday, February 8, 7:30pm, Murch Auditorium, CMNH Dr. Nigel Martin Kennell, University of British Columbia.

In recent years, Spartans have enjoyed a raised profile in popular culture, thanks to the popularity of the movie 300. That film portrayed the warriors of Thermopylae as quasi-superheroes valiantly defending Greece and the West against monstrous hordes from the East. It tapped into and updated Western culture’s long-standing image of Sparta as a land of hardened warriors and proto-feminist heroines, brought up to live according to the rules of an austere, proto-totalitarian way of life unlike that of any other society then or now. But how much does that image reflect what life was actually like for ancient Spartans? In this talk, Nigel Kennell, a Sparta specialist, investigates the real picture behind this so-called ‘Spartan mirage.’ Using historical, literary, and archaeological evidence, he reveals how Spartan youths were trained to be citizens, what role the family played, and how girls and women lived.

“Apocalypse Then: The Collapse of the Bronze Age World.”

Wednesday, March 8, 7:30pm, Murch Auditorium, CMNH
Professor Dimitri Nakassis, University of Colorado, Boulder

Around 1200 BC, palaces burned across the eastern Mediterranean, from the Mycenaean kingdoms in Greece to the flourishing towns of the Levantine coast to the city of Troy itself. The Mediterranean never fully recovered from this catastrophe, and why this happened is anyone’s guess. Theories include marauding invaders, climate change, internal rebellion, and natural disasters. This paper argues that to understand this collapse, we cannot lose sight of the local and the regional, and examines developments in southern Greece to try to understand some of the forces that transformed this part of the world forever.

“Lost in translation: Babylonian Pharmacology in Roman Therapy.” Wednesday, April 12, 7:30pm, Murch Auditorium, CMNH
Dr. Maddalena Rumor, Case Western Reserve University

This talk will present the only sure textual proof, so far identified, of the sharing of medical (in this case astro-medical) knowledge between the lands of cuneiform writing and the Greco-Roman world. It will begin by sketching a quick picture of Babylonian medicine and pharmacology and will continue with a unique case of knowledge sharing by presenting and comparing two texts – an obscure late Babylonian “Calendar Text” written on a cuneiform tablet in Uruk in the late fourth century BCE, and a passage from the Natural History of Pliny the Elder (first century CE) concerning the use of Dreckapotheke (lit. filthy medicaments such as animal products) in the treatment of fevers. While at a first glance these two testimonies seem to have nothing in common, a closer examination of them reveals that Pliny was, without a full understanding of the topic, commenting on the specific tradition of pairing animal products with calendric/zodiac information as found in the cuneiform Calendar Text, and thus each is useful for the interpretation of the other. Implications for the history of ancient medicine/astro-medicine and especially for the history of cultural contacts between the East and the West are far-reaching.

Ancient Beer Making. Fundraising event being planned for May of 2017. Check back for details.

+ Lectures 2015-2016

“Picturing Divination on Athenian Vases” Wednesday, September 9, 7:30pm Professor Sheramy Bundrick, University of South Florida

120th Anniversary Party of the Cleveland Society of the AIA

The stories told on Athenian vases have long been the subject of discussion among scholars of Greek antiquity. Dr. Sheramy Bundrick will discuss her research finding that more scenes depict the acts of divination than previously thought. For example, scenes from the fifth century B.C., previously thought to be of warriors at a gaming board, are possibly the casting of lots, or cleromancy. Instead of representing the thulemata, the barley meal said in literary sources to be added to the “god’s portion” of the sacrificial feast, Dr. Bundrick suggest these are astragaloi for divination. Interpreting these scenes in this manner explains their great appeal across the Greek civilization.

“Building the Past, Recent Studies of Prehistoric Architecture in the Greater Ohio Region.” N’omi Greber Memorial Lecture Wednesday, October 14, 7:30pm
Dr. Brian Redmond, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Also: Remarks by 2015 Intern Zaakiyah Cua

National Archaeology Day – CMNH Saturday, October 17

“Gladiators at Pompeii: Roman Spectacle in a Small Town” Wednesday, November 11, 7:30pm Professor Steven Tuck, Dept. of Classics, Miami University

“Sailing with the Gods: Maritime Ritual in the Ancient Mediterranean.” Wednesday, February 10, 7:30pm Professor Sandra Blakely, Dept. of Classics, Emory University

“Sex and Human Sacrifice at the Moche Huacas” AIA/CAS Laing Lecture Wednesday, March 9, 7:30pm
Dr. Jim Kus , Emeritus Professor of Geography, CSU Fresno

“Stonehenge: New Discoveries” AIA Kress Lecture Wednesday, April 13, 7:30pm
Professor Mike Parker Pearson, Institute of Archaeology, London

POISON Benefit at the Wine Spot, Cleveland Heights Wednesday, May 11, 5-8 pm

+ Lectures 2014-2015

“Mughal Caravanserais: Exchange and Power in Central Asia” Wednesday, September 10, 7:30pm Jennifer L. Campbell, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, SUNY Potsdam

A network of caravanserais, or roadside inns created for travelers, facilitated trade and travel across Asia, North Africa, and Southeast Europe, and the Silk Road. These inns became centers of cultural transmission and instruments for political reach. Dr. Campbell will describe her on-going research on the caravanserais in the Mughal region used between 1500 and 1800 AD. These Mughal Caravanserais served as vital nodes of imperial power, control, and the formation of identity. Dr. Campbell will present an architectural analysis that will reveal the social and political importance of these distinctive structures.

“The Power of Silk Along the Silk Road” Wednesday, October 1 Louise W. Mackie, Curator of Textiles and Islamic Art, Cleveland Museum of Art Wine Spot Fundraiser

“The Newark Earthworks: a wonder of the ancient world” Wednesday, October 8, 7:30pm Bradley Lepper, Curator of Archaeology, Ohio Historical Society

The Newark Earthworks, in Central Ohio, is the largest set of prehistoric, geometric earthen enclosures in the world. The earthworks, or mounds, were built by the Hopewell cultural group between 100 B.C. and A.D. 400 by moving and shaping soil or rocks to form new topographical structures. These carefully crafted mounds covered nearly five square miles and were built using more than seven million cubic feet of natural material. A sophisticated knowledge of geometry and astronomy was encoded into the architecture of this ceremonial center, which may have also been a gathering place for pilgrims from across eastern North America.

“Libya’s Cultural Heritage Under Threat” Wednesday, November 12, 7:30pm Susan Kane, Mildred C. Jay Professor of Art, Classical Archaeology, Department of Art, Oberlin College

Today all of Libya faces continuing significant threats and damage to its heritage sites due to unmanaged, unregulated development and civil disorder. With no constitution yet written, no clearly operating legal system, no defined property rights, and no organized police force, a major land-grab is underway in the new Libya that is causing more damage to archaeological sites than the events of the 2011 Revolution.

Virtually all of Libya’s heritage sites suffer from a lack of ongoing maintenance and inadequate security. In 2013 UNESCO has conducted two workshops in security and protection – a start, but much more has to be done, starting with the attitude of the Libyan people. During the 42 years of the Gaddafi regime, Libya’s cultural heritage from the pre-Arab period was seen as a painful reminder of Libya’s colonial past and therefore neglected for political reasons. And now in the context of the many challenges facing the new Libya, it is not surprising that cultural heritage struggles for recognition and support from both the government and the population at large.

Educational programs are needed to promote public awareness and appreciation of the long history of Libyan culture. The attitudes of the next generation must be developed. Just after the revolution in 2011, there were hopeful signs as NGOs and local initiatives to support cultural heritage were beginning to be organized all over Libya, many with the support of the foreign missions working in the country. But now, as this abstract is being written (August 2014), Libya is engaged in a burgeoning civil war. The country is fighting for its very soul. It remains unclear what the future will hold for the cultural heritage of Libya.

“From the Vantage of the Victory: New Research on the Nike in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace” Wednesday, February 4, 7:30pm Bonna Wescoat, Emory University, Director of Samothrace Excavations

Discovered by the French in 1863 and taken to the Louvre, the Winged Victory has recently undergone a new restoration in collaboration with Prof. Wescoat. Come find our how a small bit of marble plumage found by the Americans was rejoined to her wings and other exciting new discoveries about this iconic victory monument.

“From Ethnohistory to Engineering: A Tale of Technological Ingenuity from Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago” Wednesday, March 4, 7:30pm Amy Margaris, Department of Anthropology, Oberlin College

This lectures address the question of why prehistoric hunter-gatherers sometimes choose different raw materials to make tools used for sewing, hunting, and fishing. It will bring together insights from three seemingly disparate sources of data: late prehistoric antler and bone artifacts from Kodiak, Alaska, ethnohistoric accounts, and experiments in materials science. Together, they help explain patterns and variability in how Native peoples of Alaska – and elsewhere – designed and used technologies that were critical for survival in risky environments.

“Cleopatra: An Archaeological Perspective on Egypt’s Last Pharaoh” Wednesday, April 8, 7:30pm John Hale, University of Louisville

Cleopatra, last pharaoh of Egypt, may be the most famous female ruler in all of history. But her Roman enemies made her notorious for all the wrong reasons: her political ambitions, her sumptuous lifestyle, and above all her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Yet if we look past the long-standing stereotypes of popular culture, from Plutarch and Shakespeare to Elizabeth Taylor and Hollywood, the archaeological evidence paints a very different picture. In this illustrated lecture, we will tour the Egypt that Cleopatra inherited from her Ptolemaic ancestors, view her self-chosen portraits on coins and temple walls, and take in her extraordinary achievements as goddess, priestess, queen, civil administrator, scholar, lover, and above all, mother. Our journeys will follow Cleopatra from the Nile to the Tiber, and from desert shrines to the streets and palaces of her capital at Alexandria, now sunken beneath the waters of Alexandria harbor. Archaeological discoveries create a truer picture of Cleopatra than the many literary and dramatic fantasies that have distorted the memory of this great leader.

“The Roman Triumph or Triumph over Romans? Civil Wars and the Architecture of Victory in Ancient Rome” Wednesday, May 13, 7:30pm Maggie Popkin, Associate Professor, Department of Art History, Case Western Reserve University

The Roman triumph was an elaborate ritual that celebrated Rome’s military victories over foreign peoples. From the republican period onward, the triumphal route was built up with monuments commemorating victories over foreigners and barbarians. Yet in the imperial period, the Roman emperors who lavished the most monuments on the triumphal route were those who had come to power as a result of civil wars: Augustus, the Flavians, and Septimius Severus. In this talk Dr. Popkin will explore how these Roman emperors exploited the triumphal route’s connotations of foreign victory to obfuscate their bloody and controversial wars against fellow Romans.

+ Lectures 2013-2014

“The Temple of Isis at Pompeii.” Wednesday, September 11, 2013, 7:30 pm Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Prof. Molly Swetman-Burland (College of William and Mary) Lecture sponsored by the AIA

“Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome” Sunday, September 29, 2013, 2:00 pm Cleveland Museum of Art Dr. Claire Lyons (Getty Museum)

Treasure Island: Sicily in the 3rd Century BC.” Friday, October 4, 2013, 5:00 pm Recital Hall, Cleveland Museum of Art Prof. Malcolm Bell (University of Virginia and Morgantina Excavations)

“The Archaeology of the Battle of Lake Erie.” Wednesday, October 9, 2013, 7:30 pm Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Carrie Sowden (Peachman Lake Erie Shipwreck Research Center)

Sicilian Wine Tasting and Lecture (Ticket required) Wednesday, October 16, 2013, 5:00-8:00 pm Lecture and Fundraiser sponsored by the Cleveland Archaeological Society The Wine Spot, 2271 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights Admission: -$25 in advance, $30 at the door (one flight of Sicilian wine) -$10 in advance, $15 at the door (one flight of non-alcoholic drinks) -$50 patron ticket For advance ticket, send check made out to “Cleveland Archaeological Society” to: CAS, 2514 Wellington Road Cleveland Heights, 44118 Raffle: $5/ticket or 6 for $25 (prizes = Red and White Sicilian Wines, CMA Sicily Exhibit Book) Lecture, 6:00 – 6:45 PM “Wine, Women, and Song in Ancient Sicily.” Prof. Jenifer Neils (Case Western Reserve University) For more details, contact Robert Koonce, rkoonce@cmnh.org or 216-644-3926

“The Greeks in Sicily.” Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 7:30 pm Prof. Barbara Barletta (University of Florida) Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Lecture sponsored by the AIA

“Lady K’Abel’s Tomb in Guatemala and the Cleveland Stela.” Wednesday, February 12, 2014, 7:30 pm Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Prof. Olivia Navarro-Farr (College of Wooster)

“The Roman Triumph or Triumph over Romans? The Impact of Civil Wars on the Architecture of the Triumphal Route in Ancient Rome.” Wednesday, March 12, 2014, 7:30 pm Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Prof. Maggie Popkin (Case Western Reserve University)

“A Tale of Two Peoples: Phoenicians and Jews in Upper Gallilee.” Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 7:30 pm Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Prof. Andrea Berlin (Boston University)

“The Origins of Agriculture in the Ethiopian Highlands: Lessons from Ethnoarchaeology.” Wednesday, May 14, 2014, 7:30 pm Murch Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Prof. Elizabeth Hildebrand (Stony Brook University)

+ Lectures 2012-2013

“Population Growth and Sociopolitical Change in Late Pre-Contact Hawaii: Insights from Household Archaeology in Leeward Kohala, Hawaii Island.” Wednesday, September 12, 2012, 7:30 pm Prof. Julie S. Field (The Ohio State University) Lecture sponsored by the AIA

Captain Cook’s encounter with Hawaiian society in 1779 was the first to document a society of laborers, craftsmen, and a chiefly elite; a society that anthropologists of today classify as an archaic state. Research of the evolution of that state is ongoing in Hawaii, and currently a multidisciplinary team including archaeologists, ecologists, soil scientists, demographers, and quantitative modelers is investigating the long-term human ecodynamics in the Hawaiian archipelago. This research investigates the dynamics of population growth, agricultural intensification, and sociopolitical change via the archaeological investigation of households in leeward Kohala, on the island of Hawaii. Household chronology, fission, and subsistence patterns are explored and used to detect the formation of new socioeconomic units (ahupua’a), which fueled the emergence of the early Hawaiian state.

“A Cassowary is Not an Artifact: Archaeological Typology and Classification at Nobles Pond Paleo-Indian Site in Stark County, Ohio.” Wednesday, October 10, 2012, 7:30 pm Prof. Mark F. Seeman (Kent State University)

This lecture will discuss one of the foundations for all archaeological endeavors: typology and classification. Names matter. What we call a thing necessarily affects how we treat it, and ultimately, what we find out about past societies. My talk will review a few perspectives on typology, but will focus especially on how a strong appreciation of use-life (sometimes called the “Frison Effect”) enriches our understanding of form, function, and classification. Illustrations will come from my long-term study of the 11,000 year-old Nobles Pond Paleoindian site in Stark Co., Ohio and will be based on morphometric, experimental, and use-wear analyses.

“New Discoveries in the Deep-Water Archaeology of the Black Sea.” Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 7:30 pm Prof. Dan Davis (Luther College)

The Black Sea is perhaps best known as the exotic setting for the tale of Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece, but this large inland sea served as a maritime highway for the ancient and medieval cultures of Greece, Rome, Byzantium and the Italian maritime republics. Like the Mediterranean, its depths hide the remains of hundreds of ancient shipwrecks, each with its own story to tell. But unlike the warm, oxygen-rich bottom of the Mediterranean, the anoxic waters of the Black Sea abyss have long been thought to preserve wood and organic remains. An international team of archaeologists and oceanographers are starting to discover ancient and medieval wrecks here using the latest in robotic and digital imaging technology. The well-preserved state of these wrecks and their cargoes have electrified the archaeological community and the world. This lecture provides an overview of these discoveries through the eyes of Dan Davis, an archaeologist who helped direct the first scientific excavation of two ancient deep-water wrecks in the Black Sea using a remotely-operated vehicle.

“Petra: An Urban Oasis in the Arabian Desert.” Wednesday, February 13, 2013, 7:30 pm Leigh-Ann Bedal (Pennsylvania State University, Erie)

During the 1st century BCE, a small settlement of Arab pastoralists located in a remote valley on the edge of the Arabian Desert, was transformed into one of the great ceremonial and economic centers of the ancient Near East. Petra was the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom and hub of the caravan routes that supplied the Mediterranean World with incense and exotic goods. Known for the many magnificent rock-cut tombs and temple facades etched into the encircling rose red sandstone cliffs, Petra’s true wonder may be the infrastructure that allowed this desert metropolis to flourish. Masters of hydraulics, Nabataean engineers constructed a network of channels, dams, cisterns and tunnels to transport and store water for practical uses as well as recreation and ornamental display. This presentation explores technological achievements of the Nabataeans and some of the recent discoveries that reveal Petra’s splendor.

“Assessing the Historicity of the Trojan War: Excavations at Troy 1988-2010.” Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 7:30 pm Prof. C. Brian Rose (University of Pennsylvania) Lecture sponsored by the AIA

In l988 archaeologists from the University of Cincinnati and the University of Tübingen, Germany, began new excavations at Troy with the intent of examining all phases of habitation- from the Bronze Age through the Byzantine period. This lecture presents the results of the Bronze Age, Greek, and Roman excavations at the site during the last 24 years. Work has concentrated primarily on the theater, temple of Athena, the Bouleuterion or Council House, and the Sanctuary of the Samothracian Gods. The Bronze Age fortifications and Roman houses in the Lower City have also been extensively investigated. Excavation thus far has clarified the nature of habitation at the site during the late Bronze Age (15-12th centuries B.C.), as well as the rise in the city’s fortunes during the reign of Augustus and his Julio-Claudian successors. The relationship between the recent discoveries at the site and the Homeric tradition are also considered.

“The Chemistry of Kinship: Daidalos and Kothar Revisited.” Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 7:30 pm Prof. Andrew J. Koh (Brandeis University) Lecture sponsored by the AIA

There has been no shortage of discussions over the past half century pertaining to Bronze and Early Iron Age exchange in the eastern Mediterranean. Starting with H. Kantor’s groundbreaking monograph, The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millennium B.C. (1947), scholarship rapidly advanced in the 1990s with S. Morris’ Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art (1992), E. Cline’s Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea (1994), and the 50th anniversary symposium in honor of Kantor’s monograph (1998). More recently, M. Feldman reinvigorated discussions with Diplomacy by Design: Luxury Arts and an ‘International style’ in the Ancient Near East (2006). Overall, great strides have been made using archaeological, historical, linguistic, and literary evidence to understand the nature of commodities production, trade, and consumption during this verdant period in antiquity.

Over the past nine years, the ARCHEM project has sought to expand on this understanding by characterizing the original contents of the vessels associated with the Mediterranean cultures in question. Based out of the Museum of Cretan Ethnology Research Centre, ARCHEM has sampled thousands of vessels in the eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Israel, Egypt, Turkey) with the express purpose of illuminating these cross-cultural relationships from a new perspective. By identifying the contents of a high volume of exchanged objects, we hope to better understand the important roles these artifacts played in the economy and daily life of each consumer society, and the cultures with whom they kept in contact.

“Ossuaries and the Burials of Jesus and James.” Wednesday, May 1, 2013, 7:30 pm Prof. Jodi Magness (University of North Carolina)

How did the Jews of Jerusalem dispose of their dead in the time of Jesus? In this slide-illustrated lecture, we consider the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death and burial in light of archaeological evidence, ending with a discussion of the so-called “Talpiyot tomb” (recently claimed to be the tomb of Jesus and his family) and the “James ossuary” (a stone box claimed to contain the remains of James the Just, the brother of Jesus).

+ Lectures 2011-2012

“The Archaeological Exploration of Sikyon: A Comprehensive Approach to the Study of a Greek City-state.” Wednesday, September 14, 2011, 7:30 pm Prof. Yannis Lolo (University of Thessaly, Greece) AIA Lecture

Sikyon, an ancient Greek city in the northern Peloponnese, was famous for its artistic excellence, particularly in sculpture and painting. The earliest excavations carried out on Sikyonian soil aimed precisely towards recovering works of art. More systematic excavations in the late 19th century and during the first half of the 20th century focused on the center of the city and the discovery of major architectural monuments, namely the theater and the palaestra complex by the agora, and a temple, a bouleuterion and a long stoa within the agora. However, viewed in isolation, these monuments tell us little about the structure and evolution of the city (asty) and its territory (chora). The extensive regional survey and the intensive urban survey conducted under my directorship over the last 15 years came to address these central issues by mapping and examining a large body of material remains. Thanks to this work, we are now in a position to document the human presence and activity in the city-state from the earliest times to the modern era.

Within the city, intensive surface and geophysical survey over approximately half of the intramural area of some 250 hectares yielded rich information on the urban plan, the habitation pattern, the sacred areas, the industrial sectors of the city, the contacts of the Sikyonians with their neighbors and the outside world, and the evolution of the city from the early Hellenistic to the Ottoman era. Beyond the city, the survey documented the existence of major roads that connected Sikyon to its neighboring states and the rest of the Peloponnese, as well as various defensive works that dotted the territory and protected its borders and settlements. A large number of settlements, their overwhelming majority previously unknown, was mapped. They range from simple farmsteads to towns, and span some seven millennia from the middle Neolithic to the early modern period. In addition, ample traces of agricultural and various industrial activities were found across the countryside. Finally, the parallel examination of the archaeological evidence produced from surveying the city and its countryside allows us to investigate many aspects of the center – periphery relationship across the centuries.

“The Search of Caribou Hunters Beneath Lake Huron: The Archaeology of an Ancient Submerged Landscape.” Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 7:30 pm Prof. John O’Shea (University of Michigan)

Nine thousand years ago, a dry land corridor connected northern Lower Michigan with Southern Ontario and split the modern Lake Huron basin into two distinct lakes. This corridor provided a natural causeway for the semi-annual migration of caribou and an equally valuable terrain for Late Paleo-Indian and Early Archaic hunters seeking to exploit the herds. The Alpena-Amberley Ridge provides an opportunity to investigate an ancient landscape that has not been disturbed by modern development, and in which artifacts and constructions remain much as they were left when the hunters departed. Starting from a predictive model of the current lake bottom as a dry land environment and a computer simulation of the behavior of caribou herds and ancient hunters, we have employed an array of progressively more focused survey techniques including side scan sonar, multibeam sonar, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), mini remote operated vehicles (ROVs) and SCUBA trained archaeologist to search for these traces of ancient hunters. The talk will describe the results of this past summer’s search, including the first direct examination and mapping of the submerged features by SCUBA trained archaeologists.

“Ancient Mendes: Reflections of Early Egypt in the Heart of the Delta.” Wednesday, November 9, 2011, 7:30 pm Prof. Matthew Adams (Bucknell University) AIA Lecture

The ancient town of Mendes is the largest surviving archaeological site in the Egyptian Delta. This one time capital of Egypt boasts an occupational history of some 5000 years from the beginnings of agriculture to the Middle Ages. For most of the history of the discipline of Egyptology, however, Mendes and other sites in the Delta have been overlooked in favor of the riches of the great cemeteries of Sakkara and Thebes in Upper Egypt. Consequently, the Delta has become an archaeological terra incognita. This has begun to change in the last 25 years and the Delta has become an exciting new frontier in Egyptian Archaeology, with the Penn State Excavations at Mendes among those leading the charge.

This presentation focuses on the discoveries relating to the first 1000 years of the Egyptian state (ca. 3000 – 2000 BCE). During that time, Mendes flourished as the state prospered, enjoying lavish donations from Pharaoh in the form of a monumental temple and lands to support it. As the Pyramid Age progressed, the priesthood of this temple grew wealthy and a vast cemetery grew up around the site. As the first millennium of the monarchy drew to a close, however, Pharaoh’s power waned, and Egypt descended into a period of anarchy known as the First Intermediate Period. At Mendes, poverty became rampant and food became scarce. The citizens perished at an alarming rate. Ultimately, Mendes suffered at the hands of an unknown enemy and was destroyed, its citizens murdered.

“A Clockwork Bronze: The Calendar and Panhellenic Games Dial on the Antikythera Mechanism.” Wednesday, February 8, 2012, 7:30 pm Prof. Paul A. Iversen (Case Western Reserve University)

In 1901, Greek sponge divers recovered from a shipwreck of circa 65 BCE a remarkable bronze device (dating ca. 200 – 65 BCE) with gears now known to the world as the Antikythera Mechanism. Recently, a group of researchers has examined this badly corroded and brittle device with modern technologies that have revealed that the back of the device housed a Saros eclipse-prediction dial, as well as a Greek lunisolar calendar that was regulated according to the 235 months of the Metonic cycle and probably also the 76 years of the Callippic cycle. Furthermore, another dial was revealed to indicate the years in which some of the more important Panhellenic athletic games fell, including the famous Olympic games. The authors who published these results (Freeth, Jones, et al., Nature 2008), argued that the lunisolar calendar belonged to Corinth or one of its colonies, especially Syracuse, and that this lunisolar calendar commenced one month after the autumnal equinox, or roughly in October. This talk will demonstrate that the calendar is indeed that of Corinth, or one of its colonies in NW Greece, or a city of Epirus that adopted the Corinthian calendar, but that it cannot be that of Syracuse. It will also argue that calendar starting season should be backed up one or two months, that the device is more likely to come from the Rhodian school of astronomy rather than the Syracusan, and it will reveal the heretofore unidentified game in year 4 on the Games Dial, and offer a new explanation of its four divisions. All these new findings will have a significant impact on calibrating the starting time of the mechanism, and thus the date of the world’s oldest known analogue computer.

“The Master of Animals: Divine Symbols and Local Traditions in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean.” Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 7:30 pm Prof. Derek Counts (University of Wisconsin) AIA Lecture

The so-called ‘Master of Animals’ was well established in eastern Mediterranean and Aegean iconography for more than four millennia. In some cases, adversarial representations of hunts, heroic contests, and antithetical compositions featuring a central human figure grasping one or more animals signify physical prowess and supernatural control over the forces of nature; in other cases, these same qualities are embodied in theriomorphic transformations, hierarchical representations of humans on top of animals, or even simple pastoral scenes that more implicitly highlight the domination and control of both domesticated and wild animals. Images of divine figures displaying attributes identified with a ‘Master of Animals’ characterize the iconography of Cypriote sanctuaries during the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Period. Such images reveal the mixing of local styles and tastes with foreign (e.g., Greek, Phoenician, Egyptian) artistic elements, while also offering valuable evidence regarding artistic communication and socio-economic exchanges within the island and beyond. This lecture will trace the history of this important theme from its beginnings in prehistoric age to its role in Cypriote sanctuaries of the first millennium BCE By isolating this divine aspect and attempting to focus on the importance of local and internal Cypriote responses to it, a more lucid picture of the complexity of Cypriote culture, art, and religion during these periods begins to emerge.

“The Universal Citizen Heir: Archaeology and the Tourist in the Modern Museum.” Wednesday, April 11, 2012, 7:30 pm Prof. Quetzil Castaneda (Indiana University)

This presentation traces the interconnections between tourism, the rise of the modern museum, archaeology, and heritage. I review the history of how the archaeological logic and system of representation was used to re-work repositories, cabinets, and other modes of collection into the institution of the modern museum. Although many have noted how national identity, sentiments of belonging, and citizens are forged in the museum, almost no attention has been paid to how the archaeological narratives of civilization portrayed in the museum imply a form of universal citizen. Although mostly invisible to the naked eye for a hundred years or so, the Universal Citizen Heir has manifest human expression and embodiment in the Tourist. In this presentation, therefore, I elaborate in what sense and what it means to say that the Tourist is the Universal Citizen Heir to humanity’s heritage.

“A Millennium of Maya Painting.” Wednesday, May 9, 2010, 7:30 pm Prof. Marry Miller (Yale University)

For generations Maya sculpture seemed to set the baseline understanding of Maya figural art: after all, it is the dated stela in context that defined the Classic period of the first millennium, by and large. But the past decade has provided evidence that the discoveries of 5th century paintings at Uaxactun and late 8th century ones at Bonampak were not anomalies. We now know see full-blown Maya ideology in the paintings of San Bartolo, ca. 50 BCE, along with mastery of style, form, and pigments. New discoveries of paintings at Calakmul, probably of the 7th century, offer a picture of a different trajectory of Maya painting, all of which allows the great paintings of Chichen Itza, ca. 1100 CE, to be put in fresh context.

+ Lectures 2010-2011

“Aila (‘Aqaba): A Roman Port on the Red Sea.” Wednesday, September 15, 2010, 7:30 pm Dr. S. Thomas Parker (North Carolina State University) AIA Lecture

Various ancient sources mention a city called Aila that was one of the great international ports of the Roman empire. Founded by the Nabataean Arabs in the first century B.C., Aila flourished as a major emporium between the Roman empire and its eastern neighbors. Luxury products such as frankincense, myrrh, and spices were transferred between ships and camel caravans for transport into the Empire. Direct Roman rule began in A.D. 106, when Aila became the southern terminus of the via nova Traiana, a major road connecting Syria with the Red Sea. About A.D. 300 the famous X Fretensis Legion was transferred from Jerusalem to Aila, suggesting the strategic importance of the city. Aila continued to flourish through the Byzantine period (4th-6th centuries), then surrendered to Muslim forces in 630. Although various sources located Aila near the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea, its exact location remained a mystery.

In 1994 an archaeological project directed by the speaker rediscovered ancient Aila, now within the modern city of Aqaba in southern Jordan. Above all, the project aims to reconstruct the economy of Aila through both excavation of the city and a regional survey of its hinterland. Excavations between 1994 and 2003 revealed major portions of the ancient city, including domestic complexes, cemeteries, the city wall, and an apparently early Christian church. This putative church, erected ca. A.D. 300, could be the oldest purpose-built church in the world. A wide array of artifacts recovered by the project is suggestive of the international trade that passed through the port and of several local industries. Faunal and botanical remains also reveal much about the ancient urban economy. Finally, the surface survey recorded other archaeological sites that place the city in a broader regional context.

“Rediscovering Ohio’s Small Earthwork Sites Using Geophysical Survey and LiDAR Mapping: the Wow!” Wednesday, October 13, 2010, 7:30 pm Jarrod Burks (Ohio Valley Archaeological Consultants)

Ohio is home to hundreds of earthwork sites, including some of the largest earthwork complexes ever documented. A few of these large sites, like the Newark Earthworks, are known around the world. But for every large earthwork complex, some covering more than 100 acres, there is probably another 20 small sites, most consisting of small circular and some rectangular enclosures. What has come of these small sites and what might we learn from them? Over the last five years I have had the opportunity to survey a number of small earthwork sites using geophysical survey instruments (especially a magnetometer) and have found them to be more complex than previously thought, including having numerous additional geometric enclosures not previously documented. Of course, finding these sites can be a bit of a challenge since most have not been visited or seen by an archaeologist since the late 1800s, if at all. LiDAR, a laser-based technique for mapping the ground’s surface, provides a quick way to locate some of these sites and visualize them in dramatic ways. In this presentation we will explore the LiDAR and geophysical survey maps from a number of sites in southern Ohio and discover that Ohio’s earthwork sites still hold many secrets.

“Opening the Door to the Greek House.” Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 7:30 pm Dr. Barbara Tsakirgis (Vanderbilt University)

Greek houses, long neglected in favor of the better preserved and well known temples of antiquity, have finally attracted the attention they deserve. As the places where women, children, and slaves spent much of their daily lives, houses provide remarkable evidence for all aspects of Greek life. Religion, social relations, and the economy can all be studied through the material recovered from Greek houses.

As the places where men entertained their guests, Greek houses take their place as the display place for the wealth, status, and aspirations of their owners. Painted plaster walls, floor mosaics, and sculpture were all carefully chosen and arranged within the domestic interior in order to convey an impression of luxury and status, not just in the houses of the elite, but also in the homes of the less well-to-do.

The lecture takes the audience into Greek houses of the Classical and Hellenistic period and examines houses both in mainland Greece as well as in the Greek East (Asia Minor) and West (Sicily). Both the architecture and interior decoration of Greek houses will be examined as will the material found in the houses. The goal of the lecture is to give the audience a comprehensive view of life in the Greek house.

“Phallic-Spouted Vessels of the Peruvian Moche: Sex, Death, and a Question of Humor.” Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 7:30 pm Dr. Sue Bergh (Cleveland Museum of Art)

The Pre-Columbian Moche, who lived on Peru’s north coast between about CE 50 and 800, created a vast body of fine ceramics, which they deposited in the tombs of their dead. Within the corpus of Moche ceramics is a sub-group devoted to sexually explicit themes. This talk will explore the potential meanings of one type of sexual representation — phallic-spouted vessels — and relate those meanings to funerary concerns, in part by considering whether the vessels were intended to express humor.

“Magic and Religion in Ancient Corinth.” Wednesday, March 9, 2011, 7:30 pm Dr. Ronald Stroud (University of California, Berkeley) AIA Norton Lecture

Located at the narrowest part of the Greek peninsula and controlling land and sea traffic in all four directions, Corinth became famous as one of the greatest commercial centers in the ancient world. Her mighty rock fortress of Acrocorinth also made her almost impervious to attack. She was a prime player in all the important historical events of antiquity, succumbing at one point to destruction by the Roman armies in 146 B.C. and abandonment for roughly a century, but later revived by Julius Caesar to become a provincial capital and once again a thriving center of trade and culture, attracting a large and diverse population of Italians, Egyptians, Jews, Syrians, and many others.

From at least as early as legendary times Corinth also had a reputation as a center for magic and the occult. She was the venue for some of the most striking adventures of the most notorious witch in Greece, Medea. Many tales about ghosts, haunted houses, the supernatural, and monsters were set in Corinth. Excavations by the American School of Classical Studies have revealed a “cell” where black magic was practiced at night high up on the slopes of Acrocorinth in the Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone. It was established at roughly the same time as St. Paul’s famous Christian mission to Corinth in the middle of the first century after Christ.

My lecture will present some of the special magical equipment used in these secret activities, as well as the texts incised on lead tablets carrying curses that were deposited in this shrine. Named individuals are singled out for destruction and merit special attention because both writers and targets of many are women.

“Crafting Empire: The Archaeology of Craft Production in Vijayanagara, South India.” Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 7:30 pm Dr. Carla Sinopoli (University of Michigan) AIA Donald R. Laing, Jr. Lecture of the Cleveland Archaeological Society

The Vijayanagara Empire dominated Southern India from the 14th-17th centuries. During its peak, Vijayanagara was one of the largest cities in the world. Today the ruins of this magnificent city cover some 400 square kilometers. In this talk, I present an overview of Vijayanagara history and archaeology, drawing on more than 20 years of archaeological research in the imperial capital and its hinterlands. I focus particularly on the lives and product of the non-elite craft producers, who manufactured the magnificent monuments, textiles, metal goods and the quotidian crafts of daily life; focusing particularly on how the study of crafts can be used to understand ancient political economies.

“A Complete Cosmos: The Tomb of an Egyptian Governor and Its Secrets.” Wednesday, May 11, 2010, 7:30 pm Dr. Lawrence Berman (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

In April 1915 the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition discovered the tomb of Governor Djehutynakht and his wife, also called Djehutynakht, at Deir el-Bersha in Middle Egypt, about 175 miles south of Cairo. The contents of this early Twelfth Dynasty tomb were awarded to the Museum in their entirety by the Egyptian Government and were recently the focus of a special exhibition, “Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC,” at the MFA. They include well known masterpieces of Egyptian art like the outer coffin of Governor Djehutynakht (widely regarded as the finest Middle Kingdom coffin in existence) and the group of offering bearers known as the Bersha Procession. They also include the largest collection of wooden models ever found in one tomb, comprising 57 boats and 33 models of daily life, which have been newly conserved and restored especially for this exhibition.

+ Lectures 2009-2010

“Silk Route and Diamond Path: The Archaeology of Tibetan Buddhism.” Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 7:30 pm Professor Mark Aldenderfer (University of Arizona) AIA Lecture

For most westerners, Buddhism is timeless, and Tibet remote and romantic. For the archaeologist, though, the two are intimately connected. There is a substantial material expression of Tibetan Buddhism that is tied to pre-Buddhist political institutions, imperial expansion and collapse, and subsequent transformation into the monastic and temple tradition found on the plateau today. In this paper, I will discuss what is known of Tibetan Buddhist archaeology within this outline, and will describe the historical and cultural influences on the expression of Buddhism on the plateau, and the transformations it is undergoing in the modern political climate. My perspective is unique: at present, I am the only western archaeologist conducting research in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

“New Insights into Fort Ancient Social Structure and Settlement Patterning.” Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 7:30 pm Professor Robert Cook (Ohio State University, Newark)

Fort Ancient peoples were the last prehistoric inhabitants of the Middle Ohio River Valley, circaA.D. 1000-1650. The best known of their villages is the SunWatch site, located in Dayton, Ohio along the Great Miami River. Recent analyses at the site and other settlements in southwest Ohio are revealing new details about Fort Ancient social structure and settlement patterning with respect to interactions with neighboring Mississippians and responses to environmental fluctations. This presentation highlights these recent findings as well as discusses work in progress.

“Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Extreme Fermented Beverages.” Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 7:30 pm Professor Patrick McGovern (University of Pennsylvania Museum) AIA Lecture

The history of the human species and civilization itself is, in many ways, the history of fermented beverages. Drawing upon recent archaeological discoveries, molecular and DNA sleuthing, and the texts and art of long-forgotten peoples, Patrick McGovern takes us on a fascinating odyssey back to the beginning when early humanoids probably enjoyed a wild fruit or honey wine. We follow the course of human ingenuity in domesticating plants of all kinds – particularly the grapevine in the Middle East, rice in China, and the cacao (chocolate) tree in the New World – learning how to make and preserve wines, beers, and what are sometimes called “extreme fermented beverages” that are comprised of many different ingredients. Early beverage-makers must have marveled at the seemingly miraculous process of fermentation. When they drank the beverages, they were even more amazed – they were mind-altering substances, medicines, religious symbols, and social lubricants all rolled into one. The perfect drink, it turns out, has not only been a profound force in history, but may be fundamental to the human condition itself.

The speaker will illustrate the biomolecular archaeological approach by describing the discovery of the most ancient, chemically-attested alcoholic beverage in the world, dating back to about 7000 B.C. Based on the analyses of some of the world’s earliest pottery from Jiahu in the Yellow River valley of China, a mixed fermented beverage of rice, hawthorn fruit/grape, and honey was reconstructed. The laboratory’s most recent finding is a fermented beverage made from the fruit pod of the cacao tree, as based on analyses of ca. 1200 B.C. pottery sherds from the site of Puerto Escondido in Honduras. As the earliest chemically attested instance of chocolate in the Americas, this beverage might well have been the incentive for domesticating the cacao tree. Like grape and rice wine, chocolate “wine” – in time made only from roasted beans – went on to become the prerogative of royalty and the upper class, and a focus of religion. Some of these beverages, including the earliest alcoholic beverage from China (Chateau Jiahu), the mixed drink served at the “King Midas” funerary feast (Midas Touch), and the chocolate beverage (Theobroma), have been re-created by Dogfish Head Brewery, shedding light on how our ancestors made them and providing a taste sensation and a means for us to travel back in time.

“Building Power: The Architecture of the Emperor Maxentius in Rome (306-312 CE).” Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 7:30 pm Professor Elisha Dumser (Ursuline College)

Acclaimed emperor against the wishes of the reigning Tetrarchy during a popular uprising in Rome in 306 CE, Maxentius fought to legitimize his rule and solidify his power for all six years of his reign. Unlike the Tetrarchs, who had forsaken Rome to establish smaller capital cities across the Empire, Maxentius promised to renew Rome as the seat of the imperial power. He styled himself as Rome’s conservator urbis suae, the ‘preserver of the city’, a slogan popularized on his coinage that publicly proclaimed the importance of Rome and his architectural patronage there for his political platform. His prominent building commissions – which included the city’s largest temple and the world’s most expansive cross-vaulted interior space – were located in the heart of the ancient city. In antiquity, they reminded Romans daily of his commitment to the Urbs; today, their innovative architectural forms testify to the skill and creativity of the late-antique architects working under his command. This talk introduces Maxentius, his turbulent times, and his striking architectural works, and hopes to convince the audience that Maxentius was unusually adept at manipulating the political and economic leverage of large-scale public benefactions – in Rome, Maxentius sought to truly build power.

“Myth, Athletics and the Iconography of the Parthenon’s West Pediment.” Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 6:00 pm Cleveland Museum of Art, Recital Hall Free and Open to the public Sponsored by the CMA Julius Fund Lecture on Ancient Art Professor Peter Schultz (Chair, Concordia College Department of Art)

Peter Schultz received his BA in Art History, Philosophy and Latin from Concordia College in 1994, his MA in Art History from Vanderbilt University in 1997 and his Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Athens in 2003. His dissertation — the first written by an American in the Department of Art History and Archaeology for the University of Athens — treated the sculptural program of the temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis. He lived and worked in Greece from 1996-2004 as a research fellow of the American School of Classical Studies. Prof. Schultz joined Concordia’s Department of Art in 2004. He is Chair of the Department and Director of the Cyrus Running Gallery. He is currently engaged in a number of research projects. These include the publication of his book on the Nike temple, a collaborative project with Athenian architect Chrys Kanellopoulos and Gustavus Adolphus classicist Bronwen Wickkiser treating fourth century B.C. performance spaces, a book length manuscript treating the iconography of the Parthenon’s west pediment as well as several articles on Athenian art and topography.

“Pharaoh at the Bat: Ancient Egyptian Bat and Ball, the Earliest Archetype of American Baseball.” Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 7:30 pm Professor Peter Piccione (University of Charleston) Donald R. Laing, Jr. Lecturship of the Cleveland Archaeological Society

This colorful lecture examines the history of the Egyptian gaming-ritual, “Batting the Ball” and compares it to baseball in a manner that balances serious erudition with popular appeal. It illustrates scenes on the walls of temples and discusses the ancient game’s equipment and aspects of play, including the results of new findings the author made this spring (2009) in Egypt. It recounts its probable origins as a recreational children’s game and its deep connections to Egyptian cosmology, religion, specific deities, etc. Then the lecture essentially asks the question, “did the Egyptians invent baseball?” It compares Egyptians’ notions about their ball game to the historical American passion for baseball and how the legends and traditions Americans have created derive from a myth-making process similar to that of the Egyptians. Likewise, it draws illustrated parallels among Egyptian ball-gaming, Mayan ball games, and modern cinema films about baseball, such as “Field of Dreams” and “Bull Durham”. It also presents the possibility of professional female ball players in Egypt long before the short-lived All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), 1943-1954.

“Significant Others: The Construction of Identity in Greek Art.” Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 7:30 pm Professor Timothy McNiven (Ohio State University, Marion)

Men in ancient Athens defined who they were, and why they held power, by creating images of all the “others” – women, barbarians and monsters – and showing why members of these groups were inferior. By examining these images, we can get insight into what it meant to be a citizen in the new democracy of Athens.

“Yours, Mine or Ours?: A Discussion of Stewardship and Ownership of Ancient Artifacts.” Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 7:30 pm Professor Patty Gerstenblith (DePaul University) The Pat Douthitt Lecture

In the past few years, a New York antiquities dealer was convicted for conspiring to deal in stolen artifacts, and major museums in the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the J. Paul Getty and the Cleveland Museum of Art, have returned antiquities to Italy and Greece. As a result, the debate among museum curators and directors, collectors, dealers and archaeologists over the appropriate disposition of ancient artifacts has intensified. This slide-illustrated lecture will address the international market in antiquities and the ethical responsibilities of museums to avoid acquiring undocumented artifacts and works of art. It will explore the importance of preservation of archaeological context, the legal regime that aims to protect the archaeological heritage, and the need for museums, in fulfillment of their public educational purpose, to adopt stringent ethical acquisitions practices that will assist in the preservation of the past.

+ Lectures 2008-2009

The Importance of Cacao at Ancient Copan (Honduras): Ancestor Trees and Fertility Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 7:30 pm Professor Cameron McNeil (CUNY/Queens College) AIA Borowski Lecture

Intensive study of cacao residues and iconography at Copan, Honduras has elucidated the role of this important ancient food in the ritual life of the polity. At Copan, cacao had been found in three Early Classic period royal tombs and one elite burial. The types of food containing cacao appear to have been varied, encompassing more than beverages. By the Late Classic period, cacao iconography was common, appearing on monumental structures, stone sculptures, and ceramics. Through this iconography, cacao is linked to fertility, the rebirth of ancestors, the feminine, and maize. While these same themes are found at other contemporary Maya polities, the presence of all of these associations in one location has not been found at other sites, possibly because so many more excavations have occurred at Copan, or possibly because of Copan’s position on the crossroads between Maya and non-Maya traditions meant that it adopted a range of ancient ritual traditions.

KV-63 — The First tomb found in the Valley of the Kings since King Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered in 1922 Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 7:30 pm Professor Earl Ertman (Emeritus, University of Akron)

A review of the events leading to the discovery of KV-63 in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor, Egypt), including the varied finds, the process of treatment and the removal of the artifacts to nearby KV-10 for storage, conservation and further study. Coffins, many badly damaged by termites, include four with yellow-painted faces, three of which had descending canthi much like those on some images of Queen Nefertiti and King Tutankhamun. These topics and a general review of the key finds and the plans for the resumption of the work will be discussed.

The Metamorphosis of Ruins for Cultural Identity Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 7:30 pm Professor Marcello Barbanera (University of Rome) AIA Kress Lecture

Ruins are emblematic of transience and yet also of persistence over time. Both dimensions are crucial to understanding the meaning of ruins, which are comprehensible as a historical phenomenon only from a cultural perspective. This presentation will elaborate on how a ruin can be interpreted as an object that speaks to us of the past. Today ruins may seem a matter mostly for archaeology specialists, but they had interpast and a much wider relevance due to their semantic ambiguity; on the one hand they served as metaphors for Roman poets of the vicissitudes of fate or as a symbol of the decay of a universe without God for Christians, while on the other hand they served as a powerful allegory for the rebirth of ancient culture in the Renaissance and beyond.

This talk will explore the perception of ruins from the perspective of ancient Greco-Roman culture to the present, distinguishing the appreciation for ruins among early Humanists from that of the 18th century philosopher Diderot or Marcel Proust in the 20th. It will also consider how one should treat ruins, care for them, study them, and how powerful their meaning has been over the centuries.

Roman Colonies in Asia Minor, with a Focus on Central Turkey Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 7:30 pm Visiting Assistant Professor Andrea De Giorgi (Case Western Reserve University)

How Could a Rabbi Bathe in Front of a Naked Statue of Aphrodite?: Living Amidst the Sculptural Landscape of Roman Period Palestine. Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 7:30 pm Professor Elise Friedland (George Washington University) AIA Feinstone Lecture

The Second Commandment demands, “Thou shall not make unto thee any graven images.” Thus, the visual landscape of ancient Palestine, home to Rabbinic period Jews and early Christians, is commonly thought to have been “aniconic” — bereft of painted and sculpted images of men, women, animals, and gods. Certainly, then, we would not expect to discover a statue of Aphrodite in excavations of Roman period Palestine. But, there are plenty of statues of Aphrodite — and other Graeco-Roman deities — found at sites throughout Roman period Israel. In addition, a lively exchange between a pagan man and the famous Rabbi Gamliel, debating whether a Jew can bathe in front of a naked statue of Aphrodite, is preserved in the Mishnah, the tractate of Jewish laws written around AD 200. This talk will demonstrate that many of the urban cities of Roman period Israel, which had mixed populations of pagans, Jews, and early Christians, were filled with statuary — like other typical cities throughout the Roman empire. It will then discuss how Jews negotiated this urban, sculpture-filled landscape and will offer an example of how they became acculturated to and even adopted this pagan, sculptural mode of communication and to the common visual vocabulary of the Roman world. The Beautiful South: Investigating Imperial Properties in Roman Puglia Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 7:30 pm Professor Myles McCallum (St. Mary’s University, Halifax) AIA Lecture

Recent excavations at the site of San Felice have investigated properties believed to have been owned by the Roman emperor himself. Indeed, both field survey and excavation in the Basentello and Bradano River Valleys have produced evidence that suggests the emperor or the imperial fisc owned several properties in this part of Puglia (southeastern Italy). This lecture will consider the evidence for these imperial estates, and examine who lived on them, what they produced, and how they were integrated into local, regional and extra-regional markets. In particular, this lecture will focus on the excavations carried out at San Felice from 2004 to 2008, the ownership history of this property, and how it was integrated into a network of nearby imperial properties. The presentation will include a discussion of the results of field survey, magnetometry survey, excavation, and artifacts analysis and the significance of each of these categories of evidence to understanding imperial properties within Italy.

Looting of the Iraq Museum, Loss of a Nation’s Memory Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 7:30 pm Professor Donny George Youkhanna (SUNY, Stony Brook)

Professor Youkhanna will be talking about the circumstances surrounding the looting of the Iraq Museum along with latest estimates and accounts of losses, as well as the material repatriated. He will also address the looting of the archaeological sites, the latest information about them, and the efforts to rebuild the antiquities institutions.

+ Lectures 2007-2008

September 19, 2007 — “Sleazy Bars with Fancy Countertops: Marble as Status Therapy at Pompeii’s Streetside Bars” by Prof Clayton Fant (University of Akron)

October 10, 2007 — “The Shrines of Cybele and Zeus at Aezanis: A Model for Hellenization in Roman Asia Minor” by Prof. Kenneth Harl (Tulane University)*

November 7, 2007 — “Looking for the Etruscan City – Recent Developments in Etruscan Settlement Archaeology” by Prof. P. Gregory Warden (Southern Methodist University)

February 13, 2008 — “The Uxbenka Archaeological Project: Recent Discoveries in Belize” by Prof Phil Wanyerka (Cleveland State University)

March 12, 2008 — “The Reunion of Body and Soul in Ancient Egypt: Sexuality and Resurrection in the Netherworld.” by Prof. Lanny Bell (Brown University)*

April 9, 2008 — “Town and Country: The Archaeology of Crusader Greece” by Prof. Kostis Kourelis (Clemson University)*

May 7, 2008 — “Body Politics and Relic Diplomacy: Christianizing the Late Antique City” by Prof. Holger Klein (Columbia University)

+ Lectures 2006-2007

Shipwrecks of Lake Erie: Fire, Storms, Collision Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 7:30 pm Georgann and Mike Wachter

Lake Erie has perhaps the largest concentration of shipwrecks per square mile of any body of water in the world. From the 1700s to the present, military and commercial vessels of all sorts have been lost on her waters. Through slides, video and stories, veteran shipwreck divers Georgann and Mike Wachter explore infamous disasters, such as the burning of the side-wheel steamer G.P. Griffith, as well as some lesser-known shipwrecks. They recount stories of thrilling rescue and heartbreaking tragedy.

An Archaeological View of Prisoners’ Confinement During the American Civil War: Experiences at Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison Wednesday, October 11, 2006, 7:30 pm Dr. David Bush, Heidelberg College

Since the spring of 1989, Dr. David Bush has been conducting archaeological excavations at the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison. This site, located on a small island in Sandusky Bay (just north of Cedar Point) held more than 10,000 Confederate officers captured at hundreds of battles during the Civil War. Bush highlights some of the important discoveries made concerning prison life.

It Takes a Polis: The Art of Adolescence in Early Greece Wednesday, November 8, 2006, 7:30 pm Dr. Susan Langdon, University of Missouri-Columbia

The return of figural images to objects of ceremonial and everyday use was one of the most important developments in Greek art during the Late Geometric period (circa 750-700 B.C.). Figural art was employed for social rituals in the emerging polis (or “city-state”). Dr. Susan Langdon surveys the spectrum of Geometric material culture to reconstruct the strategies used to transform boys and girls into properly gendered men and women. She explains why it’s clear that it took not only a family, but the entire community, to raise a child.

Etruscan Gold Wednesday, March 14, 2007, 7:30 pm Dr. Richard De Puma, University of Iowa

Dr. Richard De Puma addresses the three major techniques used in the creation of Etruscan gold jewelry between 750 and 300 B.C.: repoussé, filigree and granulation. He briefly discusses the unusual physical properties of gold, the early 19th-century discoveries that prompted an interest in Etruscan jewelry and the ancient sources of Etruscan gold. He also presents slides and microphotographs that illustrate some spectacular examples of Etruscan gold jewelry.

Living It Up in the Late Roman World: The Country Mansions of the Mega-Rich Wednesday, April 11, 2007, 7:30 pm Dr. Roger J.A. Wilson, University of British Columbia

Dr. Roger Wilson reviews some of the characteristics of Roman imperial country retreats at the beginning of the fourth century. He explores the architectural links between these places and grand fourth-century mansions in the Roman countryside likely to have belonged to wealthy private individuals. He also analyzes the use of architectural space and choice of subject matter for the principal mosaic floors in light of the ways in which each owner chose to show off his wealth, status and learning and attempted to outdo his rivals in lavishness and ostentation.

An Archaeological History of Cyrene (Libya) Wednesday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. – AIA lecture – Prof. Susan Kane (Oberlin) Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Murch Auditorium

+ Lectures 2005-2006

October 5, 2005 — “City of Mesopotamia’s Grim Reaper: Mashkan-shapir, Iraq” by Prof. Paul Zimansky (Boston University)

November 9, 2005 — “The Pepper Wreck: Excavating and Reconstructing an Early 17th Century Portuguese Indiaman” by Prof. Luis Castro (Texas A&M University)

February 8, 2006 — “Excavating Women: Pioneering in Field and Forum (1850-1900)” by Dr. Susan Heuck Allen (Providence College)

March 8, 2006 – “The Age of the Alphabet: Writing at Tel Zayit in the Time of King Solomon” by Prof. Ron E. Tappy (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary)

April 12, 2006 — “Monumental Tombs Near Troy: Recent Discoveries” by Dr. C. Brian Rose (University of Pennsylvania)

May 10, 2006 — “Recent Archaeological Research in Albania” by Dr. Jack L. Davis (University of Cincinnati)

+ Lectures 2004-2005

September 8, 2004 – “In Search of the Ancient Olympics” by Dr. Donald Kyle (University of Texas)

September 24, 2004 — “Petra and Some Unique Cultural Aspects of the Nabateans” by Prof. Nabil Khairy (University of Jordan)

October 20, 2004 – “Sacred Symbols and Martyrs at Tell Tuneinir, Syria” by Dr. Michael Fuller (St. Louis Community College)

November 3, 2004 – “Who were these people?: Some Biased Thoughts on the Peopling of the New World” by Dr. J.M. Adovasio (Mercyhurst University)

December 8, 2004 – “An Ancient Quarry and the World’s First Geologic Map from 1150 BC: Wadi Hammamat in Egypt’s Eastern Desert” by Dr. James Harrell (University of Toledo)

February 16, 2005 — “Sex Sells, But Who’s Buying? Erotic Imagery on Attic Vases” by Prof. Kathleen Lynch (University of Cincinnati)

March 9, 2005 — “Khirbet Iskander (Jordan): A City in Collapse at the End of the Early Bronze Age” by Prof. Suzanne Richard (Gannon University)

April 6, 2005 — “The Origins of the Minoan Palaces” by Prof. Sturt Manning (University of Toronto)*

May 11, 2005 — “Soldiers, Scholars, Craftsmen, Elites? The Human Remains from Qumran” by Dr. Susan Guise Sheridan (University of Notre Dame)

+ Lectures 2003-2004

September 10, 2003 — “Minting Identity: The Invention of Coinage in Magna Graecia” by Dr. John Papadopoulos (University of California at Los Angeles)*

October 22, 2003 — “The Serpent and Alligator Mounds in Southern Ohio” by Dr. Bradley Lepper (Ohio Historical Society)

November 12, 2003 — “Hunters and Herders of the Great Hungarian Plain, 4500-4000 B.C.E.” by Dr. Richard Yerkes (Ohio State University)

December 10, 2003 — “Quest for Eternity : Chinese Archaeological Discoveries” by Marjorie Williams (Cleveland Museum of Art)

February 11, 2004 — “Hidden Rio-Bec in the Maya Area” by Jack Sulak (Cleveland Archaeological Society)

March 10, 2004 — “Assyria on the Edge: Excavations in the Iron Age Southwestern Turkey” by Dr. Timothy Matney (University of Akron)

April 21, 2004 — “The Archaeology of Sri Lanka: Past and Future” by Prof. Nancy Wilkie (Carlton College)*

May 12, 2004 — “Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past” by Prof. Jenifer Neils (Case Western Reserve University)

+ Lectures 2002-2003

October 9, 2002 — “Living on the Edge of the Ancient World: Desert Islands of the Aegean” by Prof. P. Nick Kardulius (Wooster College)

November 13, 2002 — “Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley (Pakistan/Western India)” by Prof. Jonathan Mark Kenoyer (University of Wisconsin)*

December 11, 2002 — “The Greeks in Sicily” by Prof. Jenifer Neils (Case Western Reserve University)

February 12, 2003 — “Recent Discoveries in Maya Decipherment” by Prof. Phil Wanyerka (Cleveland State University)

March 12, 2003 — “Excavating Ceren: A Maya “Pompei” in El Salvador” by Dr. Payson Sheets (University of Colorado)*

April 9, 2003 — “Copan: 160 Years of Search and Research” by Prof. Francis Taft (Cleveland Institute of Art)

May 14, 2003 — “Recent Discoveries in Search of Ancient Egyptian Quarries” by Prof. James A. Harrell (University of Toledo) (Lecture canceled at last minute)

May 14, 2003 — “Middle East Miscellany” by Barbara Kathman (Cleveland Museum of Art)

+ Lectures 2001-2002

September 5, 2001 – “Archaeology Thru a Photographer’s Eye” by Heather Alexander

October 10, 2001 — “The ‘New’ Ancient Southwest” by Dr. Stephen Lekson (University of Colorado)*

November 14, 2001 — “The Mystery of the Macedonian Royal Tombs” by Dr. Eugene N. Borza (Pennsylvania State University)

February 13, 2002 — “Current Archaeology in Turkey” by Dr. Timothy Matney (University of Akron)

March 13, 2002 — “Current Archaeology in Cleveland” by Prof. Al Lee (Cuyahoga Community College

April 10, 2002 — “Some Went Down to the Sea in Ships: Mediterranean Seafaring in the Bronze Age (3000-1200 BC)” by Dr. Shelly Wachsmann (Texas A&M University)

May 8, 2002 — “Greek Military History” by Dr. Robert Gaebel (University of Akron)

+ Lectures 2000-2001

September 13, 2000 — “Ohio Archaeology” by Dr. Brian Redmond (Cleveland Museum of Natural History)

October 18, 2000 — “Sailing the Wine-dark Sea: International Trade and the Bronze-Age Aegean” by Dr. Eric Cline (University of Cincinnati)*

November 8, 2000 — “Journey to the Underworld: Recent Cave Finds in the Maya Mountains” by Dr. Peter Dunham (Cleveland State University)

February 14, 2001 — “Clash of Cultures: The Archaeology of European Contact with Pueblo Indians in New Mexico” by Dr. Chris Pierce (Cleveland State University)

March 21, 2001 — “The Arrhephoroi on the Athenian Acropolis” by Dr. Olga Palagia (University of Athens)*

April 18, 2001 — “Mysteries of the Snake Goddess” by Dr. Kenneth Lapatin (Boston University)*

May 16, 2001 — “Tapestry Tunics of the Ancient Andean Middle Horizon” by Dr. Susan Bergh (Cleveland Museum of Art)

+ Lectures 1999-2000

September 15, 1999 — “Greeks and the Near East” by Dr. Michael Bennett (Cleveland Museum of Art)

October 6, 1999 — “Archaeological Science in Reconstructing the Past, Uses and Abuses (Knossos, Crete)” by Dr. Halford W. Haskell (Southwestern University)*

November 3, 1999 — “Recent Fieldwork at Sardis, the City of Croesus (where “currency” first appeared)” by Dr. Nicholas Cahill (University of Wisconsin, Madison)*

February 16, 2000 — “Byzantine Monasteries in Greece and the Near East” by Dr. Alice Mary Talbot (Director of Byzantine Studies, Dumbarton Oaks)

March 8, 2000 — “Artifacts from the Royal Tombs of Ur” by Dr. Irene Winter (Harvard University)

April 5, 2000 — “Roman Skeletons, Baths, and Kilns: Excavations in the Port City of Leptiminus,Tunisia” by Dr. Lea Stirling (University of Manitoba)*

May 3, 2000 — “Cuneiform Tablets: Translation and Preservation” by Dr. Gary Oller (University of Akron)

+ Lectures 1998-1999

October 7, 1998 — “Water Supply of Ancient Athens” by Dr. John McK. Camp II (Director of the Agora, Athens)*

November 4, 1998 — “Sacred Cargo: How to Ship an Obelisk” by Dr. Cheryl Haldane Ward (Director of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Egyps; Texas A & M, Galveston)*

January 13, 1999 — “Hopewell Culture” by Dr. Bret Ruby (Hopewell Culture National Park)

February 10, 1999 — “Building Trajan’s Column” by Dr. Lynne Lancaster (Ohio University)

March 31, 1999 — “The Mummies of Xinjiang” by Dr. Elizabeth Barber (Occidental College)*

April 14, 1999 — “High Tech and High Stakes: Naval Power in the Hellenistic Age” by Dr. William M. Murray (University of South Florida)

May 12, 1999 — “A Revolution in the Roman Glass Industry” by Dr. Marianne Stern (President Toledo Society of the AIA)

+ Lectures 1997-1998

September 17, 1997 — “1997 Finds of the Maya Mountain Archaeological Project” by Dr. Peter Dunham (Cleveland State University)

October 8, 1997 — “The Development of Cypriote Religion from Neolithic Fertility Figurines to the Cult of Aphrodite” by Dr. Stuart Swiney (Institute of Cypriote Studies, University of Alabama)*

October 15, 1997 — “Recent Excavations at Greek and Roman Troy” by Dr.C. Brian Rose (University of Cincinnati)*

November 19, 1997 — “Mycenae Invents Itself: Power and Propaganda in the Aegean Bronze Age” by Dr. Paul Rehak ( Duke University)*

January 21, 1998 — “Excavations at Ashkelon, Israel” by Dr. John Spencer (John Carroll University)

February 18, 1998 — “The Treasures of the Parthenon” by Dr. Diane Harris-Cline (University -of Cincinnati)

March 18, 1998 — “Sheridan Cave: Its Implications for the Peopling of the New World” by Dr. Kenneth Tankersley (Kent State University)

April 8, 1998 — “Life and Death Outside the Walls of Poseidonia-Paestum” by Dr. James Higginbotham (Bowdoin College)*

May 1, 1998 — “Classical Art” by Dr. Thomas Carpenter (Ohio University)

+ Lectures 1996-1997

September 18, 1996 — “Bared Breasts: Love and Violence in Classical Greek Art” by Dr. Beth Cohen, (New York City Society)

October 2, 1996 — “Imagination and Imitation: Greek and Roman Bronze Sculpture” by Dr. Sandra E. Knudsen (Toledo Museum of Art)

October 23, 1996 — “Mistresses, Maids and Brides: Women on White-Ground Lekythoi” by Prof John Oakley, (College of William and Mary)*

November 13, 1996 — “Excavations at Aila (Jordan): A Roman Port on the Red Sea” by Prof. S. Thomas Parker (North Carolina State University)

February, 12, 1997 — “The Late Prehistoric Indians of Northern Ohio: Results of two Summer Excavations in Lorain County” by Dr. Brian Redmond, (Cleveland Museum of Natural History)

March 5, 1997 — “Excavations at Poggio di Colla, an Etruscan Site North of Florence” by Prof Susan Kane (Oberlin College)*

April 2, 1997 — “Rome’s Spice Trade with the East: the Egyptian Connection” by Prof Steven E. Sidebotham (University of Delaware)*

May 14, 1997 — “Monte Alban (Mexico)” by Dr. Mark Winter (Oaxaca, Mexico)

+ Lectures 1995-1996

September 20, 1995 — “Digging in Ethiopia” by Dr. Bruce Latimer, (Cleveland Museum of Natural History)

November 8, 1995 — “Archaeology of the Russian Steppes” by Prof. James Adovasio (Mercyhurst College)

November 15, 1995 — “The Gold of Croesus Revisited” by Prof. Andrew Ramage, (Cornell University)*

December 13, 1995 – “Underwater Archaeology in Israel” by Prof. Israel Hershkovitz (Tel Aviv University)

February 28, 1996 — “The Gardens and Palace of King Kasayapa at Sigiriya” by Dr. Robert Lindley Vann (University of Maryland)*

March 20, 1996 — “Rusahilini: An Iron Age Fortress in Urartu (Lake Van)” by Prof. Dr. Altan Cilingiroglu (University of Ege, Turkey)*

April, 24, 1996 — “Two Greek Sculptors Named Scopas” by Prof. Olga Palagia (University of Athens)*

+ Lectures 1994-1995

September 28, 1994 — “Anemurium: History and Life a Roman City in Southern Turkey” by Prof. James Russell (University of British Columbia)

October 26, 1994 — “200 Years Exploring Ohio Hopewell” by Dr. N’omi Greber (Cleveland Museum of Natural History)

March 1, 1995 — “Mycenaean State Banquets and Sacrifice: the Linear B Evidence” by Prof. John Killen (Cambridge University, England)

April 5, 1995 — “Recent Work at Aphrodisias, SW Turkey” by Prof. Christopher Ratté (New York University)

May 10, 1995 — “Malaria, Witchcraft, and the Fall of Rome” by Prof. David Soren (University of Arizona)