News and Notes

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA--NORTH ALABAMA SOCIETY

banner image: Moundville, Alabama

18.11.08

Wine & Auction Benefit

WINE & AUCTION BENEFIT! We invite you to join us at our Wine Tasting and Silent Auction benefit for the lecture series on November 15 at the Lowe House in historic Twickenham. The Lowe House is the elegant home of UAH president David Williams. We will sample fine wines from Spain, Argentina, and Chile with the guidance of sommelier Tami Herrington of Pinnacle Imports who will be talking about the history of these wines and their vineyards as well as describing the character of the individual wines. Archaeologist Dr. Tom Sever will give a brief talk on his current research on the Maya. We have a number of fine items in our auction. Enjoy the company of others interested in archaeology. For tickets, please contact Lillian Joyce (joycel@uah.edu) or purchase them at any of our upcoming lectures.

New pyramid found


BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In pictures: New pyramid found

Iraq's damaged Babylon hopes for revival


BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq's damaged Babylon hopes for revival

Exploring Old Rome Without Air (or Time) Travel



Exploring Old Rome Without Air (or Time) Travel - NYTimes.com

In the Shadow of a Long Past, Patiently Awaiting the Future


Memo From Cairo - In the Shadow of a Long Past, Patiently Awaiting the Future - NYTimes.com

Using a Variety of Tools, Researchers Unravel Tale of German Graves


Observatory - Using a Variety of Tools, Researchers Unravel Tale of German Graves - NYTimes.com

2,800-Year-Old Monument to the Soul Is Discovered in Turkey



2,800-Year-Old Monument to the Soul Is Discovered in Turkey - NYTimes.com

8.11.08

AIA Meeting: Arky Fair!



The AIA seeks to explain archeology and its benefits to the public. It has recently expanded its education and public outreach programs. One part of this has been "archaeological fairs" which show off the methods and findings of the discipline to kids and grownups. The AIA encourages chapters to hold a fair. Members, are you interested in helping host a fair? Please post here or contact Lillian.

AIA Meeting: Puye Cliff Dwellings



After Bandelier, the AIA bus drove to the Santa Clara Pueblo reservation to visit the Puye Cliff Dwellings. At Puye, the Pueblo ancestor people built on the cliff face and on the mesa top. The Santa Clara closed the site in 2001 after problems with vandals. The AIA were the first group tour of the site before its re-opening next spring.

AIA Meeting: Bandelier National Monument



The AIA board took another trip to Bandelier National Monument near Santa Fe. This archaeological site preserves ruins of "cliff-dwellers" who were ancestors of the Pueblo people of the Southwest. The visiting archaeologists got so excited, they wouldn't leave on time and were late for the next leg of the trip!

AIA Board Meeting: School of Advanced Research


Lillian Joyce, our chapter's president, attended the fall AIA board meeting in Santa Fe. Stephen Waring tagged along. The board took several trips in the area to learn about archaeological institutions and sites. The first trip was to the School of Advanced Research, an institute in Santa Fe founded by the AIA and a sponsor of archaeological studies. The campus is on the former estate of two sisters who came to Santa Fe in the 1920s to join the bohemian arts colony.

29.9.08

AIA TALK: 2 October MYCENAEAN COASTAL WORLDS

Dr. Thomas Tartaron teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Tartaron’s field work is in Greece where he is currently Co-Director of the Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project. In his talk, Dr. Tartaron will focus on archaeological methods of reconstituting the coastal worlds of the Mycenaeans, using the concept of “coastscapes” within a broad landscape archaeology approach. In the Saronic Gulf region, recent discoveries have made it possible to recreate a Bronze Age Saronic “small world,” populated by small coastal settlements enmeshed in habitual maritime interactions within a political and economic system dominated by Kolonna on the island of Aigina. These interactions were in turn embedded, through the agency of Kolonna, in trade networks in the Aegean Sea and beyond. Dr. Tartaron’s current research in the region of the Saronic coastal village of Korphos in the Corinthia investigates how this small world was transformed by the expansion of the state of Mycenae in the 14th century B.C.
The talk will be held in Chan Auditorium of the Administrative Science Building on the UAH campus at 7:30 PM on Thursday 2 October. Please bring a friend!


11.9.08

AIA TALK September 17: Satellites & Egypt


Dr. Sarah Parcak has a PhD from Cambridge University. Dr. Parcak is the founding Director of the Laboratory for Global Health Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she also holds a tenure-track position in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the Department of Anthropology. Dr. Parcak is an expert in the use of remote sensing satellite images to detect archaeological sites, many of which were previously unknown. According to Dr. Parcak, “only 1/100th of one percent of archaeological sites in Egypt have been discovered. Our entire understanding of Egyptian history is based on these few discoveries. What we have discovered sofar is just the tip of the iceberg.” Dr. Parcak has published widely in archaeological journals, and is writing Satellite Archaeology for Routledge. She has received extensive media coverage for her work in satellite archaeology by the Discovery Channel (where she was featured in “Why Ancient Egypt Fell”), The Economist, The Times, Popular Science and internet-based news channels such as LiveScience. Dr. Parcak will be guest lecturing in the Women in Antiquity seminar on women’s lives at Deir el-Medina, the workers’ village for the Valley of the Kings, final resting place of the New Kingdom Pharoahs. This talk is open to the public. Her evening talk will be directed toward her research using satellites. With the aid of this technology, she can identify sites in a matter of weeks instead of years. In 2003-2004 she located over 130 new sites dating from the time of the pyramids through the early Christian period.

“Women and Power in Antiquity: A New Kingdom Case Study from Deir el-Medina, Thebes” September 17, 2008 (Wednesday) 2:20 PM Roberts 419, UAH

“Making the Mummies Dance from Space: Using Satellite Imagery to Find Ancient Egypt” September 17, 2008 (Wednesday) 7:30 PM Chan Auditorium, UAH

Pre-Incan female Wari mummy unearthed in Peru

Pre-Incan female Wari mummy unearthed in Peru - Yahoo! News

Seabed archaeology goes virtual


BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Seabed archaeology goes virtual

Armchair archaeology: Using Google Earth


Monitor | Armchair archaeology | Economist.com