Archaeology on YouTube: 2024.07.27

Live presentation recorded on May 17, 2024. Letter deadline is May 28, 2024. More info: https://www.archaeological.org/preserving-ecuador-jordan-and-ukraine/ Visit (or revisit) some incredible archaeological highlights from these three countries and learn more about how to compose a letter to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee during our webinar. Join the AIA for brief presentations by experts who have traveled, lived, and worked in Ecuador, Jordan, and/or Ukraine and learn how you can advocate for the protection of archaeological sites in these three countries. The countries of Ecuador and Jordan recently requested that the U.S. renew the bilateral agreements that protects their cultural resources from being illegally imported into the United States and Ukraine has requested that a similar bilateral agreement with the United States be put into place for the very first time. After a whirlwind virtual trip across the globe with cultural heritage professionals Sarah Rowe (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), Morag Kersel (Depaul University) and Roksolana Makar (Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab), make sure you join AIA VP for Cultural Heritage Ömür Harmanşah in writing a letter in support of preserving the cultural heritage of Ecuador, Jordan, and Ukraine to the U.S. Cultural Property Advisory Committee!

Letter deadline: May 28, 2024 If you’ve traveled to Ecuador, Jordan, or Ukraine and/or appreciate their cultural heritage, your experience and passion can help the U.S. Cultural Property Advisory Committee with their upcoming deliberations. Watch this short video to find out how you can join the AIA to speak up for threatened archaeological sites. Visit https://www.archaeological.org/preserving-ecuador-jordan-and-ukraine/ for letter templates and more information.

Attending your first academic conference can be daunting, especially if you want to present your research. But with the help of the AIA, you can learn all about how to get your foot in the door. The panelists on the AIA Annual Meeting Submission webinar offer insights about the AIA-SCS Annual Meeting, including how to find funding for travel, what the benefits of attending the Annual Meeting are, how to submit an abstract, plus other advice on how to write an abstract for the Annual Meeting. This webinar was co-sponsored by the AIA Student Affairs Interest Group. The Student Affairs Interest Group (SAIG) consists of AIA members with an interest in the expansion of opportunities for student participation and professional development within the AIA and the promotion of student scholarship as well as student issues to other members of the AIA through its various programs and publications. SAIG Website: https://studentaffairsaia.wordpress.com/ Learn about the 2025 AIA-SCS Joint Annual Meeting: https://www.archaeological.org/programs/professionals/annual-meeting/ Questions about the Annual Meeting? Send them to annualmeeting@archaeological.org Our Panelists: Kevin Mullen: Director of Meetings and Associate Publisher, ARCHAEOLOGY magazine (kmullen@archaeological.org) Dr. Megan Cifarelli: Professor, Manhattanville College & Chair of the AIA Program for the Annual Meeting Committee (megan.cifarelli@mville.edu) Dr. Amanda Chen: Assistant Professor, Kansas City Art Institute (achen@kcai.edu) Tina Bekkali-Poio: PhD candidate, University at Buffalo & Chair of the AIA Student Affairs Interest Group (cmbekkal@buffalo.edu)

Join the AIA for a fascinating evening as Deborah Carlson (Texas A&M) presents Excavating a Shipwrecked Marble Column Destined for the Temple of Apollo at Claros. This presentation was held live at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Pacific on 4/17/24. Between 2005 and 2011, researchers from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University excavated and raised the remains of an ancient ship that was wrecked off the Aegean coast of Turkey at Kızılburun in the first century B.C. This ship was transporting about 60 tons of white marble blocks and architectural elements that originated in the quarries on Proconnesus Island in the Sea of Marmara. Ceramic artifacts and coins help narrow the date of the shipwreck, but the pieces of a single monumental Doric column suggest that the ship was destined for one of the most important oracular sanctuaries in the ancient Mediterranean. Join underwater archaeologist Deborah Carlson as she lays out the evidence to solve this maritime mystery!

Join the AIA as Kisha Supernant (University of Alberta) presents Finding the Children: Using Archaeology to Search for Unmarked Graves at Indian Residential School Sites in Canada. This lecture was given live at 8pm Eastern on 3/27/24. In May 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation in British Columbia, Canada, announced that 215 potential unmarked graves were located near the Kamloops Indian Residential School using ground-penetrating radar conducted by archaeologists. While this was not the first announcement of unmarked graves associated with Indian Residential Schools, it garnered national and international attention. The subsequent months saw significant commitments of funding from the government to support Indigenous communities who wanted to conduct their own searches. Many Indigenous communities turned to archaeologists to assist them in designing an approach to finding potential unmarked graves of their relatives. In this talk, Supernant provides an overview of how archaeologists have been working with Indigenous communities in Canada to locate potential grave sites and discuss the opportunities and challenges in this highly sensitive, deeply emotional work.

Join the AIA for a fascinating evening as Nam C. Kim (University of Wisconsin-Madison) presents “Barbarians”, Bronzes, and the Legendary Capital of Ancient Vietnam. This presentation was originally given 2/28/24 at 8 pm Eastern time. Vietnamese lore tells us that over two thousand years ago the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam was home to powerful indigenous kingdoms, fortified capitals, and exquisite bronze craftsmanship. In contrast, the neighboring Chinese Han Empire claimed the region was inhabited by unsophisticated “barbarians” in need of “civilizing”, prompting imperial annexation of the region. This lecture explores the region’s archaeological record and what it means for scholarly debates, as well as for Vietnam’s national imagination, cultural heritage, and descendant identities.

Society Sunday 2024 - February 4, 2024 - CONTENT WARNING: This talk will include images of human remains. - Find your local Society and see what they're up to: https://www.archaeological.org/programs/societies/find/ - Check out Petra Creamer’s project RLIIM – Rural Landscapes of Iron Age Imperial Mesopotamia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092306352009 Join us as the AIA Societies Committee presents a virtual presentation and Q&A with Petra Creamer, "'Be(com)ing Assyrian': Navigating Imperial Power from the Bottom-Up." At its height, the Assyrian Empire (c. 1350-600 BCE) stretched from modern-day Iran in the east to Egypt in the west, controlling more territory than any entity the world had yet seen. This talk will delve into the profound impact of the Assyrian Empire and its administrative structures on the lives of individuals under its hegemony. Drawing from archaeological and historical evidence, the discussion explores the intricate web of socio-economic, cultural, and political transformations experienced by the non-elite populace under Assyrian rule, focusing on the core area of the empire (the Assyrian "Heartland") along the Tigris River. Insights from ongoing research illuminate how the empire's administrative policies influenced Assyria's subjects - from those residing in urban centers to rural communities. This talk particularly dives into the implementation of massive infrastructural projects across the landscape, the establishment of centralized governance systems, and the navigation of personal identities that shaped the idea of "be(com)ing Assyrian".

Join the AIA for a fascinating lecture as Jeff Altschul presents Cultural Resource Management: What Most Archaeologists Do For A Living. This presentation was originally given 1/24/24 at 8 pm Eastern time. Today, there are about 12,000 archaeologists working in the US with less than 10 percent of them employed by universities. While university anthropology and archaeology departments are shrinking, the applied sector, known as cultural resource management (CRM) is growing. What accounts for these opposing trends and what, if anything, can we do about it.

A recording of the 2024 AIA Awards Ceremony presented live at the AIA-SCS Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. Apologies in advance for the poor audio and video quality of the Zoom presentation. Thank you for everyone who attended in-person and virtually to celebrate our award winners!

Live presentation recorded on January 10, 2024. Letter deadline is January 22, 2024. More info: https://www.archaeological.org/preserving-algeria-and-india/ Visit (or revisit) some incredible archaeological highlights from these two countries over your lunch break and learn more about how to compose a letter to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee during our webinar. Join the AIA for brief presentations by experts who have traveled to and worked in Algeria and India and learn how you can advocate for the protection of archaeological sites in these two countries. The country of Algeria recently requested that the U.S. renew the bilateral agreement that protects Algerian cultural resources from being illegally imported into the United States and India has requested that a similar bilateral agreement with the United States be put into place for the very first time. After a whirlwind virtual trip across the globe with archaeologists Monica Smith (UCLA) and Elizabeth Fentress (University College London), AIA VP for Cultural Heritage Omur Harmansah will outline the simple steps you can take this month to speak out in support of preserving the cultural heritage of Algeria and India.

Heritage Broadcasting Service ( https://www.heritagetac.org ) , or just plain Heritage, launched on January 1, 2021. Developed by the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute (that’s us, the people who created The Archaeology Channel at archaeologychannel.org), Heritage features more than 300 outstanding film titles from many countries on familiar subjects. As of July 29, 2024, new films include: “Jiangsu: Land of Good Fortune,” “Walras Hunt,” and “Humanity's Footsteps, Season 1, Episode 7: The Gallic Family.” Check out these and more, only on Heritage! https://www.heritagetac.org/ #archaeology #archeology #heritage #anthropology #history #culture #heritagebroadcastingservice

Season 10 Episode 10 Strata: Portraits of Humanity, July 2024 (Rock art in Sweden; underwater archaeology in the Aegean) (1) “The Time They Spent Here”: This film surveys the truly stunning rock art still visible on Sweden’s west coast, carved by artists beginning around 4,000 years ago, depicting Bronze Age animals, humans, ships, weapons, and symbols. Techniques to preserve this artistic heritage range from paper rubbings to digital reconstruction. (2) “Diving in Aegean History”: This film follows the first systematic underwater archaeological survey around Kasos Island in the Aegean Sea. The survey team did intensive diving in search of ancient shipwrecks and artifacts from Homeric times through the 20th century. #heritage #strata #archaeology #archeology #anthropology #history #culturalheritage #strataportraitsofhumanity #culture

Heritage Broadcasting Service ( https://www.heritagetac.org ) , or just plain Heritage, launched on January 1, 2021. Developed by the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute (that’s us, the people who created The Archaeology Channel at archaeologychannel.org), Heritage features more than 300 outstanding film titles from many countries on familiar subjects. As of July 15, 2024, new films include: “Land of Legends,” “Kivitoo: What They Thought of Us?,” and “Strata: Portraits of Humanity Season 10, Episode 10.” Check out these and more, only on Heritage! https://www.heritagetac.org/ #archaeology #archeology #heritage #anthropology #history #culture #heritagebroadcastingservice

Heritage Broadcasting Service ( https://www.heritagetac.org ) , or just plain Heritage, launched on January 1, 2021. Developed by the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute (that’s us, the people who created The Archaeology Channel at archaeologychannel.org), Heritage features more than 300 outstanding film titles from many countries on familiar subjects. As of July 1, 2024, new films include: “Holy Mountain,” “Dog Team Bear Hunt,” and “Humanity's Footsteps, Season 1, Episode 6: The Gallic Warrior.” Check out these and more, only on Heritage! https://www.heritagetac.org/ #archaeology #heritage #anthropology #history #culture #TheArchaeologyChannel

Season 10 Episode 9 Strata: Portraits of Humanity, June 2024 (Neolithic farmers in the Alps) In the French Alps, around Mount Pilat, filmmaker Rob Hope explores little known Neolithic archaeological remains from up to 4,000 years ago. He notes a mysterious large-scale system of drystone walls, mounds and cairns, whose builders and exact time of building remain unsolved. He also finds a mountaintop Iron Age stone fort amid mixtures of later remains, including Roman and Medieval architectural ruins. As he journeys deeper into these remote and wild places still remaining there today, he also delves deeper into a distant human past. #heritage #strata #archaeology #anthropology #history #culturalheritage #strataportraitsofhumanity

Heritage Broadcasting Service ( https://www.heritagetac.org ) , or just plain Heritage, launched on January 1, 2021. Developed by the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute (that’s us, the people who created The Archaeology Channel at archaeologychannel.org), Heritage features more than 300 outstanding film titles from many countries on familiar subjects. As of June 17, 2024, new films include: “Secrets of the Silk Road,” “Net Fishing Under the Ice,” and “Strata: Portraits of Humanity, Season 10, Episode 9.” Check out these and more, only on Heritage! https://www.heritagetac.org/ #archaeology #heritage #anthropology #history #culture #TheArchaeologyChannel

Heritage Broadcasting Service ( https://www.heritagetac.org ) , or just plain Heritage, launched on January 1, 2021. Developed by the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute (that’s us, the people who created The Archaeology Channel at archaeologychannel.org), Heritage features more than 300 outstanding film titles from many countries on familiar subjects. As of June 3, 2024, new films include: “Marco Polo’s Roof of the World,” “Bowhead Whale Hunt,” and “Humanity's Footsteps, Season 1, Episode 5: The Last Hunter-Gatherers.” Check out these and more, only on Heritage! https://www.heritagetac.org/ #archaeology #heritage #anthropology #history #culture #TheArchaeologyChannel

The Archaeology Channel International Film Festival is a juried international competition in the cultural heritage film genre, bringing you the world’s best films relating to the human past and our shared cultural heritage. These are great films for the whole family! Come check out our events around Downtown Eugene, Oregon. Our Keynote Speaker, Dennis Jenkins, will kick off the event at the Festival Banquet, on May 15th at the Gordon Hotel. This is followed by four days of juried films and videos on archaeological and indigenous topics, screened in the Sheffer Recital Hall at The Shedd Institute. We plan other activities at other downtown venues as well. Event details are posted on TAC web site at archaeologychannel.org/festival.

Season 10 Episode 8 Strata: Portraits of Humanity, May 2024 (“California Indian Voices”) Native People from all over California came together in 2011 at the 26th annual California Indian Conference at California State University Chico to discuss issues of cultural sustainability, tradition, the environment, substance abuse and what it means to be an Indian in the 21st century. These are their stories, many of them very sad, but their perspective includes hope for the future and ways to solve problems. Despite 200 years of economic deprivation and cultural loss, Native Californians are still here and finding ways to establish a strong identity in the modern world. #heritage #strata #archaeology #anthropology #history #culturalheritage #strataportraitsofhumanity

Heritage Broadcasting Service ( https://www.heritagetac.org ) , or just plain Heritage, launched on January 1, 2021. Developed by the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute (that’s us, the people who created The Archaeology Channel at archaeologychannel.org), Heritage features more than 300 outstanding film titles from many countries on familiar subjects. As of May 15, 2024, new films include: “Marco Polo's Silk Road,” “Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change,” and “Strata: Portraits of Humanity Season 10, Episode 8.” Check out these and more, only on Heritage! https://www.heritagetac.org/ #archaeology #heritage #anthropology #history #culture #TheArchaeologyChannel

This week, Dr. Cynthia Shafer-Elliott joins Jordan Jones to discuss one of the most famous couples from the Hebrew Bible: Samson and Delilah. Join us for a conversation about the rise and fall of Samson, as seen in Judges 13-16, and an examination of what the text actually says about Delilah. Become a Bible & Archaeology patron: http://www.patreon.com/xkv8r Send us your questions: bible-archaeology@uiowa.edu Visit the Bible & Archaeology website: http://www.uiowa.edu/bam Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bible-and-archaeology/id1753393688 Find us on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3tbe91wqMwkHcudArRi1ue?si=d483a9f54bf94753 Find Cynthia on Instagram and Threads at @cshaferelliott

Check out our podcast from July 19th, "Understanding Samson and Delilah," for the full conversation.

Check out our video from July 19th, "This is NOT Evidence for the Exodus," for the full conversation.

Check out our video from July 19th, "This is NOT Evidence for the Exodus," for the full conversation.

Dr. Bob Cargill and Jordan Jones fact-check a recent Daily Mail article that says evidence has been found for Moses leading the Israelites into the Promised Land in this clip from July 19th's Bible & Archaeology Podcast! Watch the full discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E2MorR4t2c Become a Bible & Archaeology patron: http://www.patreon.com/xkv8r Send us your questions: bible-archaeology@uiowa.edu Visit the Bible & Archaeology website: http://www.uiowa.edu/bam

Doug Rocks-Macqueen

Chris Springett, Spring Environmental

Kenneth Aitchison, FAME

There are hundreds of man-made sandstone caves beneath the city of Nottingham, reflecting the development of the city’s geopolitical importance, industries, and changing populations over centuries. The City of Caves project, led by Principal Investigator (PI) Dr Chris King and assisted by researchers, including Knowledge Exchange Fellow Dr Charlotte May, is an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project looking at the archaeology and heritage of Nottingham’s medieval and later caves, as part of new urban regeneration and place-making initiatives in the city. This paper explores how the project team collects and utilises data and artefacts from the caves, particularly the University of Nottingham Museum’s collection of excavated cave material, and works with local groups who studied and explored the caves in the late twentieth century to bring stories of subterranean histories to new audiences and to develop the role of the caves in Nottingham’s urban identity. Dr Chris King is Associate Professor in the School of Humanities at the University of Nottingham, specialising in late medieval and historical archaeology with a particular interest in urban archaeology. He is PI for the AHRC-funded City of Caves project.Dr Charlotte May is a Knowledge Exchange Fellow on the AHRC-funded City of Caves project. Her background is in eighteenth and nineteenth century literature, with a focus on manuscripts, correspondence, and non-canonical figures. She is also a Trustee of Keswick Museum which holds a range of archaeological collections.

This paper explores recent, current and future work on Coventry’s archaeology collection. The Herbert is preparing for a store move which has turned curatorial focus to bulk finds, in some cases for the first time in 60 years. From old to new, Coventry Collections Centre plans will see the offsite store move from a friary to a former retail site in two to three years’ time. Preparation began several years ago, starting with a ‘quick and dirty’ review of the collection, logging box locations and contents to a spreadsheet. Parallel work on the paper archive saw it listed, giving us a clearer idea of contents and publication status. Volunteers have been used throughout this process, in different ways, which will be detailed in the talk. There will be a discussion of plans to rationalise/deselect material, and the challenges this presents. Despite potential easy wins, potential collaboration with field units and a fortuitous project, disposing of archaeology is more complex and involved (for this curator at least!) than reviewing social history collections. This is very much a work in progress. The paper finishes with how we plan to promote the archaeology collection to researchers post-move, so it is used more frequently and effectively, and how the move will impact future display plans. Ali Wells has worked at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry for 16 years, mostly as a curator. Working across the social history, natural sciences and archaeology collections, Ali has curated temporary exhibitions such as the Story of Children’s Television and worked on projects like Exploring [George] Eliot.

32,000 Records and Counting: MAA’s Stores Move Project In September 2020, the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (MAA) commenced a five- year project to move all offsite collections – c. 8,600 boxes as well as large objects – to the newly refurbished Cambridge Nuclear Bunker, close to the city centre. The Stores Move Project is much more than a ‘simple’ move, however. The estimated 250,000 objects are being physically checked, their catalogue records updated and their condition assessed, before being photographed and repacked by the project’s nine Collections Assistants. The improved records are immediately publicly accessible via the museum’s online catalogue and the images can be downloaded for free. Behind the overarching five-year plan, however, are the daily realities: of Collections Assistants processing an average of one object every 15 minutes; of Collections Managers preparing the ground ahead and checking the updated records; of database development to create logistical efficiency and of policy writing to ensure best practice. In this paper we will discuss these practical issues, as well as the opportunities that this project has afforded us as an institution and as museum archaeologists. In developing the Stores Move Project, MAA benefitted tremendously from the experience and honest advice of colleagues across the sector who were undertaking, or had recently completed, stores moves. Two years into our own project, this paper seeks to continue that dialogue in an effort to benefit colleagues contemplating a future move, or any project involving the large-scale processing of collections. Imogen Gunn is the Collections Manager for Archaeology at MAA, where she has worked since 2006. She is part of the team that planned the Stores Move Project and 50% of her time is allocated to the project. Lily Stancliffe is one of nine Collections Assistants working on MAA’s Stores Move Project. In the past two years she has processed thousands of objects as part of the project.

This paper started with a tweet responding to social media output by Oxfordshire Museums Service (OMS) and other organisations during the pandemic. Rachel Ephgrave tweeted ‘…..It is disability not lockdown that keeps me away from museums. I hope you and others keep up these initiatives once lockdown is over. I am sure there must be many benefitting from the increased access that lockdown has paradoxically provided!’ This paper is a case study on how, during lockdowns, the OMS opened its ‘doors’ to new and existing audiences using social media. The new audience we will focus on are those of us who have conditions such as ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long Covid, conditions where no matter what fixtures and fittings are incorporated into museum buildings to aid accessibility, they still do not enable people to access collections. We will describe the digital archaeological output of OMS, with examples and will describe the impact such engagement had on this new audience during the pandemic, what is hoped for the future and why we shouldn’t always think of just the ‘footfall’ into our museums but our ‘digital-footfall’ as well. This is a collaborative paper between OMS, delivered by Angie Bolton, Curator of Archaeology, Linda Hending and Rachel Ephgrave, both of whom had ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which has a significant impact on how they lead their lives and, in relation to this paper, access archaeology

Whose responsibility is it to enable as many people as possible to access thousands of archaeological archives deposited in museums and other institutions? How do we as museum archaeologists both create and break down barriers to access, and who is interested in archives once they are dug up anyway? Understanding how our multiple audiences want to consume the product of fieldwork is clearly a key consideration, but what does the menu of opportunities we need to provide look like? Are we guilty of rehashing the same old ingredients and what can we do to democratise engagement? This paper draws upon a chapter produced by the speaker for a new Oxford Handbook of Museum Archaeology to suggest a series of actions all museum archaeologists might consider taking to unlock the potential of archaeological archives in their care. Gail Boyle is Senior Curator of Archaeology and World Cultures (Bristol Museums) and has been a successful museum archaeologist for over 35 years: she is a Fellow of the Museums Association and Society of Antiquaries and a member of the Treasure Valuation Committee. Gail sits on several UK heritage and museum-related bodies, is a former Chair of SMA and now Digital Officer. She has co-authored, edited and contributed to several SMA publications including the new ‘Standards and Guidance in the Care of Archaeological Collections’ (2020) and ‘Communicating Archaeology’ (2021)

In 2007 English Heritage created a modern-day ossuary at St Peters, Barton on Humber, to house the extensive human remains assemblage excavated from the site. This paper will reflect on this most particular of resources 15 years on from its inception. In reviewing the ways in which the assemblage has been accessed and used, I will consider how the ossuary has, (and has not), met our expectations as a repository for the human remains. I will question those expectations, and consider what the term ‘resource’ means for a human remains assemblage. In 2019 English Heritage began to explore our role as curators of the Barton assemblage: who do we hold the resource for and who is it relevant to? I will use this paper to articulate some of that thinking and suggestions on how we might open-up conversation around, and find resonance in, the deceased population of the town across a millennium. Kevin Booth has been Senior Curator with English Heritage since 2005. Kevin led the project to create the ossuary and has curated the resource since it opened in 2007. Barton is one of 47 properties with collection displays and stores within the North Territory, covering the Neolithic to the Cold War across a third of a million objects. Content warning: The Powerpoint for this paper will include images of human remains.