Past Events

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October 26, 2022
12:00pm to 1:00pm

Speaker:  

Amr Shahat

Postdoctoral Scholar

Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

Abstract: Preservation of organic food remains from Ancient Egypt is an exceptional aspect of the archaeology in this region. The level of preservation of these materials has contributed to the early development of archaeobotany and radiocarbon dating. In this talk I will present unpublished food remains from Nag ed Deir, a necropolis situated on the eastern bank of the Nile, and Deir el Ballas, a royal palace complex in Upper Egypt, research that continues this link between the humanities and life sciences. The materials were excavated in the early 1900s by George A. Reisner and Albert Lythgoe and are currently housed at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. I will discuss the results of interdisciplinary analyses applying archaeobotanical and isotopic methods to plant foods from these two sites to understand the anthropogenic impact of climate changes on the foodways and social structures of predynastic Egypt.

A new non-destructive nano-archaeology method was developed to analyze beer mash to reconstruct early beer composition from Nag ed-Deir, revealing a beer recipe specific to the region. I employed a long stable isotope experiment to identify the source region of specific foods to differentiate between local versus imported species, the latter group being represented by the earliest evidence of pomegranate and domesticated watermelon. These interdisciplinary approaches enable us to reconstruct the social history of none-elite Egyptian foodways as related to regional identities and cross-cultural interactions. The methods I will present expand our theoretical perspectives from the humanities side, while serving the field of life sciences through the isotopic data which highlights the anthropogenic impact of climate changes on foodways and social structure.

Bio: Amr Khalaf Shahat, is a postdoctoral researcher at the Cotsen Institute. He earned his PhD in Egyptian Archaeology and Paleoethnobotany from the Cotsen, and his masters in Egyptology from the University of Memphis. He is interested in the study of Egyptian foodways from tombs and settlements to answer questions related to cultural identities and cross-cultural interaction.

Location Fowler A222 (Seminar Room)
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
October 19, 2022
12:00pm to 1:00pm

Speaker:  

Celine Wachsmuth

M.A. Student

UCLA/Getty Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials MA

Abstract: One of the requirements for the MA Conservation degree is a nine month (minimum) internship in one or more conservation labs. By the end of my internship year, I will have worked in three different places; the Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Center for East Crete (INSTAP), the AfricaMuseum, and the Denver Art Museum (and a very exciting one month at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science). In this talk I will give a brief description of the different things I've been up to since starting my third year. This summer I spent six weeks in Crete working on archaeological ceramic, metal, and glass objects from various sites around East Crete. After a break in August to travel and see family, I started my second internship in Belgium. Here I've shifted gears and been heavily involved in the installation process for a contemporary exhibition and treating a wood object going out on a loan. 

Bio: Céline is a third year student in the UCLA/Getty MA program in conservation. She has had the chance to work in many great conservation labs including at the Penn Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, a private objects lab in Seattle, a private automaton and horological lab in Seattle, the Anchorage Museum, Fowler Museum, INSTAP, and now the AfricaMuseum. 

Location Fowler A222 (Seminar Room)
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
October 19, 2022
11:30am to 12:30pm

Speaker: 

Moupi Mukhopadhyay

Ph.D. Student

UCLA Conservation of Material Culture IDP

Abstract: The wall paintings in the Indian state of Kerala belonging to the Kerala mural tradition (7th - 17th century CE) provide important cross-cultural links that contextualize local historical religious practices, trade, and social interactions. The complex color scheme of the paintings is traditionally attributed to the skillful use of only five colors (panchavarna) – black, red, yellow, green and white. However, the available literature on the technical study of the murals does not consistently assign the same material (coloring agent or pigment) to the composition of a single color. For example, while black is generally accepted as lamp black across different publications, the green has been ascribed to green earth, powdered leaves, or combinations of yellow ochre, gamboge, indigo, and even lapis lazuli. Understanding the materials used in specific temple murals, and their possible sources, can help better understand the nature and movements of the agents involved in the creation of these paintings. Advances in material characterization methods have significantly increased the scope of identifying the composition of the colors in murals non-invasively, ideal for the preliminary research required to build a case for a more intensive technical study. Non-invasive fieldwork was conducted on selected temples in Kerala, using a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) for photography as well as Infrared (IR) imaging, and a SPECIM IQ hyperspectral camera for hyperspectral imaging (HSI). Permissions to access the temples allowed for the use of only sunlight as the illumination source, adding to the complexity of the interpretation of the data obtained. The use of Infrared False Color Imaging (IRFC) in conjunction with the analysis of HSI data reveals photophysical characteristics of the pigments which are useful for their identification, and for determining optimal characterization methods for further scientific investigation.

Bio: Moupi Mukhopadhyay is a PhD Candidate in the Conservation of Material Culture Program IDP at UCLA. She is interested in investigating the photophysical and chemical properties of pigments in cultural heritage materials using scientific techniques, to better inform their conservation. Through her research, she aims to develop a better understanding of the materials and technology of the creation of temple wall paintings in Kerala, India.

Location Fowler A222 (Seminar Room)
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
October 14, 2022
11:00am to 12:00pm

Phidias Unbound: How Robot-Generated Replicas Could Solve the Parthenon Marbles Quandary

Roger Michel
Executive Director, The Institute for Digital Archaeology

CLICK to RSVP

Please submit your questions in advance of the webinar via email to:
hnadworny@support.ucla.edu
by Wednesday, October 12 at 12:00 p.m.

Instructions to join the webinar will be provided once your registration
has been confirmed.

About the program 

The Parthenon Marbles, commonly known as the Elgin Marbles, were removed from the ancient Acropolis of Athens in 1801 by Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Carved by the sculptor Phidias, they were eventually sold to the British government in 1817 and are housed in the British Museum. Public debate about repatriating the marbles is heated and ongoing.Can the creation of exact copies of the originals resolve the repatriation quandary? Roger Michel, executive director of the Institute of Digital Archaeology, at the University of Oxford, believes the repatriation issue can be resolved with the help of 3-D machining. His research team has developed a robot with the ability to create faithful copies of large historical objects. Michel will explore humanity’s connection to culturally significant objects and the emphasis we place on physical possession. Is possession an inherently colonial concept? Are heritage assets particularly susceptible to being exploited for the purposes of historical revisionism? Under what circumstances can copies provide satisfactory substitutes for original material? These questions will be examined against the backdrop of the IDA’s ongoing Elgin repatriation efforts.

About the speaker:

Roger Michel is the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA). The IDA operates globally, undertaking a huge variety of heritage projects, many of which are aimed at advancing social justice goals.  Its principal partners are the UN, UNESCO and local and national governments.  Mr Michel has published and lectured frequently on various heritage conservation topics.  He was a member of the faculty at BU Law School for 25 years, is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College (Oxford), and is co-publisher of Arion Magazine.  Mr Michel is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford Universities.

https://conservation.ucla.edu/event/phidias-unbound-how-robot-generated-...

Location
Contact
Email
Phone
May 27, 2022
1:00pm to 3:30pm
  • In person followed by pizza

  • Dr. Matthew Robb (chief curator of the Fowler) gave a private tour consisting of in-depth responses to student questions.

Location Fowler Museum
Contact
Email
Phone
May 24, 2022
6:00pm

The Cotsen Institute of Archeology Press invites you to the latest Author Spotlight with

Stephen Dueppen

Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
University of Oregon

Register here

Mounded sites (tells) are common throughout West Africa, including in western Burkina Faso where clusters of mounds dating to the past three millennia are common. Extensive fieldwork at the long inhabited and well-preserved site of Kirikongo (ca. 100—1650 AD), has established that the community started as a small farming settlement, grew to a large community centered on the village’s founders, rejected inequalities in an egalitarian revolution, and survived the Black Death pandemic. This talk explores patterns in architecture, material culture and organic remains (animal bones and botanical remains) to argue that the mounds at Kirikongo are not only residential, but also stratified ancestor shrines whose ritual deposits inform on the divine associations of different houses in a ritual landscape.

Location Online
Contact Michelle Jacobson
Email mjacobson@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone
May 24, 2022
3:00pm

Dr. Zoila Mendoza
Department of Native American Studies, UC Davis
Tuesday May 24th, 3pm PT

Register here

Location Online
Contact Elyse Brusher
Email ebrusher@ucla.edu
Phone
May 20, 2022
11:00am to 12:00pm

Claudio Cancino
Architect, Architectural Conservator | MBA | MS 
Senior Project Specialist, Building and Sites department, Getty Conservation Institute

Register here

The community of Kuñotambo, a small village near Cusco, Peru has been a crucial and significant stakeholder for the conservation of its church of Santiago Apóstol. Thanks to them, their church was seismically retrofitted and is now maintained as a case study for similar sites in the region.

The church is one of the four case studies of the Seismic Retrofitting Project, a collaborative project between the Getty Conservation Institute and the Ministry of Culture of Peru. The SRP aims to design, test and model seismic retrofitting techniques suitable to earthen buildings using low-tech materials and local expertise.

The construction documents for the seismic retrofitting of the church were developed by the GCI and the Ministry of Culture of Cusco; where the SRP designed retrofitting techniques were implemented. The construction phase started in 2016 and the church was inaugurated in 2019.

This contribution will explain the importance of the involvement of local communities for the conservation and maintenance of their heritage.

 

Claudia Cancino is a licensed architect from Peru and manages the Getty Conservation Institute Earthen Architecture Initiative which has three components: The Seismic Retrofitting Project in Peru, the Earthen Architecture Course in Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi and the Terra 2021 Congress in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She also manages the Retrofitting and Repair Component of the Bagan Conservation Project. She earned a certificate in conservation at ICCROM in Rome, followed by graduate diploma in business administration at ESAN in Lima. She practiced preservation architecture and has taught Earthen Conservation at several universities. She earned a Master of Science in Historic Preservation and an advanced certificate in conservation from the University of Pennsylvania.

Location Online
Contact Céline Wachsmuth
Email wachsmuthc@g.ucla.edu
Phone
May 15, 2022
2:00pm to 6:00pm

You are cordially invited to   The Vishap: From Fairy Tale to Reality (click on link for schedule)
Sunday May 15th, 2022 at 2:00 - 6:00pm PDT

The Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Studies presents "The Vishap: From Fairy Tale to Reality," by Dr. Arsen Bobokhyan. This event is co-sponsored by the Promise Armenian Institute, the Ararat-Eskijian Museum, and the National Association for Armenian Studies & Research with the participation of the Research Program in Armenian Archaeology and Ethnography at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and the Institute for Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of Sciences.

2:00 - 3:30 PM Royce Hall 314

Illustrated Lecture on documenting and preserving the dragon-stones of Armenia from the 2nd millennium BCE by Dr. Arsen Bobokhyan (PI of this project and Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in Yerevan), followed by a documentary of the dragon-stones and the initial phase of their investigation and restoration.

3:30 - 6:00 PM Powell Rotunda

Presentation of Dr. Bobokhyan's latest monograph Atrpet’s “Scientific Adventures” and Discovery of the Vishap Stelae (in Armenian), followed by a guided tour of an exhibit of thirty high-resolution images of the dragon-stones by Dr. Bobokhyan and recital by the UCLA Armenian Ensemble. The event will conclude with a Wine and Cheese Reception.

The event will livestream on the Ararat-Eskijian Museum's Facebook and YouTube pages. 

Arsen Bobokhyan is Directory of the Institute for Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of Sciences. He received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Prehistory at the University of Tuebingen (2008) and has since been an Asst. Professor of History at Yerevan State University and Lecturer at the American University of Armenia. The author of three books and over a hundred articles, he has served as editor of a number of scholarly journals and has been invited as visiting professor at several universities in the German-speaking world. His research interests include the early Archaeology of the Armenian Plateau and the Caucasus, the Near East and Asia Minor, Cultural Relations, Ancient Barter and Weight Systems and Religion and Cult.

Vishapakar (Photo: Sonashen via Wikimedia Commons, 2013; cropped. CC BY-SA 3.0)

Location Royce Hall 314 & Powell Rotunda
Contact Kristine Martirosyan-Olshansky
Email kristineolsh@ucla.edu
Phone
May 12, 2022
10:00am to 1:00pm

Jeremy Mikecz
Neukom Institude Postdoctoral Fellow
Native American Studies, Darmouth University

In-person, Digital Archaeology Lab, Fowler A163
Thursday May 12th, 2022 from 10am-1pm PT

Register here 

Data visualizations and mapping carry with them some baggage. Graphs lie. Maps hide. Politicians, corporations, and others use them to persuade (at best), or deceive or divide (at worst). However, just as the earliest maps were simply tools intended to help us locate our place in the world, qualitative, humanistic visualization allows us to more systematically interrogate historical narratives, construct alternative narratives, and compare the difference between the two. In this hands-on workshop, Dr. Jeremy Mikecz introduces participants to inspiring examples of visualizations that reveal rather than conceal human stories. He also offers a tutorial demonstrating simple methods for producing similar visualizations in the free, open-source program Inkscape. Participants will have the opportunity to create their own qualitative, humanistic, or narrative visualization by the end of the workshop.

Sponsored by the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and UCLA Latin American Institute

Location Fowler A163 (Digital Archaeology Lab)
Contact Alba Menéndez Pereda & Rachel Schloss
Email albamenendez@ucla.edu & rachelschloss@g.ucla.edu
Phone