ABSTRACT: Conservation science and technical art history, together with other fields like archaeometry, are part of what is known as heritage science. Historically, research in these fields has focused on artifacts from non-Indigenous cultures or ancient civilizations with no direct living descendants. However, the scientific investigation of items from living Indigenous communities introduces unique challenges. This talk will explore two of the most underdeveloped topics in heritage science in the context of the scientific investigation of Indigenous material culture: ethics and community engagement. Based on Puglieri's work, the discussion will focus on the specific context of conservation science, technical art history, and plant-based materials, offering insights and new perspectives on these critical issues.

BIO: Thiago Puglieri is an Assistant Professor at the UCLA Department of Art History and the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage. His teaching and research are located at the intersections of art history, chemistry, and conservation. Puglieri’s interests are in technical art history and conservation science, focusing on Indigenous cultural heritage from the Americas and community-engaged research. His projects delve into the historical and cultural aspects while also exploring scientific and technological advancements within Indigenous cultures. Prior to joining UCLA, Puglieri was an associate professor at the Department of Museology, Conservation, and Restoration of the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil (2015-2022).

ABSTRACT: The Chumash Indians of southern California made and used beads of stone, bone, and shell for over 8,000 years, but what did they use them for? Beads were used as a form of adornment and eventually as a currency. They also served to integrate people separated by long distances. In some areas of California, beads were brought for regularly scheduled feasts to help with the expenses of the dancers, musicians, and the food provided. More than 22 species of shell beads can be found in California. Some types were used as money by the Chumash. Beads made on the Northern Channel Islands were traded widely, as far as the Bay Area and even the Southwestern United States. The context and shifting uses of beads are reviewed, and an earlier date for the first use of money in North America is proposed.

BIO: Lynn H. Gamble is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and has been active in anthropological archaeology, with a focus in California, for over 45 years.

Her interests include shell bead money and ornamentation, emergence of inequality, cultural and ritual landscapes, social identity, mortuary patterns, long distance exchange, ritual and sociopolitical complexity, culture contact, climate change, and long-term transformations among hunter-gatherer societies. She focuses on the archaeology of the Santa Barbara Channel region and the emergence of complexity among hunter-gatherers. One of her significant publications is the book The Chumash World at European Contact: Power, Trade, and Feasting Among Complex Hunter-Gatherers with University of California Press. In addition, she is author of over 70 articles, chapters, edited volumes, and monographs. Recent articles that focus on shell beads include “The Origin and Use of Shell Bead Money in California" (2020) and “Navigating Cooperative Marketplaces: the Chumash Indians and the Dynamics of Hunting/Gathering/Fishing Economies” (2025).

The Refugee Material Culture Initiative (RMCI) is a community-engaged digital humanities project that rethinks how refugee histories are preserved and shared. Instead of relying on institutions to define what matters, RMCI works with refugee communities to decide which objects are preserved, how their stories are told, and how they are made accessible through digital surrogates, virtual exhibits, and educational resources.

This talk introduces RMCI through its first partnership with the Vietnamese Heritage Museum in Westminster, California, and shows how institutional resources—technology, expertise, and infrastructure—can be leveraged to support community-led preservation and storytelling. The presentation will also feature brief reflections from three artifact donors—Nguyễn Thanh Thủy, Nguyên Chí Long, and Lê Trị—who will speak about their objects and the experience of seeing their histories digitally preserved.

Kelly Nguyen
Assistant Professor
Classics

Join the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press to celebrate the publication of The Kahramanmaraş Valley Survey: A Crossroads Along the Syro-Anatolian Frontier. This survey presents a study of local landscape histories in the Kahramanmaraş valley—a previously understudied, but pivotal, crossroads along the Syro-Anatolian frontier. The Holocene vegetation history is explored in relation to climatic changes and human impact through the pollen analytical results of a deep core obtained from a former Sağlık (Gavur) lakebed. Extensive surface surveys carried out in the region between 1993 and 2000 form the basis of the settlement pattern studies beginning with the first permanent settlement of the valley in the Neolithic, and ending with the Islamic era. Including results of a series of intensive full coverage and transect surveys around Domuztepe, the analysis of a long historical record, diverse physical environment, and a significant number of archaeological sites are used to outline the myriad ways the ancient residents of this region between Syria and Anatolia made it their home for over seven thousand years

Elizabeth Carter was a Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology in the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department at UCLA and a former Chair of the Department and of the Archaeology Program. She is presently a Professor Emerita and Research Professor in the department. She has done archaeological fieldwork in Iran, Iraq and, since the late eighties, in the southeastern region of Türkiye . She began her survey of the Karamanmaraş region in 1993 in co-operation with the local museum. The present volume presents the results of surface and environmental studies carried out in the region.

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