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Recent studies in comparative-historical linguistics and genetics have provided valuable insights into the origins and flourishing of the Sino-Tibetan language family, one of the largest in the world. Evidence suggests that this linguistic group emerged and thrived approximately 8000-5000 years ago in the Yellow River valley, north China. Notably, the divergence of proto-Sino Tibetan languages occurred around 5900 years ago. These significant linguistic shifts coincided with archaeological findings that point to the development of the Yangshao culture and its expansion towards the Tibetan Plateau, in both westward and southwestward directions. The Yangshao culture, renowned for its centripetal settlement layouts, large public buildings, highly developed painted pottery, and the use of amphorae for producing and consuming alcoholic beverages, fostered a culture of communal ritual feasts. These communal feasting activities played a crucial role in establishing diverse social relations and reinforcing cultural identity through the production, processing, and sharing of food and alcoholic beverages. This practice emphasized collaboration and connections among related groups during the expansion of proto Sino-Tibetan populations into new territories, occurring amidst a period of climatic fluctuations.
Li Liu is the Sir Robert Ho Tung Professor in Chinese Archaeology Stanford University. She joined the Stanford faculty in 2010. Previously, she taught archaeology at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia for 14 years and was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Humanities in Australia. She has a BA in History (Archaeology Major) from Northwest University in China, an MA in Anthropology from Temple University in Philadelphia, and a PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University. Her research interests include the archaeology of early China (Neolithic and Bronze Age), ritual practice in ancient China, cultural interaction between China and other parts of the Old World, domestication of plants and animals in China, development of complex societies and state formation, settlement archaeology, and urbanism.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the UCLA Waystation Initiative, Cyrus Tang Foundation, UCLA Center for Chinese Studies, and the UCLA Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library.
Contact Lyssa Stapleton
Email waystation@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone
When I joined our students for their training excavation in September 2021 on the Swedish Island of Öland, it occurred to me that by focusing on the act of recovering objects and information, archaeology may be missing the most central aspect of the site. For the site was surrounded by lush vegetation and in the middle of an intense process of regeneration, involving everything from small creatures in the soil to huge trees reaching into the sky.
In this talk, I will trace the emergence of this insight and its implications for rethinking archaeology´s temporality and, in particular, the 1964 Venice Charter on Conservation and Restoration which has been the most influential 20th century document on policy guiding heritage conservation and restoration. I will also discuss implications for the response of archaeology to climate change, going beyond understanding long-term environmental change and safeguarding threatened sites toward developing strategies for increasing cultural resilience and sustainability. Archaeologists have long claimed to be working on the past for the benefit of future generations—now it is time to explicitly address the future and draw on the full potential of archaeology to make human societies more sustainable (while perhaps improving the life of non-human lifeforms too).
6pm Lecture
7pm Reception
Cornelius Holtorf is Professor of Archaeology as well as Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden. He studied in Germany and the UK, received a Doctorate from the University of Wales in 1998 (supervised by Michael Shanks), and has been living in Sweden for more than two decades, since 2008 in Kalmar. Since 2015, he has been directing the Graduate School in Contract Archaeology (GRASCA) comprising 9 PhD projects. He is currently a Getty Scholar working on “Heritage in Transformation”. For more information about Holtorf see http://lnu.se/en/unescochair and http://corneliusholtorf.com.
Contact Michelle Jacobson
Email mjacobson@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone
ABSTRACT: Over the past twenty years, archaeologists have come to realize that far from being a cultural backwater, the northern lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula were integral to the development of the ancient Maya civilization. Communities constructed humongous platform mounds around the edges of the hilly Puuc Region as early as 800 BCE, at the same time that some intrepid settlers established the first farming villages within the Puuc Region itself. These earliest Puuc agricultural communities followed similar site plans that included central platform mounds and, surprisingly, full-scale ancient
Mesoamerican ballcourts. Investigations at the two early ballcourt sites of Xanab Chak and Paso del Macho over the past five years have uncovered amazing ritual offerings including a series of jade pendants and the only known Preclassic Period ceramic figurine from northern Yucatan. This talk will focus on what these very recent findings tell us about the importance of even the smallest communities in the north, and how they will necessitate even further alterations to our understanding of the origins of the ancient Maya civilization.
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
ABSTRACT: In my talk I will discuss the connections between Archaeology, Heritage and the Future, using examples ranging from prehistoric futures to UNESCO World Heritage to contemporary long-term repositories for nuclear waste. I will also discuss the concept of ‘heritage futures’ and discuss how it matters in relation to sustainable development and address challenges posed by climate change and violent human conflicts. After this session you will understand (I hope!) what the Archaeology of the Future is all about and how you can become a Future Archaeologist yourself.
BIO: Cornelius Holtorf is a Future Archaeologist and Professor of Archaeology as well as Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden. He studied in Germany and the UK, received a Doctorate from the University of Wales in 1998, and has been living in Sweden for more than two decades. He is currently a Getty Scholar working on “Heritage in Transformation”.
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
ABSTRACT: In recent years, the focus of Egyptological scholarship has slowly moved away from narratives focused solely on royal monuments and texts to interrogate how kings and kingship fit into broader ancient Egyptian society. My current book project seeks to better understand where, when, why, and how non-royal Egyptians in specifically the Middle Kingdom period (ca. 2030 - 1650 BCE) engaged with kingship.
In this talk, I will go over my initial motivation for working on this topic and the ways in which my thinking has evolved, shifting from focusing on binary absence vs. presence of kingship in non-royal lives to more carefully considering the ways in which kingship was engaged with by those outside of the royal court. Rather than impose strict categorizations, my approach instead highlights the variability of engagement with kingship in the non-royal sphere, including for instance encounters hinging on the durability of architecture or the experience of occasion.
BIO: Luiza Osorio G Silva is Assistant Professor of Art History, Archaeology, and Visual Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She is currently the Assistant Director of the Mastaba of Akhmerutnisut Documentation Project (MAD-P) in Giza, Egypt. Her research interests include ancient Egyptian kingship, monumentality, and the audiences and contexts for art and architecture.
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
Archaeology has been perceived as a discipline where experts are the authority of the past, often overshadowing local and Indigenous interpretations of history. However, archaeology is undergoing a transformative shift. Many archaeologists now understand that descendant communities are not passive recipients of archaeological insights but active collaborators and custodians of their own histories. This talk will showcase Acabado’s work in the Philippines where community engagement is foundational, not an afterthought. At sites like the Ifugao Rice Terraces and Bicol, methodologies weave in local knowledge, skills, and traditions, offering a layered understanding of the past. Furthermore, community involvement promotes a renewed sense of ownership and pride in local cultural heritage. It is a reciprocal relationship: archaeologists achieve richer interpretations, while communities strengthen their historical narratives. Join us in exploring the intersection of community and archaeology in the Philippines and discover how genuine collaborative research can reshape an entire discipline.
6pm Lecture
7pm Reception
Stephen B. Acabado is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA. He is recognized for his community-oriented work in the Philippines and has dedicated his career to the study of the Ifugao Rice Terraces, a site of significant historical and cultural importance that has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Dr. Acabado places community engagement at its core of his practice. He staunchly advocates for the involvement of local communities in archaeological endeavors, ensuring that their histories, perspectives, and insights are incorporated into the larger narrative.
Contact Michelle Jacobson
Email mjacobson@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone
ABSTRACT: During the Cold War the Central Intelligence Agency, with the help of ROC government in Taiwan and ROC Air Force, flew U-2 spy planes missions over Mainland China between 1957 and 1968. A good portion of China was covered. After the films were declassified by the CIA and by the ROCAF, Lin has been doing researches, collecting and indexing these images in the past 15 years. He has been working with the National Archives and Academia Sinica, and providing help and images to researchers in the area of remote sensing archeology, military history and architectural history.
The CIA took these photos right at the dawn of rapid population growth and large scale urbanization of modern China. With these images you are able to peek into China’s past. In this presentation Lin will give a brief history of the spy missions, aerial photograph equipment used, and a good number of image samples over China and some other portions of the world.
BIO: Lin XU is an independent researcher specializing in curating and georeferencing declassified images collected by U.S. military and intelligence agencies using aerial and space-based platforms. In collaboration with U.S. National Archives and Academia Sinica, Lin has put together a large collection of legacy remote sensing images over China to support academic institutions engaged in research on archeology, architectural history, and historical geography. He lives in Boston and works as a computer engineer for an IT company he co-founded.
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
ABSTRACT: As the capital city and administrative center of the Theban kings during the Hyksos expulsion of the 17th Dynasty (ca. 1650-1521 BC), Deir el-Ballas is of tremendous importance in the history and archeology of Egypt. The site is located on the west bank of the Nile to the north of the town of Ballas proper by the villages of El-Deir and El-Deir el-Gharbi.
The site was first excavated by the Hearst Expedition from the United States under the direction of George Reisner in 1900-1901. In order to clarify the records of that expedition and publish the site, four seasons of archaeological work were undertaken by Peter Lacovara between 1980-1986 under the
sponsorship of the American Research Center in Egypt and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Since 2017 the Deir el-Ballas Expedition has been working together with the Qena Antiquities Inspectorate to restore and protect these archaeological remains and to preserve this important site for future generations. The goals of the new work of the Deir el-Ballas Expedition are twofold, to publish George Reisner’s original excavation records along with our new archaeological research at the site- to understand the previous excavations and to protect and preserve the ancient monuments.
BIO: Nicholas (Nick) Brown is an American Egyptologist who has worked as an archaeologist in Egypt since 2011. He received his MA degree in Egyptology from the American University in Cairo in 2016, and currently is an Egyptology PhD candidate at the UCLA.
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
ABSTRACT: As the second most prolific exporter of cotton in the mid-19th century, Mobile, Alabama was built by enslaved laborers. As such, after the Emancipation Proclamation, there was, necessarily, a dramatic reordering of both economic and social structures. In addition to this new economic landscape, newly emancipated Black people gained geographic autonomy, with the ability to live far from the prying eyes of a former overseer or enslaver. By doing a comparative analysis of the archaeological material found at two free Black sites in what was at the time unincorporated Mobile-I explore the different ways in which 'free' Black life was carried out in the American South directly after Emancipation. The two sites, one in Africatown, Alabama, and the other near Magnolia cemetery highlight opposite ends of the spectrum of Afro-diasporic experiences in America at the time (generational enslavement vs. 5 years of enslavement) allowing for multifaceted representation of Black life. Additionally, as I engage with these two sites through collections already excavated, I discuss the value of collections-based research, especially in the archaeology of marginalized communities.
BIO: Madison Aubey received her BA in Anthropology from Columbia University. This past Spring, she completed her MA in Anthropology at UCLA. Her research has focused on broadening academic understandings of the African Diasporic experience in the United States and her work has taken her across the American South as well as the hinterlands of the Republic of Bénin. She is continuing this same line of research, with a focus on foodways, for her doctoral research.
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
ABSTRACT: This presentation will cover two archaeological case studies around fish in Taiwan that I have been working on with Dr. Chieh-Hsiang Lin at Academia Sinica. Despite fish being one of the most abundant resources on the island, there has been very limited research about it until recently. Our first study, centered around the otolith assemblage in Southwest Taiwan, aims to examine changes in fish resource consumption. Instead of attributing these changes to ancient overfishing, we find that the transition in the otolith assemblage is more likely linked to alterations in the coastal environment. Our second study further investigate the large yellow croaker, an endangered species in East Asia also found in our sites. By comparing fossils, archaeological remains, and modern individuals, we discover that the subgroup around Taiwan has undergone transitions in life history, and their representation is also decreasing compared to the past, similar to the analysis of the subgroup near China.
BIO: Yen Chun Wang is a third year student in the IDP program of UCLA. He received his BA degree in National Taiwan University anthropology and MA degree from UCLA archaeology. His is interested in human environment interaction, such as fish consumption in the past and more recently, sugar production in Early Modern Taiwan.
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone 310-825-4169
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