Noteworthy

SARAH BECKMANN featured on The Ozymandias Project

Sarah Beckmann, assistant professor of Classics and core faculty member of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, was recently featured on The Ozymandias Project podcast Ancient Office Hours. She discussed comparisons between Rome and America, examined Roman domestic art, shrines, & cult practices, and explored the universal nature of religion/spirituality in the ancient world and the challenges of communicating them in the modern era. Founder and host of the Ozymandias Project is classicist Lexie Henning, who “engages in thoughtful discussions with her guests focused on exploring the ancient world through the sense of contemporary storytelling and examines the practical applicability of a degree in ancient studies in modern society. The Ozymandias Project also works to introduce our audience to a game-based learning model through live-streamed archaeogaming events,” according to their website.


STEPHEN ACABADO authors on-line article on return of urns to the Philippines

Stephen Acabado, professor of anthropology at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, authored an article on Rappler, the Philippine on-line news website, on “The return of ancient Cotabato limestone urns to the PH, the return of dignity to Filipino heritage.” The article appeared on January 9, 2024. Acabado is director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies; chair of the interdepartmental archaeology program of the Cotsen Institute; and director of the Program for Early Modern Southeast Asia at UCLA.


ANNE AUSTIN to livestream on tattooed women of ancient Egypt

Anne Austin, who received her PhD from the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA in 2014 and is currently assistant professor of anthropology and archaeology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, will livestream an hour-long presentation on “Ancient Ink: Discovering the Tattooed Women of Ancient Egypt” for the Archaeological Institute of America on October 18, 2023 at 5:00 pm PDT.


IFUGAO ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT featured on UCLA Global Impact website

The UCLA Global Impact website of September 20 has a feature on the Ifugao Archaeological Project, led by Dr. Stephen Acabado, director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies and core faculty member of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

 

https://www.global.ucla.edu/impactstory/269574


UCLA WAYSTATION INITIATIVE on All Things Considered

Lyssa Stapleton from the Cotsen Institute was interviewed by All Things Considered about the new Waystation Initiative. Listen to a discussion between Lyssa and Janaya Williams, host of KCRW’s All Things Considered, about the importance of returning cultural objects to nations and communities of origin. 
 

DANIELLE KALANI HEINZ featured in UCLA video series

Danielle Kalani Heinz, PhD candidate in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, is featured in a video in the UCLA Newsroom series “Silly Questions, Smart Bruins.”  The video touches on topics including whether or not Indiana Jones is actually an archaeologist and the diversity of archaeological treasures in Heinz’s native Hawaii.


BRENDAN BURKE awarded AIA fellowship

Brendan Burke, 1998 UCLA PhD in archaeology, has been awarded the Richard C. MacDonald Iliad Endowment for Archaeological Research by the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). The fellowship is designated for research in regions that supply context to the study of Troy and generally help elucidate the Trojan War and its impact on ancient Mediterranean civilization. Burke is currently Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Classical Studies at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.


MOUPI MUKHOPADHYAY in UCLA Grad Slam final

Moupi Mukhopadhyay, PhD candidate in the Conservation of Material Culture Program at the Cotsen Institute, was one of ten finalists in the 2023 UCLA Annual Grad Slam. In her three- minute presentation, illuminated with five slides, Mukhopadhyay presented her research on “Protecting the Kerala Murals: Using Materials Science to Interpret Kerala’s Past.” Mukhopadhyay also serves as the PhD Conservation Program representative to the Graduate Student Association of Archaeology. The PhD program in the Conservation of Material Culture is offered by the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, housed in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and the Division of Social Sciences. In 2017 Robyn Price, at the time a PhD candidate in the Archaeology Program at the Cotsen Institute, also made the final with her presentation on “Unearthing the Past: An Archaeology of Scent.”

 


AYESHA FUENTES publishes article in Sapiens

Ayesha Fuentes, a 2014 graduate of the UCLA/Getty MA program in Conservation of Ethnographic Materials and former employee of the Fowler Museum at UCLA, has published the article Reconsidering Fragility in Museums - and the World in the online magazine Sapiens. Following the climate protests at different art museums, in this article she considers the role of museums in the unsustainable exploitation of nature and cultural resources. Fuentes is an objects conservator and material historian specialized in the care of archaeological and ethnographic collections. After receiving her MA at UCLA, she earned a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. She is currently the Isaac Newton Trust Research Associate in Conservation at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.


JUSTIN DUNNAVANT holds interview on National Geographic podcast

National Geographic has released a podcast interview by Justin Dunnavant with six-time Grammy-nominated jazz musician Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah. Dunnavant, who is a National Geographic Explorer, is assistant professor of anthropology and core faculty member of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. The two discussed music, archaeology and ancestral memory as part of the series “The Soul of Music,” which covers music, exploration and Black History.