Archaeology News and Announcements

from Brown University's Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World

Month: December 2014

CFP: The Future of the Past: From Amphipolis to Mosul — Deadline December 21, 2014

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On December 19, 2014

In CFP

THE FUTURE OF THE PAST: FROM AMPHIPOLIS TO MOSUL
New Approaches to Cultural Heritage Preservation in the Eastern Mediterranean

April 10-11, 2015

University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Philadelphia, PA)

 ***Call for papers: deadline December 21, 2014***

See website for more details: http://futureofthepast.wix.com/culturalheritage

Interdisciplinary conference for young scholars (graduate and postgraduate) hosted by the University of Pennsylvania (Center for Ancient Studies), Bryn Mawr College (Dept. of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Graduate Group in Archaeology, Classics, and Art History), and Temple University (Tyler School of Art, Dept. of Art History), with additional support from the Penn Cultural Heritage Center and the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
The objective of this meeting is to bring together graduate students and emerging scholars from various academic disciplines to present new avenues in the field of cultural heritage. Many young scholars today have an interdisciplinary background in liberal arts studies that allows them to apply novel, innovative ways in the protection and preservation of our shared cultural property. For this conference we would like to focus on case studies from the eastern Mediterranean, including the Middle East and northern Africa. These regions are of particular interest because they have been recently affected by devastating wars, political turmoil, and economic hardship.
We would like to address various issues of cultural heritage including the protection, preservation, and management of archaeological sites and cultural landscapes, the introduction of new technologies for the conservation and studying of cultural artifacts, and the use of digital media in educating and sharing our cultural treasures with a broader audience. We believe that participation in this conference will promote intellectual discourse among new scholars and inspire them to continue to seek collaborations across disciplines by employing a variety of new practices in the protection of our cultural heritage.
Keynote speaker: Dr. Morag M. Kersel, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, DePaul University
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION:
Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words to mbeeler@brynmawr.edu by December 21, 2014. Applicants will be informed about their submission status by January 25, 2015.Conference proceedings will be published in digital format by December 2015.
EXPENSES:
Participation and attendance in the conference is free. The organizers will not cover travel and accommodation expenses.
ORGANIZERS:
Konstantinos Chalikias, PhD, postdoctoral researcher, University of Athens
Maggie Beeler, PhD candidate, Bryn Mawr College
Ariel Pearce, PhD candidate, Temple University
Steve Renette, PhD candidate, University of Pennsylvania

CFP: Sexuality in Ancient Art — Deadline March 1, 2015

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On December 15, 2014

In CFP

Call for Papers: Sexuality in Ancient Art

LCC Panel, 2016 SCS Meetings, San Francisco
Organizers: Bryan Burns (bburns@wellesley.edu) and Sarah Levin-Richardson (sarahlr@uw.edu)
Sponsored by the Lambda Classical Caucus

The 2016 meeting of the SCS/AIA coincides with the twentieth anniversary of Natalie Boymel Kampen’s influential edited volume Sexuality in Ancient Art: Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Italy (Cambridge 1996). This landmark publication marked the impact of feminist perspectives on art history and classical studies with a variety of approaches to the relationship between gender, sexuality, and representation. Kampen’s volume brought new attention to the role of gender in viewership (especially women as viewers and consumers of art), to the social and political effects of the gaze, to the body as contested territory onto which social, religious, psychological, and political norms were overwritten, to ways of theorizing desire, and to later receptions of ancient sexual material. Moreover, many of the contributions bridged the scholarly divide between the interpretation of public monuments and consideration of small-scale arts and domestic scenes, demonstrating the effects that  monumental art could have on individuals and the ability of non-monumental art to help construct or destabilize larger institutions and power structures.
In this panel, we honor Kampen’s legacy by assessing the current state of scholarship on sexuality and visual representation, focusing on the progress we’ve made since the volume was published and future directions for growth. In keeping with the goals of the original volume, we seek abstracts from a variety of approaches (e.g., art-historical, archaeological, socio-cultural, literary, theoretical) and ancient Mediterranean cultures. We welcome new work on topics of importance to the original volume (the social/political implications of viewership, the gaze, the body, desire, etc.), as well as scholarship influenced by methodologies and topics that have gained visibility since Kampen’s publication, such as queer and trans theory, embodiment, affect, and culture contact.
Please send abstracts that follow the guidelines for individual abstracts (see the SCS website) by email to Deborah Kamen (dkamen@uw.edu), not to the panel organizers, by March 1, 2015. Please do not identify yourself anywhere in the abstract, as submissions will be blind refereed.

PhD Scholarship Opportunity at University of Glasgow — Deadline 23 January 2015

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On December 9, 2014

In Funding & Fellowships, News and Events

University of Glasgow Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith PhD Scholarship Competition 2015/16:

Consuming Identities in the ‘Cradle of Civilisations’ – Food Consumption and the Emergence of Social Complexity in Greater Mesopotamia

Supervisors: Dr Claudia Glatz (Archaeology/School of Humanities) and Dr. Jaime Toney (School of Geographical and Earth Sciences)

This project will shed new light onto practices of food consumption and identity in the proverbial
 ‘Cradle of Civilizations’ by investigating the role of specific organic substances in the (re-)production 
and negotiation of social status and cultural identities at a time when the world’s first urban societies
 developed in greater Mesopotamia. Drawing on recent anthropological and archaeological theories of
 emergent social complexity and the role of food consumption in these processes, the proposed 
project will examine questions of diet and food habits using a tightly integrated framework of historical, 
iconographic and archaeological contextual analysis in conjunction with methods derived from organic
 geochemistry to isolate and identify the residues of perishable substances on pottery and lithic tools.
 Of particular interest will be substances generally associated with socially significant consumption 
events such as wine and beer, whose preference may indicate social and cultural differences in 
consumption practices in the study region. Secondary products of livestock-rearing such as milk,
 yoghurt and cheese, will be investigated to provide insights into the relationships of settled farmers 
and more mobile pastoral groups and their connections with the highland regions of the Zagros. The
 question of the local production or importation of such substances will also be addressed. The focus
 region of the project comprises the south Mesopotamian plains and the Zagros piedmonts of modern-day 
Iraq from the fifth to the second millennium BC.
Candidates interested in being considered for funded PhD study on this project are encouraged to make informal contact with the Lead Supervisor (claudia.glatz@glasgow.ac.uk) in the first instance. Further information, including details of how to apply, can be found on the Postgraduate Research web pages:
http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/postgraduateresearch/scholarships/kelvinsmith/shortlistedscholarshipprojects/
The closing date for receipt of applications is Friday, 23 January 2015. Applications should be emailed to Adeline Callander (adeline.callander@glasgow.ac.uk).

Free eBook: Marcos Martinón-Torres (ed.) – Craft and Science: International Perspectives on Archaeological Ceramics

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On December 3, 2014

In News and Events

At <http://www.qscience.com/page/books/uclq-cas> is this downloadable book:

[Go there for links to book and/or individual chapters]
====================================================
UCL Qatar Series in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
ISSN: 2312-5004
Volume 1

Craft and science: International perspectives on archaeological ceramics

Edited by Marcos Martinón-Torres

ISBN: 978-9927-101-75-5

Foreword (selection)

Ceramics are among the most abundant materials recovered in archaeological sites. Traditionally, they have served as the main staple for archaeologists to establish chronological sequences within sites and cultural affiliations between sites. They are also a primary source for a wealth of information about past economies, social structures and ritual behaviour. In addition, ceramics preserve in their bodies the traces of countless forms of experimentation, knowledge transmission, technical ingenuity and artistic sensitivity, transcending the boundaries between art, craft and science both in their original production, and in their current study.
As a sustained area of research, the study of ceramics has historically served as a prime arena for innovation, both through the pioneer application of instrumental analyses and as a core foundation and testing ground for influential archaeological theories. Inevitably, some research methods are well-established in some regions, whereas they are still emerging in others. Also the integration between science-based approaches and archaeological theory is uneven. However, emerging academic traditions, and those in less-resourced regions, should not be overshadowed by the more established paradigms. While it is impossible to keep up with all the work carried out on archaeological ceramics worldwide, it is essential that researchers continue to exchange and compare their methods, results and ideas, and that these are made available to a broader archaeological readership.
This book aims to facilitate this exchange and update of information on diverse approaches to archaeological ceramics across much of the world.

About the Editor

Marcos Martinón-Torres is Professor of Archaeological Science at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, where he co-ordinates an MSc in the Technology and Analysis of Archaeological Materials and supervises several research students working on ancient materials and technologies across the world. His research interests include material culture and technology, the applications of science to archaeological problems, and the interplay between archaeology, anthropology, science and history. Ongoing projects focus on Renaissance alchemy in Europe, Pre-Columbian metallurgy in America, and the logistics behind the making of the Chinese Terracotta Army.

Chapters

Foreword –  PDF
Pots as signals: Explaining the enigma of long-distance ceramic exchange –  PDF
Lessons from the Elephant’s Child: Questioning ancient ceramics –  PDF
Inferring provenance, manufacturing technique, and firing temperatures of the Monagrillo ware (3520–1300 cal BC), Panama’s first pottery –  PDF
The use of andesite temper in Inca and pre-Inca pottery from the region of Cuzco, Peru –  PDF
50 left feet: The manufacture and meaning of effigy censers from Lamanai, Belize –  PDF
Molding the ‘collapse’: Technological analysis of the Terminal Classic molded-carved vases from Altun Ha, Belize –  PDF
Ceramic technology and the global world: First technological assessment of the Romita ware of colonial Mexico –  PDF
Pottery production in Santa Ponsa (Majorca, Spain) from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age (1100–50 BC): Ceramics, technology and society –  PDF
Archaeometric investigation of Punic lamps from Ibiza (Balearic Islands, Spain) –  PDF
Ceramic technology between the Final Bronze Age and the First Iron Age in NE Italy: The case of Oppeano (Verona) –  PDF
Hispanic terra sigillata productions documented on the Catalan coast: Some unexpected results and new issues –  PDF
The ways of the lustre: Looking for the Tunisian connection –  PDF
Capodimonte porcelain: A unique manufacture –  PDF
Late Neolithic pottery productions in Syria. Evidence from Tell Halula (Euphrates valley): A technological approach –  PDF
Assyrian palace ware definition and chaîne opératoire: Preliminary results from Nineveh, Nimrud, and Aššur –  PDF
Messages impressed in clay: Scientific study of Iron Age Judahite bullae from Jerusalem –  PDF
The geochemistry and distribution of Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic wares of the territory of ancient Sagalassos (SW Turkey):
A reconnaissance study –  PDF
The colour and golden shine of early silver Islamic lustre –  PDF
Experiments with double chamber sunken up-draught kilns –  PDF
Petro-mineralogical and geochemical characterisation of Middle Neolithic Bükk Culture fine ware from Garadna, NE Hungary –  PDF
Archaeometric investigation of Celtic graphitic pottery from two archaeological sites in Hungary –  PDF
Archaeometric investigation of Buda white ware (12th–14th century AD, North Hungary): Initial questions and first results –  PDF
The ceramic technology of the architectural glazed tiles of Huangwa Kiln, Liaoning Province, China –  PDF
Parallel developments in Chinese porcelain technology in the 13th – 14th centuries AD –  PDF
Luminescence dating of ceramic building materials: application to the study of early medieval churches in north-western France and south-eastern England –  PDF
Computerised documentation of painted decoration on pottery vessels using 3D scanning –  PDF
Insights into manufacturing techniques of archaeological pottery: Industrial X-ray computed tomography as a tool in the examination of cultural material –  PDF
Thermal shock resistance of tempered archaeological ceramics –  PDF
The second life of ceramics: a new home in a lime environment –  PDF

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