September 2023 – Page 2 – Archaeology News and Announcements

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On September 20, 2023

In News and Events, Uncategorized

The American Research Center for Egypy podcast is back, and this season will focus on ARCE’s 75th Anniversary. The season will feature four episodes; the first of which will delve into the founding and early beginnings of the American Research Center in Egypt.

HCDG Call for Speakers – “It’s Complicated”

The HCDG is a network run out of the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre that brings together a large, diverse community of people actively engaging with a vast array of topics surrounding heritage and colonialism. For the upcoming academic year (2023-2024), the HCDG invites proposals for presentations centred around the theme: “It’s Complicated”.

BUT WHAT DOES “COMPLICATED” MEAN?

The term “complicated” has often been used to dismiss or excuse action when heritage matters related to colonialism are discussed. The theme “It’s Complicated” seeks to reclaim the word as a tool for unravelling nuanced colonial issues throughout time and exploring the barriers as well as the potential avenues for engaging with them in the present.

By this call, we encourage submissions from all disciplines and professions that address colonial issues that may be characterised as “complicated” with the view to exploring their complexity.

Potential themes include but are not limited to:

Museum Studies and Praxis
Heritage Narratives and Representations
Institutional Policies and Practice
Cultural Heritage and the Law
Heritage Ethics

PRESENTATION AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The HCDG will hold one-hour online sessions from October 2023 – March 2024.

Speakers will have 20-25 minutes to give their presentations, which will then be followed by a moderated 30 minute Q&A session. Participants have the option of having their presentations recorded and published on the HCDG YouTube channel.

To submit a proposal, please send the following to hcdg.universityofcambridge@gmail.com:

An abstract of maximum 250 words
A bio of maximum 100 words

Application deadline: 20 AUGUST 2023 (GMT 23:59)

Applicants will be notified about the outcome of their submissions by 31 August 2023.

Getty Scholars program at the Getty Villa

In Funding & Fellowships, Position Announcements

The J. Paul Getty Museum is pleased to announce the research theme for the 2024 – 2025 Getty Scholars Program at the Villa, “Anatolia – The Classical World in Context.” Applications for residential scholar grants and postdoctoral fellowships are due on 2 October 2023. Please share this announcement with interested colleagues.

The Getty Scholars Program at the Villa will examine relations between the Greek cities of western Asia Minor and Anatolian civilizations from the 2nd millennium to the Roman Imperial period. In the Late Bronze Age, diplomatic ties linked the Hittite and Luwian kingdoms with the Mycenaeans at Miletos. During the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, the eastern Greeks were at the forefront of revolutionary advances in the arts, monumental architecture, poetry, philosophy, history, and the natural sciences. This “Ionian Enlightenment,” however, culminated within a dynamic cultural and political setting alongside Phrygia, Lydia, Caria, and Lycia, which had already emerged as regional powers over the previous two centuries. Subject to Persian rule after 547 BCE, Greek and Anatolian communities redefined their own identities until the conquest of Alexander the Great and the advent of Roman rule once again transformed the cultural landscapes of the entire region.

The 2024–2025 Getty Scholars Program at the Villa continues a two-year initiative on the interconnectivities that conditioned relations between Anatolian cultures and their Greek neighbors, and the consequent impact on the wider Mediterranean. Priority will be given to research projects that explore multidisciplinary approaches to art and material culture, texts, and other sources.

Deadline: 2 October 2023

How to Apply:

The research theme statement, as well as detailed instructions, eligibility requirements, and a link to apply are available online at: https://www.getty.edu/projects/villa-scholars-program/

Residential grants and fellowships are available for scholars at all stages of their careers:

Getty scholar grants for established scholars who have attained distinction in their fields
Getty postdoctoral fellowships

Address inquiries to:

Attn: (Type of Grant)

The Getty Foundation

Phone: 310 440.7374

E-mail: VillaScholars@getty.edu; researchgrants@getty.edu

CLIR Awards $644,147 to Recordings at Risk Projects

In Funding & Fellowships, News and Events

August 1, 2023—In a significant effort to safeguard and celebrate our cultural heritage, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) announces the allocation of $644,147 to support 17 pioneering projects under the Recordings at Risk program. Building upon the success of the 147 previously funded projects, which have already digitally preserved over 55,000 vulnerable audio and/or visual recordings, this tenth cohort of recipients marks a crucial milestone in cultural preservation.

The cultural significance of these endangered analog audiovisual materials cannot be overstated. The ravages of time, coupled with the scarcity of compatible playback equipment and looming and environmental hazards, threaten their very existence. The grant recipients will employ state-of-the-art technologies and partner with highly skilled digitization service providers to rescue these invaluable records from the brink of extinction.

Among the diverse array of recordings to be digitized, the projects will illuminate the rich tapestry of twentieth-century Native life in America, showcase the evolution of music history, capture the impact of labor and social justice activism, provide unique insights into the wonders of animal life, preserve the multifaceted perspectives and creativity of people from the heart of Appalachia, and illuminate the vibrant lights of Las Vegas.

Through the support of the Mellon Foundation and administered by CLIR, the Recordings at Risk program continues to empower diverse organizations in their mission to preserve rare and unique audio and/or visual recordings of high scholarly value. Since its inception in 2017, the program has awarded grants of between $10,000 and $50,000 to diverse organizations, providing vital resources necessary to save cultural memory that would otherwise be lost to time.

As we race against time to salvage these delicate and fading pieces of our history, each successfully digitized recording becomes a vital testament to the past. This extraordinary endeavor underscores CLIR’s unwavering commitment to cultural preservation, recognizing the urgent need to protect our collective heritage and ensure that the voices and experiences of diverse communities resonate across generations.

Visit the program’s Funded Projects page for more information about individual projects and the independent review panel, which plays a pivotal role in shaping the program’s funding recommendations. CLIR extends its gratitude to all applicants to and reviewers for their unwavering dedication and passion, especially during times of ongoing social duress.

CLIR is in the process of finalizing the next call for proposals for Recordings at Risk. Details on future cycles will be posted to the program’s landing page in the next several months. Those interested are encouraged to sign up for CLIR’s Grants & Programs Newsletter for updates.

We The Museum – New Episodes, and Smithsonian’s Stories from Main Street

In Uncategorized

New episodes of the podcast “We The Museum” by Hannah Hethmon are out! They include:

The First Americans Museum with Dr. heather ahtone (Director of Curatorial Affairs)
Hiring Icks and Fair museum Jobs with Sierra Van Ryck deGroot and Ashleigh Hibbins

Listen to We The Museum here.

Smithsonian’s Stories from Main Street is back with new episodes after a long hiatus. This podcast, from SITES’ Museum on Main Street program, is produced, written, and hosted by Hannah Hethmon, your friendly neighborhood museum podcast person.

The upcoming three episodes feature stories from their Crossroads: Change in Rural America exhibition. Educator and public historian Bobby Harley co-hosts. And stayed tuned after these episodes, as more mini-series are in the works.

Listen to Smithsonian’s Stories here.

“Anthropology and the Black Experience” – Society of Black Archaeology conference

The Association of Black Anthropologists (ABA), the Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA) and Blacks in Biological Anthropology (BiBA), are hosting a joint conference in Dakar, Senegal in May 2024 titled “Anthropology and the Black Experience.” They need your help to decide on the date of the conference.

If you are interested in attending this once-in-a-lifetime conference, please vote!

There may be funding available for graduate students to assist with travel, conference fees, and lodging.

Complete this brief survey no later than September 5th 2023 – 12 P.M. Pacific Standard Time so that they can plan accordingly.

“An Aesthetic and Social Morphology? Georg Simmel and His Legacy” with Andrea Borsari

The Department of German Studies will be presenting the lecture “An Aesthetic and Social Morphology? Georg Simmel and His Legacy” by Andrea Borsari, Professor of Aesthetics at Università Bologna. Following the lecture there will be a reception.

Date: September 21, 2023

Time: 5:30pm

Location: 190 Hope Street, Room 102

Monthly Update from the American Research Center in Egypt

The American Research Center in Egypt has commenced its 75th Anniversary celebration which will include a series of events throughout the next year.

ARCE was formally established in Boston on May 14, 1948, at a meeting presided over by Edward W. Forbes and Archaeological Institute of America President Sterling Dow. This meeting was prompted by a growing sense, in the years immediately following World War II, of a great need to establish an official “presence” for North American scholars in Egypt.

The other founders included: James Henry Breasted, George Andrew Reisner, Joseph Lindon Smith, Dows Dunham, and Corinna Smith. Corinna Smith spent the years after her husband’s death ensuring membership and funding security for ARCE. Learn more about the founders here!

Also, since 2022, ARCE has introduced much-needed restoration at the Shrine of Ikhwat Yusuf (‘Brothers of Joseph’).

Nestled in Mokattam’s hillside, this rare Fatimid period survival is comprised of various beautiful elements such as a triple mihrab (prayer niche) as well as carved stucco decoration, historic graffiti, and Kufic inscriptions. Due to decades of deterioration, many of the shrine’s notable architectural elements were at risk.

Under the supervision of ARCE, the shrine has been photogrammetrically documented, cleared of debris, and has undergone careful restoration. In 2024 a final season of work at the shrine will focus on fine conservation. Find out more here!

Finally, ARCE is proud to announce the completion of another Antiquities Endowment Fund project at the hands of the Djedkare Project (DJP) mission of the Charles University, at the south Saqqara site.

In 2018, the mission discovered a large burial ground above the south part of the funerary temple of Djedkare’s queen, and inscriptions with her name, Setibhor, were found here revealing that she was the king’s wife. Accordingly, the project undertook cleaning and documentation of the current state of the inner rooms of Setibhor’s pyramid using traditional archaeological methods as well as 3D scanning. It was then followed up by consolidation and reconstruction works focused on the entire substructure of the pyramid.

DJP also saw the continuation of the work in the tomb Khuwy. The team completed the reconstruction of the eastern façade of the mastaba and installed a modern door to protect the chapel and offering chamber with remains of its decoration! Learn more here!

Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission Fall Focus