Archaeology News and Announcements

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

Author: Alex Gomez

International Symposium on Archaeometry

By

On July 27, 2023

In News and Events

The International Symposium on Archaeometry (ISA), hosted by the University of Melbourne will be 27th – 31st May 2024. Please put it in your calendar and start thinking about posters and papers!

 The ISA integrates archaeology and natural sciences on all types of objects and materials related to human activity, focusing on developing and

promoting scientific techniques to better understand cultural heritage materials, landscapes and environments.

  Since the ISA biennial meetings began in the 1960s, this is the first time that the ISA will be held in Australia, as a partnership with the

Australasian Research Cluster for Archaeological Science (ARCAS)

and the University of Melbourne. The symposium is an opportunity to showcase your research to a broad audience, find out the latest archaeological science developments from national and international colleagues, and make new connections.

  ARCAS has an ongoing relationship with The Society for Archaeological Sciences (SAS), who will be providing sponsorship the symposium.

The conference organizers welcome additional partnerships and sponsorships for this fantastic event.

  We look forward to seeing you there – further details to come!

 

Tatsuya Murakami, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Anthropology, Tulane University

101 Dinwiddie Hall, 6823 St Charles Ave.

New Orleans, LA 70118

Digitizing Hidden Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices

By

On July 27, 2023

In News and Events

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Digitizing Hidden Collections logo in white rectangle on blurred background of a grid of color and b/w photos

Mellon Foundation Funds Digitizing Hidden Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices

Strengthening Public Understanding of Marginalized Histories with $5 Million Award

July 25, 2023—The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has been granted a $5,000,000 award from the Mellon Foundation to bolster the Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices (DHC:AUV) regranting program and related operations.

Continuing the Impact of DHC:AUV

This highly anticipated renewal continues the decisive shift in thematic focus, with a strong emphasis on collections of historically marginalized individuals, and aims to amplify voices, work, experiences, and perspectives that have been insufficiently recognized or unattended. Since its establishment in 2015, Digitizing Hidden Collections has made a significant impact by distributing over $28 million to digitally capture and share rare and unique content in cultural memory institutions.
Grid of DHC Recipients (email header)

Documenting the History of Marginalized Voices

The forthcoming call, Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices, is set to create a groundbreaking opportunity for eligible nonprofit organizations in the US and Canada to digitize materials in any format. By providing essential funding to a diverse cohort of academic, independent, and community-based organizations, CLIR seeks to unlock access to previously unavailable or underutilized collections. This move is expected to foster broader recognition of the immense value in preserving resources that document the history of marginalized people to the advancement of social justice.

A rigorous evaluation process awaits the proposal submissions, with a distinguished review panel comprising esteemed U.S. and Canadian scholars and practitioners representing a wide spectrum of disciplines. The selected award recipients will be determined during a thorough two-part review process, ensuring that the most deserving projects receive the necessary support to bring these unheard voices to the forefront of public understanding.

This milestone funding from the Mellon Foundation reaffirms the significance of creating equitable access to historical narratives and represents a remarkable step toward acknowledging and amplifying the voices that have remained unheard for generations.

New Call for Proposals in August 2023

To stay updated about the program, including when the call for proposals opens in August 2023, the schedule, applicant webinars, and more, visit the website and sign up for the Grants and Programs mailing list.

John Carter Brown Library

By

On July 24, 2023

In News and Events, Uncategorized

Hello and happy season, wherever this finds you. It’s spring here in Rhode Island, and the brilliant rhododendrons outside my office windows are blooming so furiously you can almost hear them.

Last Friday we hosted our Open Doors events, inaugurating the beautifully renovated west entrance, launching the JCB’s new digital platform Americana, and opening a new exhibit “1846: Inventing Americana at the John Carter Brown Library” co-curated by Bertie Mandelblatt and José Montelongo. We also celebrated the JCB medal awarded to Dr. María Isabel Grañén Porrúa for exceptional service and scholarship. Just as she noted that the JCB inspired her, Dr. Grañen’s words and work inspire us. We will be sharing more about Dr. Grañen and the medal award very soon, including her moving speech to the assembled JCB community.

It was wonderful to see so many friends, new and old, and fantastic to appreciate all of these achievements, but also to thank so many of you who have helped bring these projects—and the full Welcome and Access Plan—to life. As folks here Friday heard me reiterate, we’ve been reflecting on the JCB’s important history in order to think hard about the relationship between its legacy and future.  In a world in ever greater need of better, fuller understanding of the foundational histories of the early Americas, the JCB is committed to serving local, regional, and global communities of knowledge by making our institution welcoming and our collections and programs accessible.

Americana will play a key role in making and keeping our collections accessible. By bringing together our digital assets—catalog and images—in one place, with robust search and strong, synthesized metadata, we are able to see the collections in their fresh and full totality. But the new platform has another synthesizing role to play. By design it underscores that the JCB is at once a physical site and a digital space. Whether you enter our doors from the main campus green or at the Americana url, you are very welcome here.

This week it’s been lovely to welcome groups of Brown graduating seniors, former board and staff, and to see more visitors touring the library and exhibits now that the doors are open. Heading into the summer and a busy research season, we also look forward to welcoming a new group of fellows. It’s a bittersweet time, as we say goodbye to so many of this year’s fellows, an uncommon community forged in the midst of our renovations! But we have hopes that many of the wonderful 2022-23 fellows will return. And again, special thanks to our inaugural Brown Faculty Sabbatical Support fellow, Professor Lin Fisher of the History Department, for helping forge an energized intellectual community.

For 2023-24 we’re thrilled that, as Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Dr. Marisa J. Fuentes of Rutgers University will join an outstanding cohort of 50 short and long-term fellows. We anticipate expanding our Friday seminar offerings, and will remain committed to hybrid formats for all of our programs.

One more thing! After an exciting year of new folks joining our staff, we continue to build the team. Please continue to check out opportunities here. We’ll be searching for a communications manager (to design and deliver this newsletter and so much more) and an administrative coordinator (because admin is essential infrastructure!) to help with all the energizing work we’re committed to doing.

With thanks for your support for the JCB, I’m looking forward to welcoming you through our new doors, the glass and wood and the digital, and to sharing more developments—including more programs for the Fall!—in the coming months.

Karin.

Karin Wulf

Director and Librarian

John Carter Brown Library

Learn more about the library’s new spaces at

jcblibrary.org/opendoors.

 

Oppenheimer and Society

By

On July 24, 2023

In Funding & Fellowships, In the News

Oppenheimer and Society

As Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer hits theaters, conversations around past Director J. Robert Oppenheimer’s legacy have taken on new relevance in the context of artificial intelligence, intellectual integrity, and interdisciplinarity. In recent months, the Institute community has gathered around these topics, with some highlights below:

J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Defense of Humanity

Director and Leon Levy Professor David Nirenberg writes for the Wall Street Journal about how, after helping invent the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer spent decades thinking about how to protect civilization from technological dangers, offering crucial lessons for the age of AI.

Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb

Kai Bird, author of American Prometheus, sat down with CBS correspondent David Martin at Rubenstein Commons to talk about J. Robert Oppenheimer ahead of the release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer, Technology, and Humanity

In this conversation with David Nirenberg, Kai Bird explores Oppenheimer’s complex legacy. The discussion touches on Oppenheimer’s attempts to create an interdisciplinary space at IAS through the recruitment of Faculty from diverse fields, and the alignment between technology and humanity.

Oppenheimer Exhibit

The Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center is home to a number of primary source documents that provide a closer look at Oppenheimer’s career, both during and after the Manhattan Project, including a New York Times article from 1948 in which Oppenheimer becomes the face of the “A-Bomb.”

Roundtable: Reimagining the Legacy of Oppenheimer
Caitlin Rizzo (Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center, IAS) and Emma Moore (Mathematics – Natural Sciences Library, IAS) were joined by science communication experts George Dyson, Graham Farmelo, Siobhan Roberts, and Alex Wellerstein to examine how a legend like Oppenheimer’s is shaped, as well as his advocacy for open access to knowledge and how he thought deeply about how to convey scientific knowledge to the public at large.

Conference: Egyptian Cultural Heritage Now

By

On July 21, 2023

In News and Events

 

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CALL FOR PAPERS: "EGYPTIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE NOW" CONFERENCE

Conference dates: November 11-13, 2023

Conference email: heritagenow@arce.org
Submit Now

“Deadline June 15, 2023 for Abstract Submissions”

In celebration of its 75th anniversary, the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), in partnership with the American University in Cairo (AUC) and AUC’s Tahrir Cultural Center (TCC), is organizing a conference entitled Egyptian Cultural Heritage Now.

We are less than a month away from the papers submission deadline which is on June 15, 2023. This three-day conference will be held at Ewart Hall, Tahrir Cultural Center at The American University in Cairo, Egypt. It will focus on challenges, opportunities, trends and innovations in the field of cultural heritage.

USC Graduate Schools Fair | Secure Early Bird Pricing

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On July 20, 2023

In Funding & Fellowships, News and Events

The USC Career Center invites you to participate in the 2023 Graduate Schools Fair*. This event serves as an excellent platform for graduate schools like yours to promote your programs and engage with a diverse group of undergraduate students from Southern California, including our own USC students.

The Graduate Schools Fair will be held on Wednesday, October 25 from 10 AM to 2 PM on Trousdale Parkway at USC. We expect over 1,500 enthusiastic undergraduate students who are actively seeking opportunities for advanced studies and exploring various graduate programs. By joining us at this event, you can take advantage of this captive audience and showcase the unique offerings and advantages of your esteemed institution.

Last year, we had student participation from Pomona College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Occidental College, Loyola Marymount University, and more.

Space is limited – sign up now!

Register today to secure the discounted early bird price! Prices will increase after September 8.

We look forward to your participation.

*The Graduate Schools Fair is open only to accredited graduate programs and test prep companies.
Register Today

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. PDT

Trousdale Parkway

USC University Park Campus

Los Angeles, CA 90089

*Early Bird Rates (1-2 recruiters):

$450 Standard Registration

$350 USC Department

$1250 Test Prep Company

View additional fee structures.

Registration cost includes parking for two cars, continental breakfast, boxed lunches, signage, one six-foot table with an umbrella, and chairs for two representatives.

The Choices Program: The Vietnam War

By

On July 20, 2023

In News and Events

The Choices Program just released a brand new curriculum unit! The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies tells the “long history” of the destructive, deadly, and divisive U.S. war in Vietnam based on recent scholarship in U.S. history, Vietnamese studies, and the history of the global Cold War. The curriculum unit has been designed for use in both U.S. History and World History classrooms.

In The Vietnam War, students engage with the following topics:

  • The Vietnamese struggle for independence from French colonial rule
  • The actions of U.S., South Vietnamese, and NLF leaders
  • Ways the war in Vietnam was linked to the broader global Cold War
  • How U.S. methods of warfare led to violence against Vietnamese civilians
  • Diverse views, opinions, and experiences of U.S. military personnel and Americans on the home front.
  • Personal stories and “bottom-up” experiences from all sides of the conflict
  • The war’s human costs, including the post-war refugee crisis
  • How the war has been remembered and memorialized

The unit’s accompanying lesson plans emphasize the development of skills that are essential for social studies and history classrooms, including geography, data analysis, historical empathy, primary source analysis, critical thinking, collaborative work, and more! The unit includes study guides, graphic organizers, and videos. These materials contain questions that can be utilized in formative or summative assessments.

The unit includes the following lesson plans:

  • Vietnam’s History and Geography: Exploring Google Earth
  • Going Deeper with Primary Sources: War in Vietnam, 1945-1965
  • Women, Gender, and the Vietnam War
  • Creating Historical Narratives: 1960s Social Change at Home and in the Military
  • Songs of the Global Revolutions of 1968
  • Oral Histories: Mapping the Vietnamese Refugee Crisis
  • Build a Timeline of the “Long History” of the U.S. War in Vietnam

The Vietnam War is available in our web-based Digital Editions and in print. Check out our option for additional Student Texts if you like to use print, but prefer not to spend lots of time making copies!
Explore the Vietnam War
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Dive into our new Vietnam War unit with one of the following professional development offerings:

– FREE webinar: What’s in the New Unit on the Vietnam War? Wednesday, October 18, at 7 pm ET. We will explore the readings, lesson plans, and videos in the unit and discuss ways to implement them in a variety of courses.

– FREE webinar: Teaching a Long History of the American War in Vietnam: Bringing Women, Minority, and Refugee Voices into the Classroom. Thursday, November 16, 10:30 am ET/16:30 Central European Time. This webinar is open to all but geared more towards those teaching in a European context.

– In-person workshop: Teaching About the Vietnam War, Japanese American Incarceration in WWII, and Other AAPI Topics in the History Classroom. Thursday, February 1, 8:30 am-3 pm, Leonia, New Jersey.

Register today to secure your spot for one of these or any of our other professional development offerings!
Explore Professional Development

 

Archaeological Field Technician Opportunities Available With AVAR

By

On July 13, 2023

In Fieldwork Opportunity

Upcoming Projects and Professional Opportunities

1. Finding Medina III: San Antonio, Texas

When: 1 October – 14 October 2023
What: Utilizing the best methods and technology available to the modern exploration of battlefields and conflict sites, the Finding Medina Project has identified a conflict site dated to the early 19th century that fits the textual evidence for the 1813 Battle of Medina. The third season of the Finding Medina Project will focus on expanding the area of interest through continued systematic metal detection and LiDAR surveys.
Note: This is a traditional AVAR project: a unique volunteer opportunity with lodging & meals provided.

2. Field Technician Positions, Indigenous Site: Northeast Texas

When: Now – November 1st, 2023.
What: Stratigraphic excavation of archaic indigenous sites
Note: This is competitive, paid professional work. Must agree to work a minimum of (2) 10-day sessions. 10 days on, 4 days off. Starting pay $18/hr, $50/day per diem, lodging included.

3. Field Technician Positions, Civil War Cemetery: Mississippi

When: Beginning in August 2023
What: Cemetery relocation through stratigraphic excavation
Note: This is competitive, paid professional work. Must agree to work a minimum of (2) two-week sessions, 6 days on, 1 day off. Starting pay $18/hr, per diem tbd, lodging included.

4. Hellenistic Fortress II: Israel

When: 25th February – 21st March, 2024
What: Four weeks of stratigraphic excavation; may be carried out as a volunteer opportunity OR as an archaeological Field School.
Note: Participants are responsible for international travel costs; you must possess a current passport.

Program Requirements

1. All participants (including returning participants) are required to meet with our Mental Health Clinician and Occupation Therapist to receive a project assignment.

2. You must be able to attend the entire duration of the project. Paid opportunities are a job.

3. As always, lodging and food costs are covered for all projects (paid work typically includes a per-diem). Personal travel costs to and from the project are typically not covered, but financial assistance may be available upon request.

If you are interested in attending one or more of the following projects, please submit the below form. Please note that you may not receive your first choice or multiple projects.
Access Interest Form Here

 

New on We the Museum Podcast: Episodes 7 and 8

By

On July 13, 2023

In News and Events

New on We the Museum Podcast

Ep 8: The American LGBTQ+ Museum (with Ben Garcia)

We the Museum Ep 8:
In 2026, the American LGBTQ+ Museum will open its doors in New York City. They’ll be housed in a dedicated 4,000 sq. ft. space inside New York’s oldest museum, the New York Historical Society. In this episode, I chat with the LGBTQ+ Museum’s Executive Director, Ben Garcia, about the Museum’s origins and its inclusive, intersectional, and activist approach. We also get into a discussion about inequities in our field and how Ben is trying to build a museum that’s truly equitable and inclusive—both inside and out—through a people-centered organizational culture.

 

The Society of the Fellows: Call For Applications

By

On July 12, 2023

In Position Announcements

The Society of Fellows at Princeton University, an interdisciplinary group of scholars in the humanities and social sciences, calls for fellowship applications annually. For the 2024-2027 competition, four fellowships will be awarded: Open Discipline (2 or 3), Humanistic Studies (1), and Race and Ethnicity Studies (1).

We hope you will encourage outstanding graduate students to apply—those now finishing their Ph.D., and those who received their degree after January 1, 2022. We seek a diverse and international pool of applicants and especially welcome candidates from underrepresented backgrounds. For more information and the online application please visit our website. The application deadline is August 1, 2023; letters of recommendation may be submitted until August 8.

Please find a link to our printable call for applications here.

Any inquiries should be sent to fellows@princeton.edu.

 

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