SEPTEMBER ANCIENT AMERICA LECTURES AND CONFERENCES

michaelruggeri · Post by **michaelruggeri** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:21 pm

Thursday, September 4, 7:00 PM
James Snead, Ph.D.
Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC Lecture
"The Archaeology of Annihilation: Destructive Conflict in the Pre-Columbian Americas"
International Student House,
1825 R Street, NW,
Metro: Dupont Circle (red line). North Exit/Q Street. Cross Connecticut and turnleft up 19th Street to R Street.
Washington, DC
http://www.pcswdc.org/

September 5, 7:00 PM
2008 Four Corners Lecture Series
"After Chaco Canyon: The Prehistoric Transformation to Efficient Communities"
Aztec National Monument,
Aztec, NM
http://www.nps.gov/meve/planyourvisit/4 ... series.htm

Tuesday, September 9, 7:00 pm
Friends of Tijeras Pueblo Lecture
"Tree Rings and Human History in Chaco Canyon"
Carla R. Van West, Ph. D., RPA
Director, Preservation Research
SRI Foundation
This powerpoint-illustrated talk describes the development of dendrochronology and some of its many contemporary uses, including dating archaeological sites and the reconstruction of past climate, streamflow, and fire history. Carla will discuss Neil Judd's National Geographic Society-funded research in Chaco Canyon and his relationship to the A. E. Douglass and the NGS-funded Beam Expeditions.
Sandia Ranger District Station
on Hwy 337 (the old South 14) just under 1/2 mile south of the light
Tijeras, New Mexico.
http://www.friendsoftijeraspueblo.org/ourevents.html

Tuesday, September 9th, 7:00 PM
Taos Archaeological Society Lecture
"Calendars in Stone"
Hundreds of calendars exist around the southwest that are located near old
inhabited sites. These calendars are made of specific glyphs that align with
unique shadows that are used to measure the time of the year, including winter
and summer solstice, equinoxes and many other dates. Many calendar sites are also covered with additional glyphs whose functions have yet to be deciphered. The research started on the Pajarito Plateau, then spread up and down the Rio Grande and into Arizona. Ron has recorded glyphs as far south as the Sierra Madres in Mexico and as far north as the Columbia River Gorge in Washington.
Kachina Lodge,
413 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte
Taos, New Mexico
http://www.taosarch.org/

September 10, 8:00-9:30 PM
Institute of Maya Studies Presentation
DVD Presentation of "Cracking the Maya Code" with commentary by Steve
Mellard
This is a definitive look back at how a handful of pioneers deciphered the
intricate system of hieroglyphs developed by the Maya. One of the greatest
detective stories in all of archaeology, it had never been told in depth
before. With glorious footage of Maya temples and art, this documentary
culminates in the fascinating account of this once magnificent ancient
civilization's ingenious method of communication.
Institute of Maya Studies at the Miami Science Museum,
3280 South Miami Avenue,
across from Vizcaya
Maya Hotline: 305-235-1192;
http://mayastudies.org

September 11, 7:30 PM
Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Lecture
"Polynesians to the New World: The Chumash Connection and Beyond"
In 2005 in American Antiquity and Anthropological Linguistics, Dr. Kathryn Klar and Dr. Terry Jones described similarities in material culture, (e.g., sewn plank boat construction, and compound bone fishhook styles) and complimentary linguistic evidence that suggest at least one contact event between the Chumash and Gabrielino of southern California and Polynesian voyageurs. Since then, scholars from the Pacific and California have challenged this hypothesis based on issues of chronology, ostensive limitations of Polynesian seafaring, and lack of support from oral history. In this presentation, they will provide an update on the case for Polynesian contact including new linguistic evidence, oral traditions from Hawaii and California, and a reassessment of the chronology of the contact event. They will also discuss substantive information from South America, including chicken DNA, compound bone fishhooks, sewn plank boats and linguistic findings that indicate yet another Polynesia-New World nexus.
15600 Sand Canyon Avenue
(between the I-5 and I-405, next to the Post Office)
Irvine, California
http://www.pcas.org/meetings.html

Thursday, September 11, 6:30 PM
British Museum Gallery Talk
"Ancient Mexican Books and
Aztec Iconography
Room 27
http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/e ... books.aspx

Saturday, September 13
Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC Annual Symposium
"Power and Politics in the Late Aztec Period"
Please join the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington, D.C. as we explore manifestations of Aztec power and politics in one of the New World's most powerful and complex empires.
1.Trade, Tribute and Markets in the Aztec Imperial World
Speaker—Dr. Frances Berdan, University of California/San Bernardino
"The Aztec empire experienced a brief but flamboyant history, lasting only from 1428 until its conquest by the Spaniards in 1521. During that brief time, life under Aztec rule saw haughty professional merchants traveling long distances with their luxurious wares, conquered city-states paying large quantities of tribute to their conquerors, and bustling marketplaces offering virtually every commodity available within (and beyond) the imperial boundaries. In this setting, many luxury goods advertised political power and social status during occasions of public display and by serving as ceremonial offerings. This presentation explores the political and social world of luxuries such as decorated cotton clothing, previous stone and feather ornaments, feathered warrior costumes and cacao. It highlights the political and social connection of these preciosities as they moved from hand to hand in the intricate Aztec economy: professional merchants were agents of the state as well as private entrepreneurs, and their occasional associations sparked wars; tribute payments symbolized subservience; and busy marketplaces were signs of economic prosperity and political importance."
2.Aztec Imperial Strategies from the Bottom Up: A View from the Pictorial Histories
Speaker—Dr. Lori Diel, Texas Christian University
3.Aztec Militarism
Speaker—Dr. John Pohl, Fowler Museum of UCLA
"According to one popular image, the Aztec army was a ruthless and efficient war machine that established an empire by convincingly overwhelming its neighbors, sacrificing thousands to bloodthirsty gods along the way. The reality shows that Aztec warfare was much richer and far more complex than previously understood. The presentation will reveal a close relationship between economic and social matters in Aztec society, as well as the religious, by comparing and contrasting the empire's motivations with those of their principal opponents, a confederacy dominated by the Eastern Nahua, Mixtec and Zapotec peoples of southern Mexico."
4.Architecture, Power, and Kingship at Aztec Cities outside Tenochtitlan
Speaker—Dr. Michael Smith, Arizona State University
"Most Aztec cities were founded in the twelfth century in the wake of the Aztlan migrations. Although they were relatively small cities compared to Tenochtitlan, their role as capitals of city-states gave them political prominence in the central Mexican social landscape. Kings designed and constructed the public buildings in these cities in order to project messages about power, control, legitimacy, and sacredness. These messages originated in both the individual buildings (temples, ball courts, platforms, and palaces), and in their planned layout within urban epicenters. I explore the various levels of meaning of Aztec architecture, including sacred symbolism, political ideology, references to the Toltec past and visual impact on people in the urban center. The architectural and political patterns of city-state capitals were later adopted by the Mexica kings, who transformed Tenochtitlan into the thriving imperial capital seen by the invading Spaniards."
5.The Great Mountain Shrines of Tetzcotzingo and Mt. Tlaloc
Speaker—Dr. Richard Townsend, Art Institute of Chicago
"Individual leadership and initiative has ever been a determining force in collective human endeavors. The formation of the Aztec empire is rich in examples of dynamic rulers who creatively developed unifying projects during the 15th century. This illustrated lecture will review the design and functions of major ritual centers upon Mt. Tetzcotzingo and Mt. Tlaloc, symbolically claiming the land and the memory of those who were there long before, while uniting fractious domains in shared ritual to ensure annual rains, the fertility of the soil, the abundance of crops, and the prosperity of the community from year to year."
6.Monuments, Omens, and Historical Thought: the Transition from Ahuitzotl to Motecuhzoma II.
Speaker—Dr. Emily Umberger, Arizona State University
http://www.pcswdc.org/

Wednesday, September 17, 7:30 PM
AIA Lecture
Cameron McNeil, Queens College, CUNY (Borowski Lecture)
"The Importance of Cacao at Ancient Copan: Ancestor Trees and Fertility
Shaping a Polity, Landscape Transformation at Copan, Honduras"
Analysis of sediment cores from the Copan Valley has provided a new
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Cleveland, Ohio
http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.p ... y_code=all

September 17, 12:15 PM
Dallas Museum of Art Gallery Talk
"Ancient Art of the Americas: Green, Precious, and Stone"
Carol Robbins,
The Ellen and Harry S. Parker III
Curator of the Arts of the Americas and the Pacific, DMA
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas, Texas
http://www.dallasmuseumofart.org/Dallas ... /ID_010975

September 17, 8:00-9:30 PM
Institute of Maya Studies Lecture
"Another Tale of Two Cities: Palenque and Toniná" with Marta Barber
Palenque – one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico – is a
modern wellspring from which researchers have drawn some of the most
detailed information about Maya culture. Its importance lies in its
naturalistic sculpture, architectural inventiveness, and detailed epigraphic
record. Named by indigenous people in Tzeltal, Toniná means the House of
Stone. Metaphorically, the name refers to the home of celestial lights and
deities of time: Toniná was a site of calendars and rituals. The site is
built on the side of a large hill in seven terraces producing the overall
effect of a stepped pyramid.
Institute of Maya Studies at the Miami Science Museum,
3280 South Miami Avenue,
across from Vizcaya
Maya Hotline: 305-235-1192
http://mayastudies.org

September 19-20
"Southeast Conference on Amazonian and Andean Studies"
Call for Papers
The purpose of the conference is to bring together scholars in the region who work on Amazonian and Andean studies, with the intent to found an association and annual or semi-annual conference. We are open to presentations on topics from a variety of disciplines, including
archaeology, cultural anthropology, economics, cultural studies, environmental studies, gender studies, linguistics, history, languages, literature, visual and media studies and political science.
Two renowned scholars of Amazonian and Andean Studies have agreed to deliver keynote addresses
We welcome individual paper and panel proposals. Send abstracts of 250 words or less by April 30, 2008 to: Dr. Michael J. Horswell (horswell@fau.edu) or
Dr. Rachel Corr (rcorr@fau.edu).
http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/conf ... heast.html

Saturday, September 20, 1:30 pm
Pre-Columbian Society of the University of Pennsylvania Museum Lecture
Jeffrey Blomster, PhD
"Oaxacan Perspectives on Olmec Interaction in the Early Formative"
Museum of the University of Pennsylvania
Room 345
33rd and Spruce Streets
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
http://www.precolumbian.org/index.html

September 23rd, 7:30 pm
San Diego Archaeological Society Lecture
"Black Mountain: Eastern Kern County's Forgotten Archaeological Paradigm"
Mark Faull will discuss the local and regional significance involved with his current research on the rock ring complexes found on eastern Kern County's Black Mountain.
During the 1960s, archaeologist Alex Apostolides conducted extensive surveys in the El Paso Mountains focused predominantly on Black Mountain. These surveys documented "house" ring clusters, food processing loci, rock art sites and stone reduction workshops stretching from the base to the crest of Black Mountain. Apostolides described the assemblage as "one of the richest and most diverse" in the Mojave Desert. In 1972 he successfully placed this cultural landscape on the National Register. Subsequent research has virtually ignored Black Mountain. This presentation attempts to reawaken interest in this forgotten prehistoric landscape, initiating a preliminary effort towards integrating this important terrain into the surrounding prehistoric temporal framework.
Los Peñasquitos Ranch Adobe
12122 Canyonside Park Drive, San Diego, CA
http://www.sandiegoarchaeologicalsociet ... eakers.htm

September 23, 11:00 a.m.
Met Museum Gallery Talk
"Pre-Hispanic America: Art before Contact"
Gallery Talk Stanchion,
Great Hall
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York City
http://www.metmuseum.org/calendar/

September 24, 7:00 PM
'Voices of the Southwest' Lecture Series
Harvard historian of religion and Mesoamericanist Davíd Carrasco addresses the significant rediscovery of an ancient Mexican codex that explains important aspects of post-conquest native society documented in the book Cave, City, and Eagle's Nest.
Bank of America Auditorium at the National Hispanic Cultural Center,
1701 4th St. S.W.
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~market/cgi-bin/archives/003114.html

Mike Ruggeri's Ancient America Museum Exhibitions, Conferences and Lectures
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin- ... ntAmerica/