Upcoming Events

Archaism as Resistance in the Funerary Art of Roman Era Thebes (Dr. Lissette Jiménez)

This lecture is part of the series Migration, Borderlands, and Social Boundaries in Antiquity. This program of public lectures takes place monthly on Thursdays at 9:30 AM Pacific, from September 2024 through May 2025.

Watch live on the ARF YouTube channel here: https://bit.ly/arf-channel or watch later on the ARF & Badè YouTube channels.

"The Origin and Evolution of Avalokiteśvara Images in the Light of New Discoveries from Gandhāra"

 

This talk revisits the question of the origin and evolution of images of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in Gandhāra and their diffusion to India, Tibet and China along the trade routes. In Gandhāran art, the iconography of the bodhisattva Maitreya is often recognisable through his characteristic attribute—the flask (kuṇḍikā).

"First images of the Gautama Buddha and the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the light of new discoveries from Gandhāra"

 

This talk attempts to re-examine the question of the earliest anthropomorphic images of Gautama Buddha and the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, in the light of previously unpublished numismatic and sculptural discoveries made in Gandhāra.

"First images of the Gautama Buddha and the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the light of new discoveries from Gandhāra"

This talk attempts to re-examine the question of the earliest anthropomorphic images of Gautama Buddha and the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, in the light of previously unpublished numismatic and sculptural discoveries made in Gandhāra.

This talk will investigate processes of urban dissolution, a phenomenon herein defined as the loss of the urban scale. In contrast to the robust body of archaeological literature on urban formation and urban maintenance, comparatively few analyses have targeted urban decline, particularly in an Aegean context, where the disappearance of urbanism has been presumed the byproduct of the collapse of the state. Positioned in opposition to these narratives, the talk examines the urban dissolution of Late Bronze Age Knossos (Crete, Greece). From the mid-18th to mid-15th centuries BCE, Knossos was the largest city in the Aegean, almost twice the size of the region's other settlements. About 350 years later (ca. 1100 BCE), it had lost three quarters of its urban fabric and dwindled to the size of a village. The talk analyzes how and why the loss of urbanism occurred, through study of tempero-spatial patterning in occupational evidence recovered by over a century of archaeological exploration in the Knossos valley, including dozens of excavations and an urban survey.

This talk presents research recently published in PLOS ONE that considers the practicality of large mammal confrontation with sharp-tipped shaft weapons to assess whether fluted Clovis points and osseous rods may have tipped pikes used for hunting megafauna much larger than humans. Historical and ethnographic sources depict use of portable braced shaft weapons, or pikes, in megafauna hunting and defense during Late Holocene millennia in North and South America, Africa, Eurasia and Southeast Asia. Given the predominance of megafauna in Late Pleistocene North America during the centuries when Clovis points appeared and spread across much of the continent (13,050–12,650 cal BP), braced weapons may have been used in hunting of megaherbivores and defense against megacarnivores. Drawing from historical examples of pike use against lions, jaguars, boars, grizzlies, carabao and warhorses we consider the possibility of a fluted lithic pike. We discuss preliminary static experiments to model a fluted pike that adjusts during compression such that haft collapse and point detachment preserve the fluted biface, beveled rod and wooden mainshaft tip. In addition to Clovis point attributes and association with osseous rods, potential archaeological correlates of Clovis pike use include the high frequency of Clovis point isolates and concentrations of complete points with unbutchered mammoth remains at sites such as Naco in Arizona.

Some of the earliest evidence for far-flung Afro-Eurasian exchange survives from the Bronze Age Aegean (ca. 3,500-1170 BCE). As one of many regions involved in an intricate web of down-the-line exchange, the Aegean bears evidence of connections with the modern-day British Isles, Scandinavia, sub-Saharan Africa, and western and southeast Asia, among other areas. The movement of raw materials, finished objects, text, and iconography contributes to a quickly growing study of the highly interconnected Afro-Eurasian Bronze Age World. One of the difficulties of garnering a more nuanced understanding of such a network is the element of time: inorganic objects and raw materials that survive as a testament to this system could be transported over weeks or months with little regard for environmental stability, maintenance, or upkeep. Many of these objects may be heirlooms, passed down and/or exchanged over generations – hundreds of years and potentially thousands of miles.

Some of the earliest evidence for far-flung Afro-Eurasian exchange survives from the Bronze Age Aegean (ca. 3,500-1170 BCE). As one of many regions involved in an intricate web of down-the-line exchange, the Aegean bears evidence of connections with the modern-day British Isles, Scandinavia, sub-Saharan Africa, and western and southeast Asia, among other areas. The movement of raw materials, finished objects, text, and iconography contributes to a quickly growing study of the highly interconnected Afro-Eurasian Bronze Age World. One of the difficulties of garnering a more nuanced understanding of such a network is the element of time: inorganic objects and raw materials that survive as a testament to this system could be transported over weeks or months with little regard for environmental stability, maintenance, or upkeep. Many of these objects may be heirlooms, passed down and/or exchanged over generations – hundreds of years and potentially thousands of miles.

During the time between about 1100 and 1300 CE, a group of Pueblo people moved into the hills around the Llaves Valley of Northern New Mexico and embarked upon a set of daily and stylistic choices strikingly different from those of their contemporaries. Focusing on households as a site of interaction between people, plants, and the forest at large, this presentation considers the social archaeology of Gallina food and fuel in the context of the historical ecology of Southwestern forests. Building on the momentum of researchers who have re-defined and re-questioned Gallina movement, identity, and social structure, I endeavor to move beyond archaeological narratives of Southwest landscape scarcity towards a data-rich and populated history of plants and people in north-Central New Mexico.

In exploring potential Gallina plant worlds, this study explicitly bridges archaeobotanical and minimally invasive field methods. I explore the narrative and evidentiary potential of plant data collected at varying scales of disturbance, in accordance with community guidance at varying Gallina sites. Macrobotanical data from the excavation of a looted site and auger cores, starch grain analysis from catch-and-release survey and archived collections, and incidental plant data in archaeological archives provide varied evidence in my exploration of Gallina food, fuel, and landscapes.

Conference dedicated to the late Professor Guitty Azarpay, renowned scholar of Iranian and Central Asian art at the University of California, Berkeley. Organized by the Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World - NYU, and the Collège de France .

The conference explores the rich tapestry of ancient Sogdiana, a pivotal crossroads of culture, trade, and artistic expression. It will delve into the significance of Sogdiana's material and visual culture, highlighting recent research that uncovers the intricate connections between local practices and broader international influences. An international group of scholars will present innovative perspectives on the region's artifacts, architecture, and artistic styles, emphasizing a holistic approach to understanding Sogdiana's history. Through interdisciplinary dialogues, we aim to illuminate the region's role in shaping cultural exchanges along the Silk Road and beyond.

Conference dedicated to the late Professor Guitty Azarpay, renowned scholar of Iranian and Central Asian art at the University of California, Berkeley. Organized by the Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World - NYU, and the Collège de France .

The conference explores the rich tapestry of ancient Sogdiana, a pivotal crossroads of culture, trade, and artistic expression. It will delve into the significance of Sogdiana's material and visual culture, highlighting recent research that uncovers the intricate connections between local practices and broader international influences. An international group of scholars will present innovative perspectives on the region's artifacts, architecture, and artistic styles, emphasizing a holistic approach to understanding Sogdiana's history. Through interdisciplinary dialogues, we aim to illuminate the region's role in shaping cultural exchanges along the Silk Road and beyond.

Archaeological Data from the prehistoric Jomon period (ca. 16000-2500 ca. BP) in Japan provide excellent opportunities to examine continuity and change in subsistence-settlement practices. Of particular interest is the relationship between site location, subsistence/food diversity and the importance of environmental management. In this presentation, we attempt to interpret changes in Jomon settlement distribution patterns in two geographic areas in northern Japan in the context of the discussion of the resilience of human-environmental interaction in historical ecology.

The Japanese collection at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology (PAHMA) is vast, but systematic understanding and classification of its contents has just started. Due to the Tokugawa Shogunate's isolationist policy (sakoku), Japan had little interaction with the rest of the world from 1639 to 1853. After Japan was forced to open the country to the West in the mid-19th century, a large number of Japanese craft objects, including ceramics and lacquerware, flowed into North America and Europe. They included not only mass-produced items for export in the late 19th century and the early 20th century but also many pieces of fine arts dated to the Edo period (1603-1868). These Japanese crafts gained attention from Western art collectors and influenced painters and artists. Many Western art lovers, either by visiting Japan themselves or with the help of art connoisseurs, collected numerous high-quality Japanese crafts. With this historical background in mind, this presentation focuses on the importance of Japanese porcelain, lacquerware, netsuke, and baskets at PAHMA in relation to the study of Japanese material culture, everyday life, and traditional ecological knowledge. 

The AIA San Francisco Society is thrilled to welcome Dr. Rubina Raja (Aarhus University) back to Berkeley. Please join us to hear Dr. Raja speak about the archaeology and history of ancient Gerasa.

Caucasus Connections: Kura-Araxes Migration and Diaspora in the 3rd Millennium BCE, a View from the Southern Levant (Dr. Sarit Paz)

This lecture is part of the series Migration, Borderlands, and Social Boundaries in Antiquity. This program of public lectures takes place monthly on Thursdays at 9:30 AM Pacific, from September 2024 through May 2025.

Watch live on the ARF YouTube channel here: https://bit.ly/arf-channel or watch later on the ARF & Badè YouTube channels.

Just 350 meters from the Nile river lies the site of el Hibeh, where the remains of an ancient Egyptian city lie beneath centuries of accumulated soil and sand. UC Berkeley's archaeological mission to the site had a productive 2024 season, finding a range of materials from ancient papyrus to animal mummies and mudbricks stamped with the name of the Pharaoh. The north trench even uncovered a previously-unknown late antique cemetery. The site is characterized by its large mudbrick enclosure walls, which show a remarkable degree of preservation. The site is unique for its evidence dating to the Third Intermediate Period, a time in Egypt's history that is not well understood. Under the leadership of UC Berkeley archaeologists, this field season left the team with both answers and new questions for future work.

 

The archaeological record of the Santa Cruz Mountains, particularly around the San Vicente Creek Watershed, provides evidence of human occupation and utilization from approximately 4000 BP to the present. Despite extensive anthropogenic modifications—resulting from over a century of logging, mining, and topographic restructuring—the preserved deposits within this watershed offer a robust dataset for examining the longue durée of Indigenous land use, subsistence practices, and environmental stewardship. Employing a historical ecological approach, this study investigates resource use by the Cotoni people, an Indigenous Awaswas-speaking polity on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. This presentation discusses data on foodways and land management strategies within the watershed, and how archaeological research is playing an important role today in land conservation, ecological restoration, and other cultural heritage management concerns. It underscores the analytical potential of the archaeological record to further explore Indigenous stewardship practices and their relationship to foodways at a landscape scale.

This talk will investigate processes of urban dissolution, a phenomenon herein defined as the loss of the urban scale. In contrast to the robust body of archaeological literature on urban formation and urban maintenance, comparatively few analyses have targeted urban decline, particularly in an Aegean context, where the disappearance of urbanism has been presumed the byproduct of the collapse of the state. Positioned in opposition to these narratives, the talk examines the urban dissolution of Late Bronze Age Knossos (Crete, Greece). From the mid-18th to mid-15th centuries BCE, Knossos was the largest city in the Aegean, almost twice the size of the region's other settlements. About 350 years later (ca. 1100 BCE), it had lost three quarters of its urban fabric and dwindled to the size of a village. The talk analyzes how and why the loss of urbanism occurred, through study of tempero-spatial patterning in occupational evidence recovered by over a century of archaeological exploration in the Knossos valley, including dozens of excavations and an urban survey.