Event: WEDS TALKS: Archaeology in Space: The Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment (SQuARE) on the International Space Station

ABSTRACT: Between January and March 2022, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) performed the first archaeological work in space, the Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment (SQuARE). The crew of the ISS defined six sample locations (“squares”) around the ISS and documented them through daily photography over a 60-day period. Walsh will present an overview of the SQuARE payload and results from two of the six squares.

BIO: Justin Walsh is professor of art history, archaeology, and space studies at Chapman University and Ad Astra Fellow in Space Habitats and Space Anthropology at USC. Since 2015, he has been co-PI of the International Space Station Archaeological Project (ISSAP), the first investigation of the material culture of a human habitat in space. ISSAP won awards for its work in 2023 from the Archaeological Institute of America and the American Anthropological Association. In 2024, Walsh was included in the Explorers Club 50, which recognizes “explorers changing the world and extending the meaning of exploration.”