Cotsen Public Lecture

The Architecture Working Group is pleased to announce that our next event will be held on Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 12:00 PM PT via Zoom. With the support of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies, and the UCLA Department of Art History, we will be joined by Dr. Luis Gordo Peláez, Associate Professor in the School of Art, Design and Art History at California State University, Fresno. Dr. Peláez is an architectural historian who studies the history of cultural production and built environment of the early modern transatlantic Hispanic world. Dr.

On Saturday, February 7, from 11:00am-2:00pm, the Cotsen Institute will host its second annual Archaeology Day for K–12, welcoming students from schools across Los Angeles. This event is organized in collaboration with the undergraduate Archaeology Club and will feature hands-on activities such as a dig box, pottery reconstruction, rock art wall painting, and a photo booth.

The Refugee Material Culture Initiative (RMCI) is a community-engaged digital humanities project that rethinks how refugee histories are preserved and shared. Instead of relying on institutions to define what matters, RMCI works with refugee communities to decide which objects are preserved, how their stories are told, and how they are made accessible through digital surrogates, virtual exhibits, and educational resources.

Professor William Schniedewind's talk situates the remarkable archaeological site at Tell Shaddud at the crossroads of history—Armageddon, the strategic gateway of the Jezreel Valley. Excavations reveal fortresses that mark shifting powers: an Egyptian stronghold, an early Israelite administrative center, a neo-Assyrian fortress, and later a Jewish village from the Roman period, living in the shadow of the Roman legionary camp at Legio. The story continues into modern times, with traces of a British Mandate army trench and defenses of the Haganah.

The UCLA Department of Classics and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology present a lecture by Rebecca R. Benefiel, Abigail Grigsby Urquhart Professor of Classics at Washington and Lee University on The Nature of Ancient Graffiti: Exploring Popular Writing in Pompeii.

The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies present Place, Indigenous Resistance, and Architectures of Protest in Contemporary Mexico with Dr. Tania Gutiérrez-Monroy, Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture (SALA) at The University of British Columbia. Dr. Gutiérrez-Monroy is an architectural historian who studies relationships between identity and space. 

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The Dynamic Legacy of the Ifugao Rice Terraces

 Excavations at Tell Umm el-Marra (perhaps ancient Tuba) in northern Syria revealed a large Early Bronze Age elite mortuary complex raised up in the center of the community.

On February 5, 2024, the Fowler returned a group of objects to His Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the 16th Asante King (Asantehene). On July 23, 2024, 20 historical treasures were returned to the Warumungu community in Tennant Creek, in the northern Territory of Australia. Join Silvia Forni, the Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director of the Fowler Museum, and Erica P.

The UCLA Waystation Initiative presents "Transforming from Yi 夷 to Xia 夏: A Bioanthropological Perspective on Cultural Transition" by Professor Hui Fang, Shandong University.

This is a online event. To receive the Zoom link please contact waystation@ioa.ucla.edu.