Pizza Talk

Pizza Talk: "Herders, Farmers, and Wildlife: Exploring Impacts of Early Food Production in Kenya"

Speaker: Dr. Anneke Janzen, Postdoctoral Scholar, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

Specialized pastoralism emerged in Kenya around 3000 years ago and has adapted with changes in the social and ecological landscape to this day. My dissertation work used stable isotope analysis to explore the mobility and herd management strategies of early pastoralists in south-central Kenya 3000 to 1200 years ago, before the appearance of agriculture in the region.

Pizza Talk: "New Answers from Old Seeds: Two Years of Research into Ancient Agriculture at the Cotsen Institute"

Speaker: Dr. Alan Farahani, Postdoctoral Scholar, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

This talk is a summary of the research conducted by Postdoctoral Scholar Alan Farahani at the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology over the past two years. His research has been focused on the long-term social and environmental consequences of agricultural production throughout the world using the method of paleoethnobotany, which is the study of archaeological plant remains to understand past human cultures.

Pizza Talk: "The Vatican Coffin Project: An International team Project"

Speaker: Alessia Amenta, Vatican Museums

The Vatican Coffin Project gathers an international team of scholars who are divided into three groups with three different areas of expertise: Egyptology, Diagnostic and Conservation. The project has three objectives: the study of the construction and painting techniques of coffins, the identification of workshop patterns and the understanding of the 'packaging' of a coffin. Our work is also aimed at elaborating a protocol for the conservation of the artifacts.

Pizza Talk: "Material Interactions: UCLA at the Museo Egizio, Turin"

Speaker: Willeke Wendrich, Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

UCLA has started a close collaboration with the Museo Egizio in Turin, which holds the most important collection of material culture from ancient Egypt after the museum in Cairo. This pizza talk will highlight the research that has been started in the summer of 2016.

Pizza Talk: "Introducing the CIoA Digital Archaeology Lab"

Speaker: Deidre Whitmore, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

The Digital Archaeology Lab (DAL) aims to support the technological needs of the Cotsen faculty, students and staff by providing facilities, advice, and training. This talk will provide an overview of the facilities including the equipment that is available and how to access it (both in-person and remotely), and the consulting services offered by the lab manager. The topics and dates for the first workshops and training sessions will be announced and the audience will have a chance to request additional topics.

Pizza Talk: "Early Farming Expansions in Mesoamerica and beyond: Macroregional Analysis and Continental Synthesis"

Speaker: Dr. Richard Lesure, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

Lesure will report on the work of a team of archaeologists from the UCLA Anthropology Department and Cotsen Institute of Archaeology who are trying to understand the demographic impact of the transition to agriculture at a continental scale. The area of interest is Greater Middle America, roughly from southern Utah (USA) to the Panama Canal. We build on recent studies of the Agricultural Demographic Transition (or ADT) and on efforts to trace expansions by early farmers on scales approaching the continental.