ABSTRACT: This talk explores the fieldwork experiences of undergraduate students participating in the Masis Blur Neolithic Archaeological Project in Armenia. As one of the region's earliest known farming settlements, Masis Blur offers a rich context for hands-on learning in archaeological excavation, analysis, and cultural heritage preservation. The presentation highlights student involvement in daily field operations, laboratory work, and engagement with the local and culture. Through firsthand accounts the talk underscores the value of experiential learning in shaping future archaeologists. But put simply, come, learn what we did last summer!

BIO: Kristine Martirosyan-Olshansky is an assistant researcher at the Cotsen where she directs the Armenia Laboratory, and she has been the co-directing the Masis Blur Archaeological Project since 2012. Rosalyn Campbell is a bioarchaeologist and Egyptologist who has excavated through the Middle East, Africa, as well as Peru and North America. Chloe Gupta, Elizabeth Petrick, Eric Large, and Holland Fox are undergraduate students at UCLA. Chloe, Elizabeth, and Eric are also the founding members of the “risen from the ashes” Undergraduate Archaeology Club.

ABSTRACT: This presentation shares the results of an ongoing, long-term, community-based project in the historic city of Cajamarca, globally known as the site of the encounter, capture, and eventual execution of the Sapa Inca Atahualpa by conquistador Francisco Pizarro. My work focuses on two meaningful sites: Cerro Santa Apolonia, the sacred hill at the heart of the city, which holds over 2,000 years of human history, and the area around the only surviving Inca structure in Cajamarca—the so-called Ransom Room. Excavated for the first time, this space is helping us rethink what the city looked like before and during the conquest. Rooted in local voices and lived memory, the project seeks to challenge colonial narratives and reconnect Cajamarca’s people with their past. Through open excavations, school visits, and shared conversations, archaeology becomes a bridge—linking material remains with identity, memory, and pride. This effort, built through trust and collaboration with local authorities, universities, and private partners, reveals a powerful truth: the past is still alive, and it belongs to the community.

BIO: Solsiré Cusicanqui is a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA since 2024, affiliated with the Center for Early Global Studies and the Fowler Museum as part of the project “Race in the Global Past through Native Lenses.” She is a Peruvian archaeologist with over 20 years of experience leading archaeological and heritage projects across Peru. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University and taught as a College Fellow. Her current research focuses on memory, mobility, and territorial transformation during the Spanish conquest, centered in Cajamarca. She directs two urban excavation projects combining archaeology, education, and community-based heritage work. Her interdisciplinary, decolonial approach centers Indigenous perspectives to foster more inclusive narratives of the past.

ABSTRACT: The Waystation Initiative, officially launched in the winter of 2023, aims to advance approaches to the stewardship of cultural heritage through interdisciplinary research and international collaboration. This presentation will examine the Initiative’s origins, objectives, achievements, and future directions. Professor Li Min will discuss the conceptual foundation and early development of the initiative, while Dr. Lyssa Stapleton will outline its structural framework, current goals, and long-term vision. Zichan Wang will provide insights into her role as the Waystation Graduate Student Researcher, her experiences as a certificate program student, and her work as the primary liaison with China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration. Together, their discussion will highlight the Initiative’s impact and its evolving role in preserving and restituting global cultural heritage.

BIOS: Li Min holds a Ph.D. in Archaeological Anthropology from the University of Michigan and is currently an Associate Professor of East Asian Archaeology in the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. His primary research focuses on archaeology of prehistoric and the Bronze Age China, with particular interests in state formation, ritual performance, sacred landscape, and Bronze Age Eurasian interactions. His research also involves history of archaeological thought, the archaeology of early modern global trade, and the conservation of cultural heritage.

Lyssa C. Stapleton holds an MA and PhD in Archaeology from UCLA. In January 2023, she joined the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology as the Director of the Waystation Initiative and Administrator of the Graduate Certificate Program in Cultural Heritage Research, Stewardship, and Restitution. Dr. Stapleton’s research interests center on the evolution of institutional and private collections in the 20th and 21stcentury, with a particular focus on decolonization, stewardship, collaborative curation, and voluntary returns.

Zichan is a PhD candidate at the Cotsen Institute. She is an archaeologist studying social transformation in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age China. She has worked with the Waystation Initiative since 2023 as a GSR and as the liaison with Waystation's partners in China.

For this talk, Lucero will discuss her recent book, Maya Wisdom and the Survival of Our Planet.  She will present its major themes, including the Maya inclusive or non-anthropocentric worldview where they co-exist with nonhumans as part of the world, not separate from it. She will highlight how the ancestral Maya collaborated with nonhumans resulting in a tropical landscape with green cities, rural farmsteads, gardens, fields, biodiverse forests, and sacred places. The Maya sustainably farmed for millennia without destroying their environment and provided tribute to their kings in 100’s of cities. In return, kings performed vital ceremonies and maintained reservoirs through the annual dry season—a balancing act that succeeded for over 1,000 years. Maya insights are vital for the survival of our planet and call for collaborating with rather than dominating the nonhuman world, and their traditional knowledge provides concrete solutions to sustainably address climate change and environmental degradation. Maya resilience is a testament for how to move forward, and my book provides a roadmap for families to global corporations on how to do so.

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6pm Lecture
7pm Reception 

Parking Information

Lisa J. Lucero (PhD, UCLA) is a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As an archaeologist, her interests focus on ritual and power, water management, the impact of climate change on society, sustainability in tropical regions, and the ancestral Maya. She has been conducting archaeology in Belize for over 35 years, authoring seven books and an array of articles and book chapters. She uses insights from past and present Maya knowledge and practices to promote sustainable strategies to address global climate change.