Past Events
Interested in Cotsen events? Sign up for our mailing list.Arsen Bobokhyan
PhD, Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences Republic of Armenia
Friday, October 16th, 12:00pm PT (contingent on the developing situation in Armenia)
Register here
In the high mountains of Armenia, exist unique monuments called by the people “vishapakar” - dragon-stone. Although vishapakars were discovered more than a century ago, their secrets are far from being deciphered. Much like the khachkars (cross-stones) of Medieval times, vishapakars are typical for the prehistoric landscapes of the Armenian Highland. The centres of their distribution are Mount Aragats and the Geghama mountains. Today we know approximately 150 examples of these monuments. Vishapakars are 150-550 cm high and made, as a rule, of grayish basalt. They had been widely used during the Bronze Age, especially within the 2nd millennium BC. Among the many questions vishapakars raise, one of the most important is the problem of their protection. Two kinds of dangers exist – destruction and dilapidation in their original places, and removal to the lowland. Both destruction and removal took place as early as the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, in the Urartian period, increased during Middle Ages and unfortunately continues today. The lecture will present recent works to investigate and protect these monuments.
Arsen Bobokhyan is the Vice Director, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Armenian Academy, where he has worked since 1998. He received his Pd.D. from the Institute of Prehistory, University of Tubingen, Germany, with the topic ''Communication and Barter in the Highland between the Taurus and the Caucasus, ca. 2500-1500 BC.'' His areas of research include Early Archaeology of the Caucasus, the Near East and Asia Minor, Cultural Relations, Ancient Barter and Weight Systems, History of Urbanism, Identity Problems, Ancient Religion and Cult, Sacred Landscape. He has taught at Yerevan State University since 2007.
Contact Michelle Jacobson
Email mjacobson@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone
Panelists: Peter Lape (University of Washington); JB Chevance (Archaeology and Development Foundation, Phnom Kulen Program, Cambodia); Wiwik Dharmiasih (Universitas Udayana, Bali, Indonesia); Rasmi Shoocongdej (Silpakorn University, Thailand)
Moderator: Grace Barretto-Tesoro (University of the Philippines-Diliman-Archaeological Studies Program)
Wednesday October 14, 7:00 PM (PDT) / Thurs October 15, 10:00 AM (TWN)
Webinar Series: Indigenous Peoples, Heritage and Landscape in the Asia Pacific: Knowledge Co-Production, Policy Change, and Empowerment
Archaeological practice in Southeast Asia has recently shifted to active engagement with local stakeholders. A growing number of investigations are actively seeking the involvement of communitiesas both contributorsand as active and involved research participants. This undertaking humanizes our community partners and counters the exclusivity often associated with the authority of scholarship. In this panel, we forefront examples from Southeast Asia where heritage conservation and management involved community inputs. Works by colleagues in Indonesia, Cambodia, Bali, Indonesia, and Thailand underscores the importance of involving communities in heritage issues.
REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK:
https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7WeK98dKQEmQa9PpLRLMHQ
For more information about the event and panelists, visit the event site.
Contact Madeleine Yakal
Email communityengagedresearch@gmail.com
Phone
Sanchita Balachandran, Senior Lecturer in Near Eastern Studies & Associate Director, Johns Hopkins University & Museum
Wednesday, October 14th, 12:00pm - 1:00pm PT
What can we know about the lived experiences of the ancient artisans who were making the now-iconic red and black ceramics in Athens between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE? Given that the potters and painters of Athens comprised a diverse group of practitioners that included Athenian citizens, immigrants and migrant workers, women and children, freed people and enslaved people, can the pots they made tell us about the conditions of their lives? Interdisciplinary approaches incorporating experimental archaeology, sensory experience, conservation documentation and digital imaging techniques may offer us new ways to “excavate” the surfaces of extant ceramics in museums, most of which were collected without archaeological context. This talk looks at how examining ancient ceramics from the perspective of production—from “preparatory” drawings on the surfaces, to the painted images, to the fired colors of the vessels—allows us to approach ancient people at work, in the moment of production, and raises questions about who they really were.
Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone
Konstantinos Zachos Director Emeritus Of Antiquities For Epiros
Saturday, October 10th, 10:00am PT
On September 2, 31 BC, Octavian’s forces defeated those of Mark Antony and the queen of Egypt Cleopatra off the west coast of Greece. Known as the Battle of 
Actium, from the peninsula of the same name, at the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf, on which was located an ancient sanctuary of Apollo. Few episodes from ancient history have been commented on more than the battle of Actium. It marked the beginning of a new world order and, above all, the beginning of Octavian’s “monarchy,” at which time he became Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome. After his victory, Augustus undertook a series of actions aimed at the economic and social reorganization of northwestern Greece, at the same time incorporating elements of political and religious propaganda. He founded a city which he named Nikopolis— Victory City—he renovated the sanctuary of Apollo at Actium and on a hill sacred to the god and, where he had encamped, he erected a Victory Monument. Excavations at this imposing, extravagant monument over the past few decades, have revealed a wealth of finds, some of astonishing artistic rendering.
Konstantinos Zachos is Ephor of Antiquities (Emeritus) of the Greek Ministry of Culture. He holds a B.A. from the University of Thessaloniki and an MA and Ph.D. from Boston University. Following his graduate work, he entered the Greek Archaeological Service, worked in several Ephorates of Antiquities and was promoted to Ephor of Antiquities. He has excavated widely in Epirus, the Peloponnese, the Cyclades, and in Albania. He was also responsible for conservation work at Dodona and Nikopolis. He established three new museums (at Leukas, Nikopolis, and Arta) and supervised the renovation of the Archaeological Museum of Ioannina.
This talk will be offered on Zoom. Please RSVP by clicking here to receive the link.
Contact
Email hellenic@humnet.ucla.edu
Phone
Panelists: Analyn Salvador-Amores (University of the Philippines-Baguio); Ping Nga Ong (National Cheng-chi University, Taiwan); Paulette Crespillo-Cuison (Kiyyangan Weavers Association)
Moderator: Marlon Martin (SITMo, Philippines)
Wednesday October 7, 7:00 PM (PDT) / Thurs October 8, 10:00 AM (TWN)
Webinar Series: Indigenous Peoples, Heritage and Landscape in the Asia Pacific: Knowledge Co-Production, Policy Change, and Empowerment
Traditional weaving in Southeast Asia is tied to cultural identity and cultural expressions. However, the assimilation of Indigenous communities to the larger societies meant that the cultural context of weaving has changed. The demands to produce textiles for monetary gain have also impacted the way weaving communities produced their crafts. In some instances, the cultural context of weaving has been lost. This panel provides examples of communities attempting – and succeeding – in situating their textiles to their cultural contexts. Panelists will also discuss how they are fighting against appropriations of their traditional designs by entrepreneurs through the establishment of locally-managed textile commerce.
REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK:
https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_S4IVWZ09S0S0JWtS1Ohd_Q
For more information about the event and panelists, visit the event site.
Contact Madeleine Yakal
Email communityengagedresearch@gmail.com
Phone
Dr. C. Brian Rose, Professor of Archaeology & Curator in Charge, Mediterranean Section, University of Pennsylvania & Museum
Wednesday, October 7th, 12:00pm - 1:00pm PT
Drawing on personal experience, this lecture explores the relationship between archaeology and conservation at three sites in Turkey, focusing on both object and architectural conservation. The speaker was co-director at Troy for 25 years (1988-2012), and director of Gordion since 2013.
Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.
Contact Sumiji Takahashi
Email sutakahashi@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone
Mary E. Voyatzis, Professor, University of Arizona, Tucson
Saturday, October 3rd, 10:00am PST
The mountainous region of Arcadia, situated in the heart of the Peloponnese, has attracted considerable
interest and attention since antiquity. Many ancient authors described Arcadia in detail, discussing its rich mythology, many sites, unusual gods, numerous sanctuaries, engaging history, diverse geography, and the important fact that its inhabitants were indigenous, living there even before the moon (Proselenoi), and the original inhabitants of Greece (Pelasgoi). During the Renaissance, Arcadia was depicted in art as a beautiful, pristine, and magical place with unspoiled wilderness. By the 19th century European travelers were exploring the region, and later in the century archaeologists began excavating its various sites. For over 140 years Arcadia has been investigated by archaeologists from Greece and many other countries in Europe and North America. Today we consider some of the sites recently excavated in Arcadia, and focus on two where the speaker has been involved, the Sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea, and the Sanctuary of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion. We shall see how archaeological discoveries have contributed significantly to our understanding of the history of Arcadia and enhanced our appreciation of this enchanting mountainous region.
Mary E. Voyatzis received her BA in Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, a post-graduate diploma in Classical Archaeology from Girton College, Cambridge, and her Ph.D. from University College, London, with a dissertation entitled “The Sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea, 800-600 BC, and its Relation to Other Arcadian Sanctuaries.” She began teaching at the University of Arizona, Tucson in the Department of Classics in 1986, and is currently Professor in the School of Anthropology and the Department of Religious Studies and Classics.
This talk will be offered on Zoom. Please RSVP to hellenic@humnet.ucla.edu to receive the link.
Contact
Email hellenic@humnet.ucla.edu
Phone
Dr. Glenn Wharton
Chair, UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of
Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials
invites you to attend
UCLA/Getty Program's Distinguished Speaker Series
featuring
Dr. Spencer Crew
Acting Director of the National Museum of African American
History and Culture
speaking on
History, Memory and Conservation:
Preserving the Past for Future Generations
with opening remarks by
Dr. Darnell Hunt
Dean, UCLA Division of Social Sciences
Professor of Sociology and African American Studies
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
11:00 a.m. - Noon PDT
Online Webinar
Instructions to join the webinar will be provided once your registration has been confirmed.
About the speaker: Dr. Spencer R. Crew has worked in public history institutions for more than thirty years. He is currently the Acting Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Click here to read more.
Contact
Email hnadworny@support.ucla.edu
Phone
Contact Michelle Jacobson
Email mjacobson@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone
Kristine Martirosyan-Olshansky, Postdoctoral Scholar, CIoA, UCLA
Alan Farahani, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, UNLV
September 16, 2020, 1:00pm - 2:00pm PST
Virtual Pizza Talk Series
This talk is a summary of research conducted at the archaeological site of Masis Blur, an early farming
community located in the Ararat plain of Armenia and occupied continuously for nearly a millennium from ca. 6200 cal. BC – 5200 cal. BC. While much is known about how communities in west Asia adopted a farming way of life, much less is known about the Caucasus. The Masis Blur Archaeological Project explores the rhythms of everyday life at the Neolithic village in this understudied region using high resolution techniques to recover, record, and analyse the material remains of day-to-day activities. The talk highlights recent fieldwork and preliminary results from Masis Blur with specific focus on enhanced photographic techniques (photogrammetry), archaeological plant remains , animal husbandry, obsidian procurement, and a few key discoveries such as calcified basket remains, evidence of thatched roofs, and pigment processing workshops which, to date, are singular for the region.
Kristine Martirosyan-Olshansky is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology where she is directing the Research Program for Armenian Archaeology and Ethnography. She earned her PhD in Archaeology from UCLA in 2018 and she has been directing the Masis Blur Archaeological Research Project since 2012. As an anthropological archaeologist she uses geochemical characterization of materials to study past human behavior. In particular, she looks at how early farming communities of the Southern Caucasus made use of the available natural resources and how these behaviors influenced the spread of technological innovation and social change.
Alan Farahani is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is an anthropological archaeologist whose research focuses on how ancient agriculture was embedded in and influenced the social, political, and cultural practices of people in the past. His methodological expertise is paleoethnobotany, or the analysis of archaeological plant remains, as well as in the use of contemporary computational tools such as Python and R to effectively manage archaeological data. He has conducted fieldwork throughout the world, and has been working on the Masis Blur project since 2018.
Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.
Contact Michelle Jacobson
Email mjacobson@ioa.ucla.edu
Phone
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