Noteworthy | Page 2 | UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

AYESHA FUENTES publishes article in Sapiens

Ayesha Fuentes, a 2014 graduate of the UCLA/Getty MA program in Conservation of Ethnographic Materials and former employee of the Fowler Museum at UCLA, has published the article “Reconsidering Fragility in Museums - and the World” in the online magazine Sapiens. Following the climate protests at different art museums, in this article she considers the role of museums in the unsustainable exploitation of nature and cultural resources. Fuentes is an objects conservator and material historian specialized in the care of archaeological and ethnographic collections. After receiving her MA at UCLA, she earned a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. She is currently the Isaac Newton Trust Research Associate in Conservation at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

JUSTIN DUNNAVANT holds interview on National Geographic podcast

National Geographic has released a podcast interview by Justin Dunnavant with six-time Grammy-nominated jazz musician Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah. Dunnavant, who is a National Geographic Explorer, is assistant professor of anthropology and core faculty member of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. The two discussed music, archaeology and ancestral memory as part of the series “The Soul of Music,” which covers music, exploration and Black History.

STEPHEN ACABADO testifies on proposed renewal of US-Cambodia Agreement

January 30, 2023, Stephen Acabado represented the Society for American Archaeology in the Cultural Property Advisory Committee hearing where he supported the proposed renewal of the existing memorandum of understanding concerning the bilateral cultural exchange between Cambodia and the United States. Acabado is associate professor of anthropology at UCLA, chair of the Interdepartmental Archaeology Program at the Cotsen Institute, and the director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

ELLEN PEARLSTEIN joins Yup’ik elder to discuss masks held in the Vatican

The lecture Yup’ik Masks at the Vatican; Indigenous American Heritage in European Museums will be streamed live via Zoom on October 28, 2022 at 11 a.m. This presentation will be by Ellen Pearlstein and Yup’ik elder Chuna McIntyre. Pearlstein is professor of Information Studies and the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage Internship Coordinator, as well as a core faculty member of the Cotsen Institute. Her presentation reflects work conducted as a 2021 Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome.

GIORGIO and MARILYN KELLY-BUCCELLATI featured in UCLA Magazine

“Love Among the Ruins” in the Fall 2022 issue of UCLA Magazine and the September 2022 UCLA Newsroom release, tells the story of husband and wife archaeologists Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati. Giorgio Buccellati is professor emeritus of the departments of History as well as Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and the founding director of the Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, now the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, where he is currently director of the Mesopotamian Laboratory. Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati is professor emerita of archaeology and art history at California State University–Los Angeles. Both are researchers affiliated with the Cotsen Institute.

JOHN PAPADOPOLOUS to discuss victory monuments on the Acropolis and Agora

John Papadopolous will discuss “Framing Victory: Salamis, the Athenian Acropolis and the Agora” at a meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America to be held September 25 at 2 p.m. at Concordia University in Irvine, California. Papadopoulos is professor in the department of Classics at UCLA and a core faculty member of the Cotsen Institute.

UCLA ranked #1 public university for sixth straight year

UCLA has been ranked the top public university for the sixth straight year by U.S. News & World Report in its annual “Best Colleges” rankings.

PIPHAL HENG discusses Angkor Wat on BBC Radio 4

Piphal Heng, postdoctoral scholar at the Cotsen Institute and the Program for Early Modern Southeast Asia, was featured in a BBC Radio episode of In Our Time which focused on the Cambodian site of Angkor Wat. In Our Time is hosted by broadcaster, author, and parliamentarian Melvyn Bragg and focuses on “ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.” This was its first coverage of Angkor Wat. The program, which was aired in June, is now available as podcast here or through Apple podcasts.

STEPHEN ACABADO featured twice on Philippine news website

Rappler, a Philippine online news website, featured Stephen Acabado turning over Philippine archaeological specimens from the Fowler Museum at UCLA to the National Museum of the Philippines, represented by Director-General Jeremy Barns, on July 21, 2022. The specimens are believed to have been brought to the United States in the 1970s for scientific study. Acabado is associate professor of Anthropology at UCLA and chair of the Archaeology program at the Cotsen Institute. In an opinion piece published in Rappler on June 22, Acabado was co-author of an article with the title Archaeologists: Gatekeepers of authenticity?”

ELLEN PEARLSTEIN presents her research in Europe

Ellen Pearlstein, professor in the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the Department of Information Studies, recently presented two invited lectures in Europe. On May 16, 2022, she addressed the president’s meeting of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers Organizations at the Acropolis Museum in Athens on the subject: “The Future of Our Field is Social.” On June 22, she discussed “Sustainability Tools in Cultural Heritage; Accessing a New Mindset” at a session of Youth in Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Rome, convened by Professor Sarah Nunberg of the Pratt Institute in New York and a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome.

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