Archaeology Brown Bag Workshops provide an informal, interdisciplinary venue for presentations of work in progress by faculty, graduate students, and visiting scholars, and discussion of developments in recent archaeological literature. Workshops convene four to five times per semester, on Fridays from 4:00-5:15 in the Brooks Hall Commons (1st floor) unless otherwise noted below.
Want to volunteer a talk or discussion topic? Email Adria LaViolette or Fraser Neiman.
For the archive of past Brown Bag Workshops, click HERE
Want to volunteer a talk or discussion topic? Email Adria LaViolette or Fraser Neiman.
For the archive of past Brown Bag Workshops, click HERE
Fall 2022
Sept. 9 4:00 - 5:15 | Fayerweather Hall Patio
Welcome and Introductory Reception, Location TBA
Welcome and Introductory Reception, Location TBA
Sept. 23 4:00 - 5:15 | Brooks Hall Commons
Jeffrey Hantman, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology and the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program, University of Virginia
"Archaeology of Monacan Mounds, Ancestral Territory and Survivance, A.D. 1000-2022"
In this talk I discuss the power of persistent places in consideration of Monacan Indian ancestral territory. I will briefly review the archaeological evidence for the distinctive Monacan ritual mound burial practice recorded in central and west-central Virginia since AD 1000. I will reconsider the idea of mounds as Indigenous monuments and stress the individual acts of burial at persistent places that resulted in large earthworks only after centuries of use. The talk then emphasizes the evidence for Monacan ‘survivance,’ a term redefined by Anishinaabe writer and critic Gerald Vizenor that refers to the active Indigenous presence in the context of settler colonialism and the rejection of narratives of dominance and historical absence. Archaeological methods and typologies, and the focus on mounds, have contributed to a long-standing narrative of Indigenous disappearance and loss. Critical and collaborative efforts to rethink archaeological and documentary data shed light on multiple strategies of survivance, and the practice of ‘(not) hiding in plain site(s)’ in the shatter zone of Monacan reorganization and resettlement in and beyond Virginia during the colonial era.
Jeffrey Hantman, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology and the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program, University of Virginia
"Archaeology of Monacan Mounds, Ancestral Territory and Survivance, A.D. 1000-2022"
In this talk I discuss the power of persistent places in consideration of Monacan Indian ancestral territory. I will briefly review the archaeological evidence for the distinctive Monacan ritual mound burial practice recorded in central and west-central Virginia since AD 1000. I will reconsider the idea of mounds as Indigenous monuments and stress the individual acts of burial at persistent places that resulted in large earthworks only after centuries of use. The talk then emphasizes the evidence for Monacan ‘survivance,’ a term redefined by Anishinaabe writer and critic Gerald Vizenor that refers to the active Indigenous presence in the context of settler colonialism and the rejection of narratives of dominance and historical absence. Archaeological methods and typologies, and the focus on mounds, have contributed to a long-standing narrative of Indigenous disappearance and loss. Critical and collaborative efforts to rethink archaeological and documentary data shed light on multiple strategies of survivance, and the practice of ‘(not) hiding in plain site(s)’ in the shatter zone of Monacan reorganization and resettlement in and beyond Virginia during the colonial era.
Oct. 10 (Special Event) 5:00 pm | Campbell 153
Matthew Reeves, Director of Archaeology and Landscape Restoration at Montpelier
Matthew Reeves has been the Director of Archaeology and Landscape Restoration at Montpelier since 2000. Dr. Reeves’s research interests center on the archaeology of plantation life, African Americans (both enslaved and free), and the Civil War. His background includes more than two decades of directing research projects on plantations and freedman period sites in Jamaica, Maryland, and Virginia. A distinguished scholar, he has published numerous articles and monographs on his research on African American and Civil War sites and presented conference papers on these subjects.
Matthew Reeves, Director of Archaeology and Landscape Restoration at Montpelier
Matthew Reeves has been the Director of Archaeology and Landscape Restoration at Montpelier since 2000. Dr. Reeves’s research interests center on the archaeology of plantation life, African Americans (both enslaved and free), and the Civil War. His background includes more than two decades of directing research projects on plantations and freedman period sites in Jamaica, Maryland, and Virginia. A distinguished scholar, he has published numerous articles and monographs on his research on African American and Civil War sites and presented conference papers on these subjects.
Oct. 14 4:00 - 5:15 | Brooks Hall Commons
John Dobbins, Professor Emeritus, Department of Art and Archaeology Interdisciplinary Program, University of Virginia
"A Scholarly Divide in Research in the Forum at Pompeii: Archaeological Basics Yield Dividends."
This talk presents the clash between archaeologists who adhere tenaciously to nineteenth-century views on the Forum at Pompeii and the Pompeii Forum Project (UVA), a late twentieth-century and early twenty-first century project that sees things differently because we use evidence.
John Dobbins, Professor Emeritus, Department of Art and Archaeology Interdisciplinary Program, University of Virginia
"A Scholarly Divide in Research in the Forum at Pompeii: Archaeological Basics Yield Dividends."
This talk presents the clash between archaeologists who adhere tenaciously to nineteenth-century views on the Forum at Pompeii and the Pompeii Forum Project (UVA), a late twentieth-century and early twenty-first century project that sees things differently because we use evidence.
Nov. 11 4:00 - 5:15 | Zoom
Di Hu, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, James Madison University
"Approaches to the Archaeology of Resistance: A Case Study from the Colonial Andes"
What does an archaeology of resistance look like? While battlefield archaeology zooms in on the specific conditions and movements of particular battles, how does one study the invisible social forces that underpinned revolts and rebellions from long ago? In this talk, I draw from anthropological and sociological theories to demonstrate how historical archaeology can contribute unique insights into why and how people resist. Specifically, I look at how historical archaeology can reveal hidden social landscapes that enabled the general rebellions of the Andes during the "Age of Revolutions" in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Doing so can help us draw larger lessons concerning the conditions for social movements to be successful.
Di Hu, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, James Madison University
"Approaches to the Archaeology of Resistance: A Case Study from the Colonial Andes"
What does an archaeology of resistance look like? While battlefield archaeology zooms in on the specific conditions and movements of particular battles, how does one study the invisible social forces that underpinned revolts and rebellions from long ago? In this talk, I draw from anthropological and sociological theories to demonstrate how historical archaeology can contribute unique insights into why and how people resist. Specifically, I look at how historical archaeology can reveal hidden social landscapes that enabled the general rebellions of the Andes during the "Age of Revolutions" in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Doing so can help us draw larger lessons concerning the conditions for social movements to be successful.
Dec. 2 4:00 - 5:15 | Brooks Hall Commons
Prof. Anastasia Dakouri-Hild, Associate Professor, Department of Art and Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program, University of Virginia
“The Kotroni Archaeological Survey Project (KASP): a Synthesis from Seasons 1-3 (2019, 2021)”
KASP is an international, interdisciplinary project that combines expertise across the Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences (Earth and Environmental Sciences, Archaeology, Classics, History, Anthropology, Architectural Preservation). It utilizes a combination of historical research, architectural study, digital applications, and conventional and innovative field techniques (collection of surface artifacts, Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing, photogrammetry, geophysics, geological and geomorphological analysis), in order to evaluate the complex, multi-temporal cultural landscape at hand. KASP also seeks to highlight the relationship between the past, contemporary communities and academic practice in the framework of public archaeology by engaging communities at all scales (local, national and global/international). The project operates under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture (Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica) and the Irish Institute for Hellenic Studies at Athens (IIHSA), with the participation of the University of Virginia and several other US and European academic institutions.
Prof. Anastasia Dakouri-Hild, Associate Professor, Department of Art and Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program, University of Virginia
“The Kotroni Archaeological Survey Project (KASP): a Synthesis from Seasons 1-3 (2019, 2021)”
KASP is an international, interdisciplinary project that combines expertise across the Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences (Earth and Environmental Sciences, Archaeology, Classics, History, Anthropology, Architectural Preservation). It utilizes a combination of historical research, architectural study, digital applications, and conventional and innovative field techniques (collection of surface artifacts, Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing, photogrammetry, geophysics, geological and geomorphological analysis), in order to evaluate the complex, multi-temporal cultural landscape at hand. KASP also seeks to highlight the relationship between the past, contemporary communities and academic practice in the framework of public archaeology by engaging communities at all scales (local, national and global/international). The project operates under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture (Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica) and the Irish Institute for Hellenic Studies at Athens (IIHSA), with the participation of the University of Virginia and several other US and European academic institutions.
Spring 2022
Feb. 24 (Special Event) 6:30 pm | Campbell 160
Martina Rigaldi, Metropolitan Museum
"Afghan Marbles: The Expanded Archaeological Archive"
Join the UVA Department of Art and the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program for a Lindner Lecture with Martina Rugiadi of the Metropolitan Museum! Martina Rugiadi is Associate Curator in the Islamic Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. The lecture will take place in Campbell Hall, Room 160.
Mar. 18 4:00 - 5:15 pm | Brooks Hall 2010
Antonio Curet, Global Mentors Program
"Disaster, Community, and the Ancestors: The Case of the Ceremonial Center of Tibes, Puerto Rico"
Antonio Curet is curator of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Originally from Puerto Rico, in this presentation Antonio will present his research on the ceremonial Center of Tibes. The center has been considered as evidence of incipient social stratification and monopolization of power in the Caribbean region. This paper takes a closer look at the complex interaction between social difference and monumentality. join us for this presentation hosted by the Archaeology Interdisciplinary Program and Anthropology at UVA.
Martina Rigaldi, Metropolitan Museum
"Afghan Marbles: The Expanded Archaeological Archive"
Join the UVA Department of Art and the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program for a Lindner Lecture with Martina Rugiadi of the Metropolitan Museum! Martina Rugiadi is Associate Curator in the Islamic Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. The lecture will take place in Campbell Hall, Room 160.
Mar. 18 4:00 - 5:15 pm | Brooks Hall 2010
Antonio Curet, Global Mentors Program
"Disaster, Community, and the Ancestors: The Case of the Ceremonial Center of Tibes, Puerto Rico"
Antonio Curet is curator of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Originally from Puerto Rico, in this presentation Antonio will present his research on the ceremonial Center of Tibes. The center has been considered as evidence of incipient social stratification and monopolization of power in the Caribbean region. This paper takes a closer look at the complex interaction between social difference and monumentality. join us for this presentation hosted by the Archaeology Interdisciplinary Program and Anthropology at UVA.
Fall 2021
Sept. 10
Welcome and Introductory Reception, Fayerweather Patio
Sept. 24
Amanda Phillips, Department of Art, University of Virginia
"Textile Studies: Interdisciplinary Potentials"
Textiles were, and are, a major object of exchange, traded at all levels of all markets around the world. This talk focuses on textiles in the Ottoman Empire, from about 1400 to about 1700, considering the objects themselves provide the basis for writing new kinds of history. A massive silk hanging made for Sultan Bāyezīd I (r. 1389-1402), a type of cotton sometimes worn by dervishes and guildsmen, velvet upholstery made for avid customers in towns and cities near and far, and garments found in Palace collections begin to suggest the many overlapping topographies of textiles in the Empire and beyond. Using these examples and others, I’ll also argue that textiles—haptic, somatic, ubiquitous; in an immense range of types; with a collective status as a major commodity—demand new kinds of scholarly treatment.
Welcome and Introductory Reception, Fayerweather Patio
Sept. 24
Amanda Phillips, Department of Art, University of Virginia
"Textile Studies: Interdisciplinary Potentials"
Textiles were, and are, a major object of exchange, traded at all levels of all markets around the world. This talk focuses on textiles in the Ottoman Empire, from about 1400 to about 1700, considering the objects themselves provide the basis for writing new kinds of history. A massive silk hanging made for Sultan Bāyezīd I (r. 1389-1402), a type of cotton sometimes worn by dervishes and guildsmen, velvet upholstery made for avid customers in towns and cities near and far, and garments found in Palace collections begin to suggest the many overlapping topographies of textiles in the Empire and beyond. Using these examples and others, I’ll also argue that textiles—haptic, somatic, ubiquitous; in an immense range of types; with a collective status as a major commodity—demand new kinds of scholarly treatment.
Oct. 22
Najee Olya, Department of Art, UVa
“Exiting Frank M. Snowden, Jr.’s Anthropological Gallery: Toward an Understanding of Visual Representations of Africans in Ancient Greek Vase-Painting”
A recurring theme in the iconography of ancient Greek vase-painting produced during the Archaic and Classical periods from the sixth through fourth centuries BCE is the non-Greek foreign “other”—a category that included Africans, Persians, Scythians, and Thracians. During the second half of the twentieth century, Greek vases and other artifacts with depictions of Africans were extensively studied by Frank M. Snowden, Jr., the most prominent Black classical scholar in the United States. Focusing on both written and visual portrayals of Africans, which he asserted were sympathetic, Snowden advanced the thesis that pervasive anti-Black racism characteristic of the contemporary United States was unknown in the ancient Mediterranean. Snowden, nevertheless, relied heavily on anthropological scholarship rooted in biological racial essentialism that was already being discredited when he began his career in the 1940s. Framing the artifacts as an “anthropological gallery,” his interest in the superficially realistic representations of Africans came at the expense of other important considerations—of production, function, distribution, audience, and context. Using these considerations as a point of departure, in this talk I reconsider two kinds of Greek vases studied by Snowden to offer a preliminary attempt at showing how archaeologists might interrogate his foundational research and, by adopting a more comprehensive approach, exit the “anthropological gallery.”
Najee Olya, Department of Art, UVa
“Exiting Frank M. Snowden, Jr.’s Anthropological Gallery: Toward an Understanding of Visual Representations of Africans in Ancient Greek Vase-Painting”
A recurring theme in the iconography of ancient Greek vase-painting produced during the Archaic and Classical periods from the sixth through fourth centuries BCE is the non-Greek foreign “other”—a category that included Africans, Persians, Scythians, and Thracians. During the second half of the twentieth century, Greek vases and other artifacts with depictions of Africans were extensively studied by Frank M. Snowden, Jr., the most prominent Black classical scholar in the United States. Focusing on both written and visual portrayals of Africans, which he asserted were sympathetic, Snowden advanced the thesis that pervasive anti-Black racism characteristic of the contemporary United States was unknown in the ancient Mediterranean. Snowden, nevertheless, relied heavily on anthropological scholarship rooted in biological racial essentialism that was already being discredited when he began his career in the 1940s. Framing the artifacts as an “anthropological gallery,” his interest in the superficially realistic representations of Africans came at the expense of other important considerations—of production, function, distribution, audience, and context. Using these considerations as a point of departure, in this talk I reconsider two kinds of Greek vases studied by Snowden to offer a preliminary attempt at showing how archaeologists might interrogate his foundational research and, by adopting a more comprehensive approach, exit the “anthropological gallery.”
Nov. 5
Sadie Louise Weber, Harvard University
"Eating Local, Drinking Imported: Cuisine and Identity at 3000 BP in the Central Andes"
(Zoom details to come)
This study combines microbotanical, faunal, and stable isotope analyses to explore interregional interaction, cuisine, and identity formation during the Formative Period (ca. 1800-200 BCE) in the Central Andes at two sites: Chavín de Huántar and Atalla. Both sites comprise civic-ceremonial centers and affiliated settlements tied to the Chavín culture, a phenomenon that spread widely across the Central Andean Region between ca. 1300 – 400 BCE. While animal use at both sites appears to have been distinctly highland in tradition, a greater variety of plants were used, including cultigens that cannot grow within either sites’ immediate area. Moreover, evidence for grinding, boiling, and fermentation of maize, manioc, and algarrobo, point to specific beverage recipes that may have played a significant role in social cohesion. In this presentation, I explore the movement of foodstuffs, distinctive methods of food preparations, and ingredients as markers of identity during the Formative Period in the Ancient Andes.
Sadie Louise Weber, Harvard University
"Eating Local, Drinking Imported: Cuisine and Identity at 3000 BP in the Central Andes"
(Zoom details to come)
This study combines microbotanical, faunal, and stable isotope analyses to explore interregional interaction, cuisine, and identity formation during the Formative Period (ca. 1800-200 BCE) in the Central Andes at two sites: Chavín de Huántar and Atalla. Both sites comprise civic-ceremonial centers and affiliated settlements tied to the Chavín culture, a phenomenon that spread widely across the Central Andean Region between ca. 1300 – 400 BCE. While animal use at both sites appears to have been distinctly highland in tradition, a greater variety of plants were used, including cultigens that cannot grow within either sites’ immediate area. Moreover, evidence for grinding, boiling, and fermentation of maize, manioc, and algarrobo, point to specific beverage recipes that may have played a significant role in social cohesion. In this presentation, I explore the movement of foodstuffs, distinctive methods of food preparations, and ingredients as markers of identity during the Formative Period in the Ancient Andes.
Nov. 12
Matthew Greer, Pre-Doctoral Fellow, Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies
PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University
"Cities, Towns, and Country Stores: Enslaved Consumers and the Politics of Shopping in the Shenandoah Valley"
Archaeologists routinely study the things enslaved Africans bought for themselves, using them to explore diverse research topics like identity and resistance. But we have not assessed how the power wielded by enslavers impacted enslaved people’s ability to acquire these goods. Addressing this is critically important because we cannot divorce enslaved people’s consumption practices from the politics of slavery if we wish to accurately portray the realities of enslaved life. In Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, for instance, enslavers passed laws that increasingly restricted enslaved people’s ability to buy things throughout the 19th century. But how did these laws affect enslaved people’s consumption practices? My talk attempts to answer this using merchants’ ledgers and an analysis of the decorative motifs and provenances of ceramic vessels from Belle Grove Plantation (Frederick County, Virginia), showing that the new laws severely impacted enslaved people’s ability to acquire a variety of goods.
Matthew Greer, Pre-Doctoral Fellow, Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies
PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University
"Cities, Towns, and Country Stores: Enslaved Consumers and the Politics of Shopping in the Shenandoah Valley"
Archaeologists routinely study the things enslaved Africans bought for themselves, using them to explore diverse research topics like identity and resistance. But we have not assessed how the power wielded by enslavers impacted enslaved people’s ability to acquire these goods. Addressing this is critically important because we cannot divorce enslaved people’s consumption practices from the politics of slavery if we wish to accurately portray the realities of enslaved life. In Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, for instance, enslavers passed laws that increasingly restricted enslaved people’s ability to buy things throughout the 19th century. But how did these laws affect enslaved people’s consumption practices? My talk attempts to answer this using merchants’ ledgers and an analysis of the decorative motifs and provenances of ceramic vessels from Belle Grove Plantation (Frederick County, Virginia), showing that the new laws severely impacted enslaved people’s ability to acquire a variety of goods.