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The Archaeological Institute of America Western Illinois Society CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2005-2006
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 “From Oneota to Oklahoma: Archaeology and Ethnohistory of the Ioway Tribe” William Green, Logan Museum of Anthropology, Beloit College (greenb@beloit.edu) 7:30 P.M. in the Huff Center Classrooms 1012 A & B, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois The Oneota archaeological culture encompassed ancestors of several midwestern tribes, including the Ioway (Baxoje) people. From the 1600s through the 1830s, the Ioways shifted their main village locations across the Midwest to adjust to various challenges and to take advantage of new opportunities. Archaeological and ethnohistoric research sheds light on Ioway culture during this period. Analysis of native-made and trade goods helps us understand the interactions between the Ioways and their Indian and non-Indian neighbors and partners. Collections from Iowaville, the southeast Iowa site that served as the principal Ioway village ca. 1770-1810, provide especially valuable information on inter-ethnic relationships. The central frame of reference for this discussion is a map of historic village locations made by Ioway leaders in 1837.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005 “From Vascones to Basques: The Impact of Roman Rule on Northern Spain” Scott Christopher de Brestian, Department of Art History and Archaeology University of Missouri - Columbia (DeBrestianS@missouri.edu) 7:30 P.M. Olin Center Auditorium, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL 61201 This lecture examines the region of northern Spain known as the Basque country from the establishment of Roman authority in the 1st century B.C. through the collapse of the Empire and the rise of the Visigothic kingdom in the 6th century A.D. Using GIS and spatial databases, it will be shown how geographical and environmental factors affected the adoption of Roman agricultural practices, and how these in turn led to differences in social and cultural assimilation. Ultimately, the political and social changes that accompanied the end of the Roman empire resulted in the creation of a new ethnic identity, sowing the seeds of future conflict that still troubles the region.
Monday, November 7, 2005 “The Pepper Wreck: Excavating and Reconstructing an Early 17th Century Portuguese Indiaman” Prof. Filipe Castro, Nautical Archaeology Program – Texas A&M University (fvcastro@tamu.edu) 12 Noon in the Highlander Room of the Stockdale Center, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois Found in 1993 off the rocks of the fortress São Julião da Barra, on the mouth of the Tagus River, near Lisbon, in Portugal, the SJB2 shipwreck – or Pepper Wreck – was tentatively identified as the Portuguese Indiaman Nossa Senhora dos Mártires, lost at this location on its return voyage from Cochin, in India, on September 14, 1606. Its archaeological excavation disclosed an interesting collection of artifacts from the late 16th and the early 17th centuries and allowed for the study of the hull structure. This study suggests that Pepper Wreck was a standard Portuguese Indiaman, as described by Portuguese 16th century ship treatises, with a keel of around 27.7 m and an overall length of nearly 40 m.
Monday, November 7, 2005 “Rigging the Pepper Wreck. The evolution of the three-masted ship” Prof. Filipe Castro, Nautical Archaeology Program – Texas A&M University (fvcastro@tamu.edu) 7:30 P.M. in the Huff Center Classrooms 1012 A & B, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois Discovered in 1993 at the mouth of the Tagus River, near Lisbon, in Portugal, the SJB2 shipwreck – or Pepper Wreck – was tentatively identified as the Portuguese Indiaman Nossa Senhora dos Mártires, lost in this place on its return voyage from Cochin, in India, on September 14, 1606. Its archaeological excavation led to a tentative reconstruction of the hull, based in contemporary texts on shipbuilding. Further analysis of these texts allowed us to propose a reconstruction of this particular rigging and a chronology for the evolution of the late medieval merchantmen into this particular and extremely successful type of ocean going ship: the three-masted ship. Tuesday, February 14, 2006 “In the Shadow of the Sleeping Giant: Discovering Ancient Maya Communities along the Sibun River” Dr. Ben Thomas, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the AIA and an Assistant Professor of Art and Archaeology at the Berklee College of Music (bthomas@aia.bu.edu) 7:30 P.M. in the Huff Center Classrooms 1012 A & B, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois Between 1997 and 2003, members of the Xibun Archaeological Research Project (XARP) conducted a comprehensive archaeological survey of the Sibun River and its environs in Belize, Central America. The project’s main objective was to document and evaluate the myriad factors that affected the settlement choices made by the ancient Maya settlers who lived along the banks of the Sibun River. Our investigation uncovered twenty-two ancient Maya settlements and eighteen caves that contained evidence for Maya ritual use. In this presentation I argue that, while the choices of the settlers were affected by the physical constraints placed on settlement by the topography of the watershed and the activity of the river, the ideological significance of the caves in the limestone karst bordering the settlements cannot be overlooked. Our research discovered that there was considerable movement between the settlements and the caves. There is no doubt that the fertile alluvial plains of the Sibun River attracted settlers but the proximity of the sacred caves imbued the landscape with symbolic significance. The manner in which the residents of the Sibun River valley lived and the adaptive strategies they employed were affected both by the physical geography of their surroundings and the impact of the ideological landscape. Wednesday, February 15, 2006 “From Pulltrouser Swamp to the Sibun River: The Impact of Water on Ancient Maya Communities” Dr. Ben Thomas, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the AIA and an Assistant Professor of Art and Archaeology at the Berklee College of Music (bthomas@aia.bu.edu) 12 Noon in the Highlander Room of the Stockdale Center, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois The Maya residents of K’axob, an ancient farming village in Northern Belize, adapted their residential and agricultural strategies to the swampy environment in which they lived. Within this relatively stable ecosystem they created a community that flourished for over a 1000 years. Several kilometers to the south, Maya groups living along the Sibun River—often described as the most volatile river in Belize—established a community structure that was as dynamic as the bordering river. In this presentation, I examine the two areas—comparing and contrasting the ancient communities, the residents and, most significantly, the different adaptive strategies employed in each region. The variations within these areas emphasize the overall complexity of ancient Maya settlement patterns. But, I also argue that while communities in these disparate regions developed local solutions to local environmental and geographic conditions they always maintained an overarching “Mayaness” that linked them to each other and to the larger Maya world.
Monday March 20, 2006 “The Marble Trade in Antiquity: the Evidence of Ancient Marbles at the University of Missouri” Benton Kidd, Associate Curator, Ancient Art at the Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri (kiddjb@missouri.edu) 12 Noon in the Highlander Room of the Stockdale Center, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois A wealth of evidence is now coming to light about the extensive ancient marble trade through isotopic analysis on ancient marble to determine quarry provenance. These analyses are proving the extent of the marble trade and how freely marbles moved around the Mediterranean, both in the Greek and Roman worlds. The Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri-Columbia has had ten ancient marbles analyzed for provenance. These include eight Roman pieces and two Greek. The results of this study will shed further light on the ancient marble trade and further the Museum's and public's understanding of these works.
Monday March 20, 2006 “The Pros and Cons of Doric: the Fate of the Later Order” Benton Kidd, Associate Curator, Ancient Art at the Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri (kiddjb@missouri.edu) 7:30 P.M. in 109 Morgan Hall, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois This lecture is based on research with the later Doric Order and how it came to be disdained via certain Hellenistic architects and Vitruvius, who then transmitted his ideas to the Renaissance and later. If the evidence is examined more closely, however, we see that the Doric order continued with favor in the later Greek period, particularly under the Attalids of Pergamon. Not only did they use the Doric almost exclusively at Pergamon, but also in many other cities to which they donated buildings. These buildings and others illustrate the continuing popularity of the Doric and also the many new forms and variations that arose on the its architectural members. The results prove that this esteemed architectural symbol did not meet its end in the Hellenistic Period, but rather reached its culmination. Moreover, it became an icon of Attalid propaganda, which focused heavily on preservation of Greek heritage.
Thursday, April 27, 2006 “The 2006 Season of Excavation in the Precinct of the Goddess Mut, Karnak, Luxor, Egypt” William H. Peck, former Curator of Ancient Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts (whpeck@yahoo.com)
7:30 P.M. in the Huff Center Classrooms 1012 A & B, Monmouth
College, Monmouth, Illinois |