The Archaeological Institute of

Logan Miller, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Illinois State University (glmill1@ilstu.edu)

7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

Frederick R and Margaret B. Matson Lecture
Flyer
Tate Paulette, Assistant Professor of History, North Carolina State University (tatepaulette@ncsu.edu)

7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

The lecture will be followed by complimentary beer tasting (non-alcoholic options available).

Observation at 8:30pm, Adolphson Observatory, Center for Science and Business Roof, Monmouth College

Víctor Martínez, Lecturer in Art History, Arkansas State University (vmmartinez001@gmail.com)
7:30 P.M., Dahl Chapel, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

Jennifer Martinez, Visiting Lecturer, Monmouth College (jmartinezmorales@monmouthcollege.edu)
7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

Weingarten Assistant Curator for North America, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
University of Pennsylvania

7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

Jennifer Martinez, Visiting Lecturer, Monmouth College (jmartinezmorales@monmouthcollege.edu)
7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

“Recent Fieldwork at Noble-Wieting (IL): A Village on the Mississippian Frontier”

Logan Miller, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Illinois State University (glmill1@ilstu.edu)

7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois During the Mississippian period (1000-1400 AD) the largest prehistoric North American city existed right here in Illinois. The rise and fall of Cahokia reverberated throughout eastern North America, resulting in many population movements and new ways of life in the region. Archaeologists refer to the new lifeways in northern Illinois at this time as the Langford tradition. While most major Langford sites occur along the upper Illinois River and the Chicagoland area, one site that does not fit the pattern is the village of Noble-Wieting in McLean County. Since the early 1900s archaeologists have puzzled over the site’s anomalous nature. Was Noble-Wieting a trading outpost, set up by Langford peoples to access Mississippian goods or ideas? Or was it a refuge, established by Langford peoples but accepting disaffected Mississippians? Or was it an example of ethnogenesis, a new cultural entity emerging from the interaction of two or more disparate groups? Recently, Illinois State University and the Illinois State Archaeological Survey returned to this important site to address these, and other, questions. In this presentation, I will review what we are learning about Noble-Wieting as well as the many lingering questions that remain unanswered.
See https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2017/07/uncovering-past-isu-students-dig-history-800-year-old-village/.

“Inebriation and the Early State: The Transformative Power of Beer in Bronze Age Mesopotamia”
Frederick R and Margaret B. Matson Lecture
Tate Paulette, Assistant Professor of History, North Carolina State University (tatepaulette@ncsu.edu)

7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois For a broad range of societies worldwide, alcoholic beverages occupy a key position within the social, political, economic, and/or religious realms – a pattern that can be traced back thousands of years into the past. These beverages are often a constant focus of attention and discussion and a major destination for economic resources, and they are often subject to a whole range of rules and regulations. In the case of Mesopotamia, there can be no doubt that beer was a potent social, political, and economic force from at least the later fourth millennium BC onward. As in many other societies, past and present, beer occupied an ambiguous position in the Mesopotamian social world. It was consumed and enjoyed by many people on a regular basis, but there was also a fine line between enjoyment and overindulgence, between acceptable and unacceptable levels of inebriation. This conflicted stance toward beer and its effects provides some indication of the power and potential of beer as a force of social and political transformation. Like other alcoholic beverages, beer has a unique capacity to enter into relations with human beings – to transform individual people, groups of people, places, and occasions, if only for a restricted period of time. In this lecture, I argue that we need to pay closer attention to this transient, transformative potential and to the ways in which beer, as an active and dynamic force in its own right, may have helped to create the conditions for social and political change in Bronze Age (3000–1200 BC) Mesopotamia.

“Where the beer flowed like wine: Beer and brewing in Bronze Age Mesopotamia”
Frederick R and Margaret B. Matson Lecture
Tate Paulette, Assistant Professor of History, North Carolina State University (tatepaulette@ncsu.edu)

The lecture will be followed by complimentary beer tasting (non-alcoholic options available).

We may be living in the age of craft brewing, but the craft of brewing has much deeper roots. For thousands of years, people have been intentionally fermenting cereal grains to create their own unique versions of the intoxicating beverage that we now call beer. In ancient Mesopotamia, beer was produced on a massive scale and was consumed on a daily basis by people across the socio-economic spectrum. Beer was a gift from the gods, a marker of civilization, a dietary staple, a social lubricant, a ritual necessity, and a reason for celebration. It was consumed at feasts, festivals, and ritual ceremonies, but also at home, on the job, and in neighborhood taverns. It was produced by brewers working for the powerful palace and temple institutions and also by local tavern keepers and homebrewers. This lecture explores the archaeological, artistic, and written evidence for beer and brewing in Bronze Age (3000–1200 BC) Mesopotamia, as well as recent efforts to recreate Mesopotamian beer.

Observation at 8:30pm, Adolphson Observatory, Center for Science and Business Roof, Monmouth College
To celebrate this year’s International Archaeology Day, this talk on the “Archaeology of the Stars” explores how ancient Greek and Roman civilizations interacted with the night sky. The talk will be followed by an observation of planets and constellations at the spectacular Adolphson Observatory in the Center for Science and Business at Monmouth College. The event is free, open to the public, and family friendly.

Thursday, November 2, 2017
“The Decline and Falls of the Roman Material Economy or How to Trash Talk Rome”

Víctor Martínez, Lecturer in Art History, Arkansas State University (vmmartinez001@gmail.com)
Whether Rome declined, fell, or just stumbled into the Middle Ages, it did so neither on an empty stomach nor without some wine to ease the transition. While much has been written about the political, cultural, and social reasons for these changes, less attention has been placed on the day-to-day lives of the people during Rome's twilight. In this paper, I draw upon my work on the Palatine East Excavations, which was the first systematic excavation on the eastern slope of Rome’s storied hill and which has produced over 15 metric tons of pottery, the bulk of which consists of large secondary refuse deposits dumped into and around the substructures of the building complex from the late third through the second half of the fifth century AD, in order to consider Rome's transformation. This trash still has much to say and, alongside other evidence from Rome and its provinces, one can begin to understand how the aspects of the life histories of Roman refuse can inform about Rome in the waning years of the empire.

Jennifer Martinez, Visiting Lecturer, Monmouth College (jmartinezmorales@monmouthcollege.edu)
7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

This investigation of ancient wartime atrocities committed against noncombatants, especially women, and ancient attempts at rationalizing such behavior, focuses on the wars of the Classical period and privileges historical authors (Herodotus, Thucydides, Diodorus) and archaeological evidence (sculpture, Greek vases). What is an ancient atrocity? How is ancient violence depicted in, and rationalized through, art? The philosophy of violence and how this is portrayed in art is the main subject of this talk. My paper offers a different archaeological and historical perspective in a field that often analyses mythical women and wars. This talk focuses on violence towards female suppliants, the killing of women and children, and the reasons ancient authors provided for this wartime behaviour. It will also analyze depictions of women in military scenes in both sculpture and Greek painted pottery.

“Staging Ritual in the Lower Mississippi Valley: Explorations into Early Platform Mounds”

Meg Kassabaum, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology (mkass@sas.upenn.edu)

Weingarten Assistant Curator for North America, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

For more than 5,000 years, Native people have marked the landscape of what is now the United States with earthen monuments. This history is explored in a new exhibit at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. This talk will discuss the long history of moundbuilding, the process of designing the exhibit, and my current research in the Lower Mississippi Valley. The Lower Valley is among the richest archaeological regions on the continent and contains both the oldest and some of the most elaborate monumental architecture in North America. The Coles Creek culture (AD 700-1000) existed during a particularly dynamic period in Lower Valley history when the construction of platform mounds became commonplace, people first began relying on domesticated plants, and a hierarchical sociopolitical system began to develop. My work on two Coles Creek mound sites in southwestern Mississippi has shed light on the nature of these transitions and augmented our understanding of the moundbuilders who created these amazing places. https://www.penn.museum/information/press-room/press-release-exhibitions/1115-moundbuilders-focus-of-new-exhibition-opening-june-24

Monday, March 26, 2018
“Gold Rush Pompeii: Unearthing the Buried Ships and 19th Century Waterfront of San Francisco”
James P. Delgado, SEARCH, Inc. (james.delgado@searchinc.com; https://jamesdelgado.com/)
7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois
San Francisco, a seemingly “isolated” city on the edge of the western frontier, sprang into prominence as a major city and America’s premiere port on the Pacific during the California Gold Rush. This was because of the arrival of thousands of ships, the development of a veritable “floating city” of ships converted to buildings moored alongside piers and wharves that served as streets, and an ongoing maritime trade that linked San Francisco to the global economy as well as the gold mines in the interior of California. That port and city were destroyed by fire in May 1851, and a new city arose over the landfilled ashes. Entombed beneath 25 feet of mud and sand, however, the burned remains of the ships, buildings and cargoes survived. In this presentation, James Delgado recounts the stories of the ships and times, the archaeological discoveries of amazingly well-preserved artifacts and entire ships, at times, and his personal participation in most of the digs over the last 37 years.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018
“The Great Museum of the Sea”
James P. Delgado, SEARCH, Inc. (james.delgado@searchinc.com; https://jamesdelgado.com/)
7:30 P.M. Ferris Lounge, Seymour Hall, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois
The oceans, lakes and rivers of the world are the greatest museum of humanity’s interaction with the sea – as well as our global expansion and a record of our interactions with each other through immigration, exploration, commerce and war. In an engaging, detailed and yet quick tour, Dr. Delgado explores some of history’s most famous and significant shipwrecks from antiquity through the modern age, with an emphasis on wr, ecks in and around North America – ranging from the Ulu Burun shipwreck of 1300 BC to more modern wrecks like the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor, the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, or RMS Titanic. Dr. Delgado will specially tailor his presentation as well to add specific wrecks and themes in the region or area in which he will lecture to make the presentation even more relevant to the audience.

Monday, April 16, 2018
“Rubbish! Trash Disposal and Urban Dynamics in a Late Roman Town”
Melissa Morison, Associate Professor of Classics, Grand Valley State University (morisonm@gvsu.edu)
7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois
It has been said that trash disposal “takes place at the intersection of public life and private life.” What we decide to recycle, what we decide to throw away, and where we decide to put the trash –these choices say a great deal about us and our values, about how we understand ourselves both as individuals and as members of a community. Excavations in the Gymnasium Area of ancient Corinth are showing how the members of a powerful Late Roman community negotiated the competing claims of personal and public need in a period of profound social and political change. By considering the ancient Corinthians’ repurposing of important monuments, their redefinition of civic spaces and urban functions, and shifts in their attitudes toward trash disposal, ritual, and pollution, we may be able to better understand and respond to challenges faced by our own communities.

Jennifer Martinez, Visiting Lecturer, Monmouth College (jmartinezmorales@monmouthcollege.edu)
7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

In 2010, Monmouth College received an anonymous donation of thousands of prehistoric Native American artifacts, including spear points, pottery sherds, axe heads, and arrow heads. The collection represents human activity in Western Illinois for the last 12,000 years. The Monmouth College Archaeology Research Laboratory now houses this collection which is one of the largest locally available for study. Students have been accessing and cataloguing artifacts from this collection under the direction of three different lab directors. This talk sets the collection within the chronological sweep of Western Illinois prehistory, provides an overview--complete with videos--of current student lab work and previews future avenues of student collection management including website development, database management and community outreach programs.