Western Illinois Society
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
2021-2022
Click on Lecture Titles for More Details
Click here for pdf version.
"Dreams, Drugs, and Fumigations: Doctoring
in Ancient Athens"
Susan Rotroff, Jarvis Thurston & Mona Van Duyn Professor Emerita,
Washington University, St. Louis
(srotroff@wustl.edu)
This lecture is hosted by Augustana College in Rock Island, IL.
it will be presented virtually at 7:30 pm CDT
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/qjq-
Or dial: (US) +1 470-207-5898 PIN: 775 460 413#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/qjq-qcfi-tnm?
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
"Ritual at the Crossroads: A
Sacred Stone in Ancient Athens"
Susan Rotroff, Jarvis Thurston & Mona Van Duyn Professor Emerita,
Washington University, St. Louis
(srotroff@wustl.edu)
This lecture is hosted by Knox College in Galesburg, IL
It will be presented virtually at 7:30 om CDT.
Register in advance for this meeting:https://knox-edu.zoom.us/
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
2021-2022 Lecture Descriptions
Thursday, September 16, 2021
"Feeding Cahokia"
James Godde, Professor of Biology, Monmouth College
(jgodde@monmouthcollege.edu)
and Lucas Jones MC'22
Every year, the Biology Department at
Monmouth College teaches a half-semester course entitled Topics in the
History of Biology. This past fall, the specific focus was “Feeding
Cahokia: Agricultural Technology of Native Americans during the
Mississippian Period". The class focused on a book written by Gayle J.
Fritz, emeritus professor of anthropology at Washington University in
St. Louis. Lectures typically took place outdoors at the Monmouth City
Cemetery, with trips to LeSuer Nature Preserve, the Monmouth College
garden, as well as the Monmouth College farm. Sometimes the class met
indoors in the CSB Nutrition Lab where we cooked some of the dishes that
Cahokian peoples may have eaten. The class culminated with a trip to
Cahokia itself in order to see the location that we had studied for the
preceding 7 weeks.
Flyer
7:30 pm at the Warren County History Museum, 238 S. Sunny Lane,
Monmouth, IL 61462
Meeting ID 607
178 8810
Passcode 3xQ8D4
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
"Illuminating the Past:
An Application of Data Science to Archaeology"
An
International Archaeology Day Event
Michael C. Sostarecz, Professor of Mathematics, Monmouth College (msostarecz@gmail.com)
Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI)
is an imaging technique used to non-invasively bring out surface details
on artifacts. This lecture
will share improvements on how the data is collected, an original model
to combine the experimental images, and new options for post-processing.
The artifacts presented will include Greco-Egyptian pottery from
the Ashmolean and British Museums, arrow points from Monmouth College’s
Native American Lithic Collection, and Greek coins from the College’s
Shields Collection. With a
focus on qualitative comparisons to current models for RTI, this
presentation will be geared towards a general audience.
Planned extensions of the project involve forensic science,
dinosaurs, and scuba diving, albeit probably not at the same time.
Flyer
7:30 pm at the Warren County History Museum, 238 S. Sunny Lane,
Monmouth, IL 61462
Also available via live ZOOM:
POSTPONED UNTIL THE SPRING
"Archaeology through Art: Early
Modern Japanese Ship Construction"
Michelle Damian, Assistant Professor of History, Monmouth College
(mdamian@monmouthcollege.edu)
Maritime trade and transport flourished
during Japan’s early modern (Edo, 1603 – 1868) period, connecting the
urban centers of Osaka and Edo with the farthest reaches of Hokkaido and
Kyushu. The omnipresent nature and variety of styles of boats, from
local ferries, to fishing vessels, to large trade ships are recorded
diligently in hundreds of woodblock prints by numerous different
artists. Careful analysis of the construction styles and contexts of
these vessels in the prints, in conjunction with contemporary ships’
treatises, extant artifacts in museum collections, and ethnographic
research suggests that shipwrights strove to create visually striking
watercraft that were adapted to the waters they plied. This lecture will
highlight some of the distinctive features of Japanese ship construction
and explore the role that different vessels play in the early modern
maritime cultural landscape.
Flyer
7:30 pm,
Trustees' Room (Room 302), Alumni Hall, Knox College, Galesburg, IL 61401
Thursday, November 18, 2021
"Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth"
Sienkewicz Lecture on Roman Archaeology
Jodi Magness, Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence
in Early Judaism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(magness@email.unc.edu)
In the first century B.C.E., Herod the Great, who ruled Judea as client
king on behalf of Rome, built a fortified palace atop the mountain of
Masada overlooking the Dead Sea. Seventy years after Herod's
death, the First Jewish Revolt against Rome broke out and Jewish rebels
occupied Masada. According to the ancient historian Flavius
Josephus, at the end of the revolt the Romans besieged the mountain and
the Jewish rebels committed mass suicide. In this
slide-illustrated lecture, we survey the history and archaeology of
Masada, including the results of excavations in the Roman siege works
which Professor Jodi Magness co-directed in 1995. We conclude by
considering the current debates surrounding Josephus’s mass suicide
story.
Flyer
This lecture will be virtual only. To join the meeting go to
https://monmouthcollege.zoom.
Tuesday, March 1, 2021
"In the Footsteps of Roman Soldiers:
Excavations at Vindolanda and the Archaeological Landscape of Hadrian’s
Wall"
Elizabeth M.
Greene, Canada Research Chair in Roman Archaeology, University of
Western Ontario (egreene2@uwo.ca)
In the past few decades the Roman fort
at Vindolanda has had some of the most extraordinary finds from the
northern frontier of the Roman Empire that have truly changed our
understanding of life in the Roman army. The site lies near Hadrian’s
Wall in a remote countryside in Northumberland, England and was part of
the original frontier line in this location in the late first century
CE. Decades of excavation at the site have given us an extraordinary
view into the lives of soldiers living in this frontier region. Greene
has excavated at Vindolanda since 2002, directing trenches in new areas
of the site for several years, and will give a presentation focusing on
the recent excavations and new hypotheses from this work. Highlights of
the presentation concentrate on the extraordinary finds from the site,
including Roman shoes, numerous inscriptions and artifacts, as well as
the unparalleled corpus of writing tablets (letters and military
records), to reveal what life was like on the edge of the Roman empire
and how the site has changed many accepted views of life in the Roman
army.
7:30 pm CST
Virtual meeting only. To join, go to
https://knox-edu.zoom.us/j/
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
"The Social Life of Roman Soldiers:
The Role of Wives, Children and Families in Roman Military Communities"
Elizabeth M.
Greene, Canada Research Chair in Roman Archaeology, University of
Western Ontario (egreene2@uwo.ca)
Research over the past few decades has
shown quite clearly that women and children were part of life in the
Roman army far more than had ever been considered before. The evidence
and spatial patterning of material within and outside Roman forts makes
this clear, but still research on the social role of these individuals
lags behind. This presentation concentrates on Dr. Greene’s current
research into this aspect of the Roman army, considering the evidence
that illuminates the varied roles of non-combatants within these
somewhat unique settlements. The presentation highlights the very
different realities for the wives and children of officers and the
family members of, for instance, a foot soldier, who was paid far less
and was not legally allowed to contract a marriage while serving. This
lecture follows on past talks I have given that present the
archaeological evidence for the presence of women at Vindolanda and
pushes the argument toward women’s social roles within military
communities and the intersectional identities of those living in the
Roman provinces and in military communities on the frontiers.
7:30 pm CST
Virtual meeting only. To join the meeting go to
https://monmouthcollege.zoom.
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Etruscans at the Crossroads:The Lost Cities of Tuscany"
Rachel Horner Brackett
Sponsored by Augustana College
Flyer
4:30 pm CST
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/ncy-
Or dial: (US) +1 240-428-7995 PIN: 770 814 570#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/ncy-ymyr-fjy?
"Dreams, Drugs, and Fumigations:
Doctoring in Ancient Athens"
Susan Rotroff, Jarvis Thurston & Mona Van Duyn Professor Emerita,
Washington University, St. Louis
(srotroff@wustl.edu)
In ancient Athens, as today, people got
sick. Suffering from anything from epidemic disease and accidents to
chronic illness and passing indisposition, they required treatment. Much
of what we know about that treatment comes from texts, particularly the
body of medical lore known as the Hippocratic Corpus, which began to be
written down in the 5th century BC. But the practice of medicine also
left an archaeological trail, from the well-known healing sanctuaries to
simple artifacts associated with medical treatment. This lecture
examines some of this evidence, focusing particularly on objects
preserved in the trash-heaps of Athens (and other cities) -- including
the equipment of a family of healers who lived just to the south of the
city’s agora (public square) -- to shed a more intimate light on the
practice and practitioners of the healing arts.
This lecture is hosted by Augustana College in Rock Island, IL.
it will be presented virtually at 7:30 pm CDT
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/qjq-
Or dial: (US) +1 470-207-5898 PIN: 775 460 413#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/qjq-qcfi-tnm?
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
"Ritual at the Crossroads: A
Sacred Stone in Ancient Athens"
Susan Rotroff, Jarvis Thurston & Mona Van Duyn Professor Emerita,
Washington University, St. Louis
(srotroff@wustl.edu)
A large, irregular boulder fenced off by
a parapet of stone slabs lies at a crossroads on the north side of the
Agora (the public square) of ancient Athens. When excavated, in the
1970s, I, t was covered with hundreds of small vessels, placed there in
the latter part of the 5th century BCE, along with an eclectic
collection of unusual objects, including gilded pebbles, knucklebones,
writing styli, and fragments of broken sculpture. The lecturer and her
colleagues at the Agora have embarked on a detailed study of the
monument, now nicknamed the Crossroads Enclosure. Although it was
located at one of the busiest spots in the city, its ancient identity
remains a mystery. This lecture examines the architecture, contents,
position, and environment of the Enclosure, looking for clues to that
identity and the nature of the rituals and other activities that took
place there, and placing it within its historical context in the
turbulent last decades of the 5th century BCE.
This lecture is hosted by Knox College in Galesburg, Il.
It will be presnted virtually at 7:30 pm CDT.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://knox-edu.zoom.us/
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing
information about joining the meeting.