[Aztlan] DECEMBER ANCIENT AMERICAS LECTURES AND CONFERENCES

[michael ruggeri]

December 1-6, 2008
13th European Maya Conference:
Paris, France
"La Vida Cotidiana de Los Mayas"
The 13th European Maya Conference 2008
Will combine a three-and-a-half day long Maya Hieroglyphic Workshop  
(December 1-4) and a symposium (December, 5-6). Both events will be  
held at the Musée du Quai Branly.
http://www.wayeb.org/conferencesevents/emc_now.php

December 3, 5:30 pm
Peabody Museum
"The Ancient Maya in Modern Honduras: Archeology, Anthropology, and  
History as Nationalist Imagination"
Dario A. Euraque, Director, Honduran Institute of Anthropology and  
History;  Professor of History and International Studies, Trinity  
College
Peabody Museum
Cambridge, Massachusetts
http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/current_events.htm

December 04, 6:00 p.m.
AIA Lecture
"Ancient Andean States Through Biochemistry and Bioarchaeology."
Kelly J. Knudson
Room A-191
Life Sciences Center,
Tempe campus.
University of Arizona
With their long history of research and excellent preservation, the  
ancient Andes are ideal for the study of political integration and the  
formation and collapse of states and empires," Knudson said. "I will  
discuss the rise and fall of the Middle Horizon (AD 500-1100) Tiwanaku  
polity of southern Peru, western Bolivia and northern Chile by  
integrating data from bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry with other  
lines of archaeological data."
Knudson specializes in analyzing chemical signatures in human tooth  
enamel and bone to explore patterns of subsistence behavior and  
migration.
Information: Almira F. Poudrier, (480) 965-1754, or almira.poudrier at asu.edu 
.



Friday December 5th, 7:00 PM
Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC Lecture
"Another Ghost of Courageous Adventurers: a Ramah Chert fluted point  
from Vermont."
Stephen Loring, Ph.D. Stephen Loring is Museum Anthropologist with the  
Arctic Studies Program, National Museum of Natural History,  
Smithsonian Institution.
He was employed by the State of Vermont's Division for Historic  
Preservation to document privately owned archaeological collections.  
Among the interesting outcomes of that research was the recognition of  
a previously undocumented paleoindian horizon. Curiously the  
paleoindian assemblages were not found at low elevations next to  
rivers and lake shores but rather high in the hills, many of them  
associated with vast sandy landforms that, it was revealed, were  
former Champlain Sea shorelines. When the Late Wisconsin glaciers  
retreated north of the St. Lawrence valley there was an inundation of  
cold marine waters that lasted from about 12500 to 10500 years ago.  
The data from Vermont suggested that early paleoindian people may have  
had a sophisticated maritime hunting adaptation dependent on marine  
mammals and birds. Quite recently, a chance to re-examine some of the  
paleoindian artifacts from Vermont lead to the realization that one of  
the fluted points appeared to be made of a quite spectacular exotic  
raw material --Ramah chert-- which is only found in a remote  
wilderness setting more than a thousand miles farther north from the  
presently know distribution of paleoindian sites. What were the  
paleoindians doing at the gateway to the Arctic? The intriguing  
directions this research has opened will be explored.
Sumner School,
1201 17th Street, NW,
17th and M Streets, across the street from National Geographic. Metro:  
Farragut North (on the red line) and Farragut West (on the Blue/Orange  
line).
Washington, DC.
http://www.pcswdc.org/

Saturday, December 06, 8:00 PM
AIA Lecture
"Cahokia: An Ancient Kingdom in the Mississippi Valley"
Michael Fuller, St. Louis Community College- Meramec
Whitman College,
Kimball Hall,
Walla Walla
Washington


Saturday, Dec. 6, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Smithsonian Seminar
Machu Picchu, the secret ancient city high in the Peruvian Andes, has  
come to signify many things, thanks to archaeological and historical  
research, mythic and symbolic interpretations, and an array of  
contemporary political and cultural issues. The seminar explores Machu  
Picchu through four thematic segments.
10 to 11:15 a.m. Machu Picchu in its Andean Contexts
A geographic and historical overview of the Andean world; the  
distinctive cultures of the Andes.
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Empire of the Sun
The Inca state, with its administrative structures and cultural  
expressions; the Inca capital of Cuzco, center of Tiwantinsuyu, the  
Empire of the Four Quarters; artifacts of Inca culture.
12:30 to 2 p.m. Lunch
Participants provide their own lunch.
2 to 3:15 p.m. Visiting Machu Picchu
Black-and-white photos from archaeologist Hiram Bingham's 1911  
expedition to the unexcavated site; the expedition's gradual  
revelation of the main structures. A vicarious site visit, with a  
systematic journey through the main structures, focusing on the stone  
work and layout of the royal residential buildings and the sacred  
ceremonial space.
3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Contemporary Issues and Interpretations of Machu  
Picchu
Interpretations that have been offered by archaeologists and other  
scholars; current scholarship; contemporary issues affecting thisWorld  
Heritage site.
George Scheper is a faculty associate of advanced academic programs at  
Johns Hopkins University and co-director of the NEH AndeanWorlds  
summer institute for college and university faculty.
S. Dillon Ripley Center
1100 Jefferson Drive, SW
Metro: Smithsonian Mall Exit (Blue/Orange)
http://residentassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=213771

December 11, 7:30 PM
Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Lecture
"Time's Up! Pseudoscience of Correlations of Winter Solstice 2012 and  
Maya Calendar"
Dr. E.C. Krupp,
Director Griffith Observatory
* Reservations required and will be available in the November  
Newsletter and on this website.
http://www.pcas.org/meetings.html

December 13, 1:30 PM
Pre-Columbian Society of the University of Pennsylvania Museum Lecture
Jennifer Newman, PhD candidate, SUNY, Albany
"Maize as Food, Maize as Drink at the site of Calakmul"
Maize has a played an extraordinary role in the lives of the Maya. Not  
only does maize permeate religion and become a template on which man's  
life is described, but maize is the primary substance of diet.  
Iconography and text, such as that found in the murals and on ceramics  
discovered at the site, underscore this importance. In 2007, Ms.  
Newman extracted residue samples from 22 ceramics recovered from elite  
burials and dedicatory caches excavated at Calakmul. She will be  
discussing the practice of residue analysis, some results of the 2007  
samples, and the presence of corn base foods and drinks at the site of  
Calakmul and what this says about the population and the importance of  
maize in daily and ritual life.
Room 345
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://www.precolumbian.org/index.html


Mike Ruggeri's Ancient America Museum Exhibitions, Conferences and  
Lectures
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/AncientAmerica/