[Aztlan] August Ancient Americas Lectures and Conferences

[michael ruggeri]

Tuesday, August 4, 4:00 PM
San Diego Museum of Man Discussion
"The Chumash World at European Contact"
Dr. Lynn Gamble
Dr. Lynn Gamble, Professor at SDSU, will be talking about her recently  
published book “The Chumash World at European Contact: Power, Trade,  
and Feasting Among Complex Hunter-Gatherers.”
Gill Auditorium
San Diego Museum of Man
1350 El Prado, Balboa Park
San Diego, CA
http://www.museumofman.org/html/education_publicprograms.html


August 6-9
2009 Pecos Conference
Cortez, Colorado
Since 1927, the Pecos Conference has been an annual opportunity for  
archaeologists working throughout the Southwest to get together in an  
informal setting—to compare notes, share discoveries, and enjoy the  
spirit of camaraderie.
http://pecos.cortezculturalcenter.org/


Friday, August 7, 7:00 PM
Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC Lecture
"Moche Architectural Vessels. Small Structures that Provide Big Clues  
about the Role of Architecture in Moche Religion"
Juliet Wiersema, a Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Art History and  
Archaeology, University of Maryland.
On the north coast of Peru, artisans from the Moche culture (100-800  
AD) created ceramic vessels depicting sculpted architectural  
structures which accompanied the deceased on their journey to the  
hereafter. While Moche architectural vessels have long been utilized  
by archaeologists to corroborate and even reconstruct extant full- 
scale Moche architecture (made of mud brick and largely compromised by  
time, treasure hunters, and cataclysmic events), it appears these  
artifacts may additionally provide important clues about the role of  
architecture in Moche religion, including death and burial. Until now,  
scholarship has focused on a sub-set of Moche architectural vessels  
depicting open gabled structures with sculpted war clubs on their  
roofs. My recent compilation of roughly 200 Moche architectural  
vessels reveals, however, that a very different type of architecture –  
the closed gabled structure with step-shaped roof combs – emerges as  
the predominant form in the Moche architectural vessel corpus.  
Interestingly enough, the closed gabled form appears in other Moche  
media, but until now has been overlooked. A closer examination of the  
art historical as well as archaeological record reveals this  
architectural type is not only depicted in Moche fineline and sculpted  
vessels, but also has a full-scale counterpart at Huaca de la Luna in  
the Moche Valley. All evidence considered together suggests that the  
closed gabled structure played a key role in Moche religious ritual  
and served as the venue for acts of human sacrifice within the Moche  
ceremonial complex.
Juliet Wiersema is a doctoral candidate in the department of Art  
History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland where she has  
been teaching Pre-Columbian art history while completing her  
dissertation, “Moche Architectural Vessels: Architecture for the  
Afterlife.” Her dissertation is the first to compile and analyze an  
extensive corpus of Moche architectural vessels, 171 in total. This  
research has shed new light on these artifacts as well as revealed  
that, in addition to ceramic vessels, some also function as musical  
instruments. This research has been supported locally by a Smithsonian  
Institution Pre-doctoral fellowship (NMAI), a Jay I. Kislak Short Term  
Fellowship, and a Cosmos Club Foundation grant. Collections research  
was conducted in Peru from 2006-2008 through a Fulbright IIE Fellowship.
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
Meeting Room A 4805
Edgemoor Lane,
Bethesda, MD
240-777-8212
http://www.pcswdc.org/


August 20, 7:30 PM
South Suburban Archaeological Society Lecture
"Discovering the Secrets of Maya Blue: The Maya Color of Sacrifice"
Dean E. Arnold, PhD
Marie Irwin Community Center,
18120 Highland Avenue,
Homewood, Illinois.
Call Helen Hardman, SSAS Program Chair at (708)748-7806 for more  
information.
http://www.museum.state.il.us/iaaa/southprograms.htm


August 20, 7:30 PM
El Paso Archaeology Society Lecture
"Apache Iconography - Southern New Mexico and West Texas"
LeRoy Unglaub
Of the three styles of rock art found in this are – Archaic, Jornada- 
Mogollon and Apache – it is the least known and the least documented.   
Mr. Unglaub’s lecture is a survey of the Apache rock art, both  
petroglyphs and pictographs, found at approximately fourteen sites in  
Southern New Mexico and West Texas.  It will include imagery of wind  
gods, mountain spirit dancers, shield figures, etc.
El Paso Museum of Archaeology in the auditorium
4301 Transmountain Rd.
El Paso, Texas
http://www.epas.com/newsletter.htm


August 22, 7:30 PM
“The Sears Point Style and Gillespie Dam Rock Art in Regional Context”
Ken Hedges, Independent Rock Art Consultant
The Sears Point Style describes a distinctive body of rock art  
confined to a restricted area along the lower Gila River in  
southwestern Arizona. This paper provides an overview of style  
characteristics that distinguish the Sears Point Style from Gila  
Petroglyph Style rock art characteristic of Hohokam regions to the  
east and from other Patayan styles to the west, and places the rock  
art in a broader regional context of Patayan rock art styles in  
western Arizona, southern Nevada, eastern and southern California, and  
northern Baja California.
The important site at Gillespie Dam north of Gila Bend on the lower  
Gila River is well known and has long stood as an anomaly in a region  
of Hohokam rock art. Petroglyphs on striking basalt cliffs and  
outcrops overlooking the river exhibit a puzzling mix of elements and  
unique features unlike anything else on the lower Gila. The  
distinctive Sears Point petroglyph style downstream from Painted  
Rocks, west of Gila Bend, provides a source for some of the anomalous  
elements at Gillespie Dam, but other features are less easily  
explained. This paper discusses stylistic, geographical, and ritual  
factors that may help explain the unusual nature of the Gillespie Dam  
rock art.
Los Peñasquitos Ranch adobe
Take Black Mountain Road to the Canyonside Park Driveway, just north  
of Mercy Road in Rancho Penasquitos. Drive west past the ball fields  
and parking lots, following the signs to the Ranch House. Access is on  
the dirt road, through the white wooden gate (open during visiting  
hours). Parking is located next to the large barn. The adobe structure  
is south of the barn.
http://www.sandiegoarchaeologicalsociety.com/speakers.htm

Mike Ruggeri's Ancient America Museum Exhibitions, Conferences and  
Lectures
http://tinyurl.com/c9mlao