AIA Talk: Monsters and Demons 28 October 2015 7:30 PM Wilson Hall 168

Wednesday, 10/28
Dr. Karen Sonik
Auburn University

"Medusa and Lamashtu: Feminine Alterity in Greece and the Ancient Near East"
Wilson Hall 168 (art history lecture hall)

2:20 PM

&

"Monsters & Demons at the Dawn of Civilization"
Wilson Hall 168 (art history lecture hall)
7:30 PM

These talks are generously co-sponsored by the UAH Women's and Gender Studies program.

As always, our talks are free and open to the public. Please feel free to forward the poster and other information to anyone who might be interested. We look forward to you joining us for fascinating discussions about archaeology and our past.

International Archaeology Day! 17 October 2015 @ Lowe Mill 1-4PM

AIA TALK: Mirror, Mirror: Reflections of Femininity in Ancient Greece 1 October 2015

Dr. Mireille M. Lee
Vanderbilt University

Wilson Hall Theatre, UAH campus
7:30 pm Thursday 1 October 2015

Family Tree of Dogs and Wolves Is Found to Split Earlier Than Thought - NYTimes.com

Family Tree of Dogs and Wolves Is Found to Split Earlier Than Thought - NYTimes.com

Wine Event! Native American Feasting! Fund Raiser for our Chapter! 18 April

Our biannual fundraiser will be Saturday, April 18th 6-8 PM at the home of Ann and John Kvach. Hope you have purchased or will purchase your tickets and help promote our event! As with all of our events, it's open to the public. Have friends who are wine lovers? Fun to be around? Interested in Native American History?

We will be tasting wines from Chile and Argentina and learning about Native American Feasting from Redstone Arsenal Archaeologist Ben Hoksbergen. We'll also have our eclectic and wonderful Silent Auction.

This year our local society funded: Dr. Jungers (early humans), Dr. Larson (dog domestication), Br. Brite (Central Asia), and Dr. Pagani (China on April 9) :-).

$40 couple
$25 single
$15 retirees

Checks "UAH Art Gift Account" mailed to Lillian Joyce at UAH Art Department or bring to one of the China talks on the 9th.  

AIA TALK! Clocks at the Chinese Court 9 --April 7:30 PM

Dr. Catherine Pagani, University of Alabama, to give two talks on China on April 9.

"Art, Politics, and Patrimony in Twentieth-Century China"

12:45 in Wilson Hall 168 (Art History Lecture Hall)

The fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 ended two thousand years of imperial rule and ushered in a period of political, economic, and cultural instability. The resulting changes had a profound effect on Chinese art. In the first decades of the century, European influence on painting was strong; by mid-century, however, this influence shifted to the Russian socialist-realist style advocated by the Communist government. The political turmoil also affected the vast collection of art that was built by and had been the property of China’s imperial family. These objects took on increasing cultural importance long into the late twentieth century.

"Self-Sounding Bells, Sing-songs, and Glittering Gewgaws: Elaborate Clocks at the Chinese Court"
7:30 in Wilson Hall Theatre

The Chinese imperial fascination with elaborate European clocks and watches began in the early seventeenth century. By the mid-eighteenth century, the collection numbered into the thousands and included pieces made in Europe and China. While their mechanical technology was Western (introduced to the Chinese by Jesuit missionaries), their cases were a mixture of Chinese, Chinese-inspired, and European elements resulting in objects that were hybrids of East and West. These elaborate clocks not only offer a means of understanding Chinese imperial taste and how the emperor used art as a show of power, but also tell us much concerning the meeting of cultures in the Qing dynasty.

Satellite images show ISIS, other groups destroying archaeological sites.

Satellite images show ISIS, other groups destroying archaeological sites.

AIA TALK! Chaco Canyon: A New History 12 March 2015

Thursday, March 12

“Ancient North America, Entire” 12:45 Wilson Hall 168

“Chaco Canyon: a new History of a Pueblo Capital” 7:30 Wilson Hall Theatre

Dr. Stephen Lekson, Curator of Archaeology at the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado, Boulder, a winner of the Roy Chapman Andrews Distinguished Explorer award, is an expert on the sites of Chaco Canyon, Mimbres, and Mesa Verde. He has been involved in over 20 archaeological projects throughout the US Southwest.

In his day talk, Dr. Lekson will address a central issue. Archaeologists tend to specialize in particular regions. Native traditional histories are often specific to individual Tribes and Nations. An examination of the 11th & 12th centuries illustrates the potential for learning new things from the "big picture": Chaco, Cahokia, Tula, Chichen Itza, and Aztatlan.

Dr. Lekson’s evening talk will focus on Chaco Canyon. New data from its extensive hinterland suggest an exciting new history of this famous but mysterious site and the “Chaco Meridian” that connected it to other extraordinary sites.

AIA Talk on Khorezm Oasis 29 January

Our first talks of the spring are Thursday 29 January. We hope you can join us for two investigations of Central Asia, which was at the heart of the Silk Road.

Dr. Liz Brite, Purdue University

"Pre-Islamic Art and Archaeology of Central Asia"

12:45 PM Wilson Hall 168 (art history lecture hall)

"The Khorezm Oasis, Uzbekistan: a Nearly Forgotten Crossroads"

7:30 PM Wilson Hall Theatre