Past Events

Soren Frykholm, University of Michigan

While intermediate levels of social organization—above the household, but below the entire city or polity—are notoriously difficult to pinpoint in archaeological contexts, they nevertheless represent a crucial frontier for archaeological theory building.  Ethnographic research demonstrates that informants recognize these intermediate levels, such as the “neighborhood,” and that they consider them important.  Critical to forming social identity, integrated social communities also have high potential for collaboration.  In Mesoamerica, organizational units such as the Mixtec siqui, Aztec calpulli, and Maya tzukub were recognized in social, economic (tribute), and military systems.  But how do we conceptualize, investigate, and identify these ethnohistorically documented social units archaeologically?

Between 2013 and 2017, archaeologists used GPS units to map Cerro Amole, a Postclassic (AD 800-1521) urban center in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico.  In addition to thousands of terraces, more than 750 structures were recorded along with ancient roads, platforms, patios, and surface artifacts.  In this lecture, I will discuss three GIS-based methods of neighborhood reconstruction at Cerro Amole, including Kernel Density (KD), Least Cost Analysis (LCA), and watersheds.  Rather than prioritizing a single model for its ability to shed light on ancient social organization, I argue that the interpretive ability of these methods is enhanced when considered together. 

The Student Affairs Lecture Series in Archaeology (SALSA) provides an opportunity to hear student members present on their current research as well as a space to discuss and connect with other students.

Katherine Miller Wolf, PhD, RPA, University of West Florida

Dr. Miller Wolf is a bioarchaeologist and UWF Assistant Professor of Anthropology. She specializes in the study of skeletal remains from archaeological sites to answer cultural questions about the past and has extensive experience with conservation and curation of collections at U.S. and Latin American institutions. She was a Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Honduras (2022) for ongoing research of the largest collection of ancient Maya human skeletal remains yet recovered in Mesoamerica at Copan, Honduras and to teach bioarchaeological field and laboratory methods to students from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras. She was awarded the Conservation and Heritage Management Award (2020) by the Archaeological Institute of America for her decades long conservation project in Honduras and other sites in Latin America. She has also conducted research on skeletal samples from sites in North Africa, Mississippian and Woodland sites in the Lower Illinois River Valley, and historic sites within Florida and Belize.

Carolyn Freiwald, PhD, University of Mississippi

Dr. Carolyn Freiwald earned her PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and focuses on animal use, migration, and diet in Mesoamerica. She is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at University of Mississippi. Her specialty is biogeochemistry using the chemical composition of osseous remains to reconstruct behaviors in the past. She is also interested in the conservation and care of anthropological materials, and works with museum collections in Wisconsin, Mississippi, and Latin America.

The human skeletal remains curated within archaeological and museum collections belong to those who created the cultures that we seek to understand as archaeologists. Human and faunal remains recovered from archaeological excavations provide a wealth of information about past cultures, but also require the greatest care. The recovery, cleaning, and curation of bone often present one of the great challenges for archaeological projects, as an osteologist may not be on site. What is the best way to transport fragile materials to labs or to export them? How should they be stored until they can be analyzed, or over the long term? Should they be cleaned? Field labs, museums, and universities in remote locations are often only periodically monitored, can have extreme humidity or heat, be infested by insects or animals, lack financial support for collection maintenance, and/or be at risk due to natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes. This seminar will describe techniques that osteologists have employed to address these problems as they have worked to curate and house skeletal collections from prehistory through the contemporary era in various sites. The examples will focus on Central America and the ethical and cultural considerations of modern populations.

1. Review best practices for excavation, transport, sampling, and cleaning human skeletal remains drawing from real world examples
2. Describe best practices for long-term conservation and curation of skeletal remains drawing from real world examples
3. Discuss the importance of long-term conservation strategies for collections and our
   ethical obligations as archaeologists

Terry Ozbun, MA, RPA

Terry Lee Ozbun, AINW Senior Archaeologist, studied lithic technology under Dr. Jeffrey
Flenniken and was awarded the Crabtree Memorial Scholarship in Lithic Technology during graduate studies at Washington State University. Terry has published articles and taught classes in lithic technological studies for over 30 years.

Meghan Johnson, MA, RPA

Meghan Johnson is a flintknapper and lithic analyst at AINW. Meghan has taught classes on lithic technological studies for seven years. Meghan’s research aims to identify lithic reduction strategies employed in the Pacific Northwest through technological analysis and experimental replication. Her current research interest focuses on cobble chopper production and use.

Kelley Prince Martinez, MS, RPA

Kelley Prince Martinez is a lithic specialist in technological ground stone analyses in the
Pacific Northwest. Martinez is experienced in conducting macroscopic and microscopic ground stone analyses, combined with experimental replication and use wear studies, to understand raw material selection, ground stone tool manufacture, use, and recycling strategies.

Nick Hlatky, MA, RPA

Nicholas Hlatky has studied lithic technology in the U.S. Southwest, Micronesia, and the
U.S. Pacific Northwest. Nicholas has examined a diverse range of lithic assemblages across these regions, including Clovis, Folsom, and early Archaic period assemblages. He focuses on understanding technological organization through debitage assemblages.

This seminar will provide insight into stone tool production and lithic attribute analysis methods. It will be organized around specific flake attributes and their interpretive power for understanding the processes and techniques used by ancient (and modern) people to make and use stone tools. The course will cover key concepts in interpreting past lithic technological behavior and aims to enhance participants' skills in identification and description of diagnostic lithic artifact attributes.

Key attributes such as remnant ventral surfaces and the characteristics of platforms, compression rings, and radial striations are qualitative more than quantitative and therefore better “read” than measured. Diagnostic attributes vary by technology and their identification allows for reconstruction or modeling of reduction sequences. Reduction sequences (aka chaîne opératoire) represent patterns of learned human behavior and can be evaluated for accuracy through experimental replication. Reading ancient artifacts allows us to discover technologies from the clues left by ancient practitioners of those technologies.

This course is designed for professional archaeologists, students of archaeology, and non-professionals interested in lithic technological analysis.

1. Develop skills in recognizing technological attributes of stone tools and technologically diagnostic debitage
2. Enhance ability to differentiate between natural and human-created flakes
3. Connect attributes to specific reduction technologies and the relationships between individual artifacts and the larger technological systems of which they are a part.

Patricia Ayala, PhD, University of Chile

La Dra. Ayala es profesora del Departamento de Antropología de la Universidad de Chile (Santiago, Chile). Se especializa en arqueologías colaborativa, indígena y decolonial, así como en el estudio crítico de la patrimonialización.  En la actualidad sus investigaciones se centran en procesos de repatriación y reentierro en el norte de Chile y en el desarrollo de metodologías colaborativas en la Amazonia boliviana. La Dra. Ayala también está interesada en las biografías antropológicas y las historias de vida.

Dr. Ayala is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chile (Santiago, Chile). She specializes in collaborative, indigenous and decolonial archaeology, as well as in the critical study of patrimonialization. Currently, her research focuses on repatriation and reburial processes in northern Chile and on the development of collaborative methodologies in the Bolivian Amazon. Dr. Ayala is also interested in anthropological biographies and life histories.

En este seminario se presentarán los principales debates generados en Latinoamérica sobre los orígenes coloniales de la arqueología y propuestas para su descolonización. Para ello, se abordarán tres ejes de discusión: el desarrollo de las arqueologías colaborativa e indígena, el de los procesos de repatriación, restitución y reentierro y el de la patrimonialización. Este curso estará dirigido a arqueólogos/as y estudiantes de arqueología, así como a profesionales de museos e instituciones patrimoniales.

Este seminario online se imparte solo en español.

In this seminar, the instructor will present the main discussion points generated in Latin America on the colonial origins of archeology and proposals for its decolonization. For this, three lines of discussion will be addressed: the development of collaborative and indigenous archaeologies; the processes of repatriation, restitution and reburial; and patrimonialization. This course is aimed at archaeologists and archeology students, as well as professionals from museums and heritage institutions.

This online seminar is taught only in Spanish.

Familiarizar a los participantes con los debates más relevantes sobre la descolonización de la arqueología en Latinoamérica.

Familiarize participants with the most relevant discussion points on the decolonization of archeology in Latin America.

Alexander Rogers, MS, MA, RPA, Maturango Museum Curator Emeritus

Alexander (Sandy) is Archaeology Curator Emeritus of the Maturango Museum of Ridgecrest, California. He holds advanced degrees in both physics and archaeological anthropology. Over the past 15 years he has published over twenty papers and two book chapters developing and applying the science and mathematics of obsidian hydration dating (OHD). He regularly conducts such analyses in support of CRM firms and academic projects, and is currently working with colleagues on further understanding of OHD at the molecular level. He has led OHD workshops at annual meetings of the Society for California Archaeology, the Association of Oregon Archaeologists, and the Northwest Anthropological Conference.

The goal of this seminar is to provide insight into the theory and methods of obsidian hydration dating (OHD), a useful addition to the archaeologists’ toolbox for chronometric analysis. It should help enable attendees to ask the right questions, principal investigators to select appropriate methods, and analysts in performing chronometric analyses. The workshop will cover the basic principles of obsidian hydration and the models employed in dating; how to control for temperature and obsidian water content; methods for computing a hydration rate; guidelines for data analysis; and numerous cautions. An link to download a summary document on OHD will be provided, and an Excel spreadsheet with numerical models for conducting an OHD analysis. Mathematics will be kept to a minimum, but cannot be avoided entirely.

1. Describe the science behind obsidian hydration dating (OHD), especially recent advances
2. Outline the key methods of determining ages with OHD, and the steps involved
3. Highlight the limitations of the method, in terms of both accuracy and the consumptive nature of the lab work