Past Seminars

Fred Limp has been involved in the application of geomatics methods to archaeology for more than three decades. He was the founder and director of the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies for 18 years. He has served as PI or Co-PI on four major NSF projects applying geomatics to archaeology and heritage management and in 2013 he was appointed by Interior Secretary Salazar to the Board of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.  He has taught numerous undergraduate and graduate and short courses on the topic. He is a past-President of the SAA and was a founding Director of the Open Geospatial Consortium. OGC is the international body that developed spatial data interoperability specifications

More than 60 years ago, Gordon Willey famously stated that the objectives of archaeology are “approached by the study and manipulation of three basic factors: form, space and time.” Since then, we have seen the huge impact that improved technologies for the measurement of time have had on the field. We are currently in the midst of a similar revolution in the methods for the measurement of space and form. This lecture updates one first offered by SAA in 2014 and is designed as a state-of-the-art introduction to these developments, specifically for archaeology students.

As a two-part series, Part II of this course examines analysis, display, and dissemination of High-Density Survey and Measurement (HDSM) data. Building on Part I, this lecture also provides further considerations and strategies for choosing the “best” approach in using these technologies.

Completing Part I of this course is not a requirement, but it is encouraged. Members can listen to Part I in the SAA Online Seminar Series Archive, available in the Member Center.

1. Define characteristics and archaeological and heritage management uses of new technologies and methods in high density survey (HDSM) methods (typically sub-millimeter to centimeter)
2. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches in consideration to specific project limitations
3. Describe the general process and tools of extraction, analysis, display, and dissemination of HDSM data.

Michael T. Searcy, PhD, RPA has worked as an archaeologist in the Greater Southwest for the last 15 years in both academia and contract settings. He is currently an assistant professor of archaeology at Brigham Young University in the Department of Anthropology. Over the past five years, he and his colleague have been integrating drones into their research, including studies based in Mexico and Utah. They have also been working to refine UAV methods using multiple drone formats.

Scott M. Ure, MA is a research archaeologist for the Department of Anthropology at Brigham Young University and has worked at a variety of sites in the Great Basin, American Southwest, Middle East, and Mexico for 18 years. He is an FAA certified UAV pilot and has operated several different multi-rotor and fixed-wing unmanned aerial systems domestically and internationally for five years.

This course is designed to provide basic information on the use of drones in archaeological mapping and other field contexts. Instructors will explore some of the variables that have to be considered in the planning, pre-flight, flight, and post-processing stages involved in the integration of Unmanned Aerial Systems. This course will also provide important information regarding the legal use of drones in accordance with associated federal regulations.

1. Familiarize seminar participants with drone formats and their potential applications.
2. Instruct participants on the basic workflow of drone use in archaeology (flight planning, permissions to fly, site preparation, automated and manual flights, post-flight processing of aerial imagery).
3. Provide information on the legal and safe operation of drones in the United States.
   

Jodi Reeves Eyre holds a PhD in archaeology from the University of Exeter (2013), where she studied how experimental archaeology is perceived in archaeological research. She has worked with EXARC, the ICOM-affiliated organization representing archaeological open-air museums, experimental archaeology, ancient technology and interpretation, since 2010. She currently manages the EXARC Experimental Archaeology Collection in tDAR, has conducted participant observation of experimental projects, woven on models of ancient Greek looms, and painted people blue. Jodi is also a co-founder of Eyre & Israel, LLC, which provides research, editing, and digital curation consulting for non-profits, non-fiction publishers and authors, and cultural organizations.

This seminar will focus on designing experimental research to test hypotheses by replicating cultural or past processes. It will highlight the importance of being informed of past experimental research and other archaeological research, the importance of developing experiments in a suitable manner, and making data available and usable to colleagues in order to increase the impact of experimental research. It will also cover experimental archaeology’s historical context, key concepts, and its relationship to experiential research and to interpretation.

The seminar is suitable for researchers, students, and museum professionals who are new to experimental archaeology, or who have not received formal training, and who are interested in including this method in their work. People familiar with experimental archaeology who want to increase the impact of their work by learning about new ways to make data more widely available and who want to learn more about work being conducted by EXARC and its members will also benefit from the seminar.

1. Understand established ways of using of experimental archaeology in research and in public presentation, its relationship with experiential archaeology and interpretation, and basic terminology.
2. Understand the basics of designing an archaeological experiment and what makes an experiment different from an experiential exercise. The importance of technical knowledge acquisition will be discussed.
3. Identify sources of experimental information and data and understand the purpose and basics of recording experiment data and making it available as part of the research process.

Ian Hodder was trained at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and at Cambridge University where he obtained his PhD in 1975. After a brief period teaching at Leeds, he returned to Cambridge where he taught until 1999. During that time he became Professor of Archaeology and was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. In 1999 he moved to teach at Stanford University as Dunlevie Family Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Director of the Stanford Archaeology Center. His main large-scale excavation projects have been at Haddenham in the east of England and at Çatalhöyük in Turkey where he has worked since 1993. He has been awarded the Oscar Montelius Medal by the Swedish Society of Antiquaries, the Huxley Memorial Medal by the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Fyssen International Prize, the Gold Medal by the Archaeological Institute of America, and has Honorary Doctorates from Bristol and Leiden Universities. His main books include The leopard’s tale: revealing the mysteries of Çatalhöyük (2006 Thames and Hudson).

The aim of this course is to reflect back on 25 years of research at the 9000 year old site of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey. Over the past decades, the instructor has been leading a large team of about 160 people as they try to make sense of this intriguing mound or tell site. Çatalhöyük has 21 meters of occupation deposits consisting of multiple layers of houses with under-the-floor burials, roof entries, and elaborate wall art and symbolism. In this one-hour course, the instructor will explain the changes in methods over time as the archaeologists moved to paperless, digital techniques. He will also explain some of the main interpretive challenges for the archaeologists and how they solved them – what we now think about life at Çatalhöyük. But the instructor will also raise the question of if we have been successful in creating a shared past in which multiple stakeholders participate, and in applying community based participatory research. He will ultimately raise questions about whether it is really possible to decolonize archaeology.

The Knowledge Series seminars are opportunities to learn from prominent archaeologists as they share their experiences and expertise.

Heather B. Thakar, PhD, RPA is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Texas A&M University and the Director of the Paleoecology and Archaeometry Laboratory. Dr. Thakar earned her PhD from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2014. She has over 10 years of experience in Paleoethnobotany, including both private contracts for cultural resource management and NSF-funded academic research. She has published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Archaeological Science, and Quaternary International among others. Working in Western North America, Mexico, and Central America she has encountered a diversity of preservation, recovery, and analytical challenges that inform her how she approach teaching Paleoethnobotany. She has developed and regularly instructs practical hands-on courses in Paleoethnobotany for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.

Today, archaeobotanical remains are regarded as a fundamental component of basic archaeological research. Despite a rapid increase in expectations that CRM professionals and academic researchers incorporate paleoethnobotany, opportunities for specialized training remain limited. This two-hour online seminar is intended as a crash course in practical field and laboratory methods for students, researchers, and CRM professionals interested in the fundamentals of paleoethnobotany. The seminar will focus on increasing participant familiarity with the basic principles of recovery and analysis of macrobotanical remains and equipping participants with sufficient knowledge to develop appropriate research modifications based on preservation conditions.

1. An introduction to practical considerations in paleoethnobotanical research design;
2. Sufficient familiarity with field recovery methods to develop appropriate modifications as needed depending on the particular preservation context encountered; and
3. A foundation in macrobotanical identification, data collection, and reporting standards.