Past Seminars

Matthew Emerson is a career archaeologist who has worked on prehistory and historical archaeological field investigations through CRM, museums and academia. He has been teaching Anthropology and Archaeology at universities and colleges for several years. His ethnographic experience includes: observing and creating software for assembly line workers at the Ford Motor Company (St. Paul, MN), working with Native Americans and collections at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology (U.C. Berkeley), volunteering and interpreting for the public at Point Reyes National Seashore (NPS, Kule Loklo-Miwok village and Morgan Horse farm). Using historical records, ethnographic accounts and art historical research, Dr. Emerson has written extensively about African inspirations and survivals in locally made tobacco pipes recovered from 17^th century settlements in the Chesapeake region. He has also directed ethnographic field research among the peoples of Northern Edo state, Nigeria and he is one of the editors of Edo North, Field Studies of the Languages and Lands of the Northern Edo (2011). Currently, he is working on an article on cassava farming and village gari production based on field research among the Okpameri of Akoko-Edo local government area, Nigeria.

This online seminar begins with a review of the descriptive and interpretative nature of ethnography as it has been traditionally and more recently practiced in Anthropology and Archaeology. Concepts and methods are summarized with insights into their value for investigations of pre-text, historical and contemporary societies. The overall premise is that learning about other peoples adds to a knowledge about the human condition and culture which may make us better people. This lecture is for first-in-field and experienced practioners and includes time for sharing ethnographic experiences.

1. Understand the terms associated with the theory and practice of ethnography in modern, historical and prehistory contexts.
2. Review the methods of ethnography including: participant-observation, thick description, interviewing and recording, concepts of manifest and latent functionality, etic-emic, perspectives, impression management and positionality, and the impact and ethical, responsibilities of researcher(s) to sponsors and studied communities.
3. Understand how and when modern or historical ethnographic studies may inform inquiries on human relationships with and connections to landscapes, natural and built environments, subsistence strategies and material culture.
4. Become familiar with the challenges and benefits of connecting ethnographic inquiry with living communities engaged in heritage research.
5. Understand the concept of research as surveillance and the ethnographic refusal.

C. Cliff Creger and Beth P. Smith have been utilizing LiDAR capture and recordation methods since 2008 in situations spanning across the spread of the Nevada Department of Transportation’s cultural resources work. They have used and presented LiDAR recordings of petroglyphs, ruins, haunted hotels, antelope traps, excavated caves, Mastodon teeth, and lithic tools.

This presentation reviews and illustrates the wide application spectrum of LiDAR technologies for use in cultural resources projects. Depending on the feature or object to be scanned in the field, aerial, terrestrial and drone data each deliver different final products. The instructors will discuss methods for selecting a project-specific approach, the setup of the recordation event, and how to achieve the visualization outcome desired for the project. The lecture will include case studies from cultural resource projects. The instructors will discuss the steps to consider, including how to “look” at the object to be recorded in three dimensions and estimate how to perform the scan to achieve and produce the final 3D object. They will review the use of engineering-grade LiDAR, iPhone LiDAR, and photogrammetry-based LiDAR, as well as some common mistakes to avoid in collecting and processing 3D data.

1. Develop methods for selecting a project-specific approach
2. Explain the setup of the recordation event
3. Outline how to achieve the visualization outcome desired for the project

Jessica L. Clark is the Cultural Resources Director for Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc., a CRM firm based in Columbus, Ohio. This is her fourth year working professionally in CRM. Considering this, she sits at the cusp of having fairly recently networked herself into a career, and is presently on the lookout for new colleagues, partners, and opportunities.

Nothing quite went as planned in 2020, including conferences and other in-person networking events that make up so much of how we interact with each other professionally. Networking is still a vital way to meet new people and discover new opportunities, so how do we do it? This seminar will explore ways that you can do this by taking advantage of your existing network, connecting widely (virtually), staying current on research and publications, attending conferences and other remote events, and by looking for other new ways to get involved.

1. Develop ideas about how to maximize participants' already-existing professional networks
2. Examine how online formats for events have benefits that can be used to our advantage
3. Introduce digital resources available to make the best use of growing professional networks

Patricia A. McAnany is Kenan Eminent Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. Dr. McAnany has been the recipient of research awards from the National Science Foundation, the Archaeological Institute of America, and of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the John Carter Brown Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and several others. A Maya archaeologist, she is principal co-investigator of Proyecto Arqueológico Colaborativo del Oriente de Yucatán, a community-archaeology project focused on the Preclassic through contemporary community of Tahcabo, Yucatán. As Executive Director of a UNC-CH program called InHerit: Indigenous Heritage Passed to Present, she works with local communities throughout the Maya region and beyond to provide opportunities to dialogue about cultural heritage and to magnify Native voices in education and heritage conservation. She is the author and coeditor of many journal articles and books, including Maya Cultural Heritage: How Archaeologists and Indigenous Communities Engage the Past (2016).

By asking the question “what is archaeological heritage,” we step back from the common usage of this compound term in order to create a space in which to examine both “archaeology” and “heritage” separately. Archaeological heritage rose to prominence as a reaction to the destruction wrought by World War II and the quickening pace of industrial/agricultural development in the post-war world. Best exemplified by Henry Cleere’s 1989 book, Archaeological Heritage Management in the Modern World, archaeologists were designated as the experts best suited to “manage” tangible heritage. The marriage of heritage with archaeology soon encountered trouble as other “post-isms”—postmodernism and postcolonialism in particular—laid bare the colonial roots of heritage management. Increasingly, attention turned to the subjectivities of heritage—as a value-laden relationship to a past in which the tangible and intangible freely intermingle. Native voices question the universality of heritage and work towards heritage sovereignty. We examine these challenges to archaeological heritage and imagine a future in which these two different ways of relating to the past might coexist in productive tension.

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

Dr. Kayeleigh Sharp, RPA, is an anthropological archaeologist trained in the four-field approach with an active research agenda in northern coastal Peru. Currently, she is an Instructional Development Specialist in the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), at Southern Illinois University, which allows her to work closely with faculty as a collaborator and/or course development coach. In her role at CTE, her areas of specialization are interactive-immersive content development, object-based learning, and course objectives alignment. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Sharp was part of a six-person team that helped hundreds of faculty successfully transition from in-person to remote teaching over the course of two weeks. She has coached numerous individual faculty members of diverse ranks and fields as they to move from "online triage courses" to full-semester online courses.

Early in 2020, educators and pupils throughout the world made the necessary and abrupt transition to remote teaching and distance learning. Understandably, the foundations of archaeology and other sciences normally taught in labs or through hand-on experiences were badly shaken. But the multitude of forced pivots we have recently experienced provide a critical roadmap as we find ourselves in the midst of a paradigmatic shift in education. In this up-to-date seminar, attendees will become familiar with formerly unfamiliar terminology and pedagogical ideas about online learning that have come to the forefront over the past several months in our archaeology classrooms. In this seminar, participants will learn the basics of using interactive tools such as SCORMS (Sharable Content Object Reference Models) and interactive maps. Participants will be provided with a set of open source tools and new tips and tricks to engage and retain online learners more productively, consistently, and effectively in their new classes and beyond. This hour-long seminar is aimed at both experienced educators who may be teaching courses online for the first time as well as new instructors who wish to put their innovative ideas into practice.

Participants will learn how to:

1. Plan an online archaeology or related course using available technologies and content.
2. Deliver an online archaeology or related course using available technologies and content.
3. Engage learners in ways that are productive, effective, and sustainable.