Past Seminars

Nicola Jones received a Masters in Journalism from UBC (2000), and then went on to work at New Scientist Magazine and Nature in London. At Nature, she served as a news and features reporter and editor; online news editor; and commentary editor. She has been working with SAPIENS since 2017, developing and editing many essays and opinion pieces by anthropologists for a general audience.

Learn how (and why) to write about your work for the public, from an expert editor. Nicola Jones has spent more than a decade editing essays by academics, originally for the science journal Nature, and more recently for the online anthropology magazine SAPIENS (www.sapiens.org). Nicola will walk you through the steps of how, when, and to whom to pitch an essay or opinion piece; how to frame an argument; and how to write in a compelling and persuasive way for the general public.

1. Discover different ways that writing for the public can help your career
2. Learn how to pitch an essay or opinion piece
3. Learn how to write compellingly and persuasively for the general public

As a practicing archaeologist at FAR Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Dr. Lucas R. M. Johnson applies XRF analysis to obsidian, other volcanic rocks, and other materials in conventional and often creative ways. Conventional analysis of obsidian includes knowledge of statistical methods in terms of sourcing small and thin artifacts and producing technical reports. Other analyses have included residues/pigments on ritualized materials (e.g., ochre versus cinnabar), historic era ceramic glazes, and general sourcing of metavolcanic ground stone. Dr. Johnson understands how to characterize a wide range of elements and their respective concentrations if present. As a member of a laboratory team, Dr. Johnson has stayed current with XRF literature describing analyses of various materials, taught other lab staff the fundamentals of XRF, and trained them to use an XRF instrument.

Applications of X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) in archaeology have expanded beyond the analysis of homogenous materials, such as obsidian, to include more heterogenous materials used, created, formed, or associated with human practices. Applications therefore include characterizations of ceramics, metals, glasses, soils, sediments, plasters, pigments/residues, cherts, and metavolcanic or metasedimentary rocks. While obsidian analysis is relatively straightforward, the other materials require additional caveats before conclusions can be drawn. This webinar summarizes fundamental aspects of how XRF works and then discusses a series of case-studies to illustrate how XRF technology can be applied to various anthropological questions. Intended for students, with little to no hands-on XRF experience, the presentation outlines important technical topics that should be considered before using XRF. These include a critical evaluation of material, the limitations of XRF instruments, and how XRF spectral data are used to make inferences and conclusions. Through discussing these topics, the instructor will indirectly address current debates in the literature regarding the use, reliability, and accuracy of handheld portable instruments. Regardless of which instrument is used, considerations of reliability, accuracy, and precision are essential.

1. Understand what is required for XRF analysis of a given material and by extension understand the limitations of XRF in analyzing certain materials.
2. Present case-studies by which students may learn how to perform a specific analysis.
3. Understand the fundamental physics of XRF and how software transforms XRF spectral to analytical units (i.e., calibrations).
4. Understand the basics of analyzing parts per million or weight percent versus untransformed photon peak counts (i.e., statistical procedures).

Gerry Wait has over 30 years of experience as an archaeologist and heritage consultant. His real passion is in finding ways to make the past relevant to people and communities in building their future, with the belief that successful communities have firm roots in their past. Gerry is an expert in conservation and management planning, and has led Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) or IESC due diligence in the UK, USA, Romania, Ireland, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Burkino Faso, Niger, the Mauretania, Republic of Congo, Mongolia, Morocco, and Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkey, and Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Uganda and Tanzania.

Gerry served as Chairman of the UK’s Institute for Archaeologists and a number of terms on the Board of CIfA, and is Co-Chair of the Committee on Professional Associations in Archaeology of the European Association of Archaeologists. Gerry has a B.A. in Anthropology, a M.A. in Anthropology and Archaeology, and a PhD in European Archaeology from the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the International Association for Impact Assessment, and of many other professional and academic associations.

International Cultural Heritage Management (ICHM), like heritage management in any context, can seem romantic and simultaneously like a great deal of work. Above all, it can be immensely rewarding. This two-hour course will provide participants with an introduction to the ways in which ICHM is like and unlike domestic Cultural Heritage Management work in other contexts. The seminar will discuss ethics and standards and team-work/collaboration in cross-cultural contexts. Outputs, capacity building, and sectoral development will also be discussed. Participants will learn about available resources for finding best practices and sources for support and guidance and be pointed to the existence and use of standards and publications.

Participants will be better able to assemble and lead teams or contribute as team members by:

1. Learning how to work through ethical concerns arising from working internationally in different cultural contexts;
2. Identifying the basic issues of international team management – cultural differences, time keeping, team roles and management, and styles of communication;
3. Connecting the relationships between standards of performance, outputs (project, commercial and academic) and capacity building; and
4. Learning how to find resources and support/guidance.

Barbara Little has been a practicing archaeologist for over 30 years and has adopted an explicit focus on the public relevance of archaeology for nearly 20. Recently, she has focused on archaeologists’ civic engagement. She is the co-author of Archaeology, Heritage, and Civic Engagement: Working Toward the Public Good (2014) and co-editor of Archaeology as a Tool of Civic Engagement (2007). Her latest book, The Archaeology of Social Justice, is forthcoming from the University Press of Florida.

Civically-engaged archaeologists seek to serve the public interest—however difficult that interest is to define—and increasingly understand their work as contributing to struggles for social justice. Various archaeologies seek to change mainstream practice. Feminist, Indigenous, anti-racist, vindicationist, and Marxist archaeologists offer powerful models that share some goals and methods towards rehabilitating archaeology from its colonial and androcentric roots. This seminar will take stock of the relationship between archaeology and these struggles and explore how archaeology can further social justice.  

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

Dr. Joseph Schuldenrein is the President of Geoarcheology Research Associates (GRA).  He founded the firm in 1989 and its mission has been to apply Geoarchaeology in both compliance (CRM and Heritage Management) and research venues. He has been a Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Human Origins at New York University since 1996. Dr. Schuldenrein is a former Fulbright Fellow in Geology and Archaeology (Hebrew University, Israel) and Fellow of the Field Museum of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in environmental archeology at the University of Chicago in 1983. His professional experience includes work across the North American continent. Internationally he has consulted on projects in Central Europe and the Mediterranean, the entire Middle East, India, Pakistan, and eastern and southern Africa. He is involved in research on Human Origins, Early Civilizations (South Asia) and site formation process. GRA’s projects have included forensic excavations for the Saddam Hussein trials (2005-2008) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice and design of a baseline Cultural Heritage Management Plan for the site of Mes Aynak (Afghanistan; 2011). Dr. Schuldenrein is currently focused on developing protocols for Urban Geoarchaeology, based on extensive excavations in his base of operations in New York City.

Geoarchaeology examines the relationships between changing landscapes and the archaeological sites associated with them. This sub-discipline has grown exponentially in the past two decades because of its utility in explaining patterned site preservation and its use in heritage management. Cultural resource potential is at the core of preservation planning. Development interests and regulators look to geoarchaeology to help in modeling archaeological sensitivity. This introductory course examines the science behind ancient soils and landforms, human activity, settlement geography, and site preservation. Participants will learn about geoarchaeological principles and the latest methodological advances in the digital age. Participants will learn to develop project strategies that are both efficient and cost-effective.

1. Describe the basic principles of the earth sciences: soils, geomorphology, systematics of human interaction with the environment, and how those data are preserved archaeologically
2. Understand the systematics of surface and sub-surface preservation across time and space, for different types of archaeological sites
3. Learn about the possibilities of collaborative and inter-disciplinary approaches to address particular project objectives
4. Develop approaches to archaeology that resonate with planners, architects, and agency personnel that are grounded in hard sciences and tangible objectives