Past Seminars

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.

Dr. Eldon Yellowhorn (Otahkotskina) is from the Piikani (Peigan) Nation. At home, he developed an interest in astronomy because the prairie sky is a canopy of stars. He heard old stories of the sky country in the Blackfoot language, and at university, he studied them as an anthropology student. Dr. Yellowhorn got his first job in archaeology in 1980, and subsequently he worked at many sites while studying at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. He received a MA degree in 1993 from the Department of Archaeology at Simon Fraser University. Although contract archaeology was where he found employment, his interest in the origins of large-scale communal bison hunting has motivated by his studies. He received his PhD from the Department of Anthropology at McGill University in 2002, the same year he was appointed an assistant professor in the Department of Archaeology at Simon Fraser University. He was a faculty member there until he established the Department of Indigenous Studies in 2012, where he now teaches. In his research program he studies the ancient and recent history of Indigenous people through archaeological fieldwork.

When John Wesley Powell wrote, “Mythology is primitive philosophy” in the first volume of the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1881, he crystalized a notion that dismissed myths as hearsay and unworthy of study. Boasian anthropologists collected oral narratives in their ethnographic work but they considered myths as psychological devices that people used to put their mind in balance with the world, exempted from any chronological context. Archaeologists have not ventured far from Powell’s original position that there is no truth to be found in old stories that emanated from oral traditions. Native Americans see narratives as real sources of information that chronicle the lived experiences of ancestors. Old stories and the archaeological record are the only archives of their ancient presence. Therefore, I triangulate data from Blackfoot oral narratives, material culture studies, and archaeoastronomy to create explanations for the cultural manifestations in the archaeological record of the northern plains. I use insights gained from astronomical studies to interpret the structural metaphors that ancient Peigans devised to organize their astronomical knowledge. Archaeoastronomy also offers methods that help to determine the antiquity of some old stories.

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

Matthew Piscitelli is a Project Archaeologist and Digital Media Manager at SEARCH as well as a Research Associate at The Field Museum in Chicago. He has 14 years of experience in archaeology, museum services, and grant administration. Prior to SEARCH, Matthew served as a Program Officer at the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC. As Program Officer, he oversaw grant-making in archaeology and advised print, digital, and television teams on the topic. Matthew has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Peru, Bolivia, Greece, and the United States. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Archaeology from Boston University in 2007 and both a master’s degree and doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2009 and 2014, respectively. Matthew is also a National Geographic explorer.

Daniel Fiore joined SEARCH in 2018 as a Content Producer with 15 years of experience in film, television, and advertising. He is responsible for brand management, media and public interpretation, and image documentation to demonstrate compliance for technical and safety standards. In 2012, Mr. Fiore was awarded an Emmy in Cinematography for his work on Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch series. In addition, he served in an executive role at Discovery Communications Inc. for more than three years, where he developed numerous television series, such as Yukon Men and various Shark Week shows. Before his work in film and television, he worked in advertising with the agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, who were regarded as “Agency of the Decade” at the time.

Storytelling is a universal language and video, as a collection of images and sounds, is the easiest, most visceral way to speak that language. Nevertheless, we rely more on photography and drawings as non-written ways to communicate our archaeological research. To stay competitive in today’s world of viral YouTube clips, TikTok, and Instagram Stories, we need to harness the power of video to share our knowledge of the past and the processes we use to understand it. This seminar will provide archaeologists with the tools they need to confidently and effectively capture, edit, and share video with professional and public audiences.

1. Explain why you should use video to document your research;
2. Explain the mechanics of capturing quality video;
3. Describe how to do simple/inexpensive post-production (for beginners); and
4. Describe how to leverage the power of video for your audience(s).

Fred Limp has been actively involved in online instruction for more than five years. He's been involved in course and content development, delivery strategies, learning management systems and has instructed 100s of students online. He was the founder and director of the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies for 18 years. In 2013, he was appointed by Interior Secretary Salazar to the Board of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. 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.

Many members of the Society for American Archaeology serve as educators, and many schools are going from face-to-face instruction to online due to COVID-19. If you haven't been involved with online instruction before, the challenge can be daunting. The instructor will share ideas for quick and dirty content development, look at some of the available tools, and answer questions. There is an enormous body of material on best practices for online instruction - but that is not what this seminar will be about. The situation we are in requires triage. This seminar is a practical guide with bottom line advice to help you get swimming in the deep end. This is about helping you identify the core instructional content, doing what you absolutely have to, and ditching the rest during a difficult time.

1. Reassure those who have moved to online teaching due to recent school closures
2. Introduce online teaching styles
3. Present tools and strategies for content development and engagement

Thomas G. Whitley received his BA from the University of Washington in 1987. This was followed by an MA (1990) and PhD (2000) from the University of Pittsburgh. He created his first archaeological predictive model in 1988. Since that time, as part of a 30+ year career in CRM and Academia, Dr. Whitley has created more than 50 archaeological predictive models (within both CRM and research contexts). He has also authored or co-authored more than 15 journal articles and book chapters on aspects of predictive modeling and geospatial analysis in the last 20 years. He has presented numerous papers on the topic at professional conferences worldwide, and often peer review submitted journal manuscripts and agency reports on predictive modeling.

Predictive modeling has a long and controversial history in archaeology. Informal predictive models have been in use since archaeological fieldwork began, and formal models since at least the 1970s. In action, they are seen both as useful planning tools and as environmentally deterministic confirmation bias, depending on your perspective. There are many different methods of predictive modeling, and just as many potential pitfalls. In this seminar, the instructor will introduce the theoretical structure of predictive modeling and the many approaches to it. The seminar will also cover the CRM and research purposes for which predictive modeling may, or may not, be appropriate. The types of predictive models, their construction, application, testing, and recent developments will also be addressed. This seminar will give a firm foundation for understanding archaeological predictive modeling, and lay the groundwork for developing your own predictive models.

1. Learn about the theoretical and methodological approaches to predictive modeling; their advantages and problem areas.
2. Learn about the purposes and objectives of predictive modeling; for both planning and research purposes.
3. Learn how to structure your own approach to predictive modeling; avoiding pitfalls and developing successful strategies.
4. Learn how to evaluate the applicability and success of any published archaeological predictive model.