Past Seminars

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

Matthew Piscitelli is a Project Archaeologist and Social Media Manager at SEARCH as well as a Research Associate at The Field Museum in Chicago. He has 13 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 grantmaking 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.

Public speaking is one of the most important and most dreaded forms of communication. Nevertheless, it is vital for educating others, building relationships, and motivating change. This one-hour online seminar will provide archaeologists with the tools they need to engage professional and public audiences confidently and effectively. This course will present five general principles of storytelling that are applicable to all forms of outreach and appropriate for all audiences. Participants will learn tips and tricks for building an informative and engaging presentation whether at a conference, classroom, or community center.

1. Understand the five principles of storytelling
2. How to give an informative and engaging presentation at a professional conference
3. How to give a public talk for a general audience

Anne Jensen is Senior Scientist of the Barrow, Alaska Native village corporation's subsidiary, UIC Science, LLC. She has appointments as Affiliate Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and as Research Affiliate at the Museum of the North, both at University of Alaska Fairbanks, as well as a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College. She currently serves as Chair of the Society for American Archaeology’s Committee on Climate Change Strategies and Archaeological Response (CCSAR). She has spent 35 years doing archaeological and ethnographic research at sites throughout Alaska. This includes serving as Principal Investigator for projects at Pingusugruk, Ukkuqsi, Ipiutaq, Nuvuk and Walakpa, all of which are significant eroding coastal sites on the North Slope.

Dr. Jensen has published on various aspects of coastal North Alaska archaeology as well as Cultural Resource Management in Bush Alaska, the material correlates of indigenous and western science traditions, resource use, evidence for climate change in North Alaska, and zooarchaeology. She is currently the PI on the Walakpa Archaeological Salvage Project, which is carrying out excavation of a rapidly eroding major Birnirk/Thule habitation site at Walakpa, Alaska, salvaging important ecological and cultural information, and documenting oral history of the site’s more recent use.

The course will provide an introduction to the effects climate change is having on various site types around the world, their implications for the future of archaeology and the archaeological resource, and ways to respond. Sea level rise, coastal erosion, droughts, floods, hydrological changes leading to drying of soils, increased frequency and intensity of forest fires, changes in vegetation, and permafrost thawing are among the climate-driven forces affecting archaeological sites. In most cases, the effects are negative. Whether you currently work where these effects are already occurring or not, a basic understanding of climate change issues as they pertain to archaeological resources is important. Equally important is to consider what archaeological research might contribute to increasing resilience and adaptation through lessons learned from the past.

1. Develop an awareness of the types of impacts climate change is having on archaeological sites today and will have in the future;
2. Recognize implications of these impacts for specific resources and for archaeological practice in general;
3. Learn about existing initiatives to address these impacts at various levels; 
4. Consider of what archaeological research can contribute to adaptation and resiliency on local and societal scales.