Ashley Brennaman wins Lambda Alpha Graduate Research Grant Award

Congratulations to the doctoral student Ashley Brennaman for winning the Lambda Alpha Graduate Research Grant Award! Sponsored by Lambda Alpha — the national honor society for anthropology — this award is one of only six given nationwide each year. Ashley’s… Read More

Alum Nikita Sessler Werner featured in recent Discover Magazine article

UWM Anthropology is proud to share that Nikita Sessler Werner’s 2019 MS thesis on the archaeological evidence for child labor in prehistoric European mining contexts is featured in the June 2020 issue of Discover magazine. You can read the article… Read More

AIA Lecture Series: When Did Vesuvius Explode?

Sunday, February 9 2020 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Sabin Hall G90

Sunday, February 9, 2020, 3:00pm
Pedar Foss, Professor, Classical Studies, DePauw University, Indiana
Title: When Did Vesuvius Explode?

It has long been held, on the basis of a letter of Pliny the Younger, that Mt. Vesuvius erupted on 24 August, AD 79. But after excavators began to work at the sites of Herculaneum at Pompeii, some scholars expressed doubts, suggesting a date later in the autumn of that year. Debate has increased with recent paleo-environmental research and the find of an inscription last year. Scholars have divided over a topic that might appear trivial—after all, most archaeological sites never enjoy such a precise date. But it is an excellent case study for testing our methods of historical and archaeological research, and I will lift the lid on those methods.

Ruins at Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background.

As part of a book project (Pliny and the Destruction of Vesuvius, Routledge 2021), I have collated, for the first time, every manuscript and printed edition of Pliny’s Letters 6.16 and 6.20, in order to track and analyze the literary tradition of the date through its surviving evidence. I have also compiled a reconstruction of the pre-eruption landscape and coastline, and collected all recent volcanological and archaeological research about the event. Having made a multidisciplinary reconstruction of what happened over the two terrifying days of the eruption, I can now offer an answer to the question of when Vesuvius exploded.

Pedar FossPedar W. Foss is Professor of Classical Studies at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where he has worked since 1999. As a teacher, he conducts courses in Latin, ancient history and literature, and art and archaeology. He received his B.A. in Chemistry and Classics from Gustavus Adolphus College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; he subsequently taught at the University of Cincinnati and at Stanford. His research concerns domestic life at Pompeii, landscape archaeology, and Geographic Information Systems. He has edited for the Journal of Roman Archaeology and was co-editor of the book reviews for the American Journal of Archaeology from 2008-2011. He has lived, studied, and worked for extended periods in Greece, Italy, Tunisia, Turkey, and England. He is a fanatical follower of football/futbol/soccer.

https://aia-milwaukee.uwm.edu/lectures/

AIA Lecture: Andrew L. Goldman presents “Helmets from the Sea: Military Finds from the Battle of the Aegates Islands (241 BCE)”

Sunday, September 29 2019 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Sabin Hall G90
3413 N. Downer Ave, Milwaukee, WI

Professor Bettina Arnold and PhD Candidate Josh Driscoll participate in Ancient Beer Workshop in Germany

Anthropology Professor Bettina Arnold and PhD candidate Josh Driscoll were invited speakers at the University of Hohenheim in Germany in the European Research Council PLANTCULT Workshop “Ancient Beer: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Identification in the Archaeological Record”, February 7-9, 2019. Their talks were entitled, respectively, Tapping into the Past:… Read More

Archaeological Institute of America Lecture: Dr. Eric H. Cline

Abstract: For more than three hundred years during the Late Bronze Age, from about 1500 BC to 1200 BC, the Mediterranean region played host to a complex international world in which Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Cypriots, and Canaanites… Read More

International Archaeology Day

Saturday, October 20 2018 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

UWM Sabin Hall
3413 N. Downer Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53211

War, Peace, and the Feast: Conflict and Resolution in the Past

War, Peace, and the Feast is a hands-on opportunity to experience the variety of ways that conflicts were contested, resolved, and prevented in the past as revealed in the archaeological record. We present three main themes about ancient conflict. First is the variety of ways in which conflicts could be contested. These contests could indeed be bloody wars, but also could take the form of smaller-scale ritual battles like those which are seen today in Chiaraje, Peru. Myths also tell of sporting events taking place for warfare. Indeed, sports are well-known as a measure for pausing conflicts, as was the case in the ancient Olympics. We might infer that periodic sporting events both created social bonds between participants and released tensions before they could break into bloodshed. Finally, we present feasting as a key method in which social bonds were created as a means to provide stability and prevent conflict. With competitive feasting, we see the themes of War, Peace, and the Feast come full circle.

International Archaeology Day will be celebrated here in Milwaukee on Saturday October 20, 2018, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm on the UWM campus. Come to the first floor of UWM’s Sabin Hall (3413 N. Downer Ave.) and join us for an exciting afternoon doing archaeology with local specialists, ranging from experimental archaeology to helping identify and analyze ancient artifacts! FREE and open to the public. Fun for all ages!

This event is co-sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America, Milwaukee Society and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Departments of Anthropology, Art History, and FLL Classics Program.

International Archaeology Day

Archaeological Institute of America Lecture: Dr. Ernie Boszhardt

Sunday, September 30 2018 3:00 pm

Sabin Hall G90

Sunday, September 30, 3 PM, Sabin Hall G90

Abstract

Coinciding with the dawn of the Middle Mississippian Culture at the ancient city of Cahokia nearly 1,000 years ago, a group canoed over 500 miles up the Mississippi River to establish a settlement at Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Antiquarian records alluded to distinct platform mounds and exotic ceramics, but only recently has the age, extent, and purpose of Trempealeau’s very early Mississippian expression been thoroughly explored. Ongoing excavations since 2010 have revealed that the Cahokians carried ceramic vessels and a variety of flint stones from their homeland along with their architecture and religion to this far-flung yet short-lived outpost; and why they came to Trempealeau.

Bio

Robert “Ernie” Boszhardt is a Wisconsin archaeologist with over 40 years of experience. His research has focused on the unglaciated Driftless Area of western Wisconsin where he has studied and written extensively about nearly all aspects of that region’s archaeological heritage, including Paleoindian, Hopewell, Effigy Mounds, Oneota, rock art, and most recently Middle Mississippian. He currently is co-owner of Driftless Pathways LLC. with his wife Danielle Benden who together direct the Trempealeau Archaeology Project.

Boszhardt-authored books on the Trempealeau research and regional rock art will be available for purchase and signing at the talk.

Lecture Program

Archaeological Institute of America Lecture: Dr. Ernie Boszhardt

Abstract Coinciding with the dawn of the Middle Mississippian Culture at the ancient city of Cahokia nearly 1,000 years ago, a group canoed over 500 miles up the Mississippi River to establish a settlement at Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Antiquarian records alluded… Read More

Recent PhD Kevin Garstki accepts post-doc position at University of Buffalo (SUNY)

Recent PhD Kevin Garstki has accepted a post-doctoral position at the Institute for European and Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Buffalo (SUNY) for 2018-2019, where he will organize a conference and publication on 3-D digital modeling in archaeology: https://iema.buffalo.edu/people/…. Read More