The Latin Table – Spring 2019

Spring 2019 Latin Table Schedule:

Mondays at Noon: April 1, April 15, and May 6
Wednesdays 3:30pm – 4:30pm: March 27, April 10, and April 24

The Latin Table is held in Curtin 866.

Searching for the Royal Inca Mummies

Sunday, February 17 2019 3:00 pm

UWM Sabin Hall G90
3413 N. Downer Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53211

Sunday, February 17, 2019, 3:00pm
Brian Bauer, Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois-Chicago
Title: Searching for the Royal Inca Mummies

Abstract:
Like many state level societies, the Incas mummified their dead kings. Several times a year these mummies were assembled in the plaza of Cuzco for all to see. During the rest of the year the mummies could be seen in their royal palaces in Cuzco or in nearby royal estates. However, the fate of the mummified kings following the Spanish conquest of Peru has never been resolved. Several lines of evidence indicate that five of the royal mummies were deposited in the Hospital of San Andrés in Lima in 1560. In this presentation, I summarize what is currently known concerning the fate of the royal Inca mummies as well as the results of a recent ground-penetrating radar survey and an archaeological testing program which we conducted on the hospital grounds. While we did not find the royal mummies, the historical research and archaeological field work yielded new information on the history of the San Andrés compound and life in Lima during Early Colonial times.

Brian Bauer is an archaeologist focused on the development of complex societies in the Americas and the European—American contact period. research projects generally revolve around his theoretical interests in the development of social inequalities and require the extensive use of both archaeological data (survey and excavations) and historical research (classic chronicles and archival documents). Professor Richard is best known for his work in the Cuzco region and of the Inca Empire.

For more information about the AIA Lecture Series, visit them at https://aia-milwaukee.uwm.edu/lectures/

King Richard III: The Resolution of a 500 year old Cold Case

Sunday, March 31 2019 3:00 pm

Engelman Hall, Room 105
2033 E. Hartford Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53211

Sunday, March 31, 2019, 3:00pm 
Joukowski Lecture
Turi King, Professor of Public Engagement and Reader in Genetics and Archaeology, University of Leicester
Title: King Richard III: The Resolution of a 500 year old Cold Case
Location: Engelman Hall, Room 105

Abstract:
When the University of Leicester Archaeology Service undertook the Grey Friars project, it was thought that the chances of finding the remains of Richard III were slim to none. Nevertheless, Turi King, with her background both in archaeology (at the University of British Columbia and then the University of Cambridge) and genetics (at the University of Leicester where Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the inventor of DNA fingerprinting, was on her PhD panel), was the first team member approached by the lead archaeologist for the dig—should the skeletal remains of a “good candidate”; to be Richard III be found, would she be interested in overseeing the DNA analysis from planning the dig through to it’s conclusion. Turi King will speak about the Grey Friars project, from the early stages of planning the dig, through to the excavation and the results of the various strands of analysis, particularly the genetics, carried out on the remains.

Turi King is the Director of the Forensic and Ancient Biomolecules (FAB) Group at the University of Leicester, England. She holds her degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Leicester (MSc and PhD), and her fields of specialization are genetics and its implications for archaeology, history and geography, and genetic genealogy and forensics. Professor King led the international research team involved in the DNA identification of the remains of Richard III, and she is also leading the project carrying out the whole genome sequencing of Richard III. She is also currently leading a project examining the genetic legacy of the Vikings in the north of England.

For more information about the AIA Lecture Series, visit them at https://aia-milwaukee.uwm.edu/lectures/.

A Tale of Two Villages: Comparing Community Histories in Siin (Senegal) into the Atlantic Era

Saturday, April 27 2019 3:00 pm

UWM Sabin Hall G90
3413 N. Downer Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53211

Sunday, April 27, 2019, 3:00pm 
François Richard, Associate Professor, Anthropology and Social Sciences in the College, University of Chicago
Title: A Tale of Two Villages: Comparing Community Histories in Siin (Senegal) into the Atlantic Era

Abstract:
Professor Richard presents the community histories of two villages of the Siin province of Senegal, Diohine and Mbissel, before and after Atlantic contacts. By exploring these two villages’ histories through archaeological excavations complemented by documentary sources, Dr. Richard evaluates the impacts of Atlantic inter-continental contact on rural societies in the region. Particularly, Dr. Richard assesses the idea that European commerce marked a historical rupture with that inaugurated a period of political instability and loss of economic autonomy in Western African villages. Material evidence based on four years of excavations combine with archival and oral data to suggest that the effects of the Atlantic trade were not uniformly disruptive of political stability and economic autonomy within African society. The results were in fact more complicated, diffuse, and mitigated by enduring African social practices. Moreover, the supposed changes brought by Euro-African Atlantic trade were characterized as much by continuities as by transformations. In the context of intercontinental trade, village lives were reshaped in ways demonstrating both resilience and rupture. Archaeological patterns at Mbissel and Diohine show that the impacts of intercontinental contacts varied between coastal and hinterland settlements, thus enriching our understanding of global entanglements and rural settlements.

François Richard is a historical anthropologist and archaeologist interested in material histories of French colonialism and imperialism. His research focuses on two areas, West Africa and post-independence Mexico, though he has also conducted research in the United States and the Caribbean, and maintain a keen interest in the Atlantic world and postcolonial France.

For more information about the AIA Lecture Series, visit them at https://aia-milwaukee.uwm.edu/lectures/.