ST. MARY’S CITY, MARYLAND—According to a Live Science report, scientists including Éadaoin Harney of the 23andMe Research Institute, Douglas Owsley of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and David Reich of Harvard University examined DNA samples taken from skeletons uncovered in the cemetery at the site of the Brick Chapel in St. Mary’s City, the capital of the British colony of Maryland founded by religious dissenters in 1634. The samples were taken from the remains of 49 people who were buried at the site between 1634 and 1730. The researchers identified the remains of Thomas Greene, the second colonial governor of Maryland, and Philip Calvert, the fifth governor of the colony, through comparison with information held in a genetic database and genealogical records. The study also found that many of these individuals had ancestral ties to people living in Wales and western England. A boy estimated to have been about eight years old at the time of death was found to have African and European ancestry. His body was wrapped in a shroud and placed in a gable-lidded coffin. Analysis of isotopes in his bones revealed that he was born in America. Meanwhile, the remains of two men in their 20s at the time of death have been identified as indentured servants, since both skeletons bore evidence of heavy physical labor and poor health, and neither of them was buried in a coffin. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Current Biology. To read more about excavations at Historic St. Mary's City, go to "Maryland's First Fort."
2026 PRESENTATIONS
Our Presentations will resume this fall. Please check this space for information on the next speaker.
PRESENTATIONS TAKE PLACE AT NOON EST, in Building 51 at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville, (1 UNF Dr, Jacksonville, FL 32224) UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. Email aiajaxsoc@gmail.com to find out if Zoom is offered for each lecture. The lectures are free and open to the public. After the lecture, complimentary refreshments might be served in the Physical Anthropology Lab. On Saturdays, parking is free and the staff/faculty/vendor spaces are open to everyone.
Dr. Zachery Dunseth,
Associate Professor of Anthropology and the Kershaw Chair of the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California San Diego
Dung and Desert Copper: Environmental Archaeology at the Macro and Micro Scale
Settlement patterns in the Negev desert (modern Israel) have experienced significant fluctuations over the past 6000 years. At certain times, the arid landscape was dotted with thousands of sites, including cities, villages, and farmsteads. In other periods, the desert periods were nearly devoid of evidence for human activity. This presentation will specifically focus on one of the earliest waves of large-scale settlement during the Early (c. 3300-2500 BCE) and Intermediate Bronze Ages (c. 2500-1950 BCE). Notably, the former period spans the rise and fall of urban cities to the north, and the latter spans the regional 4.2 kya ‘Megadrought’ aridification event. However, the motivation behind why these desert communities continue to grow and expand in an increasingly hostile environment during this time is still debated. I begin by explaining the foundation of my approach to studying desert lifeways. This framework is constructed based on experimental and geo-ethnoarchaeological insights gained from premodern Bedouin sites. I delve into both macro- and microarchaeological methods employed to investigate subsistence, animal rearing, and the copper industry across Negev sites. The discussion includes an examination of the results within the context of broader systems, including the desert, Egypt and the Levant during the 3rd millennium BCE. LEARN MORE ABOUT ZACHARYJen Green, MA, RPA, Curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History
History of South Florida Archaeology Through Curation-Based Stories at the Florida Museum of Natural History
The lecture presents a history of the archaeology of South Florida enriched through the records of the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The South Florida collections at the FLMNH are expansive and represent over 300 discrete archaeological sites across the thirteen southernmost counties. Using curation-based stories, Green will discuss the breadth of the collections housed at the museum from Lake Okeechobee to the Keys and Gulf to the Atlantic coasts. Dozens of archaeologists and their teams have contributed to the rich history of the collections over the last 130 years, and their fascinating contributions have shaped our understanding of the field.
Jennifer Green grew up surrounded by the sub-tropical diversity of Southern Florida, where she spent most of her time exploring outside. Interested in archaeology from an early age, she found a natural progression to studying the Indigenous cultures that once inhabited the landscape around her. Green received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in anthropology from Florida Atlantic University, where she studied the pre-Columbian history of southern Florida. After a short stint at the University of Tennessee to obtain a doctoral degree, she’s glad to be back in the Sunshine State, where she recently joined the Florida Museum of Natural History as its new collections manager for South Florida archaeology and ethnography.
Dr. Jesse Obert, Professor at the University of South Florida
Social Networks & Cyborgs: Cretan Warriorhood in the Archaic Period
Dr. Obert presents a new narrative for Cretan warriorhood, focusing in particular on the archaeological evidence for violence on Crete between 700 and 300 BCE. He argues that the incongruity of Cretan warriorhood reflects two distinct ideologies of violence that were concentrated in specific types of ritual space: collaborative camaraderie on the one hand and antagonistic individuality on the other. Despite this opposition, Cretans had to balance both narratives simultaneously, which ultimately developed warriorhood into a full-time vocation. This unique and complex system guaranteed the wealthiest Cretans coveted positions at the top of the socio-political hierarchy, regardless of their appearance, background, or personal identity. These accessible yet gatekept identities set the tenor for military power on Crete in the centuries that followed--the systems that Plato praised in the fourth century were the product of a long-standing and deeply entrenched ideological conflict that had raged across Crete since the seventh century.
Jesse Obert is an interdisciplinary scholar working primarily in the fields of ancient history, archaeology, classics, and digital humanities. He completed his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology and also holds an MA from University College London in Ancient History. He studies violence, warfare, enslavement, exploitation, and inequality in the ancient Greek world.
Dr. David Gilman Romano, Professor of Greek Archaeology at the University of Arizona
The Sanctuary of Zeus and Sanctuary of Pan at Mt. Lykaion
Recent research at Mt. Lykaion, both at the southern summit of the mountain at the Sanctuary of Zeus and in the lower mountain meadow at the Sanctuary of Pan, is leading to new understandings about cult practices at this ancient site in Greece. Answering questions about the origins of Greek cult and Greek athletics are at the heart of the agenda of the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project. Since 2004 the project has been working at the site of the Sanctuary of Zeus. The project is co-sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the University of Arizona and the Greek Archaeological Service under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
I am a Classical Archaeologist interested in both the Greek and Roman worlds. My specific interests include the study of ancient cities and sanctuaries, architecture, athletics and computerized applications in archaeology. The Archaeological Mapping Lab, which I direct, works in the fields of digital cartography, GIS, remote sensing, spatial analytical studies as well as databases. Since 2003 I have been the co-Director (with M.E. Voyatzis) of the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, working at the Sanctuary of Zeus at Mt. Lykaion in Arcadia. Since 1987 I have been the Director of the Corinth Computer Project, undertaking a long term study of the planning of Roman Corinth. Since 2004 I have been the Director of Digital Augustan Rome.
RECENT ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS
Scientists Evaluate Sámi Burial in Finland
KUUSAMO, FINLAND—According to a statement released by the University of Turku, researchers from the University of Turku, including Sanni Peltola and Ulla Nordfors, have analyzed the remains of a 40-year-old man who was buried near eastern Finland’s Lake Kitka at the turn of the seventeenth century. Discovered in the 1970s, the grave has been linked to Sámi cultural heritage. The Sámi live in northern parts of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and engage in coastal fishing, fur trapping, sheep herding, and reindeer herding. DNA extracted from the man’s teeth indicates that he is related to present-day and historical Sámi. Short DNA segments from his sample are also found in the larger population of Finland, reflecting historical interaction and mixing between the Sámi and Finnish populations, Peltola explained. But isotope analysis of the man’s teeth shows that he lived in the area where he was buried for just a short time before his death. During his childhood, his diet consisted of land animals, freshwater fish, and marine resources. The analysis also indicates that as a teenager, he drank water from an area with volcanic bedrock, such as Iceland, Nordfors added. Later in life, he ate more marine foods and little freshwater fish, which was a staple near Lake Kitka. “The results show that historical Sámi communities and their social roles do not correspond to the images presented in older research literature,” Nordfors said. Read the original scholarly article about this research in BMC Genomics. To read about another discovery from Finland, go to "Snake Guide."
DNA Study Targets Maryland’s First Colonists
Ceremonial Structures Investigated at Peru’s Cerro de la Horca
PARAMONGA, PERU—Andina News Agency reports that Jose Luis Fuentes of the National University of San Marcos and his colleagues have uncovered possible ceremonial structures at Cerro de la Horca, or “Gallows Hill,” an archaeological site on Peru’s central coastline that was first inhabited around A.D. 900. “There are around 20 mounds surrounding four plazas, in addition to platforms, walls, and internal roads,” Fuentes said. These mounds may have once been residences for priests or elites, he added. Pottery recovered at the site indicates that it was occupied by various groups, including members of the Pativilca, Casma, and Huaura cultures. Fuentes observed two major construction phases. In the older stage, the structures were made with stone, and are associated with the Pativilca culture. The Inca later made changes in adobe to the structures. The site’s main sanctuary is thought to have been built at the top of the main hill, where three platforms face a cliff overlooking the mouth of the Fortaleza River. Travelers’ accounts from the nineteenth century suggest that the Chimú and Inca executed people by throwing them from this hilltop. “It appears that the name Cerro de la Horca comes precisely from those legends,” Fuentes explained. To read more about recent archaeological research in Peru, go to "Return to Serpent Mountain."
CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGY MAGAZINE
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IN THIS ISSUE
The Unexpected World of the Odyssey
Discovering the surprising inspirations behind Homer’s great tales of the Trojan War
Pioneers of Lakefront Living
Why Neolithic and Bronze Age farmers in the Alps built their villages on stilts
The Last Maya Kingdom
On the shores of a lake in Guatemala, the Itzá people defied the Spanish for nearly 200 years
Art for the Ages
A surreal style of painting endured for 4,000 years in the canyonlands of West Texas
Bridge to the Past
The Yellow River brought both prosperity and calamity to China’s dazzling medieval capital