2026 PRESENTATIONS
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
Intact Zapotec Tomb Discovered in Oaxaca
OAXACA, MEXICO—La Brújula Verde reports that a 1,400-year-old Zapotec tomb has been found in the Central Valleys region of southern Mexico by a team of researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The well-preserved tomb complex features an antechamber and a funerary chamber. A depiction of an owl, representing night and death in Zapotec iconography, was found at the entrance to the antechamber. The bird’s beak shelters a man’s face, which is presumed to represent the owner of the tomb. Calendrical information was found on a frieze at the entrance to the funerary chamber. Carvings of a man and a woman wearing headdresses flank the door, and are thought to have been placed there as guardians. A mural within the funerary chamber, painted on stucco with ocher and other white, green, red, and blue pigments, shows a funerary procession carrying offerings of copal incense. Scientists from INAH Oaxaca are now working to stabilize the microclimate within the delicate tomb, document and preserve the mural, and analyze the calendrical inscriptions and the tomb’s many relief sculptures. To read about three Zapotec burial chambers stacked atop one another, go to "High Rise of the Dead."
430,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools Found in Greece
MARATHOUSA, GREECE—Science News reports that 430,000-year-old wooden tools likely crafted by Neanderthals or Homo heidelbergensis individuals have been discovered in Greece by a team of researchers led by Annemieke Milks of the University of Reading. The site, which is now a coal mine, is located in the central Peloponnese Peninsula. The rare wooden tools were recovered from waterlogged ground 100 feet beneath the surface, in an area that had been an ancient lakeshore, among thousands of pieces of wood, bone, and stone. One of the artifacts, identified through use-wear analysis as a 2.5-foot-long digging stick, was recovered in four pieces. Milks thinks this tool began as a thin alder trunk that was manipulated in order to remove its branches and fashion a handle. A second object, a piece of shaped willow, measures just three inches long. Milks suggests that this tool may have been used in combination with the stone or bone tools at the site to finish another object. For more recent research on hominins, go to "Around the World: Ethiopia."
2,400-Year-Old Tombs and Possible Shrine Uncovered in Rome
ROME, ITALY—Live Science reports that two 2,400-year-old tombs have been uncovered in the Parco delle Acacie near Via Pietralata in northeastern Rome. One tomb contained a stone sarcophagus and three cremation urns, while the other held the remains of a man’s skeleton. The tombs were found in a cemetery near a shrine thought to have been dedicated to the deified Greek hero Hercules, a roadway leading to the shrine, and two monumental basins that may have been used in ceremonies at the site about 100 years after the tombs were built. Bronze coins at the shrine site suggest it was used between the fifth or fourth centuries B.C. and the first century A.D. To read about a Roman-era marble statue of Hercules excavated in the ancient Greek city of Philippi, go to "A Young Hercules."
CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGY MAGAZINE
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IN THIS ISSUE
Top 10 Discoveries of 2025
ARCHAEOLOGY magazine’s editors reveal the year’s most exciting finds
The Cost of Doing Business
Piecing together the Roman empire’s longest known inscription—a peculiarly precise inventory of prices
The Birds of Amarna
An Egyptian princess seeks sanctuary in her private palace
Taking the Measure of Mesoamerica
Archaeologists decode the sacred mathematics embedded in an ancient city’s architecture
Stone Gods and Monsters
3,000 years ago, an intoxicating new religion beckoned pilgrims to temples high in the Andes