2025 MEETINGS & PRESENTATIONS
Megan Fry, NAGPRA Coordinator and Bioarchaeologist, FMNH
Introduction to NAGPRA: Archaeological, Ethnographic, and Natural History Collections
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) outlines the responsibilities of the U.S. government, museums, and federal agencies towards the treatment and return of Ancestral human remains, funerary objects, objects of cultural patrimony, and sacred items. This talk explores the ongoing impact of NAGPRA on museum collections, including natural history, ethnographic, and archaeological collections. Specifically, we will examine the new updates, which went into effect January 12, 2024, highlighting both their successes and their limitations. Through case studies, this presentation underscores the ethical imperatives of repatriation, the role of collaboration in the process, and the broader implications for cultural heritage and Indigenous sovereignty.
Megan is the NAGPRA Coordinator and Bioarchaeologist for the Florida Museum of Natural History. Additionally, she is a PhD. candidate at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida. Under the supervision of Dr. John Krigbaum, her dissertation combines osteological, stable isotope (Sr, Pb, C, N, and O), and funerary data to understand the relationship between identity, personhood, and social inequality. Additionally, she has undertaken certificate degrees in Historic Preservation and Museum Studies where her research focuses on the African Diaspora. Working with descendant communities, she assists in heritage conservation of at-risk sites as a form of restorative justice. Currently she is working with the Newnansville African American Cemetery to help locate unidentified burials from as early as 1820. She received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Cincinnati, and her M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Florida. She was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow from 2020-2023.
Dr. Geoff Emberling, the AIA’s Joukowsky Lecturer for 2025
Kush and the Roman World: Warrior Queens along the Nile
Ancient Kush was one of the earliest and longest-lived empires in Africa, rivalled only by Egypt. We think of Kush in terms of its relationship to Egypt of the pharaohs, but in fact Kush remained in power long after the last Egyptian pharaoh and indeed was rival and trade partner of ancient Rome after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 31 BCE. The initial contact with Rome resulted in a series of skirmishes in which the Kushite army was led in battle by a ruling queen or kandaka, who one Roman source described as “a masculine sort of woman who was blind in one eye.” The kandakas were part of a long line of powerful Kushite royal women, and they remain important symbols even in Muslim Sudan. This talk describes the long relationship between Kush and the Roman world, including espionage, conflict, and a long and rich trade and gift exchange.
Dr. Geoff Emberling is an Associate Research Scientist working at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan. He holds his degrees from the University of Michigan (Ph.D.) and Harvard University, and his research interests include the ancient Middle East (Mesopotamia) and ancient North Africa (Nubia and Kush), particularly early states, cities, and empires, ethnicity and identity, heritage, and collaborative community archaeology. Since 2012 he has co-directed archaeological projects at El-Kurru and Jebel Barkal in northern Sudan.
Dr. Jessi Halligan from Texas A&M University
Why underwater? The importance of submerged landscape research for understanding Pleistocene peoples in the New World
Perhaps most people think of shipwrecks when underwater archaeology is mentioned, but numerous formerly-terrestrial sites have survived drowning in our freshwater lakes and rivers and on our continental shelves. These sites can even be better preserved than their dry counterparts, and in some cases they can help us answer some of the most pressing questions about people in the past. Thousands of Pleistocene artifacts have been discovered in Florida’s rivers and springs, along with some of the best preserved early sites in the Americas. These sites are challenging archaeological models for the peopling of the Americas and are providing us with information about the lifeways of early Indigenous peoples in the New World.
Dr. Jessi J. Halligan is the Associate Director of the Center, an Associate Professor of Anthropology, and holds the Chair in First American Studies. She arrived at the Center in January 2024 from Florida State University. She specializes in the archaeology of drowned landscapes and the initial peopling of the Americas during the end of the Pleistocene. She currently is directing projects on late Pleistocene and early Holocene archaeological sites in the Aucilla River Basin in northwestern Florida, co-directing a submerged landscape survey in Lake Erie, and co-directing a collaborative project with the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management to revise the Gulf of Mexico submerged pre-Contact archaeological survey guidelines. She has more than 30 years of professional archaeology experience, having directed projects on the Great Plains, the Midwest, Texas, and the Northeastern US, in addition to her current research in the Gulf region and the Great Lakes.
Dr. Andrea Torvinen,
Collections Manager of the Florida Archaeology and Ceramic Technology Laboratory at the Florida Museum of Natural History/UF
The Role of Collective Action in Community Resilience in Northwest Mexico
Dating to the Epiclassic period (600-900 CE), La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico, was founded during the cultural florescence of the northern frontier of Mesoamerica, but the site was abandoned ca. 800-900 CE while neighboring hilltop centers persisted. Having previously ruled out climate change as a contributing factor to the site's decline, this research investigates whether internal social unrest or shifting political or economic networks may have played a role. Specifically, did a change in how the occupants of La Quemada identified with one another decrease the potential for collective action over time? Material proxies in the form of ceramic styles (i.e., decoration or vessel forms) and fabric classes (i.e., petrographic and chemical data) are used to assess the temporal and spatial consistency of social identification at multiple socio-spatial scales within the site of La Quemada. Despite fluctuations, there was a high potential for collective action preceding site abandonment, suggesting that a disruption in the social fabric of La Quemada did not contribute to its decline. Therefore, being cut off from social networks developing between West and Central Mexico likely impacted the long-term resilience of La Quemada.
Andrea is an anthropological archaeologist interested in community resilience and social identity, compositional and technological ceramic analysis, and collective action among middle-range societies. Her primary research areas are West Mexico and the U.S. Southwest but she has also engaged in fieldwork in northern Iceland and west-central Illinois.
Dr. Daniel Pullen from Florida State University
A Late Bronze Age “Naval Station” at Kalamianos (Saronic Gulf), Greece?
The Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project has documented the Late Bronze Age (14th-13th cent. BCE) harbor town at Kalamianos on the Saronic Gulf coast of the Corinthia, Greece. We suggest this site might be the Homeric town of “Eïones” which later Strabo identified as a “naval station.” The implications of this identification of Kalamianos as a naval station are evaluated in light of our current understanding of the archaeology of maritime culture, both commercial and military, of the Mycenaeans and other Late Bronze Age (LBA) peoples of the Aegean. The lack of identifiable maritime infrastructure – let alone that for specialized military activity – outside of Crete, including at Kalamianos, suggests that such installations were not essential for LBA maritime activities elsewhere in the Aegean.
Professor Pullen is an archaeologist with training in Anthropology and Classical Archaeology, working in the prehistoric Aegean region, especially the later Neolithic–Early Bronze Age and the Mycenaean/Late Bronze Age. His research interests lie in the emergence of complex societies (the state and political economy) as seen through changes in regional settlement patterns, monumental architecture, and political economy and administration; landscape archaeology; the interaction of coastal settlements with maritime and landbound areas; and agriculture in ancient societies. His current research projects include the Late Bronze Age (Mycenaean) harbor settlement at Kalamianos on the Saronic Gulf of southern Greece; the Final Neolithic period at Alepotrypa Cave in the Mani of southern Greece; and the Early Bronze Age in western Anatolia, especially around the ancient city of Sardis. His major publications include the co-authored Artifact and Assemblage: The Finds from the Southern Argolid Survey (Stanford 1995), The Early Bronze Age Village on Tsoungiza Hill (Nemea Valley Archaeological Project I) (American School of Classical Studies at Athens 2011), the edited volume Political Economies of the Aegean Bronze Age (Oxbow 2010) from one of the department's Langford conferences, and most recently the co-edited book Neolithic Alepotrypa Cave in the Mani, Greece (Oxbow 2018).
RECENT ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS
Submerged Blocks of Alexandria's Ancient Lighthouse Lifted from Seafloor
ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT—Built in the third century b.c., the Lighthouse of Alexandria was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Reaching a height of 330 feet, it was one of the world’s tallest man-made structures for centuries until it was toppled by earthquakes around the fourteenth century. Its ruins were rediscovered by underwater archaeologists beneath Alexandria harbor in 1994. Now, according to a statement released by La Fondation Dassault Systèmes, a team from the French National Center for Scientific Research has lifted 22 of the monument's massive submerged blocks from the seafloor. These include monumental door lintels and jambs that weigh 70 to 80 tons each, as well as a previously unknown pylon with an Egyptian-style door. A team from the “PHAROS” Project are planning to study and scan each architectural element, adding them to the collection of 100 blocks that have already been digitized underwater. By stitching these images together, researchers are hoping to create a virtual model of the lighthouse that they hope will provide new clues about its construction, design, and ultimate collapse. To read about submerged ruins of the Egyptian port city that predated the rise of Alexandria, go to "Egypt's Temple Town."
New Study Refutes Previous Claims About Neolithic Ireland
NEWGRANGE, IRELAND—A DNA study of human remains found within the 5,500-year-old Newgrange passage tomb caused a stir in 2020 when it revealed that at least one of the individuals interred there was the product of a relationship between two siblings or a parent and child. That person was also related to several other individuals whose remains were found within the chamber. This led scholars to speculate that an elite social class—one that maintained incestuous relationships—ruled over the Neolithic people of Ireland. However, according to a statement released by the University of York, new evidence seems to refute those conclusions. Researchers from the University of York and University College Dublin looked at factors such as dietary habits, wealth accumulation, and house size within Neolithic communities. They concluded that there were no apparent disparities within the communities in these terms and therefore no evidence of a hierarchical royal class that held power over others. While researchers acknowledge that only some members of society were selected to be buried within the monumental Newgrange burial mound, they do not yet know why certain people were chosen, though they are certain it wasn’t because of social or economic standing. “There are still many questions to solve here, but building this picture means looking at the monument together with the society that was built up around it, and from this, we get a step closer to understanding a community that was much more inclusive and equal than previously thought,” said University of York archaeologist Penny Bickle. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Antiquity. To read about another Neolithic passage tomb discovered in Ireland's Boyne Valley, go to "Passage to the Afterlife."
Excavations on College Campus Reveal Foundations of Historic Building
WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA—According to a statement released by The College of William & Mary, recent archaeological work revealed the foundations of the eighteenth-century Williamsburg Bray School, one of the most historic buildings on the college’s early campus. In operation from 1760 to 1765, the school was one of the oldest known institutions in North America dedicated to the education of free and enslaved Black children. The discovery was originally made by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation but is currently being investigated by the W&M Center for Archaeological Research. Archaeologists uncovered a previously undocumented cellar filled with centuries of artifacts dating from the eighteenth through the early twentieth century, when the building housed individuals who were among the first generations of women to attend college in the United States. Objects found in the cellar space include jewelry, slate pencil fragments, buttons, and sherds of pottery and glass. One glass fragment depicts the Roman goddess Minerva. “The discovery of this cellar is thrilling,” said William & Mary president Katherine Rowe. “The roots of our city and university entwine here. Every layer of history that it reveals gives us new insights into our early republic, from the Williamsburg Bray School through the generations that followed, up through the early 20th century.” To read about independent communities established by some of the Civil War's earliest fugitive slaves, go to "Letter from Virginia: Free Before Emancipation."
CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGY MAGAZINE
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Italy’s Garden of Monsters
Why did a Renaissance duke fill his wooded park with gargantuan stone sculptures?
Setting Sail for Valhalla
Vikings staged elaborate spectacles to usher their rulers into the afterlife
The Home of the Weather God
In northern Anatolia, archaeologists have discovered the source of Hittite royal power
In Search of Lost Pharaohs
Anubis Mountain conceals the tombs of an obscure Egyptian dynasty
Birds of a Feather
Intriguing rock art in the Four Corners reveals how the Basketmaker people drew inspiration from ducks 1,500 years ago