About AIA"The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. The Institute is a nonprofit group founded in 1879 and chartered by the United States Congress in 1906. Today, the AIA has nearly 210,000 Members and more than 100 Local Societies in the United States, Canada, and overseas. Our members include professional archaeologists, corresponding members, students, and enthusiasts, all united by a shared passion for archaeology and its role in furthering human knowledge."
The Valparaiso Chapter of the AIA hosts 3 lectures every year at Valparaiso University that are open to the public. Information about those lectures can be found to the right. Find out more about the AIA at https://www.archaeological.org/ AIA Society: Valparaiso Society Contact: Mark Bartusch [email protected]Chartered in 1986 |
This Year's Lectures1st Lecture:
October 24th, at 8:00PM in Harre Union, Ballroom B, Valparaiso University Lecture title and lecture synopsis: Egypt's Desert Frontier: The Ptolemaic Fortress at Bir Samut The Ptolemaic fortress at Bir Samut in Egypt’s Eastern Desert presents an extraordinary snapshot of the life of gold miners, travelers, traders and soldiers during the first century of Macedonian rule in Upper Egypt. Under excavation since 2014, this well-preserved frontier complex was devoted in part to the processing of gold ore mined from the Red Sea mountains and was part of a road network connecting the Nile Valley and the Red Sea coast. The daily life of individuals in this harsh desert is unusually accessible since the contents of the fort’s rooms have lain untouched since its abandonment in the last decades of the third century BCE. Bir Samut is helping to rewrite our narratives about the relationship between Greeks, Egyptians and the desert nomads of this mysterious region during the early years of the Ptolemaic age. Jennifer Gates-Foster is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and holds her degrees from the University of Michigan (Ph.D.) and the University of Virginia. Her areas of specialization are the art and archaeology of the Near East and Egypt in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and she is currently the Ceramicist for the Bir Samut Excavation Project in Egypt, and Co-Director and Ceramicist for the Horvat Omrit Settlement Excavation Project in Israel. Professor Gates Foster is an AIA Kershaw Lecturer for 2016-2017. 2nd and 3rd Lectures: “Leicester: from Roman City to Medieval Borough, The archaeology of an English Provincial Town” March 23, 2017; 8:00 PM, Harre Union Richard Buckley, co-Director of University of Leicester Archaeological Services Steven Ellis, University of Cincinnati “Pompeii from the Bottom Up: Excavations into the History of Pompeii’s Working-Class Families” April 18, 2017; 8 PM, Harre Union |