February 2020
Steve Lekson – “Studying Southwestern Archaeology”
For over a century, archaeology got the history of the ancient Southwest wrong. So argues Steve Lekson as he advocates for an entirely new approach – one that separates archaeological thought in the Southwest from its anthropological home and moves it to more historical ways of thinking. Focusing on the enigmatic monumental center at Chaco Canyon, the presentation provides a historical analysis of how Southwest archaeology confined itself and how it can break out of those confines and proceed into…
Find out more »March 2020
Kelsey Hanson – “Technologies of Capturing Color: Paint Practice and its Analysis in the U.S. Southwest”
Examples of red archaeological paint cakes Examples of red archaeological paint cakes with Munsell color chart sheets The American Southwest is brilliantly colored. However, naturally occurring colors are not easily imparted into the material world. The ability to capture color from the natural world through paint requires deep cultural knowledge of geologic sources, processing requirements, and application techniques that remain severely understudied. In this lecture, I will contextualize paint practice as…
Find out more »April 2020
May 2020
Don Liponi – “The Prehistoric Rock Art of the Kumeyaay and Cahuilla Native American Shamans in the Southern California Deserts”
Archaeological evidence shows that Native Americans have lived in the Southern California desert for at least 12,000 years. They thrived using their skills in resource management and spiritual direction. We do not believe that they had a written language, but they left us hundreds of paintings - spiritual communications that played a leading role in their villages and society. These ancient messages have been buffeted by the harsh desert landscape over the centuries. Recent technology has allowed us to resurrect these paintings…
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