Open lectures 2022
The sixth A.W. Persson lecture:
Online lecture Wednesday 11th May 2022, at 13.15-15.00.
Zoom address https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/62346744765
Docent Birgitta Eder and Docent Reinhard Jung
Austrian Archaeological Institute
Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno - One Mycenaean kingdom with many palaces
The traditional notion that a Mycenaean palace with its administrative realm (as indicated by the Linear B toponyms) represents an independent political entity (kingdom) has been challenged – in the last decade more often than many decades before. The speakers are among those, who opt for the model that all Mycenaean palaces belonged to the same political entity, which was governed by a (Great) King, as Hittite and Egyptian texts suggest. Contemporary kingdoms – be they large such as Egypt or small such as Ugarit – offer parallels for such a use of multiple palaces. The speakers will present their model paying special attention to the homogeneous Mycenaean culture and providing an update on recent contributions to that debate.
Please circulate this to interested colleagues and students at Visby and Uppsala. The speakers encourage that participants read in advance their “Unus pro omnibus” (2015) essay, which can be obtained upon request from Michael Lindblom
Two seminars with our Georgian colleague Irina Demetradze-Renz (School of Arts and Sciences, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia):
Friday April 29th 10.15-12.00, Eng 2-1024/Gotland B 43: “The Neolithization of the South Caucasus”;
Monday May 2nd, 10:15–12:00 at Eng 3-2028/ Gotland E 48 “The Roman Empire and the Caucasus”.
Abstract: Neolithization of the South Caucasus
The south Caucasus was considered as a region where the domestication of plants and animals took place. The recent excavations conducted in the south Caucasus under the Kura Projects has proven the opposite. The Kura Projects digs were carried out in modern Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The respective archaeological sites of Arukhlo, Aratasheni, and Camille Tepe showed that Neolithic villagers possessed domesticated species of plants and animals from the 6th millennium BC. These peoples might be connected to Near Eastern communities. The similarities could be observed in lithic industry and house building techniques.
Abstract: The Roman Empire and the Caucasus
The eastward military expansion of the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire eventually reached the Caucasus. Some parts of the Caucasus region were incorporated into the Empire; some were not. Several self-governing kingdoms became Roman clients. Iberia, a historical entity on the territory of modern eastern Georgia, was among them. The relationships between Roman Empire and Caucasus peoples and states are documented in written sources. The nature of these contacts is reflected in archaeological records. I will discuss these issues in my presentation.
Bio: Dr. Irina Demetradze-Renz is an Assistant Professor at the School of Arts and Sciences at Ilia State University, Tbilisi. She teaches classes in Landscape Archaeology, Settlement Archaeology, and Material Culture and Identity. She is the author of several publications on Greek imports and Roman settlement patterns in Caucasian Iberia, and pipeline archaeology in Georgia. She is publishing a book about Roman-Iberian interactions in the Roman Imperial Period and Late Antiquity.
Dr. Demetradze-Renz was a Fulbright Scholar at the Department of Classics at the University of California, Berkeley in 2015-16. In 2017-18 she was a visiting scholar at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. In June 2021 she joined the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies as a Civil Society Scholar.
The sixth Sune Lindqvist lecture:
Monday 16th May, at 15.15
Uppsala University, Humanistiska Teatern (English Park campus, 22-0008)
Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes
University of Liverpool
Neanderthal Technaesthetics: Material Minds and Complex Cognition
The Neanderthals occupy a singularly seminal place within human origins: the first hominin beyond ourselves to be discovered, the closest in evolutionary terms, and with by far the richest archaeological record. Advances over the past three to four decades have revolutionised thinking about their lives, highlighting diversity in time and space. This lecture explores how Neanderthal material engagements via technologies and emergent aesthetics reveal complex cognition: minds focused on quality and efficiency, yet also capable of flexibility and creativity. These aspects will be considered alongside the increasingly complicated picture of their contact with early Homo sapiens, and eventual disappearance.
The talk will be a live-only event, and Dr Wragg Sykes’s lecture will be followed by an informal reception.
Open lectures in 2019/2020
Open lecture 8 jan 2020
Time measuring devices and their functions in Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire
Prof. Rita Gautschy
University of Basel
To us, time is a fundamental and very familiar concept. Our calendars are determined by the number of days in the calendar month and the number of months in a year. The day is further subdivided in hours, minutes and seconds. Although these categories are based on regular and periodic astronomical phenomena, there are many different ways in which people may conceive time. For most premodern societies, “time” is closely related to environmental conditions and socio-economic structures and is not a physical entity in itself. Thus, we may speak of “social time” on one hand, and of “astronomical time” on the other. Astronomical time, as defined by celestial movements, need not necessarily be married to “social time” framed by human activities, structures, habits, values and so on.
In this talk I will present monuments, objects and texts connected with the measurement of time from Ancient Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire and discuss them in a socio-economic context.
Engelska Parken room 2-2033, Wednesday January 8th, 2020 at 13:15
Open seminar May 22
Colonialism, Community Archaeology and Indigenous Rights in Japan and Sweden
Time: Tuesday 21 May, 09.15 – 12.00
Place: 2-2033 (Engelska Parken, Uppsala) and A30 (Visby)
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University
Arranged by the Core-to-Core program “International research network for Indigenous studies and cultural diversity” (funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), and the Heritage & Society Research Cluster, Uppsala University
Program
09.15–09.25: Introduction
09.25–09.40: Carl-Gösta Ojala, Uppsala University: “Colonialism, Archaeology and Indigenous Rights in Sápmi”
09.40–10.00: Hirofumi Kato, Hokkaido University: “Indigenous Repatriation in Hokkaido and Research Ethics Issues”
10.00–10.20: Amanda Gomes, Hokkaido University: “Rebun Island – A Case for Uninherited or Disinherited Indigenous Heritage?”
10.20–10.35: Break
10.35–10.55: John Hennessey, Uppsala University: “Japanese Colonialism and Western Race Science, 1868–1941”
10.55–11.15: Hiroshi Maruyama, Centre for Environmental and Minority Policy Studies (CEMiPoS) & Leni Charbonneau, Centre for Environmental and Minority Policy Studies (CEMiPoS): “Implications of the New Ainu Policy – A Critical Assessment of the Policy within a Human Rights Framework with Special Reference to the Ainu Repatriation Movement”
11.15–12.00: Questions and discussion
Contact:
Carl-Gösta Ojala, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History,
carl-gosta.ojala@arkeologi.uu.se
Open lecture May 29th
Prof Fredrik Hagen (University of Copenhagen): A recently discovered archive from the mortuary temple of Thutmose III (c. 1400 BC)
Recent excavations at the mortuary temple of Thutmose III 
at Thebes have resulted in a much better understanding of this institution. Despite the relatively poor state of preservation of the temple itself, work there has unearthed the remains of the only surviving temple archive of the New Kingdom. The uniqueness of the find, as well as its fragmentary nature, means that contextualizing it can be a challenge, but comparisons with temple archives from earlier periods like those from Abusir (c. 2450 BC) and Lahun (c. 1800 BC), as well as later ritual texts, help shed light on various types of practices attested in these documents. The lecture will present an overview of the material and offer some preliminary thoughts on its interpretation and importance.
Time: Wednesday 29th May 2019 13:15
Venue: Engelska Parken room 2-2033
All welcome!
Open lecture May 21st
The AGORA network in collaboration with the Cult Cluster at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History are organizing an afternoon symposium for discussing aspects of sacred water and purification rituals, in connection to religious and social behavior.
Tid: 21 maj kl 15.15-17.30
Plats: Engelska Parken 2-1077
Dr Rick Bonnie, University of Helsinki: Experiencing Jewish Ritual Baths in Early Roman Palestine
Docent Cecilia Wassén, Uppsala University: Why Stepped Pools? Rethinking Jewish Purity Practices in Palestine
Hedvig von Ehrenheim, Axel Frejman & Patrik Klingborg: Water at Greek Sanctuaries: A Newly Started Project.
All welcome!
Dr Aaron de Souza (Austrian Academy of Sciences): Setting the Record Straight: Getting re-acquainted with Pan-Grave tradition in Egypt and Nubia
The Second Intermediate Period (c. 1750-1550 BC) was a troubled time for Ancient Egypt. Foreigners from the Levant had taken control of the north, and the south was threatened by repeat attacks from the Kingdom of Kush. At the same time, small groups of nomadic pastoralists made their way into Egyptian territory and, though they did not pose a direct threat, their very presence demonstrates that Egypt’s borders were never fully closed to the outside world.
As followers of what is known to us as the Pan-Grave tradition, our understanding of these nomadic people has changed significantly in the one hundred years that we have known about them. This presentation presents an updated overview of these enigmatic people, resolving a century of assumptions based on colonialist perspectives and Ancient Egyptian propaganda. Through recent discoveries and new approaches, the Pan-Grave tradition shows itself to be diverse, colourful, and widespread, reflecting the complex networks of encounter that took place across the region.
Wednesday 22th May 2019 Engelska Parken room 2-2033 15:30
The Sixth annual A.W. Persson Lecture:
Dr Tristan Carter, McMaster University will give a lecture on "Neanderthals on Naxos! Survey & Excavation at Stelida, 2013-18"
Survey and excavation at the chert source and knapping floors of Stelida (NW Naxos) suggest that the site was being exploited from the Lower Palaeolithic – Mesolithic, conceivably ≥250,000 – 9000 BP, making this by far the oldest site in the Central Aegean. This talk provides an overview of our work over the past six summers, discussing the larger significance of our work, including the first – indirect – evidence for a new dispersal route from Anatolia to continental Europe for early hominins and later Homo sapiens, and the existence of Neanderthals in the ‘Cyclades’. Our discoveries are situated within the context of recent discoveries of early human activity in Crete and SE Asia, and the broader debate of what it is to be human…
Time: May 7th, 2019 at 15.15
Venue: Humanistiska teatern, English Park Campus and B23, CGo.
Master class
Aspects of ancient Greek vase painting
Friday 12 April, 2019, Uppsala University, Engelska Parken, room 2-1024
Our visiting scholar Judy Barringer, professor of Greek art and archaeology at Edinburgh
University, will lead a master class on ancient Greek vase painting on Friday, April 12. Her
introductory talk with explore recent approaches to Greek vase painting, followed by shorter
presentations by scholars and students work- ing on different aspects of this topic. There will be plenty of time for discussion between the presentations.
All welcome!
Open seminar
Samiska mänskliga kvarlevor i samlingar - Historiska perspektiv, aktuella debatter och vägar framåt
Välkomna till ett öppet seminarium om återbördande av samiska mänskliga kvarlevor arrangerat av Svenska kyrkan och Uppsala universitet!
Tid: 9 april 2019 kl 0915-12
Plats: Sal IV, Universitetshuset, Uppsala
Samiska mänskliga kvarlevor i samlingar, vilka insamlats som del av anatomisk och rasbiologisk forskning, är en omdiskuterad och starkt laddad fråga. Såväl den historiska bakgrunden, på vilket sätt och i vilket syfte dessa kvarlevor insamlades, som frågan om samlingarnas framtid, väcker starka reaktioner. Sametinget och samiska aktivister har under lång tid fört fram krav på återföring och återbegravning. Dessa krav är del av en bredare diskussion om samiska urfolksrättigheter och större samiskt självbestämmande i kulturarvsfrågor. Hur kan vi bearbeta det mörka arvet från rasbiologi och gravplundring, och hur skulle upprättelse för det samiska folket kunna se ut?
Svenska kyrkan har också lyft denna fråga som del av en större försoningsprocess med det samiska folket, och har tagit initiativ till en serie rundabordssamtal om samiska mänskliga kvarlevor, med olika parter såsom Sametinget, museer och nationella myndigheter. I dag diskuteras repatrierings- och återbegravningsfrågor runt om i världen, med exempel på såväl konflikt som samarbete. Forsknings- och museivärlden har ett stort ansvar att diskutera etiska aspekter kopplade till denna fråga och att kritiskt granska sin egen historia.
Med detta seminarium vill vi bidra till ökad kunskap om och förståelse för denna komplexa fråga, genom att belysa såväl historiska perspektiv som aktuella repatrieringsprocesser i Sverige i dag, och bidra till en fördjupad dialog kring utmaningar, möjligheter och vägar framåt.
Program:
09.15 – 09.30: Inledande ord. Ingrid Inga, ordförande i Samiska rådet i Svenska kyrkan
09.30 – 09.50: Samlingarnas historiska bakgrund och aktuella repatrieringsdebatter
Carl-Gösta Ojala, forskare, Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, Uppsala universitet
09.50 – 10.10: De anatomiska samlingarna vid Gustavianum, Uppsala universitetsmuseum
Anne Ingvarsson, 1:e antikvarie, Gustavianum, Uppsala universitetsmuseum
10.10 – 10.30: Repatrieringsprocessen i Lycksele 2019 – en planerad återbegravning
Mikael Jakobsson, ordförande i Lycksele sameförening, medlem i Sametingets etiska råd
Olle Thoors, informatör på Svenska kyrkan, Södra Lapplands pastorat
Adriana Aurelius, projektledare repatriering, Lycksele kommun
10.30 – 10.50: Samiska perspektiv på repatriering och återbegravning. Rose-Marie Huuva, konstnär, poet, medlem i Sametingets etiska råd
10.50 – 11.10: Fikapaus
11.10 – 12.00: Paneldiskussion, med tid för frågor från publiken. Föredragshållarna samt Knut Weibull, överantikvarie, Riksantikvarieämbetet
Moderator: Katarina Pirak Sikku, konstnärlig ledare och forskare
Seminariet är öppet för alla intresserade, men vi ber deltagare att på förhand anmäla sig via följande länk:
https://anmalan.svenskakyrkan.se/GroupRegistrationForm.aspx?id=10144
Varmt välkomna!
Kontakt: Lisbeth Hotti, Svenska kyrkan: lisbeth.hotti@svenskakyrkan.se
Carl-Gösta Ojala, Inst. för arkeologi och antik historia, Uppsala universitet: carl-gosta.ojala@arkeologi.uu.se
The fifth annual Sune Lindqvist lecture:
Professor Michael L. Blakey 
will give a lecture on ‘Bioarchaeology at New York’s African Burial Ground as Activist Science’.
Michael is the National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Anthropology, Africana Studies and American Studies at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, USA, and also Director of the Institute of Historical Biology at the same institution. He is one of the world’s leading archaeologists of the African-American experience, and led the landmark research project to study excavated human remains from the African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan, New York City – the subject of his lecture. This was a project that in many ways shaped an entirely new future for African-American archaeology, located firmly in contemporary issues, particularly the struggle against racism.
Time: Friday March 8, at 14.15 -16
Venue: Ihresalen, Engelska Parken Campus
All welcome!
Dr Joanne Rowland (University of Edinburgh),
Rediscovering Merimde Beni Salama:
from the archives to the field.
The Egyptian prehistoric site Merimde Beni Salama (4500 BC) was first located
during the Austrian West Delta Survey in 1928, with the first major
excavations carried out not only by the Austrian, but also Swedish, teams. The site has been subject to re-excavation mainly in the 1970s-80s, and most
recently from 2013 onwards by the current Egypt Exploration Society mission.
This talk will explore the history of research at the site, and give an insight into
the archival resources, as well as presenting some results of the most recent
fieldwork in the area.
Time: Jan 30, 2019, at 18.15
Venue: English Park Campus 2-2033
Open lecture with our Honorary Doctor, Sonia Haoa Cardinali:
Archaeology of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) – Learning from the past for the future.
Time: January 24, 2019 at 14.15-16.00
Venue: University Main Hall Room VIII
Sonia Haoa Cardinali is an archaeologist from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), who has been awarded the title of Honorary Doctor at Uppsala University, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History. She was born on Rapa Nui in 1953, where she has lived for much of her life, and has a family background of several generations deeply committed to the preservation, documentation and interpretation of Rapa Nui’s heritage. Sonia Haoa Cardinali possesses outstanding field skills and a deep knowledge of Pacific prehistory, building upon her inheritance of traditional knowledge as a cultural leader among the Rapanui (Easter Islanders). Sonia has participated in almost all larger and smaller scale archaeological investigations on the Island since 1975 and since the shift of the millennium, she has been the leader of several large survey and excavation projects on the Island. She has excavated on Easter Island and elsewhere in the Pacific since the mid 1970s, and has published widely on the archaeology of the region.
Sonia Haoa-Cardinali has a Licenciatura in Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Chile since 1988 with an additional specialisation in Human Physical Anthropology at University of Wyoming in 1992.
All welcome!
Open lectures 2018
Open lecture Dec 5, at 13.15
Nicoletta Momigliano, University of Bristol: Cretomania from Belle époque to Netflix
Venue: Humanistiska teatern, Engelska parken, Uppsala
Inaugural lecture Dec 6
We are pleased to announce the Inaugural Lecture by Andreas Dorn Professor of Egyptology An ostracon brings its author to life. Amennakhte’s biographical notes in landscape
Thursday 6th December at 16.00 in Humanistiska teatern, Uppsala. An informal reception will follow
Please share this with others who may be interested - all are welcome
The fourth Annual Sune Lindqvist Lecture Dec 7
Friday December 7, 2018 at 14.15, Humanistiska teaterin, English Park Campus, Uppsala
Lotte Hedeager, University of Oslo: Knowledge Systems of the Past? From the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages.
John Scheid, Collège de France och Jesper Svenbro, Svenska Akademien, 6 och 7 november, 2018
Tuesday Nov 6, 13.15-15.00, English Park Campus 6-0031
John Scheid, Collège de France and Jesper Svenbro, Svenska akademien: Generative mythology in Greece and Rome. Names and gestures
Wednesday November 7, 13.15-15.00, English Park Campus, Humanistiska teatern
John Scheid, Collège de France: What was a grove in imperial Rome? Architecture and theology
All welcome!
Human Diversity 1-2 Nov 2018
Archaeology-Genetics-Cultural Evolution-Gender
Poster with programme
Speakers include
- Magnus Enqvist, Stockholm Centre for Cultural Evolution
- N. Katherine Hayles, Duke University
- Toomas Kivisild, University of Cambridge
- Olivier Morin, MPI Science of Human History
- Matthew Spriggs, Australian National University
An interdisciplinary conference hosted by the
Human Diversity Research Network, Uppsala University
Full programme: https://goo.gl/CBNn3T
Venue: Gustavianum auditorium (free entry)
This meeting is brought to you by Uppsala University’s Human Diversity
Research Network, co-organised by the Department of Linguistics and Philology,
the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, The Centre for Gender
Research, and the Department of Organismal Biology (Human Evolution).
Contact: Michael Dunn <michael.dunn@lingfil.uu.se>
A.W. Persson Lectures on Aegean Prehistory
Öppen föreläsning tisdagen den 15 maj, klockan 16:15 i sal 2-0024
Borja Legarra Herrero, Teaching Fellow, Comparative Mediterranean Prehistory, UCL, besöker Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia
“It could be argued tendencies to broaden political and economic power can be found in any complex society. However, to see elite-common tensions as a developing theme in prehistory and Early Iron Age that was only resolved in Classical times would be a simplistic characterisation. Bronze Age Aegean show clear signs of complex socio-political forms that we could consider loosely as ´democratic´(power decisions are spread across large swathes of society) being in place much earlier than we normally assume.”
Efter föreläsningen äger en enkel mottagning rum i institutionens lunchrum.
Alla är välkomna!
Workshop 22 mars, 2018:
The formation of sacred space and landscapes in the past. Divine action or human creation?
Plats: Engelska Parken 7-0050
Tid: 22 mars kl 10.15 - 17.30
Efteråt kommer det ordnas ett postseminarium med vin, buffémat, och kaffe till självkostnadspris (200 kr) för alla intresserade. Vänligen anmäl ditt deltagande i postseminariet till Axel senast tisdag 13 mars. Betalning kan ske på plats.
HUMAN DIVERSITY NETWORK MEETING 01
GENETICS 5 feb
5 February 2018
9:30 to 12:30
Lindahlsalen, EBC
How will ancient DNA studies impact upon European prehistory and on the problem of Indo-European origins?
Colin Renfrew, University of Cambridge
The genetic history of Africa based on modern and ancient DNA
Carina Schlebusch, Uppsala Universi
Population genomics of prehistoric European migrations
Torsten Günther, Uppsala University
Limited seats. Registration is free but mandatory.
Fika is included. Welcome! Info & Registration at:
https://goo.gl/forms/gsvOBFmPCFeOgnZM2
Open lectures
Lectures open to the general public is also advertised on our front page.
The Third Annual Sune Lindqvist Lecture
7th December 2017 at 14.15 in Humanistiska teatern, Engelska Parken Campus
Dr Richard Knecht (University of Aberdeen): Treasures of the Alaskan Permafrost. Archaeology and tradition in a Yup'ik village.
All welcome!
Urban & Rural Space invites to two exciting seminars!
1. THURSDAY NOVEMBER 2, 14.15–16.00 (Eng 2-1077)
Negotiating Utopia. Sociomaterial strategies for conflict solving within the Green Wave movement from the late 1960s until present day.
Lecture by Ylva Sjöstrand, Dept. of Archaeology and Ancient History
2. WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 8, 13.00–15.30 (Eng 2-0024)
The social heritage of ancient cities (see attachment)
13.00–14.00 Elizabeth Key Fowden, The Parthenon Mosque: the meeting of European and Ottoman archaeological imaginations
14.00–14.15 Coffe/tea
14.15–15.15 Dunia Filippi The spatial turn and the Roman Forum: towards a new methodology for studying ancient urban spaces
A post seminar will follow. Please, sign up to susanne.carlsson@antiken.uu.se no later than November 6th!
All are welcome!
Susanne, Hedvig, Anna & Paul
Elizabeth Fowden is a Senior Researcher in Classics and Middle Eastern Studies in Cambridge, UK. She is part of the ERC funded project “Impact of the ancient City”, where the ancient city formations are studied in a diarchronic perspective, analyzing also how the ancient cityscapes and urban cultures influence us still today. Her lecture will take us into the changing urban and religious landscape of Athens during the Ottoman period.
Dunia Filippi, Classics, Faculty Member, University of Cambridge, with an extensive experience excavating the Roman Forum, presents a new methodological approach to the study of ancient space. She undertakes a systematic analysis of the relationship between the topographic maps of the Roman Forum (previously elaborated) and the social activities that took place in it. The ancient social and physical space are integrated and studied using a Geographical Information System.
open lecture August 31
On August 31, professor Andreas Dorn will give an open lecture on The Necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa opposite modern Assuan. Walking again and again 1 km along the Nile and uphill to the tombs .
NOTE:
Time: 16.15
Venue: ENG 2-1077
All welcome!
Open lectures, September 13
Venue: English Park Campus 6-0022
14.15 - 15.30 Dr Olga Philaniotou: Thermi on Lesbos, 3000 BC - 2017 AD
15.30 - 17.00 Dr Robin Barber: Phylakopi, Melos: fresh light on an old excavation
All welcome!
Skelettens dag på Gotlands museum 13 maj, 2017
Gotlands Museum och Uppsala universitet Campus Gotland presenterar den senaste forskningen om arkeologiska skelettmaterial, från både människa och djur.
Osteologistudenterna, kandidat/master, berättar om sina uppsatsarbeten för museibesökarna.
Nytt för i år är medicinsk personal som deltar och berättar om bendensitetsmätningar (osteoporosundersökning) på arkeologiskt sekelettmaterial i projektet Osteoporosis och osteoarthitis, då och nu.
Open lecture Jan 25th, 2017
Prof. em. Jeremy B. Rutter (Dartmouth College, USA): Partying in Prehistory: Social Drinking Behaviors in the Bronze Age Aegean.
Time: Wednesday Jan 25 at 15.15
Venue: English Park Campus Ihresalen and B23 (Visby)
All welcome!