Saturday March 31, 2012

“The Toronto Society of the Archaeological Institute of America invites graduate and
undergraduate students to submit abstracts to the Third AIA Student Symposium “Making Space: How we Construct and View the World Around Us”. This year we are exploring the topic of space, both physical and conceptual. We wish the scope of the symposium to be crosscultural and cross-temporal and encourage students to submit an abstract for a 15 minute paper on any aspect of, or approach to this topic, including but not limited to anthropological, archaeological, art historical, historical, philological, and
sociological.

We will post all accepted abstracts on our website www.aiatorontoarchives.ca”

Please submit a 250-word abstract by mail to: Meg Morden, 216-550 Front St W, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3N5, or email to Meg Morden, memorden@gmail.com.

Abstract Deadline: Monday January 16, 2012

AIA_Student_Travel_Fellowship_Application_2012

Good Luck to all our candidates.

Remember, the deadline is April 1, 2012.

National Archaeology Day is a celebration of archaeology and the thrill of discovery. Throughout the month of October and on October 22 in particular, the AIA and its societies throughout the United States and Canada will present archaeological programs and activities in over 100 cities for people of all ages and interests. Whether it is a family-friendly archaeology fair, a guided tour of a local archaeological site, a simulated dig, a lecture or a classroom visit from an archaeologist, the interactive, hands-on programs presented by the Institute and our societies will provide you with the chance to indulge your inner Indiana Jones.

For more details check out our main site here.

Saturday October 1, 2011

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Annual General Meeting and Symposium will be held in the Signy & Cléophée Eaton Theatre, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6. (Access to the Theatre is through the President’s Choice Group Entrance at the south-east corner of the Museum, next to the TTC’s Museum stop.)

There is a symposium registration fee of $25 for Members, $7 for Student Members, $35 for Non-members and $10 for Non-member Students.

9:30-10:00 – Registration

10:00-10:30 - Annual Meeting – CSMS members only; memberships may be renewed or opened at the door

Thanks to a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Society will be able to assist with the travel expenses of those members attending the Annual Meeting that live some distance from Toronto.

SYMPOSIUM

(sponsored by the Royal Ontario Museum)

Royal Ontario Museum Excavations at Godin Tepe, Western Iran:
Fifty years of archaeological work

Les Fouilles du Musée royal de l‘Ontario à Godin Tepe en Iran de l’ouest:
cinquante années de travail archéologique

10:30-10:45 – Welcome
Paul-Alain Beaulieu, President, CSMS, and Dan Rahimi, Vice President, Royal Ontario Museum

10:45-11:00 - Introduction
Hilary Gopnik, Emory University (co-author of On the High Road: the history of Godin Tepe)

11:00-11:40 – Godin VI and the Uruk World: Trade and conflict between Mesopotamia and western Iran during the 4th millenium BC
Clemens Reichel, University of Toronto/Royal Ontario Museum

11:40-12:20 – Godin VI and the Kura-Araxes Migration: Transcaucasian-Iranian relations in the early third millennium BC
Mitchell Rothman, Widener College

Lunch – (not provided)

2:00-2:40 – Mighty Medes? Median socio-political dynamics and the Godin II citadel (800-500 BC)
Hilary Gopnik, Emory University

2:40-3:20 – Beyond the Kangavar valley survey: Encountering Cuyler Young in the landscape of western Iran in the 1960s
Ed Keall, Royal Ontario Museum

3:20-4:00 – Tba
Irene Winter, Harvard University

4:00-4:15 – Concluding Remarks, Hilary Gopnik and Mitchell Rothman

Following the Symposium there will be a visit to On the High Road, a special exhibit at the Museum’s Wirth Gallery for the Middle East (Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, 3rd floor).

Annual General Meeting of

The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies
La Société canadienne des études mésopotamiennes

and Symposium
(sponsored by the Royal Ontario Museum)

Royal Ontario Museum Excavations at Godin Tepe, Western Iran:
Fifty years of archaeological work

Les Fouilles du Musée royal de l‘Ontario à Godin Tepe en Iran de l’ouest:
cinquante années de travail archéologique

1 October 2011

Signy & Cléophée Eaton Theatre, Royal Ontario Museum,
100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6
(Access to the Theatre is through the President’s Choice Group Entrance
at the south-east corner of the Museum, next to the TTC’s Museum stop.)

All lectures are held in Anthropology boardroom AP246, 2 – 4 pm 

Fall 2011 

Friday October 7, 2011

Eric Seeman – The Huron Wendat Feast of the Dead: Bones, Blood and the Colonial Encounter

 Friday October 14, 2011

Matthew Engleke

Friday October 21, 2011

John Bowen

Friday November 4, 2011

Adam T. Smith – The Political Machine: Sense, Sensibility, and Sentiment in the Late Bronze Age Caucasus 

 Winter 2012

Jan/Feb (T.B.D.)

Student Choice

Friday Feburary, 2012 (Date T.B.D.)

Carol Ward

Friday March 2, 2012

Stephen Houston

Friday March 16, 2012

Marina Welker

Friday March 30, 2012

Biella Coleman

Darren Jablonkay - Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto (MA 2012)

Verbal report scheduled before AIA lecture October 26, 2011

Square G4.58 was a new square opened at the start of the 2011 excavation season and was
allocated to Field I. However, the square lies in an area directly between Fields I and II. Field I is located in the center of the upper mound, on the southern edge of the Syro-Hittite Expedition’s West Central Area excavations. The Field I excavations were composed of four 10x10m squares. The most notable features, in relation to my square for the 2011 excavation season, was a Temple complex (Temple 2) excavated in the 1930’s by the University of Chicago expedition which resided directly above G4.55 and G4.56, and north of which resided Building 1, a Bit Hilani palatial complex. Field II is located directly east of that palatial complex, and is where Temple 16 was unearthed during the 2008-2009 seasons in three squares (G4.28, G4.38, and G4.48). G4.58 is therefore located directly between perpendicular Temple complexes. Topographically, G4.58 was thought to be located above an area that in ancient times formed a saddle that led to the upper citadel.

Based on comparisons of the architectural layout of citadel complexes at similar sites (ex.
Carchemish) it had been speculated that a courtyard would have existed between Temples 2 and 16. For this reason, one of the objectives of the 2011 TAP expedition was to evaluate the Iron Age remains south of Temple 16. G4.58 was chosen over G4.57, which lies directly east of Temple 2, because an excavation trench from the 1930s expedition was observed in the eastern profile of G4.56. However, there are also complications with the area in which G4.58 resides. It was observed that the modern property line, which is delineated just south of Temple 16, was established by bulldozing the area and in the process removing the stones that were once a part of the paving that would have extended into the courtyard between Temples 2 and 16 to prepare the land for agricultural activities. Our efforts therefore were to be concentrated on 1) evaluating whether or not a substructure existed upon which the courtyard may have resided; and 2) on evaluating the preservation of any earlier Iron I or Iron II remains in the area where a courtyard was thought to have been constructed during the latest phase of Temple 16 (Iron II/III).

Throughout the excavation season several amazing finds were unearthed. The north-west pillar of a monumental gateway was the primary architectural feature to be exposed. This gate was constructed at the top of a natural saddle in the topography and would have led to an earlier phase of Temple 16, which has not been excavated to present. However, an earlier phase of Temple 16 was verified this season by Amy Higginson who excavated a probe of the western wall of Temple 16 in G4.38. It is clear that there was an earlier phase of Temple 16 that pre-dated the Assyrian occupation at the site. Additionally, a parallel of a similar gate complex was found at Carchemish.

Two monumental statues were associated with this gateway: a monumental basalt statue of a lion, and a basalt monument depicting the ‘Master of Animals’ motif. At present, the leading hypothesis is that the statues date to the late Iron I/early Iron II and were associated with an early Iron Age phase at the site. During the construction of the gateway that led to Temple 16, the statues were deposited and incorporated into the mudbrick superstructure of the gateway’s north-west pillar. The dating of the monumental lion statue is based primarily on the ceramic repertoire that is associated with it. The surface on which the lion statue was deposited is characterized by late Iron I pottery forms, and
the mudbrick fill in which the lion was seemingly encased was characterized by Iron II pottery forms. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that the lion statue was perhaps constructed sometime during the early Iron II; however, it is important to note that this remains speculation for the time being and further excavation, particularly a larger horizontal exposure, is required in order to truly understand the context in which these statues were deposited.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Toronto Society of the Archaeological
Institute of America for their support, which helped me attend the Tayinat Archaeological Project this year.

Cristina Ichim -  Archaeology Specialist and Classical Civilization Major, University of Toronto (BA 2013)

Verbal report scheduled before AIA lecture September 28, 2011

My participation in the Iklaina Archaeological Project (IKAP) has allowed me to gain a
wide variety of practical archaeological experiences relating to excavation work, measuring and recording of finds, as well as lab work.

Excavation work mostly consisted of removing the backfill at the beginning of the project and cleaning the area for excavation and for photographs; setting up five by five metre trenches with a one-metre baulk on the northern and eastern side; uncovering archaeological features, ecofacts, and artefacts; and taking soil samples for soil analysis and flotation. Field activities also included flotation, in which the light and heavy fractions of soil samples taken from loci of various trenches were separated. I became familiar with the Locus System, which was employed at IKAP to record and organise the spatial relationships between finds and features by dividing a trench into various loci as the excavation proceeded.

Furthermore, I took elevation measurements of the opening and closing points of loci and features. I conducted soil sample analysis and used a Munsell Soil Chart to determine the soil composition of each locus. I also took measurements for use in triangulation for archaeological drawings, and I filled-out the form for the loci.

Lab work consisted of sorting the heavy fraction from flotation; labelling bags and
assigning numbers to sherds; washing pottery; data entry of pottery sherds; and sorting faunal remains by species and bone type. I also worked with the ceramics experts to sort pottery sherds into categories of coarse, plain, and fine ware and to piece together vessel fragments. As a result of working with ceramics, I have learnt to distinguish diagnostic vessel types as well as to distinguish between early Mycenaean styles and fabrics and late Mycenaean ones.

The discoveries of the 2011 excavation season continue to support Iklaina’s importance for understanding secondary state formation in the early Mycenaean period. The finds continue to indicate the use of massive formal architecture with attention to aesthetics (ashlar masonry, frescoes, antae) and craft specialisation (possible metallurgy workshop and flax industry, due to presence of drains), all pointing to social stratification, attempts to define social identities, and ability of the élites to mobilise resources and a large work force.

Overall, I have had a very enriching archaeological experience on the Iklaina archaeological

Project. Despite the long laborious hours in the hot sun and the hard physical work that went into the excavation, I have gained a much greater appreciation and love for archaeology as well as a realisation of the dedication and patience oftentimes required to contribute an extra bit of information to the existing corpus of knowledge of the Mycenaean world. The practical field experience has supplemented the knowledge I gained from more theoretical archaeology classes to add to my understanding of the workings of archaeology. In addition, my participation on the project has allowed me to gain some familiarity with the Mycenaean material culture. The opportunity of digging at a site like Iklaina has sparked my interest in the early Mycenaean period and the formation of the Pylian state, a subject to which I hope to devote further attention in the future.

Daniel Valls

• Anthropology: Archaeological Science Specialist Program, University of Toronto (BSc 2013)

Click here to read the report

Darren Jablonkay

• Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto (MA 2012)

Click here  to read the report

Cristina Ichim

• Archaeology Specialist and Classical Civilization Major, University of Toronto (BA 2013)

Click here  to read the report

Over the last 15 years, Klaus Schmidt of the German Archaeological Institute and colleagues from the Şanlıurfa Museum in Turkey have been making remarkable finds at the site of Göbekli Tepe, a barren hilltop northeast of the city of Urfa. Schmidt has interpreted the buildings with enormous pillars, some engraved with pictures of animals, as the world’s first temples, some 11,000 years old, and has suggested that this large site was covered with such temples, rather than houses.

Ted Banning offers an alternative interpretation of this exciting site that challenges some of Schmidt’s claims about it. He presents the possibility that the large structures found in the earliest level at the site, rather than being temples, may be very large and impressive houses, similar, in some ways, to the large plank houses of the Northwest Coast of North America with their impressive house posts and totem poles. If so, they would likely have housed quite large households that might provide an extremely early example of what the French anthropologist, Claude Lévi-Strauss, called “house societies.” Such societies
often use house structures for competitive display, locations for rituals, and explicit symbols of social units.

Discerning the exact nature of this important site undoubtedly will require further excavation. Then we may know whether it was really a site full of temples, whether the monolithic structures were “special buildings” surrounded by “ordinary” houses, or whether the “temples” were large and impressive residential structures.

–Ted Banning

The opening of a museum exhibition is the end of an odyssey that begins with an idea and ends with a frenetic evening of translating the last credit line and hanging the last graphic panel. In this talk, I’ll take you through “The making of Maya: Secrets of their Ancient World” through the eyes of an archaeologist.

You will sit at the table as we create the core concept for the show, and tag along as we visit the collection storerooms to select objects (and lament the ones that gotaway). You will witness as layer after layer is added to create a final product that, if we are lucky, takes you momentarily into a different era.

–Justin Jennings