All upcoming Archaeology programs

What can a painted vase tell us about the lives and beliefs of the ancient Greeks? A lot, actually. The human activities and mythological subjects depicted on vessels from the 7th through the 5th century B.C.E. provide invaluable insights into this civilization. Art historian Renee Gondek explores the stories illustrated and highlights the artistry of the best-known painters. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Ancient Sparta—in its time the most feared of city-states because of its military prowess and the most praised for the political consistency and social stability it provided to its citizens—has been portrayed by political scientists as the model for totalitarian 20th-century dictatorships in Germany, Russia, Italy, and China. Classicist John Prevas analyzes ancient Sparta’s approaches to education, government, and social relations; draws parallels to modern dictatorships; and considers whether it could become the model for a repressive American future.

Two centuries of archaeological excavation and exploration have revealed that ancient Israel’s neighbors—Egypt, Canaan, Aram, Assyria, and Babylonia—all contributed significantly to its history, from its origins through the Babylonian exile and beyond. Biblical narratives reflect connections to these ancient cultures. In an illustrated all-day program, biblical scholar Gary Rendsburg explores how the people who left us the Bible were informed by other civilizations and how these influences are reflected in its books.

Explore the heart of Italy during the first millennium B.C.E. through a journey into the enigmatic world of the Etruscans. Using three masterworks of painting, sculpture, and metalwork excavated from tombs in central Italy, art historian Laura Morelli offers a glimpse into how members of this lesser-known culture adorned the places where they planned to spend eternity and the incredible luxury objects they took with them. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

For many years, dinosaurs were considered ponderous, overgrown monsters doomed from the start. However, a fundamental change in thinking occurred in the late 1960s when two Yale University paleontologists noted that many aspects of their anatomy and biology were much like those of warm-blooded creatures. Paleontologist Hans Sues of the National Museum of Natural History discusses the main researchers involved, the arguments behind the new thinking, and the impact on paleobiology.

What was the world like for Paleolithic children? Using the latest scientific findings and evidence from the tiniest deciduous teeth in South Africa to richly adorned burials in Russia, Paleolithic archaeologist April Nowell examines children’s roles in the economic, social, and political life of the period, offering a new understanding of the contributions children have made to the biological and cultural entities we are today.

Thousands of years ago, Indigenous peoples in the Andes assessed their climate, geography, and ecology and realized that, to provide better support for agriculture and herding, they needed to harness water. Their solution was to build hydraulic infrastructure, such as canals, terraces, reservoirs, and dams. Archaeologist Kevin Lane reveals the story of canals on the coast and in the Central Andes and explains how these old technologies are being repurposed today to deal with the effects of climate change.

Our understanding of dinosaur behavior has long been hampered by the inevitable lack of evidence from animals that went extinct more than 65 million years ago. But with the discovery of new specimens and the development of cutting-edge techniques, paleontologists are making huge advances in reconstructing how dinosaurs acted. Paleontologist David Hone provides a look at the fundamentals of dinosaur biology and evolution and describes feeding, communication, and social behavior.

Home to over a million objects from around the globe, Philadelphia’s Penn Museum bridges the study of archaeology and anthropology. Spend the day immersed in ancient art and culture with art historian Renee Gondek and see Sumerian cuneiform tablets, Buddhist sculptures, Native American regalia, and the monumental Sphinx of Ramses II, plus the Greek gallery, which represents the history and culture of Greece from 3000 to 31 B.C.E. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

When classicist Michael Ventris deciphered the Linear B script in 1952, he shed light on our understanding of the politics, economy, society, and religion of the world of Late Bronze Age Greece, sometimes referred to as "Mycenaean." Classicist and archaeologist Dimitri Nakassis examines what this writing system and a second still-undeciphered “Minoan” script, Linear A, can tell us about life in the Aegean during the second millennium BCE.