Boulder Society Lectures

Scott R. Hutson

University of Kentucky, Anthropology

Also available via Zoom. Register via the CU Museum of Natural History.

This talk presents the results of research conducted over many years at a collection of ancient Maya towns linked by a long-distance road in northern Yucatan, Mexico. These towns tell some unusual stories about ancient politics. For example, Ucí was the largest town but its political authority did not match its dominance in terms of size. Eventually, causeways/roads linked Ucí with smaller towns, but these towns still exerted independence in terms of ritual expression. Linkage of towns by roads did not result in the kinds of economic advantages that sometimes result from new roads today. Leadership at Ucí appears to have rotated between factions. Oddly, the only ballcourt in this area was at a small, rural village. Even more odd was the discovery of a text which improbably links Ucí with much larger Maya kingdoms jockeying for power at distant places like Calakmul and Tikal.

Dr. Hutson’s current research interests lie in urbanism, inequality, economic anthropology, demography and settlement patterns, lidar, political and social organization, household archaeology, identity, practice theory, and Mesoamerica. Since 1996, he has been doing archaeology in the Maya area, working briefly in Belize and Guatemala before settling down in Yucatan, Mexico. His main research project explores how the integration of several archaeological sites in the Northern Maya lowlands transformed political, economic, social, and ritual life. Integration took place at the beginning of the Classic period (250–550 AD) when an 18km long stone causeway connected the regional center of Ucí with the site of Cansahcab as well as other sites.

Derek Kennet

University of Chicago, Middle Eastern Studies

Also available via Zoom. Register via the CU Museum of Natural History.

Derek Kennet will look at the fascinating question of Roman trade in the Indian Ocean and Roman contact with India. It is one of the least well-known aspects of the Roman period that there was a strong presence in the western Indian Ocean, with Roman coins and amphorae turning up in the Red Sea, the Gulf and in India itself. Kennet will provide an overview of the historical and archaeological evidence and consider what it tells us about the Romans and about the Indian Ocean. Additionally, Kennet was involved in the excavations at Pattanam in India, where he studied some of the pottery. He will bring this material into the talk as well.

Professor Derek Kennet is the Howard E. Hallengren Professor in Arabian Peninsula and Gulf States Archaeology at the University of Chicago. He is an archaeologist who works on the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding regions. Dr. Kennet approaches the peninsula from a number of different perspectives, such as: longue durée regional archaeology; the archaeology of the Late Antique period, the rise of Islam, and the Islamic periods; human economic strategies in semi- to hyper-arid environments; and interaction between the Arabian peninsula and surrounding regions/empires/economies, including the Sasanians. The geographical location of the peninsula also means that there is real value to using the relatively accessible and well-preserved archaeological record as a window onto wider inter-regional developments such as Indian Ocean trade and globalization.

Kacey Grauer

University of Denver, Anthropology

Time, location, abstract, and biography to be announced.

Matt Sponheimer

University of Colorado, Anthropology

Time, location, abstract, and biography to be announced.