Archaeological Institute of America Jacksonville Society

09/26/2026

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on Oct. 17, 2026, to hear a lecture by Dr. Nancy Marie White, professor at the University of South Florida.

The title of her lecture is “Apalachicola-lower Chattahoochee Valley Archaeology.”

Dr. White will synthesize the results of decades of jungle survey and testing of 14,000 years of human occupation in this region of northwest Florida, southeast Alabama, southwest Georgia.

She will discuss evidence of Paleo-Indian activity as well as Archaic adaptation to climate change and production of the earliest pottery 4500 years ago. Then fast forward to Middle Woodland times (AD 350-700), Fort Walton-period agricultural chiefdoms by A.D. 1000, and European contact.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Refreshments will be served afterwards in the Anthropology Lab.

On Saturday, parking is free, and the staff/faculty/vendor spaces are available to everyone. For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)214-9411 or [email protected].

We will also celebrate International Archaeology Day on Oct. 17, and there will be displays in the Archaeology Lab and a demonstration of the 3D printer for all who attend. We will have a book sale in the Anthropology Lab, so bring plenty of cash.

08/26/2026

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on Sept. 19, 2026, in Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by Dr. Katherine Grillo, a Colonel Allen R. and Margaret G. Crow Term Professor and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, at the University of Florida, and an affiliate faculty member at UF’s Center for African Studies.

Her lecture is titled “The archaeology of cattle cultures in eastern Africa: New discoveries from Luxmanda, Tanzania.” This presentation details new research at Luxmanda, Tanzania, where a herding community over three thousand years ago created the largest Pastoral Neolithic settlement ever found.

Surprising results challenge assumptions about the ostensible ephemerality of mobile peoples in the archaeological record and illuminate pastoralists’ successful strategies for coping with climate stress and other challenges that continue for herding communities in eastern Africa today.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Complimentary refreshments will be served afterwards in the Anthropology Lab.

On Saturday, parking is free, and the faculty/vendor/staff spaces are available to everyone.

For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or [email protected].

07/14/2026

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on Aug. 15, 2026 in Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by Dr. John Kantner Senior Associate Provost at UNF.

The title of his lecture is “Boundedness and Borders in the Chaco World.”

Borders and boundaries of ancient sociopolitical entities are difficult to find archaeologically. In this illustrated talk, Kantner shares recent research he has conducted to identify the borders of the Chaco World, a mysterious tradition that was centered on Chaco Canyon 2,000 years ago in what is now northwestern New Mexico.

Using data from pottery, obsidian, and architecture, Kantner presents the history of a Chaco World borderlands area and what it suggests about how this sociocultural tradition evolved over time.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Complimentary refreshments will be served afterwards in the Anthropology Lab.

On Saturdays, parking is free, and the staff/faculty/vendor spaces are available to everyone. For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or [email protected].

04/03/2026

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on April 18, 2026, in Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by Dr. Zachery Dunseth, Associate Professor of Anthropology and the Kershaw Chair of the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California at San Diego.

The title of his lecture is “Dung and Copper: Environmental archaeology at the macro- and microscale.” His talk will focus on the earliest waves of large-scale settlement in the Negev during the Early and Intermediate Bronze Ages spanning the rise and fall of urban cities to the north and the “Megadrought” 4.5 thousand years ago.

He will report on the results of his investigations into subsistence, animal rearing, and the copper industry across Negev sites.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Complimentary refreshments will be served afterwards in the Anthropology Lab.

On Saturday, parking is free, and the staff/faculty/vendor spaces are available to everyone. For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or [email protected].

03/19/2026

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on March 28, 2026, in Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by Jen Green, MA, RPA, Curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History.

The title of her lecture is “History of South Florida Archaeology Through Curation-Based Stories at the Florida Museum of Natural History.”

The lecture presents a history of the archaeology of South Florida enriched through the records of the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The South Florida collections at the FLMNH are expansive and represent over 300 discrete archaeological sites across the thirteen southernmost counties.

Using curation-based stories, Green will discuss the breadth of the collections housed at the museum from Lake Okeechobee to the Keys and Gulf to the Atlantic coasts.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Complimentary refreshments will be served afterwards in the Anthropology Lab.

On Saturday, parking is free, and the staff/vendor/faculty spaces are available to everyone.

For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or [email protected].

01/30/2026

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on Feb. 21, 2026, in Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by Dr. Jesse Obert, a professor at the University of South Florida.

His lecture is titled “Social Networks & Cyborgs: Cretan Warriorhood in the Archaic Period.” Dr. Obert will focus on the archaeological evidence for violence on Crete between 700 and 300 BCE.

He discusses two distinct ideologies of violence that were concentrated in specific types of ritual space: collaborative camaraderie on the one hand and antagonistic individuality on the other. Balancing both narratives simultaneously ultimately developed warriorhood into a full-time vocation, setting the tenor for military power on Crete in the centuries that followed.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Complimentary refreshments will be served after the lecture in the Anthropology Lab.

On Saturday, parking is free, and the faculty/staff/vendor spaces are open to everyone.

For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or [email protected].

Send a message to learn more

12/29/2025

The Archeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, to participate in the UNF Manchin Lecture Series in Ancient Studies. The speaker will be Dr. David Gilman Romano, Professor of Greek Archaeology at the University of Arizona. His lecture is titled "The Sanctuary of Zeus and Sanctuary of Pan at Mt. Lykaion." Recent research at Mt. Lykaion, both at the Sanctuary of Zeus on the southern summit of the mountain and at the Sanctuary of Pan in the lower mountain meadow, is leading to new understandings about cult practices at this ancient site in Greece. This event will take place in the Adam Herbert University Center, where parking is free. We will have a table at the door to tell the public about our AIA group as they arrive at the venue. For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411, or [email protected].

We will return to our Saturday meeting date and location in February.

Send a message to learn more

10/22/2025

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on Nov. 15, 2025, in Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by Dr. Andrea U. de Giorgi, Professor of Roman Archaeology at Florida State University and Getty Scholar.

The title of his lecture is “Cosa, the Colony and the Roman Expansion.”

Fieldwork at Cosa, Italy, revealed a constellation of public and religious buildings that are now mainstays in the discourse of Roman republican architecture. Cosa’s forum and temples made their way into virtually every survey of pre-imperial city planning and urban décor due to the ingenuity of its builders. This small colonial enclave became the center of the Roman world.

The lecture addresses the nucleation and growth of the colony of Cosa in the context of the Roman conquest of Italy.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Complimentary refreshments will be served after the lecture in the Anthropology Lab.

On Saturday, parking is free, and the staff/faculty/vendor spaces are available to everyone.

For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or [email protected].

Send a message to learn more

10/01/2025

On Oct. 18, the Archaeological Institute of America will celebrate International Archaeology Day with an artifact display and book sale in Building 51 at the University of North Florida.

There will also be a 3-D printer demonstration.

We will have our usual meeting at noon to hear a lecture by Dr. Sara S. Cohen, a professor at Florida State University who was named the Frieda Florence Renner Lecturer by AIA. Her lecture is titled “Creating an Empire: Political Consolidation Strategies in Western Mesoamerica, c. AD 1000-1530.”

At the time of European arrival in the Americas in the late fifteenth century, western Mesoamerica was ruled by the Purépecha Empire. As rivals of the Aztec Empire, the Purépecha were long thought to have established centralized control over 75,000 km2 from the capital city of Tzintzuntzan.

This talk explores the archaeological evidence for political and cultural changes in Postclassic (AD 1000-1530) western Mesoamerica, as well as future work in the region.

The lecture and artifact display are free and open to the public.

Complimentary refreshments will be served after the event in the Anthropology Lab.

On Saturday, parking is free, and the faculty/staff/vendor spaces are available to everyone.

For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or [email protected].

Send a message to learn more

08/23/2025

The Archaeological Institute of America—Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on Sept. 20, 2025, in Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by Dr. Jeffrey M. Mitchem, board member of the Archaeological Conservancy.

His lecture is titled "Searching for the Remains of Hernando de Soto's Cross at Parkin, Arkansas."

Parkin is an Arkansas State Park with an ongoing program of field and laboratory archaeological research. Mitchem was the Station Archeologist there in 1990. His research led to the conclusion that it is the town of Casqui mentioned in all four accounts of the de Soto expedition.

These accounts also describe the raising of a large wooden cross on a platform mound at the site. During the excavations, Mitchem consulted with the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, who may be the descendants of the original Parkin residents.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Refreshments will be served after the lecture in the Anthropology Lab.

On Saturday, parking is free, and the faculty/staff/vendor spaces are available to everyone. For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or [email protected].

Send a message to learn more