NOLA Archaeology

04/15/2026

April 22, at 7:00 PM Central: AIA Archaeology Hour, last for this year. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1917762574434/WN_P3mM9xzrTOuqu-Q4JWHJxw #/registration

Join the AIA as Justin Dunnavant (UCLA) presents the final AIA Archaeology Hour talk of the 2025-2026 season: "Ecology and Slavery in St. Croix."

This presentation will be given at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Pacific.

The development of plantation slavery radically transformed societies and environments in the Americas. In this talk, Dunnavant will delve into the colonial practice of coral mining and its environmental impacts in the Danish West Indies. Drawing from archaeological, historical, and environmental data, Dunnavant reveals how the use of coral as the dominant construction material for colonial buildings left a lasting legacy on the landscape and seascape that is still evident today on the island of St. Croix.

Join the AIA as Justin Dunnavant (UCLA) presents the final AIA Archaeology Hour talk of the 2025-2026 season: "Ecology and Slavery in St. Croix." This presentation will be given at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Pacific. The development of plantation slavery radically transformed societies...

12/19/2025

Pompeii is quite special in this respect.

The roughly 11,000 inscriptions preserved by Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79 C.E. offer a glimpse into everyday life in the Roman Empire

12/17/2025

2025 most impactful archaeological discoveries

A closer look at the top archaeological finds of 2025 that are likely to have an impact on our understanding of human history for years to come.

12/16/2025

The sole surviving sample of Queen Cleopatra's handwriting, found on an ancient papyrus, reveals a single Greek word, "ginesthoi."

12/15/2025

SAVE THE DATE!

The Dennis A. Georges Lecture in Hellenic Culture

The Department of Classical Studies at Tulane University presents “Mycenaeans and Minoans in 1177 BC and After: What Happened in Greece During and After the Late Bronze Age Collapse?” by Eric Cline (The George Washington University).

Date ~ Thursday, February 5, 2026
Time ~ 6pm
Location ~ Woldenberg Art Center ~ Freeman Auditorium 205, on the Uptown Campus of Tulane University

12/12/2025

Open Access article in Nature Communications on Roman concrete, for anyone who enjoys a technical/scientific article.

Here the authors combine microstructural and chemical analysis of building materials collected from an active construction site in Pompeii prior to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Through these analyses, they identify the  key raw materials and processes used i...

12/11/2025

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/11/nx-s1-5640109/early-humans-fire-making-oldest-discovery-archaeology

Archaeologists in Britain say they've found the earliest evidence of humans making fires anywhere in the world. The discovery moves our understanding of when humans started making fire back by 350,000 years.

12/08/2025

In the news today.

Underwater archaeologists announced they had discovered the ancient wreck of an ancient Egyptian pleasure boat off the coast of Alexandria.

11/04/2025

Next week the Department of Classical Studies host Dr. Lauren Donovan Ginsberg on Nov. 13 at 5 pm in Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, room B10, speaking on "Valeria Hilaria: Reconstructing the (Possible) Life Story of an Imperial Freedwoman in Nero's Rome." Free and open to the public. NB: Photo ID required to enter the library.

10/23/2025

Lecture tonight at 5:30 pm in Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Room B-10., Tulane University. (Photo ID required to enter library.)

Speaker: Dr. Allison Sterrett-Krause (College of Charleston)
Topic: Windows on the Ancient Mediterranean: Glass and Society.

10/10/2025

Part 2: Thursday evening's follow-up

Meg Farris uncovers how the 2,000-year-old relic, linked to a Loyola voice coach, ended up in a New Orleans garden.

10/10/2025

Part 1: Tuesday evening's WWL-TV report on the Roman inscription found in New Orleans

A 2nd-century marble marker missing since WWII resurfaces in the Riverbend area, launching an international investigation and a journey back to Italy.