Featured Courses: Spring 2022
See all of the ARKEO course offerings for Spring 2022 on our courses page.
Cornell students reflect on the St. James AME Zion Community Excavations
During the fall of 2021, sixteen Cornell graduate and undergraduate students took part in the St James AME Zion Community Excavations alongside Cornell faculty and middle and high school community members. The student participants included CIAMS graduate student members and Archaeology undergraduates as well as participants from other majors and programs. After the end of…
New book by CIAMS professor Magnus Fiskesjö
CIAMS professor Magnus Fiskesjö recently published a book in the Asian Anthropologies series by Berghahn titled Stories from an Ancient Land: Perspectives on Wa History and Culture (August 2021). Fiskesjö says, "My new book is about the Wa people, who see themselves as the caretakers of the world, because they were the first people on…
Hirsch Postdoctoral Associate Awarded National Geographic Grant
Maia Dedrick has been awarded a National Geographic Society grant as part of a call for proposals entitled “Enduring Impacts: Archaeology of Sustainability.” The project itself is called: “The Deep History of Biodiversity Conservation and Agricultural Practices at Tahcabo, Yucatán.” She will serve as project leader alongside community partners and a team of scholars that…
Featured Courses: Fall 2021
See all of the ARKEO course offerings for Fall 2021 on our courses page.
Gardens of the Roman Empire Project Website Launch
The Gardens of the Roman Empire (GRE) Project announces the beta launch of its new website!
Giving Day March 11, 2021
On March 11, please consider a gift to CIAMS. Your donations can help Cornell students gain life changing experiences in the field, in the lab, and in the classroom. Our thanks to all of the generous donors who continue to support our work.
CIAMS students Rebecca Gerdes and Annapaola Passerini awarded NSF grants
CIAMS Ph.D. students Rebecca Gerdes and Annapaola Passerini were awarded NSF DDRI grants.
CIAMS professor Kathryn Gleason featured in ClassicalFix blog post
CIAMS Professor Kathryn Gleason was recently featured in a ClassicalFix blog post. The post was the seventh in a series entitled, "Let's talk about Roman Gardens." In the post, Dr. Gleason is asked a series of questions about her research on Roman gardens, gardens as sources of information about the ancient world, and avenues of…
New article in Near Eastern Archaeology by CIAMS professor Lori Khatchadourian
CIAMS professor Lori Khatchadourian recently published an article in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology entitled "Education beyond Preservation An Archaeological Camp for Girls in Armenia."
New article in American Antiquity by CIAMS members Sturt Manning and Samantha Sanft
The Dating Iroquoia project team, including CIAMS professor Sturt Manning and CIAMS graduate student Samantha Sanft, recently published an article in the journal American Antiquity. The article entitled "Refined Radiocarbon Chronologies for Northern Iroquoian Site Sequences: Implications for Coalescence, Conflict, and the Reception of European Goods" discusses the major findings of their multi-year project.
New piece in Medium by CIAMS professors Lori Khatchadourian and Adam Smith
CIAMS professors Lori Khatchadourian and Adam Smith recently published a new piece in Medium entitled “The US can help prevent the destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh. Here’s how.” In which, Khatchadourian and Smith explain how the incoming Biden administration must adopt a multi-pronged strategy to prevent the destruction of Armenian monuments.
Anti-racism and Anti-colonialism (ARCO) Interest Group
Over the summer of 2020, a dedicated group of CIAMS graduate students formed the Anti-racism and Anti-colonialism (ARCO) Interest Group.
Featured Courses: Spring 2021
See all of the ARKEO course offerings for Spring 2021 on our courses page.
National Archaeology Centers Coalition Confronts Racism and Inclusion
Over the summer, the Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies (CIAMS) joined with the Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA), the Indigenous Archaeology Collective (IAC), the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and SAPIENS to create a nation-wide coalition of archaeology centers. The goal is to address the sources of systematic racism and move archaeology towards greater diversity, equity,…
Fellowship of the (Tree) Rings
For decades, it has been a curiosity to residents and visitors of York, a coastal tourist town south of Portland, Maine: the skeletal remains of a wooden ship buried under several feet of sand on a local beach. Every once in a while—going back at least as far as 1958—a storm reveals what’s left of…
Cornell University and Indigenous Dispossession Project
The American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program (AIISP) recently announced the Cornell University and Indigenous Dispossession Project and blog. AIISP Director and CIAMS Professor Kurt Jordan is a member of this project. The following is an excerpt from Professor Kurt Jordan’s introduction to the blog.
CIAMS faculty honored through Engaged Cornell program
CIAMS professor Sherene Baugher receives an Engaged Opportunity Grant for her project, Archaeology and Tourism in Robert H. Treman State Park.
New piece in aeon by CIAMS professor Astrid Van Oyen
CIAMS professor Astrid Van Oyen recently published a new piece entitled “Accumulation and its discontents” in the digital magazine aeon. In which, Dr. Van Oyen discusses the practices of collecting, storing, and hoarding. She explores the variability of how people relate to things and illustrates how archaeology can be a useful tool in rethinking what…
CIAMS Recognizes 2020 Graduates
Betty Hensellek completed her PhD in History of Art. Her dissertation is entitled The Age of the Polychrome Kaftan: a Sartorial System of Central Eurasia (400-900 CE).
The Emperor’s Closet—Power and Storage
“In a complete stranger’s house, I could probably find a toothbrush pretty easily,” says Astrid Van Oyen, Classics. “The spatial specificity in our houses tends to be echoed by the material objects we store in that space.” Dishes go in a kitchen cabinet, pajamas in a bedroom dresser. “In Roman houses, in the time of…
Archaeology Welcomes New Students
Check out our new video describing the major entitled “Scratching the Surface”.
Graduation Message from CIAMS Director Adam Smith
According the traditional Cornell calendar, today should have been Commencement, a time for us to come together to celebrate the accomplishments of 2020’s distinguished class of students who have completed the requirements for the BA (major and minor) and MA degrees. Although our calendars have all been dramatically altered over the last few months, our…
CIAMS Student Spotlight: Sam Disotell
The second of our May/summer student spotlights features Sam Disotell, a CIAMS MA student finishing his second year in the program. Sam’s research trains a zooarchaeological lens on human-animal relationships at the Historic Period site of White Springs near Geneva, NY.
CIAMS Student Spotlight: Sarah McCully
CIAMS is pleased to announce the creation of a Student Spotlight Series! In the past, we have piggybacked on the Graduate School's series (check out Annapaola's here), but wanted to create a more archaeologically-focused version for the benefit of CIAMS faculty and students. Each semester, we will send a short questionnaire to a handful of…