Fall 2025 Milwaukee AIA Lectures
In-Person Lectures
Important Note:
In-person lectures will be held in Mitchell Hall, Room 195, UW-Milwaukee Campus
Sunday, September 14, 2025, 3:00 pm
Dr. Sabina Cveček, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow, Field Museum, Chicago
“Enthrone, Dethrone, Rethrone? Matrilineal Kinship in Aegean Prehistory”
Mitchell Hall, Room 195, 3403 North Downer Ave., UW-Milwaukee Campus,
Were communities in prehistoric Greece matriarchal, matrilineal, or simply centered around women? This question has fascinated archaeologists for decades. Early on, figurines of women were often seen as “Mother Goddesses,” meaning female deities often representing motherhood, fertility, and creation, but feminist scholars later cautioned against such broad interpretations. In this talk, Sabina Cveček revisits the debate, exploring what different types of evidence — from how settlements were laid out to how figurines were used — can tell us about gender and family life in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Aegean. She draws on ethnographic examples to show that matrilineal kinship does not automatically mean women ruled, a key distinction for better understanding how these early societies were structured.
Dr. Sabina Cveček holds a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellow at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on contextualizing prehistoric households, kinship, and social organization in the eastern Mediterranean from socio-cultural anthropological perspectives. She earned her PhD in socio-cultural anthropology with distinction from the University of Vienna in 2021. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, co-chair of the “Archaeology and Gender in Europe” network of the European Association of Archaeologists, and an At-Large-Director of the Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis (CfAS).
Archaeology Hour Talk, Zoom Only
Wednesday, September 17, 7:00 pm CDT
Dr. Tate Paulette, “Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia”
Register Online: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tBjgwGUuSkaNJ1pn_Xucgw#/registration
Note: we will reshow this talk for our watch party at Saint John’s on the Lake, November 9 at 3:00 pm
Local In-Person Lecture (non-AIA)
Wednesday, September 17, 6:00 pm CDT
Timothy Jacob, “The Search for Shackleton’s Lost Ice Ship, Endurance”
UWM School of Freshwater Science, 600 East Greenfield Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53204, Room 3080
Local In-Person Lecture (non-AIA)
Thursday, October 16th, 7:30 pm CDT
Dr. Jodi Magness, “Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus”
Wisconsin Lutheran College, Schwan Concert Hall, 8815 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Wauwatosa
Sunday, October 19, 2025, 3:00 pm
International Archaeology Day Lecture
Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, Executive Director, American Center of Research, Jordan
“Diving the Pyramids: Underwater Tombs and Excavation at the Royal Cemetery of Nuri, Sudan”
Mitchell Hall, Room 195, UWM Campus, 3403 North Downer Avenue
The pyramids and necropoleis of Nuri, Sudan, compose one-fifth of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of “Napata” in Sudan. Nuri’s 20 standing pyramids mark the burials of Nubian rulers from the kingdom of Kush, dating from the Napatan period (900-270 BCE). Hundreds of other burials, temples, and monuments spanning millennia cover the 7,500,000+ square feet of the site. Since 2018, we have been excavating numerous areas of the site, but this talk focuses on the excavation of the pyramid and burial of King Nastasen (died ca. 315 BCE) – the last king buried at the site. Nastasen’s subterranean tomb is now submerged due to rising groundwater, requiring novel adaptation of underwater archaeological techniques to “dive the pyramid.”
Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman serves as executive director of the American Center of Research in Amman, Jordan. His research focuses on the ancient heritage, archaeology, and environment of the Middle East and North Africa. With more than 100 publications to his credit, Dr. Creasman has been widely recognized for his work, including by the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, as a fellow of The Explorer’s Club, and he was honored as a “Genius” in National Geographic’s almanac. His most recent excavations are of the Treasury in Petra and the pyramids of Nuri, Sudan (both UNESCO World Heritage Sites), as well as underwater in the Dead Sea at an ancient harbor.
Archaeology Hour Talk, Zoom Only
Wednesday, October 22, 7:00 pm CDT
Dr. Justin Leidwanger, “Shipping Stone for Justinian’s Empire?”
Register Online: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/7817571079737/WN_8PFELhCLS0WTFIA38_WO6w#/registration
Archaeology Watch Party
On Sunday, November 9, 2025 the AIA-Milwaukee Society and Saint John’s on the Lake are teaming up to present an archaeological “watch party.” The watch party will give us an opportunity to watch the video of the “Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia” presentation. Following that, engage in live discussion and Q&A led by Professor Bettina Arnold, Professor of Anthropology, UW-Milwaukee.
Sunday, November 9, 2025, 3:00 pm
Prof. Tate Paulette, Associate Professor, History, North Carolina State University
“Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia”
North Cultural Arts Center, Saint John’s on the Lake, 1800 North Prospect, Milwaukee
Live Discussion to follow hosted by Prof. Bettina Arnold, Anthropology, UW-Milwaukee
The inhabitants of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers gave us the world’s first cities, first kings, first writing. They also built the world’s first great beer culture. They loved their beer: its colors, textures, tastes, and intoxicating effects. They sipped it through long reed straws and praised it in song and story. They drank beer at home, on the job, and in neighborhood taverns — also at feasts, festivals, and religious ceremonies. In this talk, Prof. Paulette introduces his new book, In the Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia. This authoritative but light- hearted account explains exactly what we know about the beers, brewers, and drinkers of ancient Mesopotamia, how we know it, and what puzzles still remain to be solved.
Dr. Tate Paulette is Associate Professor of History at North Carolina State University. He holds an MA and PhD in Near Eastern Archaeology from the University of Chicago and an MA in Archaeology from the University of Edinburgh. His research explores agricultural practices, gastro-politics, and state making in the world’s first cities and states, with a focus on Mesopotamia and the Near East. He also studies ancient alcohol, and he has spearheaded a collaborative effort to recreate Sumerian beer using authentic ingredients, equipment, and brewing techniques.
Dr. Bettina Arnold is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research interests include the archaeology of gender, mortuary archaeology, Celtic Iron Age Europe, the archaeology of alcohol, and the history of archaeology, especially its manipulation for political purposes in National Socialist Germany. She has participated in collaborative experimental brewing projects — with both Lakefront Brewery and Discovery World Museum in Milwaukee, and the Santa Monica Brew Works and the Getty Museum in Santa Monica, CA.
Archaeology Hour Talk, Zoom Only
Wednesday, November 12, 7:00 pm CDT
Dr. Alison Futrell, “The People’s Arena”
Register Online: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1117571134992/WN_obR16xWNSO6l2B2JHgfShg#/registration