Youth Day at the Cotsen
On Saturday, February 8th, 2025, the Teen Friends of Archaeology co-organized an inaugural youth day at the Cotsen Institute at UCLA. Over a hundred K-12 students joined to participate in hands-on activities and explore the Institute’s labs and artifact collections.
Afterwards, we hosted Dr. Le Roy, who presented a youth-oriented talk about the lives and social roles of young people in Europe’s Neolithic period. We appreciated Dr. Le Roy coming from the UK to speak about her work on the cutting edge of biological anthropology.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on February 8th. We look forward to seeing you again at the next event!
Melie Le Roy is a specialist in biological anthropology with particular interest in the study of funerary practices related to children. Le Roy graduated at the University of Bordeaux in France. Her PhD (awarded in 2015) concerned social consideration to children through the study of funerary practices in Neolithic France – a project that involved applying GIS techniques to funerary sites to enable a deeper understanding to be gained in relation to burial practices at both site and regional levels.She is also a field archaeologist and is currently leading two projects in the South of France, involving the excavation of a cave and a dolmen, both of which date to the Late Neolithic. Her research extends beyond France and she is a member of an international team excavating a Roman necropolis in Egypt. She joined the Archaeology and Anthropology department in April 2022 as a lecturer in biological anthropology.
When Communities Engage: Empowering Archaeological Practice
On Thursday, February 8th, 2024, the Teen Friends of Archaeology attended a public lecture hosted by the Cotsen Institute. Dr. Acabado delivered a fascinating presentation on his work in the Philippines, emphasizing the engagement of local indigenous people with ongoing research.
Thank you to all of the members who joined us on February 8th. We look forward to seeing you again at the next event!
Stephen Acabado is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Acabado is a strong advocate of an engaged archaeology where descendant communities are involved in the research process. His archaeological investigations in Ifugao, northern Philippines, have established the recent origins of the Cordillera Rice Terraces, which were once thought to be at least 2,000 years old. His work revolves around agricultural systems, indigenous responses to colonialism, subsistence shifts, landscape archaeology, and heritage conservation. He directs two archaeological projects in the Philippines: the Ifugao Archaeological Project and the Bicol Archaeological Project. In 2020, he is collaborating with Taiwanese colleagues in launching the Taiwan Indigenous Landscape and History Project. He received his PhD and MA in Anthropology from the University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa and his BA in Anthropology from the University of the Philippines-Diliman.
Framing Victory: Salamis, the Athenian Acropolis, and the Agora
On Saturday, November 4th, 2023, the Teen Friends of Archaeology hosted a completely free talk at the Cotsen Institute, presented by Dr. Papadopoulos, one of the world’s preeminent experts on the ancient eastern Mediterranean.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on November 4th. We look forward to seeing you again at the next event!
John K. Papadopoulos is Distinguished Professor of Archaeology and Classics at the University of California at Los Angeles, in the Department of Classics and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. His research and teaching interests include the Aegean, as well as the eastern and central Mediterranean from the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages into the Classical and later periods, the archaeology of colonization, and the integration of literary evidence with the material record in the study of the past. He has conducted fieldwork in Greece, Albania, Italy, and Australia, and has co-directed fieldwork projects at Torone and Methone in northern Greece, Lofkënd in Albania, and the repatriation project for Francavilla Marittima in South Italy. Since 2022 he is the Director of the Excavations in the Athenian Agora. He has authored or edited thirteen books, over 120 articles and some 50 book reviews.
Maritime Archaeology: Underwater Excavations in the Hawaiian Islands
On Saturday, May 20th, 2023, the Teen Friends of Archaeology hosted a completely free talk at the Fowler Museum. The talk was presented by Dr. Dunnavant, one of the most important maritime archaeologists working today.
Thank you to all the members who joined us on May 20th. We look forward to seeing you again at the next event!
Dr. Justin Dunnavant is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at UCLA. His current research in the US Virgin Islands investigates the relationship between ecology and enslavement in the former Danish West Indies. In addition to his archaeological research, he is co-founder of the Society of Black Archaeologists and an AAUS Scientific SCUBA Diver. In 2021, he was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and inducted into The Explorers Club as one of “Fifty People Changing the World that You Need to Know About.” Last year, he was awarded the 2022 Stafford Ellison Wright Black Alumni Scholar-in-Residence at Occidental College. His research has been featured on Netflix’s “Explained,” Hulu’s “Your Attention Please” and in print in American Archaeology, Science Magazine, and National Geographic Magazine. Visit Dr. Dunnavant’s personal website here.