Dig into history at La Sierra’s Archaeology Discovery Weekend

The two-day event, themed “Alexander the Great and How He Changed the World,” will feature leading international scholars who will illuminate how the legendary Macedonian ruler reshaped the ancient world—from politics, geography and natural history, to art, culture and everyday life. Families and guests will also experience archaeology firsthand on Nov. 16 with a kids’ dig, artifact displays, and interactive lab activities inside the Lawrence T. Geraty and Douglas R. Clark Center for Near Eastern Archaeology (CNEA). Activities will include name writing in Greek, pottery puzzles, 3D scanning, mosaic making, a 3D C.A.V.E. and more, as well as a screening of “Night at the Museum.” 

Outside the archaeology center, a Bedouin tent will offer Middle Eastern refreshments and conversation as well as singing and dancing to Bedouin songs with Jordanian visitors, extending the cultural experience.

Celebration of discovery

Saturday’s lecture sessions on Nov. 15 will be held 3–6 p.m. at the Zapara School of Business Troesh Conference Center, with a special evening reception to include guests from Madaba, Jordan. Sunday lecture presentations on Nov. 16 will run 1–4 p.m. at Troesh Conference Center with family lab activities, a kids’ dig and movie from 4 – 6 p.m. taking place at the archaeology center.

All lectures will be livestreamed with a link on the Archaeology Discovery Weekend webpage via www.lasierra.edu/archaeology.

Alexander's legacy

This year’s featured presenters represent some of the foremost voices in Mediterranean and Near Eastern studies.

• Dr. Andrea M. Berlin, the James R. Wiseman Chair at Boston University, brings more than four decades of fieldwork across the eastern Mediterranean. Her illustrated lecture, “The Alexander Effect: An Archaeology of Celebrity,” will explore how Alexander’s image and reputation evolved across centuries.

• Dr. Jessica Nitschke, editor of The Ancient Near East Today and research fellow at Stellenbosch University (South Africa), will offer a close study of the famed Alexander Sarcophagus of Sidon, examining how art and archaeology reveal the mythmaking of empire.

• Dr. Kent Bramlett, La Sierra University professor of archaeology, department chair, and CNEA director, will open the scholarly program with “Alexander and the Great Cultural Exchange.” Bramlett co-directs La Sierra’s excavations in Jordan and specializes in the transition from the Late Bronze to Early Iron Age.

• Dr. Rachel Kousser, author and chair of the Classics Program at the Graduate Center, CUNY, will examine “Living Like a Persian King: How Alexander Transformed Everyday Life,” discussing how conquest influenced art, gender, and daily customs across empires.

• Dr. Cynthia Finlayson, director of the LAPIS Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Foundation and one of the few women to lead major excavations at two UNESCO World Heritage sites—Palmyra (Syria) and Petra (Jordan)—will present “Alexander’s Legacy and Cult: The Sibylline Oracle and the Quest for the Ideal Hellenistic Ruler.”

• Theresa Shaw, JD, longtime CNEA volunteer and numismatics researcher, will conclude the academic sessions with “The Significance of Alexander’s Coinage in His Quest for Hegemony,” revealing how coins served as tools of power and propaganda.

Panel discussions will follow each day’s presentations, offering audiences an opportunity to interact directly with the speakers.

For registration and further information visit www.lasierra.edu/archaeology, call 951-785-2632 or email [email protected].