Category Archives: Distinguished Lectures

Rock star David Lee explains “dreamtime” rock art in a Distinguished Lecture Jan. 22

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Editor’s note: The following post was written by David Lee, a rock expert specializing in the rock art sites of northern Australia. His Distinguished Lecture, co-sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America Society – Houston, examines how the ceremonial traditions of indigenous groups in northern Australia are linked to lessons learned during the “dreamtime,” when the world was first created. Contemporary songs, stories, laws and ceremonies are informed by this ancient past and are still used to teach aboriginal children about their connection to the lands of their ancestors.

Everywhere in the world that early humans found rocks, they left images carved and painted onto their surfaces. These images continue to inspire the curiosity and imagination of modern people, and researchers struggle to understand them. Unfortunately, any knowledge of the function and meaning of rock art has been lost across most of the world.

What: Distinguished Lecture, "Dreamtime - Aboriginal Interweaving of Past, Present and Future"

Northern Australia is one of the last places left where rock art is still a living part of indigenous culture. For the last seven years, I have studied with Yidumduma Bill Harney, the last fully-initiated Wardaman man and custodian of his people’s country, songs, and stories. Together we have documented 27 of the rock art sites in Wardaman Country along with all of Yidumduma’s knowledge about them.

This knowledge provides many insights into how rock art functioned in the daily and ceremonial lives of early peoples. Yidumduma and the other Wardaman elders wish to see this knowledge recorded for their descendants and shared with the rest of the world. Wardaman Country is known as the Land of the Lightning People, where the Lightning Brothers fought, and where the Rainbow Serpent was killed, during the Creation Time.

What: Distinguished Lecture, "Dreamtime - Aboriginal Interweaving of Past, Present and Future"

For the rest of the Wardaman creation story, you can visit my site here.

What: Distinguished Lecture, "Dreamtime - Aboriginal Interweaving of Past, Present and Future"

To learn more about the preservation and ongoing research of rock art in the United States, go to Western Rock Art Research.

What: Distinguished Lecture, “Dreamtime – Aboriginal Interweaving of Past, Present and Future”
When: Tuesday, Jan. 22, 6:30 p.m.
Where: HMNS Main, 5555 Hermann Park Dr., 77030
Who: David Lee, rock star
How Much: $18 for public; $12 for members

David Lee’s lecture is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America Society – Houston and the Apache Corporation.

A proactive approach to apocalyptic scenarios: Join us for a distinguished lecture Jan. 16 on finding near-earth objects — before they find us

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Of all the natural disasters that could befall us, only an Earth impact by a large comet or asteroid has the potential to end civilization in a single blow. Yet these near-Earth objects also offer tantalizing clues to our solar system’s origins, and someday could even serve as stepping-stones for space exploration.

Dr. Donald Yeomans is coming to HMNS to explain the science of near-Earth objects — its history, applications, and the ongoing quest to find near-Earth objects before they find us.

Distinguished Lecture Jan. 16: Near Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find UsIn its course around the sun, the Earth passes through a veritable shooting gallery of millions of nearby comets and asteroids. One such asteroid is thought to have plunged into our planet 65 million years ago, triggering a global catastrophe that killed off the dinosaurs.

Yeomans provides an up-to-date and accessible guide for understanding the threats posed by near-Earth objects, and also explains how early collisions with them delivered the ingredients that made life on Earth possible. He shows how later impacts spurred evolution, allowing only the most adaptable species to thrive — in fact, we humans may owe our very existence to objects that struck our planet.

Yeomans will take us behind the scenes of today’s efforts to find, track, and study near-Earth objects. He will show how the same comets and asteroids most likely to collide with us could also be mined for precious natural resources like water and oxygen, and used as watering holes and fueling stations for expeditions to Mars and the outermost reaches of our solar system.

What: Distinguished Lecture, “Near Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us”
Who: Donald Yeomans, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
When: Wednesday, Jan. 16, 6:30 p.m.
Where: HMNS Main, 5555 Hermann Park Dr. 77030
How Much: $18 for the public; $12 for members

Dr. Donald Yeomans is a Senior Research Fellow with the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at California Institute of Technology. Following the lecture, he will sign copies of his new book Near Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us.

Click here for advance tickets.

Decoding the world’s first computer: Unravel the mysteries of the Antikythera Mechanism at this distinguished lecture

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The world’s first computer put the time cycles of the Sun, Moon and planets into mechanical form. And today, cutting-edge technology reveals the extraordinary sophistication of ancient Greece. What mysteries does the Antikythera Mechanism unveil?

Learn all about it at the HMNS distinguished lecture,  “Cosmic Time – The Antikythera Mechanism & Its Mysteries,” this Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m., presented by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project’s Mike Edmunds, Ph.D.

Unravel the mysteries of the Antikythera Mechanism Nov. 20Photo courtesy of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project

More than 100 years ago, an extraordinary mechanism was found by sponge divers at the bottom of the sea near the Greek island of Antikythera. It astonished the international community of experts on the ancient world. The machine dates from around the end of the 2nd century B.C. and is the most sophisticated mechanism known from the ancient world; nothing as complex is known for the next thousand years. The “Antikythera Mechanism” is now understood to be dedicated to astronomical phenomena and operates as a complex mechanical “computer” which tracks the cycles of the Solar System.

What exactly is this complex device? For decades, scientific investigation failed to yield much light and relied more on imagination than facts. Now a new initiative is building on this previous work, using the latest techniques available today. The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project is an international collaboration of academic researchers supported by some of the world’s best high-technology companies, which aims to completely reassess the function and significance of the Antikythera Mechanism.

Since 2005, innovative technologies have been used to reveal unknown elements of the mechanism by looking at the internal structure, with its complex and confusing gear trains. A remarkable window on microscopic internal details of inscriptions and gearing has been opened. Inscriptions can now be read that have not been seen for more than 2,000 years, and this is helping to build a comprehensive picture of the functions of the Antikythera Mechanism.

Mike Edmunds, Ph.D., The Antikythera Research Project

Mike Edmunds, Ph.D

Results from researchers are emerging on a stable basis as data continues to be analyzed. Come hear the latest findings from project astronomer Mike Edmunds of University of Cardiff at HMNS on Tuesday, November 20. This lecture is co-sponsored by Archaeological Institute of America – Houston Society and the Hellenic Cultural Center. Click here for tickets.

What the ancient Maya really anticipated: The 2012 Phenomenon and December 21

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Speculation about what ancient Maya have to say about 2012 is becoming a global phenomenon in popular culture. These speculations — largely apocalyptic and uninformed — are often based on a superficial acquaintance with Western historical interpretations rather than a familiarity with Maya texts and culture.

On Nov. 5, Dr. John B. Carlson will approach the 2012 phenomenon through an examination of Maya sources considered within the contexts of ancient and contemporary Maya culture, as well as Western scholarship. In an HMNS Distinguished Lecture, he will focus on images of mythological events depicted on two Late Classic Maya vessels, including the enigmatic “Vase of the Seven Gods.” These images are interpreted as representing deities gathered in “cosmogonic conclave,” preparing to re-create the world with their sacrifices at the last completion of a Great Cycle and the beginning of a new 5,125-year, 13-baktun Maya “long count.”

K2796Maya God L at the creation event

The rites of passage are presided over by an enigmatic Venus warrior/sacrificer deity previously known only as “God L.” God L’s principal name and nature had remained a mystery, and his identity obscure, until the image above was deciphered. This study offers an explication of why God L — who is portrayed as the Maya god of tobacco, among other aspects — takes the senior role in presiding over these 13 baktun completion rituals and why it is reasonable to hypothesize that the ancient Maya would have anticipated that the same entities would return again for the fulfillment of the present long count cycle on December 21, 2012 to re-animate the world.

For tickets to see Dr. Carlson speak at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 5, click here. This lecture is included in a course co-sponsored by Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies.

blog - Maya, John CarlsonJohn B. Carlson, Ph.D.

About lecturer John B. Carlson:
John B. Carlson, a radio and extragalactic astronomer by training, is the Director of the Center for Archaeoastronomy, a non-profit institute for research and education related to interdisciplinary studies of the astronomical practices, celestial lore, religions and world-views of ancient civilizations and contemporary indigenous cultures of the world.In this capacity, Dr. Carlson is an expert on Native American astronomy specializing in studies of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and is the Editor-in-Chief of the ARCHAEOASTRONOMY Journal published by the University of Texas Press.

The art, iconography, calendar systems and hieroglyphic writing of the Maya and Highland Mexican civilizations are particular interests, and the “archaeology of pilgrimage” is a current special research interest. Researches into ancient and contemporary Maya calendars and the “2012 Phenomenon” have been areas of Carlson’s expertise for more than 30 years. Dr. Carlson is Senior Lecturer in the University Honors College, University of Maryland – College Park, where he teaches courses in Astronomy, Anthropology and the History of Science.