Symposia, colloquia, public lectures, and workshops in Pre-Columbian Studies
Symposia and Colloquia Proposals
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection invites proposals for scholarly conferences in the three programs of study that we support: Byzantine Studies, Pre-Columbian Studies, and Garden and Landscape Studies. Our traditional formats for conferences are symposia (two days) and colloquia (one day). Dumbarton Oaks will cover travel, accommodations, and specified meeting expenses for participants in symposia and colloquia. We are looking for proposals that focus on innovative topics, make a clear contribution to scholarship, and have the potential to bring to Dumbarton Oaks both established and earlier-career scholars of distinction. Find out more.
Awards for Students
Advanced undergraduate and graduate students may apply for Bliss Symposium Awards to support attendance at the annual Pre-Columbian Studies symposium.
Upcoming Events
2021–2022
Hidden Landscapes of the Past: Uncovering the Ancient World through LiDAR
June 16–July 28, 2021 | Interdisciplinary Summer Lecture Series
2000–2010 | 2010–2020 | 2020–present
2020–2021
The Empire of the Ancestors: The Wari of the Middle Horizon
May 7–8, 2021 | Pre-Columbian Studies Colloquium, Mary Glowacki and Anita Cook, Organizers
Faces of Rulership in the Maya Region
March 26–27, 2021 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium
Celebrating the Life of Colin McEwan
March 28, 2021
December 11, 2020 | Pre-Columbian Studies Colloquium, Cristóbal Gnecco and Adriana Dias, Organizers
When Cortés Met Malinche, and Montezuma Met Cortés: Alternative Facts and Disturbing Truths
November 4, 2020 | Pre-Columbian Studies Public Lecture, Matthew Restall
2019–2020
October 11–12, 2019 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Christopher S. Beekman and Colin McEwan, Symposiarchs
2018–2019
Reconsidering the Chavín Phenomenon in the 21st Century
October 5–6, 2018 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Richard L. Burger and Jason Nesbitt, Symposiarchs
Mesoamerican Codices: New Discoveries and New Directions
March 12–13, 2019 | Pre-Columbian Studies Colloquium, Diana Magaloni Kerpel and Barbara E. Mundy, Organizers
Keys to the Empire: Wari Religion and Politics in City and Country
April 25, 2019 | Pre-Columbian Studies Public Lecture, Anita G. Cook
2017–2018
Looking Ahead to the Past: An Ethnographer’s Perspective on Archaeology in the Andes
April 12, 2018 | Pre-Columbian Studies Public Lecture, Catherine Allen, George Washington University
Imaginary Aztec: Three Views of Mesoamerica’s Central Places
December 1, 2017 | Pre-Columbian Studies Public Lecture, Davíd Carrasco, Harvard University
Teotihuacan: The World beyond the City
October 6–7, 2017 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Barbara Arroyo, Kenneth Hirth, and David Carballo, Symposiarchs
2016–2017
March 16, 2017 | Pre-Columbian Studies Public Lecture, Eduardo Neves, University of São Paulo
Mirrored Reflections: Spanish Iconoclasm in the New World and Its Reverberations in the Old
February 16, 2017 | Director’s Office Public Lecture, Thomas B. F. Cummins, Harvard University
Interpreting Pre-Hispanic Peru through Its Textiles
December 1, 2016 | Pre-Columbian Studies Public Lecture, Ann Pollard Rowe, The Textile Museum
Sacred Matter: Animism and Authority in Pre-Columbian America
October 7–8, 2016 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Steven Kosiba, John Janusek, and Thomas Cummins, Symposiarchs
2015–2016
A Crack in the Mirror: Desires for Pre-Columbian and American-Made Colonial Art, Then and Now
December 4, 2015 | Pre-Columbian Studies Public Lecture, Thomas B. F. Cummins, Harvard University
Smoke, Flames, and the Human Body in Mesoamerican Ritual Practice
October 9–10, 2015 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Vera Tiesler and Andrew Scherer, Symposiarchs
2014–2015
Processions in the Ancient Americas: Approaches and Perspectives
October 10–11, 2014 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Susan Toby Evans and Stella Nair, Symposiarchs
2013–2014
Making Value, Making Meaning: Techné in the Pre-Columbian World
October 11–12, 2013 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Cathy L. Costin, Symposiarch
2012–2013
The Measure and Meaning of Time in the Americas
October 5–6, 2012 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Anthony Aveni, Symposiarch
2011–2012
Conflict, Conquest, and the Performance of War in Pre-Columbian America
October 14–15, 2011 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Andrew Scherer and John Verano, Symposiarchs
2010–2011
Merchants, Trade, and Exchange in the Pre-Columbian World
October 8–9, 2010 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Kenneth G. Hirth, Symposiarch; Published 2013
2009–2010
Past Presented: A Symposium on the History of Archaeological Illustration
October 9–10, 2009 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Joanne Pillsbury, Symposiarch; Published 2012
2008–2009
Scripts, Signs, and Notational Systems in Pre-Columbian America
October 11–12, 2008 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Elizabeth Boone and Gary Urton, Symposiarchs; Published 2011
2007–2008
The Place of Sculpture in Mesoamerica’s Preclassic Transition: Context, Use, and Meaning
October 5–7, 2007 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, John Clark, Julia Guernsey, and Barbara Arroyo, Symposiarchs; Published 2010
2006–2007
October 6–7, 2006 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Gabrielle Vail and Christine Hernández, Symposiarchs; Published 2010
2005–2006
The Art of Urbanism: How Mesoamerican Cities Represented Themselves in Architecture and Imagery
October 7–8, 2005 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, William L. Fash and Leonardo López Luján, Symposiarchs; Published 2009
2004–2005
New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization
August 6–8, 2004 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Jeffrey Quilter, Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, and Andrés Alvarez Calderón Larco, Symposiarchs; Published 2010
2003–2004
Classic Veracruz: Cultural Currents in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands
October 11–12, 2003 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Philip Arnold Ⅲ, Christopher Pool, and Richard Diehl, Symposiarchs; Published 2008
2002–2003
En Niño, Catastrophism, and Culture Change in Ancient America
October 12–13, 2002 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Daniel H. Sandweiss and Jeffrey Quilter, Symposiarchs; Published 2008
2001–2002
A Pre-Columbian World: Searching for a Unitary Vision of Ancient America
October 6–7, 2001 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, Mary Ellen Miller and Jeffrey Quilter, Symposiarchs; Published 2006
2000–2001
Pilgrimage and Ritual Landscape in America
October 7–8, 2000 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium, John B. Carlson, Symposiarch