Symposia, colloquia, public lectures, and workshops in Pre-Columbian Studies
Advanced undergraduate and graduate students may apply for Bliss Symposium Awards to support attendance at the annual Pre-Columbian Studies symposium.
Upcoming Events
2020–2021
When Cortés Met Malinche, and Montezuma Met Cortés: Alternative Facts and Disturbing Truths
November 4, 2020 | Pre-Columbian Studies Public Lecture, Matthew Restall
Faces of Rulership in the Maya Region
March 26–27, 2021 | Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium
2019–2020
CANCELLED | April 3, 2020 | Pre-Columbian Studies Colloquium, Cristóbal Gnecco and Adriana Dias, Organizers
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