Below is the complete list of speakers and talks of the Symposium.
The 2025 theme is Lineage and Ancestry: Power in the Past. In-person attendees gather at the Glickman Conference Center (located in Patton Hall - RLP, 1st floor) for the Symposium, while virtual attendees engage in Symposium activities by watching the live streamed presentations.
Registration fee for the Symposium is $75 (for both in-person and virtual attendees). For more information about registration, please visit our Registration Information page.
The full program schedule with abstracts and speaker biographies is available for download here.
*Please note: All times listed below are in Central Standard Time (CST), UTC/GMT-6 hours.
Event Links
In-Person Attendee Specific Information
Symposium Day 1: Friday, January 10, 2025
In-Person Attendee Check-In
9:00 - 10:00am CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302D
Welcome Remarks / Live Stream Begins
10:00 - 10:15am CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Nelly M. Robles García, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH)
On Power and Ancestors: Reexamining Tomb 7 at Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico
Co-author: Noreen Tuross, Harvard University
10:15 - 11:00am CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Javier Urcid, Brandeis University
Ancestors, Descent Groups, and Shared Governance at Hill of the Turkey
11:00 - 11:45am CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Lunch Break
11:45am - 1:45pm CST
Marc Zender, Tulane University
Orchards of the Ancestors: Fruit Trees in Ancient Maya Art and Writing
1:45 - 2:30pm CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Olivia C. Navarro-Farr, The College of Wooster
Ancestresses of the Snake Realm: How Royal Women at Waka’ Shaped Political Memory at Home and Abroad
2:30 - 3:15pm CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Coffee Break
3:15 - 3:45pm CST
Estella Weiss-Krejci, University of Heidelberg, Germany
The Invisible Ties that Bind: A Cross-Societal Comparison between the Noble Houses of Medieval Central Europe and Southern Mesoamerica
3:45 - 4:30pm CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Q&A Session with Speakers
4:30 - 5:00pm CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Symposium Day 2: Saturday, January 11, 2025
Ellen Hoobler, The Walters Art Museum
Reconstructing Zapotec Tombs and Funerary Ritual at Monte Albán, 500-850 CE
9:30 - 10:15am CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Leobardo D. Pacheco Arias and Uriel Sánchez Sosa, Corredor Arqueológico del Valle de Tlacolula, INAH COVATLAO
Zapotec Ancestors and their Permanence in the Sacred Landscape of Mitla, Oaxaca
10:15 - 11:00am CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Xóchitl M. Flores-Marcial, California State University, Northridge
Chàba, tija: Commemorating Zapotec Ancestors in Stone, Text and in Ceremony
11:00 - 11:45am CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Lunch Break
11:45am - 1:45pm CST
Joel W. Palka, Arizona State University
An Archaeology of Maya Souls: Ancestral Landscapes and Community
at Protohistoric Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico, 1500-1600 CE
1:45 - 2:30pm CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Miguel Astor-Aguilera, Arizona State University
Past to Present Maya Ancestral Power: A Relational Phenomenological Approach
2:30 - 3:15pm CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Coffee Break
3:15 - 3:45pm CST
David Stuart, The University of Texas at Austin
Receiving the Words of the Dead: Palenque’s Temple XVIII as an Ancient Maya Oracular Shrine
3:45 - 4:30pm CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Q&A Session with Speakers
4:30 - 5:00pm CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B
Closing Remarks
5:00 - 5:30pm CST
Glickman Conference Center, 1.302B