The Journal of Anthropological Research, a UNM Publication, presented a seminar by its 2008 Distinguished Lecturer, Dr. E. Paul Durrenberger of Penn State University. His lecture, titled "Archaeology & Literature: the Political Ecology of Medieval Iceland during the Settlement Period, 870-1262," explained the progression in Iceland from a slave-based economy to a wage-worker based economy by looking at both archaeological evidence and evidence from Icelandic sagas. Dr. Durrenberger's fantastic PowerPoint slides illustrated the relationship between slave labor, acquisition of provisions, increased followers, and ultimate the need for wage labor. He then went to illustrate how this economic growth led to the need for more territory, and ultimate more bloodshed between Icelandic tribes.

Dr. Durrenberger also discussed the archaeological site in the Skagafjörður region of Iceland where the Icelandic home of Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir, the first woman of European decent to give birth in the Americas, was discovered.

This well attended seminar was a joy to students of archaeology, anthropology, and us medievalists, and we are grateful to Dr. Durrenberger's for his visit.

Dr. Maria Panayotidi of the University of Athens, department of Byzantine Art and Archeology, visited the UNM campus today to give two lectures about Byzantine Art. She appeared as a part of the Institute for Medieval Study's Medieval Works in Progress Series. Dr. Panayotidi has been visiting the United States on a grant provided by the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation. UNM was lucky to have been chosen as one of three universities she will be visiting.

Her first lecture, held at noon in the Humanities building, was titled "The Problem of Local Artistic Production in the 13th Century at St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai." Dr. Panayotidi is an expert on the Monastery. This lecture focused on her assertion that, because the Monastery did not have its own workshop, it was something of a gathering place for the work of iconographers around the region in the 13th century.

Her second lecture of the day, held in the evening at the UNM Art Museum, was titled "The Apogee of Byzantine Monumental Art." This lecture discussed the spread of Byzantine monumental art throughout the Europe and North Africa.

We are very grateful to Dr. Panayotidi for her visit!