Prof. Ashley Lemke" The Frederick R. and Margaret B. Matson Lectureship for Near Eastern Archaeology and Archaeological Technology: "Making the Ice Age Virtual and Accessible: Using VR and Underwater Robotics to Teach Archaeology"
Professor Lemke will be joining our Stanford AIA Chapter on Friday, February 6, 2026 at 7:00pm
Lecture is free and open to the public.
How can we engage the next generation with archaeology? How can we bring ancient time periods and societies to life? As an underwater archaeologist researching submerged ancient sites, Dr. Lemke is familiar with the latest technology to explore deeper and further back in time - but how can you involve students and the public in these discoveries? Work with computer scientist has developed a virtual world of the ancient Great Lakes, where past environments, animals and archaeological sites can be investigated. You can enter this ancient world via virtual reality and better understand the past lifeways of people who lived there and hypothesize about where additional archaeological sites may be located. In addition, middle and high school students are often involved in building robots for competitions - but what if we took the robots out of the pool and used them for underwater archaeology? This talk will present case studies in bring VR and robotics to classrooms, museums, and beyond to introduce archaeology to a broader audience.
For Professor Lemke's university site & publication list:
For more information on Professor Lemke's project: