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Archaeologists working in eastern Jordan have announced its discovery of 20,000-year-old hut structures, the earliest yet found in that country. Along with materials found in the huts, the find suggests the area was once intensively occupied and offers a new perspective on how humans lived at the time.
Arts & humanities archive
The world according to musicologist Richard Taruskin
February 16, 2012: Music professor Richard Taruskin, best known for his six-volume “Oxford History of Western Music,” was honored at a recent professional conference in Princeton. In tribute to a man known to suffer no fools, a colleague offered a serenade: “My fearsome valentine/big scary valentine/you make me quake in my boots.”
Solving the Brueghel ‘imbroglio’ with modern, digital tools
February 7, 2012: Thanks to a grant from CITRIS, associate art professor Elizabeth Honig is employing some decidedly 21st century digital tools to help sort out a controversy surrounding Brueghel scholarship.
Berkeley’s writing requirement? Bold vision, endless revision
January 31, 2012: College Writing Programs, or CWP, has come a long way from its 19th-century origins, when students were schooled in Subject A, “Oral and Written Expression.” The 21st-century Berkeley program offers more than 20 courses in everything from public speaking, creative nonfiction and travel writing to new media.
Indian Country comes to Berkeley (and vice versa)
January 20, 2012: Berkeley faculty, staff and alumni — and participants from as far away as Alaska — collaborate on a four-day, first-of-its-kind Native American Museum Studies Institute designed to give Indians the tools to “tell their own stories, and to tell the stories from their perspective.”
Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life to open Jan. 22 
January 19, 2012: The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, the latest addition to the city’s burgeoning downtown arts and culture district, is opening to the public on Sunday, Jan. 22.
Reading Room offers adventures in poetry and experimental fiction
January 13, 2012: A series of readings by local writers, a listening station featuring recordings of selected poets, plus the opportunity to take home a free book from local presses highlight the The Reading Room, a special project dedicated to poetry and experimental fiction that opens Sunday at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA).
Media Advisory: Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life open house Jan. 22
January 12, 2012:
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life to welcome the public to its new home with a Jan. 22 open house.
Botanical art as ‘capturing a plant’s soul’ 
January 6, 2012: A camera can record a plant, but a botanical artist captures its soul, says botanical illustrator Catherine Watters in an audio interview with Paul Licht, director of the UC Botanical Garden. Works by Watters and other artists, along with classes and programs, will be featured at the Garden’s third-annual Plants Illustrated exhibition, Jan. 14 to Feb. 3.
I School professor leads “Digging Into Data” project
January 5, 2012: Professor Ray Larson is leading a newly funded project using text mining tools to boost social history research.
Berkeley 2011 — the year in pictures
December 22, 2011: Beyond the protests, the story — as always — is one of engagement, passion and perseverance in the face of challenges, whether institutional or personal.
Trimming time in the stacks
December 20, 2011: Computer science graduate student Aditi Muralidharan has developed a sophisticated text-analyzing tool that could speed literary searches for humanities scholars and other researchers.
Stellar student photos from London, Varanasi, Kilimanjaro …
December 15, 2011: Berkeley Study Abroad has announced the winners of its 2011 photo contest — featuring students’ images from the streets of London and Varanasi, fjords of Sweden, watering holes of Kilimanjaro and more.
‘Everyday Dogs’ book depicts allure of man’s best friend
December 6, 2011: New book drawn from the Bancroft Library’s vast Pictorial Collection celebrates the powerful connections between people and pets.
In architecture prof’s SoMa loft, a vibrant mix of life and work
December 2, 2011: Thai-born designer/artist Raveevarn Choksombatchai replaced a ramshackle San Francisco teardown with a prize-winning urban home. The New York Times’ Home & Garden section offers a brief profile and a multimedia tour.
ASUC Art Studio opens 2011 ‘Holiday Pop-up Shop’
November 28, 2011: The ASUC Art Studio ‘Holiday Pop-Up Shop’ — open for two weeks, Nov. 30 through Dec. 14 — features handmade ceramics, photography, jewelry and more by campus and local artists.
Berkeley grad looks to Burma to complete film on ‘art as a weapon’
November 21, 2011: Jeff Durkin, a 1999 College of Environmental Design graduate, fell in love with filmmaking more than a decade ago. Now he’s hoping to get to the Thailand border to explore the connections between “street art, Buddhism and democracy” in Burma.
Desdemona takes the microphone: A conversation with Toni Morrison 
November 17, 2011: In conjunction with Cal Performances’ recent U.S. premiere of “Desdemona,” the Townsend Center for the Humanities brought together the project’s collaborators — director Peter Sellars, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison and singer/songwriter Rokia Traoré — in conversation with faculty members Abdul JanMohamed (English), Tamara Roberts (music); Darieck Scott (African American Studies). Video of the event is now available.
Renowned Chilean musician visits Berkeley
November 8, 2011: The renowned Chilean musician-composer Horacio Salinas is on campus this week, teaching a short course on Latin American music. He gave an intimate recital for the Center for Latin American Studies and other members of the campus community Nov. 1.
Choruses round out students’ music education
November 2, 2011: The music department’s University Chorus and Chamber Chorus offer opportunities for students to study and sing a rigorous repertoire of choral music. On Saturday, Nov. 5, the former will perform “Hail, Britannia!,” featuring British masterworks from the Renaissance to the 20th century.
Tick tock, tick tock, last call for campus artists
October 20, 2011: The deadline for a novel campus street-art competition to transform utility boxes into artful conversation-starters is fast approaching.
Johnny Depp, Tom Waits storm through Berkeley
October 18, 2011: In a big night for celebrity stalking in Berkeley, Johnny Depp appeared in Wheeler Hall Monday evening to answer questions about his new film, “The Rum Diary.” Then Depp, along with singer Tom Waits, moved down to the Shattuck Down Low. Berkeleyside reports.
Expanding the guftugu — or conversation — about South Asia
October 14, 2011: Leaders of UC Berkeley’s new Urdu and Pakistan Initiatives will welcome visitors to the Berkeley Art Museum this Sunday (Oct. 16) for a special program on South Asian art.
Call for ‘Streets Alive!’ designs by campus artists
October 3, 2011:
The Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund has provided funding to place artistic treatments, on the theme of sustainability, on seven utility boxes on the campus edge. Members of the campus community are invited to submit design concepts and portfolio samples by Nov. 1.
Lecturer Chika Shibahara teaches Japanese by way of culture
September 30, 2011: Chika Shibahara, a native of Osaka, is known for incorporating elements of her country’s culture into her Japanese language classes — as well as for her fabulous boots. The Berkeley Language Center profiles a longtime Berkeley teacher.
Vets turn military fatigues into ‘Combat Paper’ artworks
September 29, 2011: Veterans transformed their military clothing into pulp, then paper, at a three-day workshop at Wurster Hall Sept. 21-23, led by the nonprofit group Combat Paper. Artworks made by vets — and others touched by war — will be exhibited at Worth Ryder Gallery in October.
BAM/PFA advances plans for new facility, presents schematic design by Diller Scofidio + Renfro architectural firm to public
September 14, 2011: The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, at a Sept. 14 community meeting, shared plans for its future home in the downtown Berkeley arts district. Designed by the renowned New York City-based firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), the project will re-purpose the former UC Printing plant at Oxford and Center streets, tying it in with an exciting new multipurpose structure.
Lunch Poems kicks off 17th year
September 8, 2011: Lunch Poems, the popular campus poetry reading series, launched its 17th year on Sept. 1, with favorite readings by members of the campus community, including the executive vice chancellor and provost, a campus gardener, a Doe Library employee, a Ph.D. student and several professors.
Photos, photography and the black freedom struggle
September 6, 2011: African American activists have long recognized the potential power of visual imagery to advance their quest for self-determination. Faculty member Leigh Raiford, in a new book, explores the role of photography in the black freedom struggle — from the heyday of the white lynch mob to the Civil Rights movement and the Black Power era.
Students’ Bollywood music video remix a hit on YouTube
September 6, 2011: UC Berkeley engineering students and dance team members collaborated this summer on a music video remix of Indian singing star Akon’s “Chammak Challo,” and their work has already been seen by more than 150,000 people on YouTube.
