In 2015, Justin Walsh, a 2004 Rome Prize Fellow in ancient studies, was inspired to develop the first full-scale archaeological investigation of a human habitat in space, the International Space Station (ISS). Continuously occupied since November 2000, the ISS hosted over 270 people from twenty countries. It is the largest spacecraft ever built, and likely the most expensive building project humans have ever undertaken. Before the International Space Station Archaeological Project (ISSAP), little humanities or social-science research into life in space had taken place, even as we plan longer missions and hope to travel to other planets. How do humans adapt to long-duration spaceflight? And how can we adapt Earth-bound disciplines to a new domain? This talk will discuss ISSAP’s methods and perspectives, including the 2022 experiment performed on ISS—the first archaeology to happen off planet Earth.

This event, to be presented on Zoom, is free and open to the public.

Justin Walsh is professor of art history, archaeology, and space studies at Chapman University and Ad Astra Fellow in space anthropology and space habitats at the University of Southern California. In a twenty-five-year career, he has excavated sites in the United States, Spain, Jordan, and Italy. Walsh has held a Fulbright to the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and was Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol in 2016. Since 2015, he has been co-PI of the International Space Station Archaeological Project. In 2023, ISSAP won the Archaeological Institute of America’s Award for Outstanding Work in Digital Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association’s General Anthropology Division New Directions Award. Walsh was selected as one of the Explorers Club 50 for 2024.