Presenters
International Archaeology Day 2025
To celebrate IAD 2025, presentations on various topics in history, archaeology and culture will be available to guests throughout the event. All presentations will be held in a covered three-sided tent with seating. Reservations are not required. Everyone is welcome to attend and enjoy our incredible line-up of presenters! Please see below for information.
Jade Luiz, Ph.D.
Palaces on the Hill: Archaeology of the Century Central City Brothel District
Dr. Jade Luiz
Since 2023, the Central City, Colorado brothel district has been the location of an archaeological field school conducted by Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology. At its height, this district, active on what was considered Pine Street between the 1860s and 1912, consisted of 5 houses in partnership with the Central City Opera House
Association, the Gilpin County Historical Society, and Central City, students have started to uncover tantalizing clues into the lives of the people living and working in the district. While the public has certain perceptions regarding what life was like as a nineteenth-century sex worker in a Colorado gold mining town, researchers are attempting to use archaeological investigation to determine the real lived experiences of the people living on Pine Street.
Disclaimer: This presentation includes content related to adult history. While presented in a professional and educational context, parental guidance is recommended for younger audiences.
Dr. Jade Luiz is assistant professor of anthropology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She received her Ph.D. from Boston University where she specialized in historical archaeology, nineteenth-century urbanism, gender, and archaeology of the senses. Her research delves into the history of nineteenth-century prostitution, with her dissertation work focusing on an archaeological collection from a North End brothel on Endicott Street. As a result of this research, she has contributed to several publications a book on the Endicott Street collection with Routledge titled Archaeology of a Nineteenth-century Brothel in Boston, MA: Erotic Facades. In June 2023, Dr. Luiz began directing an archaeological field school for MSU Denver investigating the historic sex district of Central City, Colorado.
Robert Brunswig, Ph.D.
and Chris Bowles, Ph.D.
Revitalizing Dearfield's Legacy
Dr. Robert Brunswig
Dr. Chris Bowles
Colorado’s early 20th century African American town of Dearfield was established in1914 after founding of the Dearfield Homestead Colony in 1910. Both the town and colony grew and prospered until their demise in the late 1920s, due to twin blows of the Depression and Dust Bowl. Denver’s Black American West Museum and Heritage Center began historic documentation and acquiring townsite’s land in the 1980s and successfully had it designated a National Register of Historic Places District in 1995. In 2008, the Dearfield Preservation Committee, an organization of preservation non-profits, local government, and universities, was created to assist the museum in preserving townsite historic structures and promoting historical and archaeological research in the form of the Dearfield Dream Project. Today, the site’s two standing buildings, former Filling Station, and the colony and town founder’s home, the Jackson House, are being restored and converted into a visitor’s center and museum.
Bob Brunswig holds a doctorate from the University of Colorado-Boulder and served as a University of Northern Colorado Anthropology professor for twenty-six years, retiring in 2012. On retirement, he was appointed a UNC Research Fellow and continues research and grant projects. During and after his UNC career, Bob was a University Distinguished Scholar, served twice as a Fulbright Scholar and visiting professor at Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland), and was a Wzrost (European Union) Fellow at Nicolaus Copernicus University (Toruń, Poland). In his professional career, he has produced more than seventy books, book chapters, and journal articles, with his most recent (2025) publication being a chapter in the newly published Oxford Handbook of Mountain Archaeology.
Chris Bowles is from Colorado with a background in early medieval archaeology. After earning his BA in Anthropology from CU Boulder, he moved to Scotland, where he completed his master’s and doctorate before working for over a decade as the local authority archaeologist for the Scottish Borders Council. There, he led and promoted numerous community archaeology and heritage projects. Chris now serves as the Director of the City of Greeley Museums, bringing his extensive experience in archaeology and public history back to Colorado.
Oct 18th, 10:15-10:45 am
Indigenous Corporation 5280
Indigenous Representation and Dance
Indigenous Corporation 5280
Indigenous Corporation 5280 is a cultural awareness dance organization that brings indigenous representation into every community with dance exhibitions, origin storytelling, and cultural awareness education. Since 2015, they have held cultural presentations all over the Denver, Metro area and hope to expand all across America. IndigeCorp5280 takes you down a historical timeline that aligns US government history with Native American history. They bring awareness to indigenous social and climate injustices. They uplift indigenous businesses and communities. With these efforts, they hope to provide tiny homes for our homeless relatives in inner cities and on reservations with programs surrounding mental and physical health, food sovereignty and community building. They are grateful for every opportunity that contributes to their mission.
Following their presentation at International Archaeology Day, IndigeCorp5280 will share a special live performance to wrap up the day’s events.
Oct 18th, 11:15-11:45 am