Mapping Past Societies (MAPS) replaces and expands the acclaimed Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations (DARMC), which attracted more than a million visits a year. MAPS is a free and public tool that enables users to peer into the human past with cutting-edge data analytics: this includes geospatial coverage of historical societies in Afro-Eurasia, North Africa and the overseas Spanish Colonial Latin America, with a rich selection of data in health, environmental, economic, and social themes.

This special event—chaired by Henry Gruber (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Michael McCormick (Harvard University), Alexander More (University of Massachusetts Boston), and MAPS Managing Editor Santiago Pardo Sánchez ’16—will feature lightning talks by Harvard researchers (undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs and faculty), followed by comments by Prof. Jason Ur, Stephen Phillips Professor of Archaeology and Ethnology in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University; reception to follow. Sponsored by the Harvard Initiative for the Science of the Human Past and the Committee on Medieval Studies.