[OR_Archaeology] Lecture Series

[John Pouley]

MNCH TO HOST ARCHAEOLOGY LECTURE SERIES BEGINNING OCT. 5

The Museum of Natural and Cultural History (MNCH) at the University of Oregon will host an annual Archaeology Lecture Series at 5:30 p.m., Friday evenings beginning Oct. 5 in room 175 at Knight Law School.  The annual event, which takes place in conjunction with the 2012 Oregon Archaeology Celebration, includes lectures by Jon Erlandson, MNCH executive director; Scott Fitzpatrick, Professor of Anthropology, UO; and Anna Roosevelt, Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago.

Erlandson kicks off the series with "Connecting the Dots: Coastlines, Crescents, the Pacific Flyway, and the Peopling of the Americas". This illustrated lecture presents new ideas and evidence about early stone tools along the Pacific Rim and provokes new understanding on the colonization of the Americas, the evolution of the Pacific Flyway, and connections between Paleoindians of the Great Basin and California's Channel Islands.

On Oct. 12 Fitzpatrick will present "Archaeology in Palau, Micronesia: 3000 years of Life and Death in the Chelechol ra Orrak Rockshelter", about an island used for human burials, as a campsite, and as a quarry for stone money. Fitzpatrick brings together a variety of evidence to illuminate the story of continuity and change over time.

Roosevelt's lecture, titled "New Light on the Peopling of South America" helps uncover the origins of the first people to settle South America. Her lecture discusses the implications of new archaeological evidence and the latest analysis of previously known sites.

All lectures will be available as podcasts on the MNCH website. Visit http://natural-history.uoregon.edu<http://natural-history.uoregon.edu/> to learn more.