Thursday, November 15
“The Invisible Sex: Some Thoughts on the Role of Women in
Prehistory”
12:45 PM, Wilson Hall 168
Since the discoveries of stone artifacts associated with the
remains of extinct fauna in mid 19th century France, a variety of
often negative stereotypes have persisted about the roles of women in the past.
A fundamental failure to recognize and evaluate evidence contradictory to these
stereotypes in addition to the stressing of stone tools and the hunting of
megafauna by mature males has created a faulty interpretation of life in this
period. If mentioned at all, women as well as the old and the young of both
sexes are characterized solely as minor players. Careful assessment of the
available information from both the Old and the New World indicates that the
andro-litho-centric view of the past with its “men in furs sticking sharp
spears into large animals” image is fatally flawed. In this talk, evidence for
a very different behavioral scenario is presented.
7:30 PM, Chan Auditorium
In his second talk Dr. Adovasio will discuss the geo-archaeological
exploration of the inner-continental shelf in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico
where a tremendous amount of side-scan sonar and sub bottom profile data,
including nearly 2000 targets of interest, has been generated. Highlights of
the 2008-2009 field seasons include the documentation of two lengthy paleo
river systems. These sites are replete with Paleo-Indian sites and it is
assumed that the paleo-channel is, likewise, flanked by early occupations. The
results of this research will substantially enhance our understanding of the
utilization of coastal environments in the late Pleistocene and, more broadly,
the early colonization of the New World
