Our speakers are often internationally famous archaeologists and historians working on fascinating projects, which they will share with you! Come join our meetings!
May 11th, 2021 at 7pm
Dr. James Snead
Presentation: Streetcar Archaeology: Mobilities and Historic Preservation in a Los Angeles Neighborhood
Using textual and material evidence, Dr. Snead will discuss cable railway systems in the "New West End" of Los Angeles between the years of 1885-1900. This neighborhood, which now encompasses modern Echo Park, Historic Filipinotown, and Temple-Beaudry--expanded during the real estate boom of the 1880s, and was the setting for several different types of mass transit systems. These networks have never been studied in detail, nor has their material record been assessed. In addition to their significance for understanding mobilities in the 19th century cityscape, these “cable roads” are potential subjects of historical preservation and interpretation.
Dr. Snead has taught at CSUN since 2011 and he is the author of Relic Hunters: Archaeology and the Public in 19th Century America, published in 2018. Awarded the Ph.D. from UCLA in 1994, he has held fellowships and grants from numerous scientific foundations and societies. Dr. Snead’s current research focuses on the history of archaeology; roads, paths, and trails in archaeological landscapes; and the historical archaeology of the Los Angeles region (particularly post-1850).
April 13th, 2021 at 7pm
“AN EVENING WITH BOB LOPEZ”
Bob is a proud fifth-generation native resident of Ventura County and Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at Moorpark College. With a particular interest in the Mission Period of Southern California, he also has an ongoing interest in the earlier native people of the area, who they were, how they adapted to this environment, and what eventually happened to them. His Master's research centered on the archaeology of the Lower Piru Creek Drainage and while he was gathering Moorpark College student volunteers to help him with this project he was offered the opportunity to teach a class in Archaeological Field Methods. This led to development of a full-time Archaeological Field Methods Program. Now retired after 34 years of teaching, he is still very active in local archaeology with the Ventura County Archaeological Society, for which he is Archivist. His talk will cover the history and progress of the VCAS and the Archives which currently contain hundreds of publications, site data, notes, and reports, as well as nearly 100 site collections.
March 9th, 2021 at 7pm on Zoom
Diana Gray
Presenting an analysis of the meaning and significance of mortuary ground stone from the cemetery at Simo’mo (CA-VEN-24).
Ms.Gray is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Anthropology at California State University, Los Angeles. Her research involves a collection of mortars and bowls collected decades ago at the site and installed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Her work involves establishing morphological trends, stylistic features, and patterns of use observed in the assemblage and classifying the artifacts by their type. From this it is possible to learn how these vessels were used by the people of Simo’mo.
February 9th, 2021 at 7pm on Zoom
Dr. Jon Erlandson
Presentation: Peopling the Americas: The Channel Islands and the Kelp Highway Hypothesis
This talk will provide a current update on the archaeology of the Coastal Migration Theory and Kelp Highway Hypothesis, covering recent research from around the Pacific Rim but focusing on recent discoveries on California's Northern Channel Islands.
Jon M. Erlandson is an emeritus professor of anthropology and director of the Museum of Natural & Cultural History at the University of Oregon. He has written or edited more than 20 books—including the 2019 An Archaeology of Abundance: Reevaluating the Marginality of California’s Islands (with K.M. Gill & M. Fauvelle, University of Florida Press)—and more than 300 scholarly articles. From 2005 to 2012, he also served as the founding co-editor of the Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology. Although his field research has focused on the archaeology and historical ecology of California’s Channel Islands, the Pacific Coast of North America, and Viking Age Iceland, Erlandson’s broader theoretical interests revolve around the deep history of maritime cultures and island and coastal environments worldwide, including coastal dispersals in human history, the development of maritime technologies, and human impacts on ancient fisheries and ecosystems. In 2013 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
January 12, 2021 at 7pm on Zoom
Dr. Mikael Fauvelle
Presentation: Diet, Status, and Social Change on Southern California’s Islands and Coasts: Bayesian Modeling of trans-Holocene Dietary Patterns
Dr. Mikael Fauvelle is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Boise State University. Dr. Fauvelle’s research focuses on understanding how ancient interaction and exchange networks contributed to the formation of systems of social inequality. The work that he will be presenting to the VCAS uses new baseline plant and animal isotope values to reevaluate ancient human diets in southern California using isotope mixing models.
Dr. Fauvelle will discuss how human subsistence systems in southern California changed through time in response to technological innovation, population pressure, and environmental sifts. Dr. Fauvelle received his Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego.