Guest Lecturer:  John F. Cherry, Brown University

Topic:  Archaeology Discovery: Taking to the Water: New Evidence and New Debates about the Earliest Seafaring in the World 

This lecture outlines what we know, with reasonable certainty, about patterns of global maritime dispersal in the past over tens of thousands of years. In trying to understand it, we will need to consider information from ethnographic analogy, experimental seafaring, and our current knowledge of the relative configurations of land and sea over the course of the Pleistocene era. Some of the bold assertions made in the past few years require more supporting data before they can be accepted. That cautious conclusion does not detract from the excitement and importance of this fast-moving field of research in archaeology.

This program is made possible through a collaboration with the Westchester chapter of AIA : Archaeological Institute of America