Bannister 110

LTRR Brown Bag Talk

Vegetation responses to long term environmental changes at a savanna-forest boundary

Ongoing anthropogenic changes, such as land-use change, climate changes, and rising CO₂, can alter vegetation distribution and function. Ecotones and biome boundaries, such as at the boundary between savannas and closed forests, may be the most vulnerable to these environmental changes. Here, I use both historical survey data and tree ring records to explore the impacts of ~150 years of past environmental changes on the savanna-forest boundary region of the Midwest US.

Curating the LTRR collection: progress report and future plans

LTRR Brown Bag Talk

Hydroclimate variability influenced social interaction in the prehistoric American Southwest

In agricultural societies, farmers rely on their social networks to absorb the impacts of droughts and floods by facilitating resource flows to affected settlements and population flows away from them. These benefits depend on how well one's social network connects populations that experience different weather patterns. Here I use an empirical archaeological case study from the late pre-Hispanic period in the North American Southwest to examine the relationship between drought variability and human social networks over a 250 year period.

Fire History in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Meeting

LTRR Brown Bag Talk

Public lecture on biomolecular archaeology

Free lecture, open to the public.

Abstract forthcoming.

Uncovering Ancient Egyptian Illumination

Free lecture, open to the public.

Summary: Very little is known about what the ancient Egyptians used for artificial lighting. The logistics of how these light sources were constructed, when they were used, and why they appear in certain ritual performances are even less understood. This presentation (re)examines archaeological, textual and iconographic material in order to provide new insight into these unanswered questions. 

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