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EVENT: What Happened to the Mammoths? Pleistocene Extinctions in North America
DATE/TIME: Tuesday, January 4, 2011, at 6:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Casa Vicente, 375 S. Stone Avenue, Tucson, AZ.
ADMISSION: Free and open to the community—all are welcome. Seating is open and unreserved. Guests are encouraged to support our host, Casa Vicente, by buying their own food and drinks.
The Center for Desert Archaeology and Casa Vicente invite all to the third season of Archaeology Café, a casual, happy hour-style discussion forum dedicated to promoting community engagement with cultural and scientific research. Our 2010–2011 season is made possible, in part, by the Arizona Humanities Council.
On Tuesday, January 4, 2011, we will be joined by Todd Surovell, Associate Professor at the University of Wyoming. Todd will answer the question, What Happened to the Mammoths? Approximately 13,000 years ago, North America lost more than 30 genera of Pleistocene megafauna, including mammoths, mastodons, camels, horses, and ground sloths. Debate continues as to the cause or causes of the extinctions, with the usual suspects being human hunting, climate change, disease, and (as presented in the March 3, 2009, Archaeology Café by Allen West) extraterrestrial impact. In this presentation, Surovell will argue that only the overkill hypothesis—the idea that Pleistocene extinctions were driven by human predation of Ice Age mammals—can explain not only the North American extinction event, but also similar events worldwide.
Come settle in with a drink and a plate of delicious tapas at downtown Tucson’s own Casa Vicente. We meet the first Tuesday of each month from September through May at 6:00 p.m.; presentations begin at 6:15 p.m. Seating is open on a first-come, first-served basis—be ready to make new acquaintances! Our forum opens with a brief, informal presentation on a timely or even controversial topic, followed by a question and answer period and a short break. Our moderator then commences spirited but focused discussion.
More information on the international science café movement that inspired us to host Archaeology Café is available at www.sciencecafes.org.
If you have questions or wish to discuss disability accommodations, contact Kate Sarther Gann.
ABOUT TODD SUROVELL
Todd Surovell is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wyoming. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 2003 at the University of Arizona. He is an archaeologist with specialization in Paleoindian period, or the earliest period of New World prehistory. He has worked primarily in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. For almost ten years, with Dr. Nicole Waguespack, he excavated Locality B of the Barger Gulch site, a large Folsom residential occupation in Middle Park, Colorado.
In general, he is interested in why people do what they do, and how this is reflected in a poorly preserved, distorted, and biased archaeological record. He misses Tucson dearly and dreams of its magnificent breakfast burritos daily.
VIDEO AVAILABLE
Click here to view this Archaeology Café >>