2017-2018
Got Milk? Pioneer Farmers in Western Turkey: Excavations at Neolithic Barcin Höyük.
Thursday, October 19th 6:00pm
Gearhart Auditorium, GEAR 0026, University of Arkansas
Fokke A. Gerritsen, Director, Netherlands Institute, Turkey; Professor, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Excavations at the seventh millennium site of Barcin Höyük show how a Neolithic community
in northwestern Turkey developed from a pioneer settlement to a node in a well-established
regional culture. Dr. Gerritsen will address the origins of farming in the Near East
and southwestern Turkey and its subsequent rise to become the dominant subsistence
economy of Europe and beyond. New aDNA evidence provides strong clues that migration
was a major factor in the dispersal of farming. This lecture traces this saga, highlighting
the innovations that contributed to the successful colonization of Anatolia and Europe
by Neolithic farmers.
Coping with Conflict: Warfare, Drought, and Food Insecurity in the Mississippian-period Central Illinois River Valley
Thursday, February 22, 2018 6:00pm
Gearhart Auditorium, GEAR 0026, University of Arkansas
Amber M. VanDerwarker, PhD, Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara
Often, studies of ancient warfare focus on the causes of violence. More rarely do they investigate the everyday effects that violence can have. This presentation explores the impacts of chronic warfare
and sustained drought on the everyday lives of people in the Central Illinois River
Valley, from A.D. 1200 to 1425, when settlement nucleation and declining health occurred
in a context of escalating violence.
I examine plant remains from multiple sites and use isotopic data and species abundance to reconstruct changing agricultural strategies. This approach reveals that intensified violence and sustained drought led to food shortages and nutritional insufficiencies, which farmers attempted to offset through key changes in agricultural practices.