Until further notice, all meetings will be held virtually.
NEXT MEETING:
When: Thursday, January 14, 2020 at 7:00 pm
Where: Google Meet (meet.google.com/jta-cmzn-tgn)
Cost: Free & Open to the Public
Archaeological Inquiries and the Orcadian Neolithic — Did Orcadian Archaeologists Change Archaeology?
Dr. Chris Kerns
Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants
At less than half of the total area of Boulder County, the Orkney Islands, off the north east coast of Scotland, are both unique in their preservation of Neolithic archaeology, and home to the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. The Neolithic of Orkney has been regularly investigated by archaeologists for over 150 years. This talk not only aims to situate the Neolithic of Orkney within the broader regional monumental manifestations of the Neolithic such as Stonehenge in England and the Brú na Bóinne Complex in Ireland, but it also aims to examine how investigations the Orcadian Neolithic influenced broader archaeological interpretations of the past and the practice of doing archaeology. This presentation draws on recent research by the speaker including oral history interviews with Orcadian archaeologists while also drawing on the numerous publications of recent archaeological projects in Orkney and beyond.
Dr. Kerns is originally from Colorado and a former member of the IPCAS Board. While attending the University of Colorado as an undergraduate he undertook a double major in Anthropology and History graduating Cum Laude. After finishing his undergraduate he went on to complete two Master’s degrees, one from the University of Manchester in Neolithic Archaeology and the other from the University of Bristol in Landscape Archaeology. He recently received his Doctorate from the University of Southampton. His doctoral research focused on the histories of archaeological inquiry into the Orcadian Neolithic since World War II. Beyond his doctoral research, he has 15 years experience in commercial archaeology in the USA and Canada. He has also directed excavations at an Iron Age cave site in the Mendip Hills south of Bristol, England and has participated in several excavations at Neolithic sites in England and Scotland including at Stonehenge and the Ness of Brodgar. Dr. Kerns’s research interests go beyond disciplinary histories and include the transition to agricultural lifeways, prehistoric land-use patterns, mapping soil preservation characteristics, and the application of new technologies to archaeological investigations. He currently works remotely for Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants as a Report Writer, and will be moving to London, Ontario in 2021.
RECENT LECTURES:
December 2020: Mark Willis: Archaeology in 3D
November 2020: Reid Farmer: Desert Training Center: World War II Military Archaeology in the California Desert
August 2020: Dr. Mark Mitchell: Warfare on the Northern Plains: Quantifying the Construction of Community Fortification at the Molander Site
July 2020: Carlton Shield Chief Gover: Dating Apps in Archaeology
June 2020: Amelia Brackett, Chance Nelson: The Boulder Apple Tree Project
May 2020: Christian Driver: The History of Settlers Park
February 2020: Dr. Jason LaBelle: Of Hearth and Home: Investigating the Fossil Creek Site, an Early Ceramic Era Campsite in Larimer County, Colorado
January 2020: Laura Vernon & Jenna Wheaton: Gender, Social Networks, and Labor Disputes: Household Archaeology at the Industrial Mine Camp
November 2019: Kaitlyn Davis: Pueblo Agricultural Adaptations to Socioeconomic Changes in New Mexico
Is there a particular speaker that you would like to see? Email the IPCAS Vice President to suggest a speaker.