"This opening lecture introduces Patagonia—both as we know it today and as prehistoric people might have experienced it—and the curious, controversial aspects of its prehistory featured in the series (and the book on which the lecture series is based). The talk will then center on the book’s conclusion, presenting evidence that the rugged Patagonian outback was not as inhospitable to prehistoric people as is generally believed."

This lecture series presents a book manuscript titled Patagonian Prehistory, Human Ecology and Cultural Evolution in the Land of Giants. Following an introduction to the region and some of its archaeological puzzles, Dr. Raven Garvey will describe novel hypotheses related to colonization, abandonment, and meeting basic needs in a region widely considered marginal for human habitation. In particular, this series will examine unconventional evidence for gauging colonization speed, alternative explanations for a purported abandonment of the region between 8000 and 4000 years ago, and reasons Patagonians might have remained foragers despite farming-favorable conditions.

Lectures will be held at 3:00 p.m. on
September 13, 2019
October 11, 2019
November 15, 2019
& December 6, 2019
in the Forum Hall, Palmer Commons

Raven Garvey, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Assistant Curator in the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology at the university of Michigan, studies the influences of ecological, demographic, and social factors on prehistoric hunter-gatherers’ behaviors and broader cultural change through time.

The Roy A. Rappaport Lectures are a series of lectures on a work in progress, designed both as free public lectures and as a special course for advanced students to work closely with a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology on a topic in which the instructor has an intensive current interest. As the description written by Professor Roy “Skip” Rappaport in 1976 states, “…it offers the opportunity for other students and faculty to hear a colleague in an extended discussion of their own work.”