Archaeologist to Discuss the Sahara, Past Climate Change and Evolution Mar. 4

Story posted February 26, 2010

Drake_sahara.jpg
Nick Drake in the Sahara.

Archaeologist Nick Drake from King's College, London, England, will speak about his research on the Sahara Desert in an illustrated talk at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 4, 2010, in Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center.

Drake's talk, titled "The Role of Past Climate Changes in Human Evolution and the Rise of Civilizations: Examples from the Sahara," is open to the public and admission is free.

Today, the Sahara Desert is the largest desert on earth. It wasn't always so-6,000 years ago this area contained some of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, one bigger than all the Great Lakes of North America combined.

Changes in the climate and environment of the Sahara have affected people living in and moving through this region. Drake will speak about how archaeological and environmental investigations are shedding light on the Sahara's role as a barrier to modern humans migrating out of Africa. He will discuss how its inhabitants, including members of the Garamantian civilization, coped with the final desiccation of the desert.

Drakes's presentation is part of the "Catastrophe and Adaptation" lecture series that is bringing archaeologists who study cultures' past responses to climate change to campus. The series is organized by the Arctic Studies Program and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and is funded with assistance from the Mellon Foundation.

For more information, call the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center at 725-3416.

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