FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jo Ann Lloyd
(805) 756-1511
UC Davis Professor Speaks May 20 on Hunter-Gatherer Settlements
SAN LUIS OBISPO – UC Davis Anthropology Professor Robert Bettinger
will
describe findings from what he calls some of the most unexpected and
remarkable archaeological sites in western North America in a talk
Thursday, May 20, at Cal Poly.
The free presentation is titled “The Highest Native Settlements
in North
America: Hunter-Gatherer Occupations Above 10,000 Feet in the White
Mountains of Eastern California.” The talk is from 7 to 9 p.m. in
the
Business Building Rotunda (Room 213).
Bettinger’s comprehensive research program, undertaken over several
years, reveals intensive exploitation of this unique and extremely
challenging environment as early as 3,500 years ago.
His research interests include cultural ecology, hunter-gatherers, early
food-producing societies, and adaptation in arid lands. He has done
extensive fieldwork in China, including projects in Inner Mongolia and
the Gansu Province.
Bettinger has been awarded several grants from the National Science
Foundation. In 2002 he was awarded an NSF grant to study the earliest
agriculture in north China.
He has published dozens of papers, written numerous books reviews, and
has been cited in several reference publications.
Bettinger’s talk is sponsored by the Social Sciences Department.
For
more information, call 756-2752.
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(NOTE TO EDITORS: For a photo of White Mountains and
the archeological
site, please contact Jo Ann Lloyd at 756-1511 or jlloyd@calpoly.edu.)