Professor to highlight loss of archaeological 'libraries'
March 28, 2017
Archaeologist Thomas McGovern will give a free talk, "Burning Libraries: Climate Threats
to Heritage and the Archaeological Record," at noon Thursday, April 6, in 402 Bunnell.The seminar will explore how worldwide sea-level rise, spreading wildfires and rising soil temperatures are rapidly destroying archaeological sites on a huge scale, especially in the Arctic. McGovern will also talk about the need to organize a large-scale response to preserve these sites.
The seminar is part of the College of Liberal Arts Department of Anthropology's colloquium series. The College of Natural Science and Mathematics' Alaska Quaternary Center brought McGovern to Fairbanks.
While here, McGovern also will discuss why the Greenland Vikings vanished. The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. April 5 in the West Valley High School Performing Arts Center.
McGovern is a professor with the anthropology department at Hunter College, the City University of New York. He has excavated archaeological sites in Greenland for 40 years.
CONTACTS: Kathy Toohey, UAF anthropology department, kltoohey2@alaska.edu, 907-474-7009; Nancy Bigelow, Alaska Quaternary Center, nhbigelow@alaska.edu