March 27 AIA Talk: "Early Human Populations in the New World: A Biased Perspective"

In the news recently you have probably heard or read about the re-dating of Clovis sites, traditionally thought to be the earliest evidence of human habitation in the New World. Dr. James Adovasio, an expert in the archaeology of early humans, has published on the so-called “Venus” figurines of the Old World as well as on settlement in the Americas. He published his controversial views on the occupation of the North America in his book The First Americans. Professor Adovasio is currently Dean of the Zurn School of Natural Sciences & Mathematics at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. He is also a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution and the Carnegie Museum and serves as an Expert Witness on Federal Government Archaeological Resources Protection Act. Adovasio shared his views on PBS’s acclaimed program NOVA in the 2004 episode on America’s Stone Age Explorers. He will be speaking on Tuesday 27 March at 7:30 PM in McDonnell Douglas Auditorium in the Material Science Building on the UAH campus.

March 29 Talk on "Before the Louisiana Purchase"

The History Department is pleased to announce that Dr. Gilbert C. Din, Visiting Eminent Scholar in History, will give a public lecture on "Before the Louisiana Purchase: The Limitations of the Three Empires in the Mississippi Valley," on Thursday March 29 at 7:00 p.m. in Roberts Hall 419. Dr. Din is a professor emeritus from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and the author of several books on colonial Louisiana. For more information, please contact the history department at 256-824-6310.

March 30 Talks on Cleopatra and on Alexander

Dr. Erich Gruen, professor of classics at the University of California at Berkeley, is the guest at the 2007 Classics Week, sponsored by the Society for Ancient Languages. On Friday March 30, Dr. Gruen will give two public lectures in Roberts Hall 419, one on "Cleopatra in Rome: Facts and Fantasies" at 12:00 noon, and one on "Rome and the Myth of Alexander the Great," at 7:00 p.m. Both lectures are free and open to the public. If you have any questions, please contact the History Department at 256-824-6310.

Glenn Dasher: "Bronze and Marble: Sculpting Techniques from the Ancient World"

On Thursday, March 8, Glenn Dasher, MFA, will lead a discussion of how ancient sculptors worked with stone and bronze. Dasher has led summer programs in Cortona, Italy teaching students about various sculpture techniques and taking them to the famous quarries at Carrara. Professor Dasher will bring demonstration pieces as well as tools to show how ancient sculptors went from raw materials to the famous sculptures we now see in museums around the world. The presentation will be at 7:30 p.m. in Union Grove Gallery, UAH Campus (white church-like building between University Center and Morton Hall on the north side of campus).

Check out the photographs: the first is from the quarries at Carrara, and the second is one of Dasher's works, "An Ill-Wind."