Fossils & Ruins
Nature: Oldest American Artifact Unearthed
Nature Magazine journalist Rex Dalton interviewed SMU archaeologist David J. Meltzer as an expert source to weigh in on the claim by University of Oregon archaeologists who say they’ve found the oldest known artifact in the Americas.
Dalton’s Nov. 5 article, “Oldest American Artifact Unearthed,” quotes a number of expert sources on the discovery of a scraper-like tool in an Oregon cave. The discovery team dates the tool to 14,230 years ago. Continue reading
USA Today: Blind archaeologist uncovers ancient childbirth inscription
Journalist Dan Vergano has covered a new rare find at the archaeological excavation at Poggio Colla, the site of a 2,700-year-old Etruscan settlement in Italy’s Mugello Valley. Excavators turned up two images of a woman giving birth to a child. The article, “Blind archaeologist uncovers ancient childbirth inscription,” published Oct. 24.
The excavation is a project of Southern Methodist University, Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Penn., and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, in collaboration with The Open University in Milton Keynes, England. Continue reading
Major NEH grant allows teachers from community colleges, universities to examine Etruscan culture
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded the Community College Humanities Association a grant of $201,415, which will allow the association to sponsor the 2012 NEH Summer Institute “The Legacy of Ancient Italy: The Etruscan and Early Roman City.”
P. Gregory Warden, University Distinguished Professor of Art History and associate dean for academic affairs in SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, is the major professor and co-director of the Institute, which will be held June 5-25, 2012, in Italy. The NEH grant makes it possible for 24 college and university teachers to participate in the three-week project in Italy exploring the legacy of Etruscan and early Roman culture. Continue reading
Ancient Etruscan childbirth image unearthed at SMU’s Poggio Colla is likely a first for western art
An archaeological excavation at Poggio Colla, the site of a 2,700-year-old Etruscan settlement in Italy’s Mugello Valley, has turned up a surprising and unique find: two images of a woman giving birth to a child.
Researchers from the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project near Florence discovered the images on a small fragment from an ancient ceramic vessel. Continue reading
Researchers collaborate to study human-fire-climate interactions in New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains
Southern Methodist University anthropologist Christopher I. Roos is a member of an interdisciplinary team of researchers examining how humans in the Southwest have responded to changes in the surrounding forests over multiple centuries, including forest fires and climate. The research is funded by a four-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
The project is about forest fire history, fuels and forests, how human activities have changed them, and the influence of drought and dry conditions. Continue reading
D Magazine: David Meltzer and other “Dallas Big Thinkers”
D Magazine journalist Dawn McMullan reported on the accomplishments of SMU archaeologist David J. Meltzer in the monthly magazine’s “Dallas’ Big Thinkers” article, which published Sept. 21.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Meltzer researches the origins, antiquity, and adaptations of the first Americans — Paleoindians — who colonized the North American continent at the end of the Ice Age. He focuses on how these hunter-gatherers met the challenges of moving across and adapting to the vast, ecologically diverse landscape of Late Glacial North America during a time of significant climate change.
Meltzer is chair of SMU’s Department of Anthropology and the Henderson-Morrison Professor of Prehistory in SMU’s Dedman College.
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D Magazine: Bonnie Jacobs and other “Dallas Big Thinkers”
D Magazine journalist Dawn McMullan reported on the accomplishments of SMU paleobotanist Bonnie F. Jacobs in the monthly magazine’s “Dallas’ Big Thinkers” article, which published Sept. 21.
Jacobs, one of a handful of the world’s experts on the fossil plants of ancient Africa, is part of a team of paleontologists hunting plant and animal fossils in Ethiopia’s prolific Mush Valley, as well as elsewhere in Africa. Jacobs is an associate professor in SMU’s Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences.
In January Jacobs’ blogged from the field in Ethiopia for The New York Times’ “Scientist at Work” blog, which features scientists’ first-person accounts of their field work as it unfolds day-by-day.
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Dallas Morning News: Prehistoric crocodile thought to have originated in Europe may be a native Texan
Dallas Morning News reporter Marc Ramirez has written about the big prehistoric crocodile identified by SMU paleontologist Thomas L. Adams, a doctoral candidate in Dedman College’s Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences.
The story, “‘Prehistoric crocodile thought to have originated in Europe may be a native Texan,” published in the Tuesday, July 20 edition of the Dallas Morning News. Continue reading
Daily Mail: Meet the 25 ft prehistoric Texas crocodile who lived 100 million years ago
London Daily Mail reporter Mark Duell has written about the big prehistoric crocodile identified by SMU paleontologist Thomas L. Adams, a doctoral candidate in Dedman College’s Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences.
The story, “‘Its fossil looked like a loaf of bread from Subway’: Meet the 25ft prehistoric Texas crocodile who lived 100 MILLION years ago,” published in the Sunday, July 17 edition of the Daily Mail.
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