SAS Webinar

October 17, 2020

2:00 p.m.

 “Maritime Technological Adaptations and the Peopling of the Far West of North America”

By Kevin Smith

This talk synthesizes Kevin’s dissertation research concerning the role of watercraft and lithic technologies in early subsistence and settlement systems of the Far West of North America. He specifically focuses on tule canoe production dynamics, late Pleistocene archaeology, and aquatic environments of the Great Basin and Southern California Channel Islands. Specific attention is given to stone tool manufacturing strategies and connections between California’s earliest island populations and the broader Western Stemmed Tradition. 

Kevin Smith is currently in the final phase of writing his PhD dissertation concerning the peopling of the Americas and late Pleistocene adaptations in the Far West. He is interested in hunter gatherer adaptations, maritime economies, and cultural transmission. Broader perspectives on human adaptation and evolution are supported by methods such as lithic analysis, technological analysis, and replicative studies (experimental archaeology). Kevin received his BA at Humboldt State University in 2007, his MA at Cal State LA in 2012 where he wrote his master’s thesis on late Holocene shell fishhook production on San Nicolas Island, and he is currently completing his PhD at UC Davis.