Now We’re Cooking:The Role of Fire and Cooked Food in Neanderthal Extinction

By Anna Goldfield, PhD Archaeologist

Saturday, October 19, 2019

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

at Maidu Museum & Historical Site

1970 Johnson Ranch Drive, Roseville, California 95661
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Join us to celebrate International Archaeology Day. We have teamed with Maidu Museum & Historical Site to increase the public’s awareness of archaeology. Sacramento Archeological Society will feature a presentation on Neanderthal by Anna Goldfield, PhD, Archaeologist and host of The Dirt Podcast.  She will explore some of the physiological differences between Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans, and will discuss what role the use of fire and a cooked versus a raw diet might have had on the rate of extinction of Neanderthal populations.  Maidu Museum & Historical Site will offer hands on archaeological experience for children and family tours of their historical site.

Entrance Fee Charged $5

Questions? Please contact Jan Johansen at janjohansen@sbcglobal.net or Maidu Museum and Historical Site at 916.774.5934.

Dr. Goldfield is a zooarchaeologist and science writer whose research focuses on Neanderthal physiology and nutrition. Currently, she is also an anthropology instructor at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento and a writer for the online anthropology journal Sapiens.org (https://www.sapiens.org/column/field-trips/neanderthal-body/). In addition Anna is the co-host of The Dirt, a podcast about archaeology, anthropology, and our shared human past (www.thedirtpod.com).

SAS Eclectic Symposium

Saturday, March 16, 2019

1:00 – 4:30 p.m.

North Highlands – Antelope Library

4235 Antelope Road

Antelope, CA 95843

Open to the Public

We are pleased to feature three varied topics at the symposium: Roman archaeology, ethnobotany and rock art in Baja.

Program

1:00     Introduction

1:15 – “Italian excavation” by Kim Frasse

2:15 – “Plant remains from Oak Flat, CA-SBA-3931, an interior habitation site in Cuyama Valley” by Gloria Howat Brown

3:15 – “A Journey through Baja: Ancient Rock Art, Gray Whales, Murals and Sculptures” Bill Drake

For more information contact Jan Johansen at janjohansen@sbcglobal.net.

Looking into the Past -Scholar Symposium

2018 Scholarship Recipients

Saturday February 16, 2019

1:30 – 5:30 p.m.

at

North Natomas Library

4660 Via Ingoglia

Sacramento, CA 95835

Don’t miss the exciting program presented by 2018 scholarship recipients. They will be providing latest research on Neanderthals/Homo sapiens in Europe, first people in North America on Channel Islands and the interaction between Native Americans and early settlers near Clear Lake, California.

Program

1:30 – Introduction

1:45 – “Paleolithic excavation in Trou Al’Wesse –Belgium” by Ryan Gallagher

2:30 – “Burnt bone analysis – Bukovac, Serbia” by Giulia Gallo

3:15 – Break

3:30 – “Paleocoastal Lithic Analysis- California Channel Islands” by Kevin Smith

4:15 – “Historic archaeological excavation – Bear Creek Ranch” by Ryan Poska

Annual Scholar Symposium (1)

2018 Scholarship Recipients Plus
Saturday, January 26, 2019
1:00 – 4:30 p.m.
at
North Highlands – Antelope Library
4235 Antelope Road
Antelope, CA 95843

We are pleased to feature two recipients of our 2018 scholarships and a film on the search for earliest people in the New World.

Program
1:00     Introduction
1:15 – “Pompeii Artifact Life History Project” by Aaron Brown
2:15 – “Excavation and technological analysis of Donggutuo stone artifacts” by Corey Johnson
3:15 – “The Peopling of the Americas”  film by the Gault School of Archaeological Research, Texas 

Sacramento Archeological Society, Inc.’s
 Annual Membership Meeting
Featuring
Cutting Edge Evolutionary Anthropology Research
“Study of bone use-wear using 3D surface texture analysis”
By University of California, Davis Scholar, Naomi L. Martisius
“Heat treatment of silicate rocks”
By University of California, Davis Scholar, Sara Watson
Saturday, December 8, 2018
12:00 – 6:00 p.m.  

At our annual meeting we are pleased to have two scholars who received SAS scholarships in 2018 present their research and field work. Naomi L. Martisius, a graduate student at University of California Davis will speak on her research leading to a unique methodology for study of bone use-wear using 3-D surface texture analysis.  Sara Watson, also a graduate student at University of California Davis will feature incites from her lab training at the University of Tubingern, Germany on heat treatment of silicate rocks.

Annual Meeting Program
12:00 – Meet and Greet
12:30 – Lunch
1:30 – SAS Annual Meeting with election of officers
3:00 – Naomi L. Martisius, “Study of bone use-wear using 3 D surface texture analysis”
4:00 – Sara Watson, “Heat treatment of silicate rocks”

PLEASE provide your RSVP by Monday, December 3 to Carolyn McGregor at  sabrina53@earthlink.net.

Eclectic Archeological Exchange

Saturday, August 25, 2018

12:00 – 5:00 p.m.

“Ancient Pueblos and Rock Art of New Mexico in Perspective” by Lydia Peake and “South Africa – Origins, Animals and Rock Art” by Tom Johansen, Paul K. Davis, and Jan Johansen

The Eclectic Archeological Exchange has been instituted to tap into the archaeological/anthropological adventures and insight of the Society’s members. This event will feature four Society members offering perspective on Native Americans in New Mexico region and South Africa.

In May twenty-nine Society members enjoyed a tour of northern New Mexico with a focus on anthropology and archaeology past and present.  See article below.  Lydia Peake will put the tour in perspective by weaving a story around the ruins and reconstructions of pit houses, kivas, multi-story, multi-room pueblos and post contact churches. She will offer a timeline of events associated with the places visited. Also key to the story of this land of enchantment will be rock art. Don’t miss this step into life in the not-so recent past in the Southwest.

Last November six Society members and four individuals from the Renaissance Society journeyed to South Africa.  The focus of the trip was archaeology—origins of man and rock art. Three of the travelers will review aspects of the trip.  Paul K. Davis will share information on animals in the region. His scholarly presentation will focus on present day animals that everyone wants to see in the wild.  Many of these animals played a significant role in the culture of the area. Dr. Davis will identify common and not so familiar animals of South Africa.

Jan Johansen will present “Rock Painting and Engravings of South Africa.  She structured the trip to South Africa to visit the richest areas of rock paintings: Cederberg and Drakensberg and also engravings from the karoo. Archaeologists suspect that during the late Middle Stone Age, about 60,000 years ago artists were painting images on the walls of their domestic campsites. As difficult as rock art painting is to date, in the Drakensberg paintings have been dated from as recent as 200 to 300 years ago to as old as 4000 years ago. Through photos and stories Jan will address how rock art may shed light on how the hunter- gatherers who created the images saw the world and perceived their place in it.

Tom Johansen will reflect on “Human Origins”.  South Africa escaped the glaciers from the last ice age and so was a biologically rich coastal zone.  Was this unique place the home of modern humans?  After returning from archeological sites such as Pinnacle Point, Sterkfontein and Wonderwerk Cave and museums including Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town, Blombos Museum of Archaeology in Stilbaai, Centre for Coastal Paleoscience at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (to name a few), he found that he had many more questions than before the visits. Dr. Johansen will share his perspectives about what he has discovered concerning the origins of modern humans.

Program

12:00 – 1:00 Meet, greet and eat

1:00 – 1:45 “Ancient Pueblos and Rock Art of New Mexico in Perspective” Lydia Peake

1:45 – 2:30 “South African Animals”, Paul K. Davis

2:30 – 2:45 Break

2:45 – 3:30 “South African Rock Art”, Jan Johansen

3:30 – 4:15 “South African Origins”, Tom Johansen