Anthropologist David Meltzer to speak at Kenyon College

GAMBIER, Ohio (September 19, 2005) Eminent archaeologist David Meltzer will present a talk, "In Search of Ice Age Americans," at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 26 in Kenyon College's Higley Auditorium. Meltzer, the Henderson-Morrison Professor of Prehistory and director of the QUEST archaeological research program at Southern Methodist University, is a well-known prehistoric archaeologist whose principal scholarly interests have focused on the discovery and initial peopling of the Americas.

On Tuesday morning at 11:10 a.m. during Common Hour, he will talk on "Folsom: A New Look at a Classic Site." That talk will take place in Room 200 of Palme House.

Meltzer is also an eminent historian of archaeology who is well acquainted with the ground-breaking research of Kenyon alumnus Edwin H. Davis on the prehistory of North America. Davis was a pioneer in the recording and interpretation of the many prehistoric earthen mounds that once covered Ohio and surrounding states. Meltzer wrote the extensive introduction to the 150th anniversary edition of the Smithsonian Institution's Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, written by Davis and Ephraim G. Squier.

Meltzer's visit to Kenyon is sponsored by the Faculty Lectureships Committee and the Department of Anthropology. His talks are open to the public at no charge.