Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s fourth presentation of its 27th annual Winter Speaker Series, Archaeology from Swamps and Caves, will feature Dr. Becca Peixotto, field archaeologist.
This event is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10.
Dr. Becca Peixotto, field archaeologist, will be the featured speaker at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10, of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s fourth presentation of its 27th annual Winter Speaker Series, Archaeology from Swamps and Caves. Submitted photo
Winter Speaker Series presentations are held via Zoom and accessible via hyperlink at the top of fomb.org.
What connects the impossibly narrow passages of a cave in South Africa, an impenetrable swamp in southern Virginia, and other challenging locations? For Peixotto the answer is the search for new understandings of shared human history, and a sense of adventure, according to a news release from Ed Friedman with Friends, based in Richmond.
Peixotto‘s talk will explore the Rising Star Cave in South Africa where, in 2013, scientists uncovered 250,000-year-old fossilized bones of an ancient human relative now known as Homo naledi, and venture into the Great Dismal Swamp in southern Virginia to glimpse the remnants of the remarkable resistance communities who once sought refuge there.
She will share her own winding path to archaeology as well as the spirit of curiosity, exploration, and risk taking that lead to groundbreaking discoveries and personal ones and let us ask new questions.
Peixotto serves as a project archaeologist for the Henry M. Jackson Foundation in support of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Her graduate work focused on historical archaeology and resistance landscapes of the Great Dismal Swamp. She embraces scientific methods in order to address theoretical, social and historical questions about landscapes, material culture, ideas of wilderness, and public engagement with the past.
She is involved in several projects outside of the Dismal Swamp, including the National Geographic/Wits University Rising Star Expedition, which excavated the fossils of Homo naledi and the Maryland Historic Trust/Archaeology Society of Maryland Biggs Ford project investigating Middle and Late Woodland villages. She also supports efforts encouraging women and girls in science as an AAAS IF/THEN ambassador.
Peixotto is an experienced outdoor educator with expertise in wilderness expeditions in mountain and desert environments, including backpacking and rock climbing, for youth, adults and returning veterans.
Friends hosts its Winter Speaker Series from October through May, on the second Wednesday of each month. FOMB’s Feb. 14 presentation, Dam Removals on the Kennebec River, will feature John Burrows, executive director of U.S. Operations for the Atlantic Salmon Federation. This event takes place at 7 p.m., with the Zoom registration link available at the Friends’ website about a week prior to the presentation.
Speaker series presentations are free and open to the public.
For more information, contact FOMB at 207-666-3372 or edfomb@comcast.net.
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