online: www.rihumanities.org email: info@rihumanities.org phone: 401-273-2250
What distinguishes one rusty old nail or pottery fragment from the next? How accurate are museum placards identifying ancient objects? This presentation offers an overview of techniques archaeologists use - including radiocarbon dating - to determine the age of artifacts. Audience members are invited to bring along items they have found or collected for identification and approximate dating.
Alan Leveillee is an anthropologist and archaeologist dedicated to sharing archaeological research with non- specialist audiences. Having worked in cultural resource management for over twenty years, he currently serves as a principal investigator and Director of Educational Programs at the Public Archaeology Lab, a non-profit consulting firm, and as the Rhode Island statewide network coordinator for the Education Committee of the Society of American Archaeology. He presents papers and publishes regularly and serves on advisory boards of four area museums: the Sydney Wright Museum, the Robbins Museum, the Museum of Primitive Art and Culture, and the Nathum Fisher House.