Sponsored by: Archaeological Institute of America
Arctic archaeology reveals patterns of climate change have both facilitated migrations and extinguished cultures and animals beginning when humans first began to live in Arctic regions 40,000 years ago. We follow these developments in northern Russia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland as environments and cultures changed, new technology and adaptations developed, and Arctic peoples interacted with each other and with southerners. The story of the Greenland Norse serves as an example of how humans have failed to observe signals of their impending disaster, what they could have done to avoid it, and what we should do now to avoid a similar, but global, fate.
Joukowsky Lecture