Evidence of Early Colonization on the Northern Channel Islands

Subscribe RSS Icon | What is RSS
Date: July 28, 2016
Contact: Yvonne Menard, 805-658-5725

Dr. Todd Braje will discuss recent research into early colonization of the Channel Islands and the Americas during the August From Shore to Sea lecture.

For many years, it was assumed that the first inhabitants of the Americas were the prehistoric "Clovis people," who crossed the Bering land bridge thousands of years ago and made their way south into what is now the southwestern United States.

Braje, along with a team of researchers from several institutions, is mapping the submerged landscapes of the northern Channel Islands in an effort to support a tantalizing new theory that the First Americans in fact arrived here before the Clovis people, by following the shorelines of the Pacific Ocean.

In his presentation, Braje will discuss the mapping of these underwater landscapes, the largest multidisciplinary scientific effort ever made to identify submerged archaeological sites along the Pacific Coast.

Braje is an associate professor of anthropology at San Diego State University, and has a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Oregon. He has conducted research on the northern Channel Islands for over a decade, and his most recent book, due out this fall with the University of Utah Press, is titled, Shellfish for the Celestial Kingdom: The Rise and Fall of Commercial Abalone Fishing in California.

The talk will be held on August 11, 2016. The From Shore to Sea lecture series is sponsored by Channel Islands National Park to further the understanding of current research on the Channel Islands and surrounding marine waters. at 7:00 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month, January through December, at the Channel Islands National Park Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center, 1901 Spinnaker Drive in Ventura Harbor. This extended schedule is in honor of the National Park Service's milestone centennial anniversary, which celebrates 100 years of national parks. The programs are free and open to the public.

This lecture can also be viewed live online at: https://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/live-programs.htm

Lectures are recorded and posted at: https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/photosmultimedia/from-shore-to-sea-lecture-videos.htm



Last updated: August 1, 2016

Park footer

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

1901 Spinnaker Drive
Ventura, CA 93001

Phone:

805 658-5730

Contact Us