The Chimney Rock Interpretive Association (CRIA) invites the public to a free lecture given by Dr. John Kappelman on Tuesday, June 11.
The lecture will take place at 7 p.m. at the Archuleta County CSU Extension Building Exhibit Hall located at 344 U.S. 84.
Join us as Kappelman discusses “Tracking Humans from Africa to the Four Corners: A journey through time and space.” This lecture will trace human evolution, from the last common ancestors of humans and apes, through the evolution of Homo sapiens, to their dispersal out of Africa through Europe and Asia, into the Americas and the Four Corners, and the origins of the Ancestral Puebloans.
The doors will open at 6:45 p.m. and a Q-and-A period will follow the lecture.
Kappelman was born and raised in Idaho. He received a B.S. in geology and geophysics from Yale University, an M.A. in anthropology and Ph.D. in anthropology and earth and planetary sciences from Harvard University. He served for 35 years as a professor in the departments of Anthropology and Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.
The primary focus of his research is human origins and evolution. He has worked around the world and runs current field projects in Kenya and Ethiopia. Kappelman recently retired to Pagosa Springs on a ranch he has owned for the past 20 years, and he continues his association with UT Austin as professor emeritus.
CRIA’s free lecture series offer the opportunity each year for the public and CRIA volunteers to enjoy a speaker whose topic typically relates to southwest archaeology, archaeoastronomy and/or Chacoan culture. Donations will be accepted.
CRIA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that offers interpretive programs at Chimney Rock National Monument in partnership with the USDA Forest Service and the San Juan National Forest. For more information, see the CRIA website, www.chimneyrockco.org, or call (970) 731-7133.
