Ancient Aliens and Crystal Skulls: The Stellar Truth About Archaeoastronomy
by Mallory Fenn
Let’s set the record straight: archaeologists have never actually uncovered alien skulls, ancient spacecraft, or found evidence for any extraterrestrial species’ involvement in the construction of monuments or pyramids. However, some archaeologists do study the way human beings interacted with space thousands of years ago. While light pollution has changed the way we see the sky today, celestial bodies were of vast importance to ancient humans. The movement of the sun, moon, stars and planets are thought to have affected architecture, landscaping, and the way people living all over the planet understood the universe. We’ll be talking about real archaeoastronomy, and how scientists figure out what the sky meant to human beings before light pollution.
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Snakes in the (saw)Grass
by Dawn Shirreffs
Pulling back the curtain on the world’s largest ecosystem restoration program reveals conflicts lurking in the shadows of Miami which threaten to derail the worlds largest ecosystem restoration project . Although so much of it seems suitable for a telenovela – the problems and pythons are a very real threat to our lifestyles and livelihoods. Can America’s Everglades survive a landscape of invasive snakes, politics and radical environmentalists?
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I See Dead People and So Can You!: An Introduction to Forensic Anthropology
by Tony Morales
This presentation will introduce forensic anthropology with a focus on biological profiling. We’ll talk methods, look at some gory images, and discuss the types of information that can be ascertained through analysis of the human skeleton. By the end of the presentation, attendees will each have had a chance to sex (yes, sex) dead people. Expect to leave feeling disgusted, amused, or both!