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Contact: Prof.
Michael Hoff, Professor of Art History, UNL, 472-5342 What: Archaeological Institute of America, Public Lecture Presenter: Dr. Paul Demers Lecture Title: Hitting the Road: Archaeological Investigation of Nebraska's Historic Trails Date: Sunday, April 2, 2006 Where: Abbott Lecture Hall, Joslyn Art Museum, 2201 Dodge Street, Omaha Time: 2:00 PM The Lincoln - Omaha Society of the Archaeological Institute of America announces its sixth and final lecture of the 2005-06 season. Dr. Paul Demers of the University of Nebraska, Department of Anthropology, will present a one-hour lecture on the archaeology of Nebraska's historic trails. From the 1840s through the 1870s, overland trails became the dominant means of transportation and communication across the United States. These trails reflect complex types of settlement, as commercial, military, and religious interests poured into newly expanding frontier areas. Along with the trails themselves were constructed associated buildings as part of these movements of people: way stations, trading posts, forts, settlements and religious centers. Professor Paul Demers's archaeological project aims to document and interpret the dynamic patterns of frontier life along surviving portions of Nebraska's historic trails. Archaeological study of these networks enhances our understanding of individual sites, the relationships between frontier communities, logistics of trail systems, and large-scale patterns of expansion not necessarily recorded in historical accounts. This talk will highlight methods for documenting and interpreting trails and their associated sites. Ultimately, our goal is to consider how the study of historic trail systems can contribute to a deeper understanding of interaction and expansion along frontiers and borderlands. Three sites to be included in the talk are: 1) The Beaver Creek Trail Crossing site encompassing a half-mile portion of the Nebraska City Trail; 2) Junctionville, the nexus of the Oxbow and Nebraska City Trails and 3) several Pony Express sites in Jefferson County, Nebraska. These small, short-lived sites nevertheless became multifunctional centers critical to our understanding of the trails that passed through Nebraska on their way to points further west. |
