EUGENE–In more than 60 years of field work and research, University of Oregon archaeologists have found that western North America–and Oregon in particular–has been a meeting place of diverse cultures for thousands of years.

In a free lecture on Friday, Oct. 16, celebrating Oregon Archaeology Week, C. Melvin Aikens, UO Museum of Natural History director and professor of anthropology, will show slides and discuss the long history of human adaptation to the place we now call "Oregon"–five regions of incredible environmental, cultural and language diversity.

Aikens will speak at 4:30 p.m. in the Conference Room at Bean West Residence Hall on East 15th Avenue on the UO campus. The event is free and open to the public.

"Human history in Oregon reaches back more than 11,000 years, as shown by occupation sites like Fort Rock Cave and Fivemile Rapids which are as old as any known on the continent," Aikens says. "The diversity of Oregon Native American cultures reflects the different environments they grew up in and cultural practices emerging from the long human history of the region. Since the 1930s, University of Oregon archaeologists have been major contributors to our knowledge of ancient Oregon."

Aikens also will discuss the work of the UO Department of Anthropology and Museum of Natural History faculty members and students at ancient sites threatened by roads, pipelines, housing projects and other construction. Museum archaeologists often work with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and utility companies to design development and maintenance plans that take preservation into consideration.

At a bridge replacement project near Grants Pass, for example, Museum of Natural History archaeologists found the remains of a small village occupied before 1855, in the decades preceding the Rogue River Wars that forced indigenous peoples from the area. They also have found cultural records going back 6,000 years at the Santiam Highway/I-5 interchange now under construction near Salem.

Oregon Archaeology Week is sponsored in part by the research division of the UO Museum of Natural History. Since 1935, the museum has been the official repository for Oregon’s anthropological collections, including all artifacts, bones, plant remains and other archaeological specimens found on state lands.

For more information about the Oct. 16 lecture, call (541) 346-3024 or send e-mail to <mnh@oregon.uoregon.edu>.

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