The SCAS General Meetings featuring guest speakers take place on the second Thursday of the month, at the Santa Cruz Live Oak Grange Hall at 1900 17th Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95062 (click here for Google Maps directions). This building is on 17th Avenue between Capitola Road and Mattison Lane.

Upcoming Events

• Tom King: “Fiction as an Archaeological Research Tool” March 14, 2019
  If an archaeologist writes fiction about the subject of his or her research, can this serve a useful purpose, or does it taint the objectivity of the archaeologist’s conclusions? This is a question that Tom King faced when he elected to write two novels about the hypothetical fate of pioneer aviators Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan on Nikumaroro, in the Phoenix Islands. To King, imagining how the data he and his colleagues were finding might reflect what had happened to Earhart and Noonan was a way to make sense of them. To others, doing so was fatal to King’s claim to be conducting scholarly research.
  
• Adrian Praetzellis: “Archaeology of the Despised” April 11, 2019
  Although racism and poverty were accepted parts of life in 19th century California, archaeology shows that human tenacity and the ability to adapt were alive and well. African American railway porters in post-bellum Oakland, Sacramento’s Gold Rush era Chinese merchants, and Polish Jews living in San Francisco were as culturally different as can be. And yet their varied responses to adversity—as preserved in their artifacts and history—show the common resolve to live in dignity that is part of our shared humanity.

General Meeting Speaker Schedule

• March 14, 2019 – Tom King, Retired, U.S. Government, Consultant
• April 11, 2019 – Adrian Praetzellis, Retired, Sonoma State University, Anthropological Studies Center
• May 9, 2019 – Desiree Vigil, Native American Monitor, Ohlone Tribe
• June 13, 2019 – Breck Parkman, Retired, California State Parks

A list of past speakers can be found here.