“Boomtown Blues: Archaeologies of Expansion and Collapse in Amazonia” – A lecture presented by Anna Browne Ribeiro (Univ. of Louisville)

In her virtual lecture, “Boomtown Blues: Archaeologies of Expansion and Collapse in Amazonia,” Anna Browne Ribeiro (assistant professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Louisville) will explore some of the major ancient and historical patterns of expansion and contraction of political-economic systems alongside an analysis of resource and land-use strategies.

Amazonia has a deep and complex history of human habitation marked by political diversity, ancient environmental engineering practices, and long-distance communication networks. Building on recent findings of environmental shifts and ethno-archaeological research, Browne Ribeiro considers the relative successes of late pre-colonial and modern systems of exploitation and considers these in terms of contemporary risk-management and the future of tropical forests.

Join the talk through Zoom.

For more information, please email UNC Asheville Senior Lecturer in Art/Art History and Classics, and President of the AIA’s WNC Chapter, Laurel Taylor, at ltaylor@unca.edu.

Professor Ribeiro holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Anthropology and is a specialist in the archaeology of the Amazonia Basin. Her research considers a range of topics from agriculture to environmental degradation to colonialism. For more info on Professor Ribeiro, visit louisville.edu/anthropology/about-us/dr-anna-t-browne-ribeiro