Castle Valley Archaeological Society November meeting

Please join the Castle Valley Archaeological Society on Thursday, November 16th at 7pm in the Don L. Burge Room at the Prehistoric Museum for our November meeting. Dr. Tim Riley will be talking about some of the interesting research presented at the recent Great Basin Anthropological Conference in Bend, Oregon. The Great Basin Anthropological Conference began in 1954 and is the largest conference focused on the indigenous cultures of the Great Basin and adjacent regions. Utah-related highlights from this year included sessions on the Ice Age landscape of the Old River Bed Delta in western Utah, fiber artifacts from across the region, and a diverse symposium about recent research on the Fremont archaeological culture. Come learn about exciting discoveries and ongoing research projects focused on ceramic design, perishable weaponry, architecture, aerial photography, and rock art!

Dr. Tim Riley is the Director and Curator of Archaeology at the Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum, located in Price. Tim was trained as an archaeologist, paleoethnobotanist, and palynologist (pollen scientist) under Vaughn M. Bryant. His primary research interests focus on how past human populations used the plant communities for food, medicine, and materials. One of his favorite artifact types is the lowly coprolite, or desiccated fecal material. These rare records of past diet provide a window into how one person combined different plant and animal components into a meal. Dr. Riley enjoys walking an audience through the ways we can understand “paleocuisine” and then serving a tasting menu of dishes based on the ingredients and cooking techniques identified through coprolite research.