Wendorf Distinguished Lecture in Archaeology

Wendorf

The Fred Wendorf Distinguished Lecture in Archaeology is supported by the Boshell Family Foundation Endowment Fund. The Boshell Foundation primarily supports educational and archaeological activities. Currently, the Foundation supports lecture series at the Dallas Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Walters Museum of Baltimore, as well as this program at 91×ÔÅÄ. All these lecture series emphasize archaeology in its many expressions.

The Foundation also directly supports the archaeological research activities of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, the Combined Prehistoric Expedition through its exploration Foundation, and in the Anthropology Program of 91×ÔÅÄ.

The lecture series is named for Dr. Fred Wendorf, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at 91×ÔÅÄ. Dr. Wendorf joined SMU in 1964 where he quickly moved to establish a premier Department of Anthropology for which he served as Chair for many years. His contributions to our understanding of North African and North American prehistory are far-reaching and influential. His last book is his memoir Desert Days: My Life as a Field Archaeologist. In 1987, he became the first member of SMU's faculty selected to the National Academy of Sciences. In 1996, he was awarded the Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal for Archaeological Achievement by the University of Pennsylvania, and in 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Degree by SMU.

 

Previous

2025 - John Speth, University of Michigan, "Questioning Assumptions"

2024 - Tim Kohler, Washington State University, "Capital Before Capitalism"

2023 - Mary E. Prendergast, Rice University, "Of Manure and Molecules"

2019- Stephen E. Nash, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, "Stories, Souls, and Silhouettes"

2018- Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, University of California, Santa Cruz, "Cattle Keepers of Sub-Saharan Africa"

2017- Richard G. Klein, Stanford University, "Modern Human Origins"

2016 - Patricia L. Crown, University of New Mexico, "Dead Parrots and Hot Chocolate"

2015 - William D. Lipe, University of Michigan, "Leaving Mesa Verde"

2014 - Fekri Hassan, University College London, "Living on the Edge"

2013 - Mary C. Stiner, University of Arizona, "Sheep Domestication and the Forager-Herder Trade-Off at AÅŸikli Höyük (Turkey) at 11-10.5 ka B.P"

2012 - Jeremy Sabloff, Santa Fe Institute, "Settlement Pattern Studies and the Emergence of the Current Model of Ancient Maya Civilization"

2011 - Rita P. Wright, New York University, "Mapping Places"

2010 - James F. O'Connell, University of Utah, "Peopling the Red Continent"

2009 - Jane E. Buikstra, Arizona State University, "Peopling the Red Continent"

2008 - Bruce D. Smith, National Museum of Natural History, "The Origins of Agriculture"

2007 - Olga Soffer, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, "In Praise of “Older” Women"

2006 - David Hurst Thomas, American Museum of Natural History, "Those Elusive Spanish Missions"

2005 - Joyce Marcus, University of Michigan, "Co-Evolution of War and Society in Ancient Mexico"

2004 - Patrick V. Kirch, University of California, Berkeley, "From Chiefdom to Archaic State"