In this full-day, in-person symposium, researchers will discuss recent work on the significance of migration, mobility, and travel in the past—which are crucial drivers of human evolution and vectors in the spread of human culture.

This is the latest initiative linked to the multi-year project (funded by the NOMIS Foundation at the Italian Academy) titled “On the Move”: Prehistoric Mobility and the Spread of Agriculture in Eurasia.

Click here to register. 

ORGANIZER
Dušan Borić, Sapienza University of Rome; New York University; Former Fellow of the Italian Academy

CO-SPONSOR
The NOMIS Foundation, Zurich

SCHEDULE 

9:00-9:30 Gathering

9:30-10:00 Opening and Introduction (David Freedberg, Columbia University; Dušan Borić)

10:00-10:30
Helen Farr, University of Southampton, UK
On Migration to Sahul 65 kya and Seafaring

10:30-11:00
Mateja Hajdinjak, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
Early Upper Palaeolithic Human Groups in Western Eurasia

11:00-11:30
Radu Ioviță, New York University, USA
Palaeolithic Dispersals in Central Asia

11:30-12:00 Break

12:00-12:30
Kristian Kristiansen, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
On Migration in Bronze Age Europe

12:30-1:00 Discussion

1:00-2:00 Break

2:00-2:30
Wolfgang Müller, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
On High-Resolution Strontium Isotopes and Human Seasonal Mobility

2:30-3:00
Paola Cerrito, Duke University, USA
Seasonal Elemental Concentrations in Dental Cementum Reveal Site Occupation and Mobility Patterns

3:00-3:30
Kristina Guild Douglass, Columbia University, USA
Social Memory and Placemaking in Dynamic Landscapes

3:30-4:00 Discussion

4:00-4:30 Break

4:30-5:00
Krish Seetah, Stanford University, USA
Scientific Approaches to Understanding Diaspora and Life Ways of Enslaved and Indentured Peoples in the Indian Ocean World

5:00-5:30
Kendra Sirak, Harvard University, USA
Mobility and Connectivity into and Around the pre-Columbian Caribbean: Insights from Ancient DNA

5:30-6:00
Severin Fowles, Columbia University, USA
On Athapaska-Speakers Migration from the Arctic to the Southwest

6:00-6:30 Discussion

6:30-7:00 Concluding remarks (Dušan Borić)

Biographical notes about the speakers are found here.   

The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies is in Columbia’s “Casa Italiana” building, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue (between 116th and 118th Streets)