Spence Lecture

Michael Spence is an archaeologist and bioarchaeologist.  He has made major contributions in two separate regions – the Woodland period of the Great Lakes and in MesoAmerica.  He has published well over 125 works including monographs, chapters and articles; making regular appearances in top journals such as American Antiquity, Current Anthropology, World Archaeology and Canadian Journal of Archaeology.  It’s been said for Dr. Spence, “[his] love of archaeology – whether in the field or lab – is utterly infectious.  Many of the students he taught now enjoy careers in the field because he shared his curiosity and fascination with us”.

2024 Speaker: To be announced. 

Past Speakers Include:

2023 - Dr. Kisha Supernant. Indigenous Archaeology as Restorative Justice

2022 - Prof. Jeffrey McKee.  Taung: The Nexus of African Paleoanthropology

2021 - Dan Hicks. Necrography: Material Culture Beyond the Paradigm of Object Biographies

2019 - Dr. Shari Forbes.  What happens after Life? Taphonomy of human decomposition and the role of ‘body farms’

2018 - Dr. Thijs van Kolfschoten.  Wooden Spears and Broken Bones:  Lower Paleolithic Hominin Subsistence at Schoningen, Germany

2017 - Dr. James Conolly.  It's about time:  Radiocarbon modelling and the absolute chronology of Ontario's archaeological culture history 

2016 - Dr. Michael E. Smith.  Teotihuacan Society

2015 - Dr. Peter Dawson.  Smart Heritage and the future of digital archaeology in northern Canada

2014 - Dr. Carl Knappett.  Dysfunctional Design and Poor Substitutes