Talks/Lectures

RDG Associates offer a variety of talks, lectures or presentations on a variety of subjects. Every talk is tailored to the target audience and time constraints provided. The principals of RDG Associates are widely traveled and experienced anthropologists and are able to research and develop talks on any requested topic.

Talks are readily available that are suitable for Museum Presentations, Archaeological Societies, Medical Special Interest Groups, Schools and Universities, as well as informal social groups or after dinner speeches. Talks can also be given on our experiences as writers and small press publishers.

Basic Osteology

Talks in this group focus on the basics of osteology, what can be learned from looking at bones, how an osteologist goes about assessing a human skeleton and the importance of looking at groups rather than just a single individual.

  • Excavating Human Skeletal Remains
  • Interpretation of skeletons
  • Bone geometry, workload and stress
  • Beam theory and cortical mass
  • What does an osteologist do?

Interpretation of the dead

When assessed as a group, collections of individuals from a single context can tell us a great deal about how people from that time lived and occasionally how they died. Their stories are often fascinating and can tell us so much about how our ancestors lived.

  • Men of the Mary Rose
  • Baby bowls in the Caribbean
  • The Taino and the Caribbean
  • Poverty and the Workhouse in Oslo

Issues in Archaeology

Archaeology, like all science is highly political, particularly where issues of identity and nationhood and intertwined with history and oppression.

  • Is age and sex all we need to know about humanity?
  • Why do the ancient dead matter?
  • Repatriation - pros and cons
  • Cultural Heritage and Resource Management:
    Management of Human Skeletal Material

Provenance

The basis of all academic endeavor is deeply rooted in the provenance of the knowledge we use in our day to day work. Digital technology has revolutionized how we do research and the sheer volume of knowledge is overwhelming. Verifying the provenance of knowledge is not getting easier, but more difficult as the volume of knowledge increases exponentially.

  • A case study into the history of the Ischium-pubis Index
  • The use of metadata in digital images
  • Management of digital documents in archaeology

North American History and Archaeology

  • The Development of Archaeology in the USA
  • Native Americans in Post-Contact America (1492-1850)
  • Art for beauty, art for Wakan Tanka:
    Art and everyday life of Indigenous Americans

General Archaeology

The basis of all bio-anthropology or bio-archaeolgy is good archaeology.

  • Equal access archaeology: how do we bring archaeology to the disabled?
  • What’s for Dinner? Interpretation of animal remains in an occupied site
  • The link between penal reform, the workhouse and the Napoleonic wars
  • Why do old soldiers end up in jail?
  • Human Remains Excavation - this talk is appropriate for A Level students, Archaeological societies or lay audiences.

 

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