Prof. BRUCE BRADLEY

Associate Professor University of Exeter, United Kingdom Department of Archaeology
 

Research Associate National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian

Research Associate Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh

Research Associate University of Texas

Adjunct Professor, Augustana College, Sioux Falls

THE BOOK!!

Our long-awaited book for the University of California Press is in production.  We have made numerous presentations in public and academic venues throughout North America, South America, Western Europe and even polar Siberia.  Dennis and I published a summary of the theory in World Archaeology in December 2004.  This was followed 1n 2005 in World Archaeology by a rebuttal by Straus, Meltzer and Goebel.  Then in 2006 in World Archaeology Dennis and I published our response.  Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to make these available on this web page as they are in copyright.

The "Clovis First" and "Beringia Only" theories have been crumbling for years, but for many of us are now totally collapsed.  There is now overwhelming direct evidence for pre-Clovis occupation of the American continents, and virtually no direct evidence that the progenitors of Clovis came from Siberia.  We contend that the evidence overwhelmingly indicates southwestern Europe, specifically the Ice Age Solutrean Culture of France and Spain, as the source of the people that developed into Clovis.

SOUTH AMERICA 

Argentina and Patagonia

In November 2010 I gave two presentations at the V Simposio Internacional "El hombre temprano en America" at La Plata University, Argentina.  I have known colleagues in Argentina for decades but this was the first time I had been able to go there to see collections, visit sites, give presentations and knapping demonstrations and work with students.  I had a very busy 2+ week trip and really enjoyed myself (in spite of having my pocket picked, learned a lot and even found several ‘Cola de Pescado’ points at the Dos Amigos site in Patagonia.  Check this out for a short blurb.

Brasil

In June I spent a week in Sao Paulo State, Brasil hosted by Dr. Astolfo Araujo. I gave a presentation at a conference in Rio Claro and went on a couple of field trips (even found some nice black chert). I also gave a knapping demonstration in Rio Claro and conducted a knapping workshop in Sao Paulo. I see many future opportunities to become involved in teaching and research there (not permanent). An outcome of both trips is there is a lot to learn about the peopling of the Americas in South America, and I hope to be part of it.

New Research Project Underway

Learning To Be Human is a Leverhulme Trust funded research project that is designed to investigate the relationship between developing flintknapping skill, cognition and language in hominids.  Students are being trained in knapping and their developing skills are being tracked over a period of 30 months.  Six have undergone fMRI brain scans before any knapping and will have additional scans in November and again after the training has finished in September 2012.  The goal is not to try and simulate ancient learning but to have the learners get as good at knapping as they can while we monitor skill acquisition and changes in brain activity.  I am the Principal investigator with Co-investigators Dietrich Stout (Emory University, Atlanta) and James Steele (University College London). There are two PhD students in the project; Nada Khreisheh who is monitoring knapping learning (Exeter) and Stuart Page who is undertaking transmission chain experiments (University College London). We are also working with colleagues at Imperial College London (Dr. Aldo Faisal) on knapping gestures and Thierry Chaminade (Univeristy of Marsaille) who is collaborating with Dietz on the fMRI scans.

The knapping core group of 8 students, Nada, a project assistant and another of my PhD students spent the month of April at the Gault Site in central Texas. This was made possible through the project grant (Leverhulme Trust) and sponsorship of several long-time supporters of my research through the Gault School of Archaeological Research. We spent the month working in the excavation and lab as well as knapping. Everybody greatly increased their abilities and we produced an amazing pile of ‘debitage’. We will spend 2 weeks in Moesgaard, Denmark in September 2011 studying Neolithic artifacts and focusing on biface and square axe technologies. This should really expand all our knapping horizons. Another intensive training session is planned for next spring in Les Eyzies, France where we will study Upper Palaeolithic technologies, focusing on Solutrean biface thinning and general UP blade technologies.

I have also been involved in a related project, Directed by Dr. Aldo Faisal, Imperial College, London that used a sensory glove to track hand movement during knapping.  Check out the University of Exeter and the recently published article. He has a lot more ideas as to how he can wire me up during knapping (including a spandex sensory suit- we’ll see about that one).

India

If all of this isn’t enough, as part of my role as internationalization office for the Department of Archaeology, I organized and presented a three-day workshop on Experimental Archaeology at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Bangalore, India in February 2011. This was funded by UK British Council grant (UKIERI), NIAS and the University of Exeter International Office. The workshop was attended by academics in NIAS, the Indian Institute of Science and other academic invitees from around India and Exeter. Not all of these were archaeologists but included an astrophysicist, cognitive scientists, metallurgists, etc. Since then, the University has opened an office in Bangalore and has developed wide ranging relationships with several institutions there. I also had the opportunity to visit Madras with a former student in our Experimental Archaeology MA programme, Smriti Haricharan. She took me to some of the amazing Iron Age megalithic tomb sites she has been studying and attempting to save from encroaching development. I also enjoyed the generous hospitality of her family. While I do not intend to develop any archaeological research in India, I will be continuing a relationship with NIAS (there are several grant proposals submitted at the moment).

Finland

Finally, In July I spent a really nice week in Northern Finland (Oulu) at an Outdoor Archaeology Centre (Kierikki). This visit was sponsored by GRAMPUS, and funded by the EU Leonardo da Vinci Training Programme. I was accompanied by three UK archaeologists, including Dr. Linda Hurcombe (Exeter). For me this was a bit of a busman’s holiday and when not being shown around the area (including a visit above the Arctic Circle), I spent much of my time in the Stone Age village helping out with knapping demonstrations etc.

 NOVA

PrShown November 16, 2010 on PBS

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/secrets-stonehenge.html

Program Description

"Dated to the late Stone Age, Stonehenge may be the best-known and most mysterious relic of prehistory. Every year, a million visitors are drawn to England to gaze upon the famous circle of stones, but the monument's meaning has continued to elude us. Now investigations inside and around Stonehenge have kicked off a dramatic new era of discovery and debate over who built Stonehenge and for what purpose. How did prehistoric people quarry, transport, sculpt, and erect these giant stones? Granted exclusive access to the dig site at Bluestonehenge, a prehistoric stone-circle monument recently discovered about a mile from Stonehenge, NOVA cameras join a new generation of researchers finding important clues to this enduring mystery".  Twelve of my Experimental Archaeology students at Exeter and I participated in this documentary.  NOVA sponsored a large scale experiment testing a revolutionary (pun intended) concept of how the large monument stones may have been moved.  I haven't seen the documentary so I don't know how prominently the experiment features.  Check it out: Watch streaming video   (in North America- this doesn't work in Europe) and Articles: University of Exeter  and The Independent newspaper

Co-Principal Investigator, Gault Project

I am honored to have been appointed Co-principal Investigator, with Dr. Michael Collins, of the Gault Site Project, the Gault School of Archaeological Research and Texas State University, San Marcos. 

This is a photo of Mike Collins and me at the Gault Project house near Florence, Texas