Ithaca College

Jack Rossen, Anthropology, gave the keynote address at the archaeology conference, "Los complejos alucinógenos y fumatorios en el cono sur de América" (Hallucinogen and Smoking Complexes in the Southern Cone of America) in Santiago, Chile on November 28.

His talk was titled:  Pipas, Tabaco y Transformacion Sociopolitical: Una Vision Internacional.  (Pipes, Tobacco and Sociopolitical Transformation: An International View). Held at the University of Chile, the week-long conference highlighted new advances in archaeobotany, including analysis of pipe residues for phytoliths and starch grains. Breakthrough research in these areas was presented by undergraduate students.  Jack’s talk discussed the importance of examining broad historical and sociopolitical contexts of sites, a variety of site data sets, and the use of oral history to better understand the emerging archaeobotanical information. He discussed the central role of smoking pipes in Haudensaunee (Iroquois) culture history as a comparative example, and also participated in various panel discussions during the week. This visit to Chile was the continuation of over 20 years of collaboration with Chilean archaeologists in the national development of archaeobotany.