Dr. Chris Kraft, Geology Professor Emeritus of the University of Delaware, and well-known local resident, will present an interesting program on the earliest arrivals of people to the Americas at the October meeting of the Goschenhoppen Historians.
Recent archeological discoveries and DNA studies are dramatically changing long-held views on the peopling of the Americas. Dr. Kraft, internationally recognized for his expertise in the evolution of coastal shorelines, has, since his childhood in Schwenksville, been interested in how and when the first inhabitants arrived and settled on this continent. Early in his career, Dr. Kraft was involved in geologic investigations along the Gulf of Mexico in Texas and Louisiana, and in Oklahoma and Canada before becoming a Professor at the University of Delaware. There, he continued his interest in the evolution of coastal shorelines, eventually developing new investigative techniques to help determine the location of historic coastlines.
His specialized knowledge of the morphology of coastlines led to a number of international commissions, particularly in Greece and Turkey, where he was able to pinpoint the locations of ancient harbors to facilitate archeological explorations. In many cases, the locations he correctly indicated were far from the areas where the harbors and their associated urban areas had been presumed to be. He has made numerous trips to Ephesus in Turkey to assist in the archeological development of that Biblically important area.
Turning this knowledge to his interest in early settlement of the Americas, Dr. Kraft has stayed abreast of exciting new discoveries in regions of North and South America that hint at settlement many thousands of years earlier than previously believed by the academic community, and has formulated his own ideas of when and how that settlement may have occurred. He will share his thoughts with us in his presentation.
The meeting will be held Thursday, Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Red Men’s Hall, the Historian’s headquarters located at 116 Gravel Pike (Route 29) in Green Lane. The public is welcome, and refreshments will be served during an informal get-together at the close of the meeting. More information can be obtained by calling 215-234-4119.
