Name: NYU ArchaeoHub Lecture | Stone Age Precursors to the Silk Road: Theory, Models, and Field Results
Start: 2025-03-04T17:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-03-04T19:30:00-05:00
Location: 15 E 84th St, New York, NY, United States, New York 10028

NYU ArchaeoHub Lecture | Stone Age Precursors to the Silk Road: Theory, Models, and Field Results

In antiquity and the early Middle Ages, a network of trade routes known as the Silk Road connected East and West Asia and Europe. The Silk Road was not just an economic link, but also the avenue for cultural and genetic exchanges between these regions. Recent ancient DNA discoveries have hinted that such connections might have begun much earlier, during the Ice Ages, under the influence of determining geographic and climatic factors. This talk will provide an overview of the scientific theories and models that support this view, followed by a presentation of evidence from the last ten years of archaeological fieldwork in the region. The focus of the presentation will be on the results of the PALAEOSILKROAD project in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor regions of Kazakhstan and will showcase ongoing excavations at several key cave and open-air Paleolithic archaeological sites.
Radu Iovita is a paleoanthropologist and Paleolithic archaeologist interested in human-environmental interactions and the role of ancient technology in adaptation. He has directed extensive surveys and excavations at Middle and Late Pleistocene sites in Europe (Romania) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan). Recently, his efforts have been devoted to discovering new sites in Kazakhstan to investigate the interaction between H. sapiens and our cousins, the Neanderthals and Denisovans. In the lab, Iovita specializes in the study of stone tool function using microscopic use wear. His research has often relied on quantitative methods, including geometric morphometrics, agent-based modeling, and, most recently, artificial intelligence, to tackle difficult problems in archaeology.
This talk is part of the 2024-2025 NYU ArchaeoHub Lecture Series. Each year ArchaeoHub invites three members of the NYU archaeological community to speak about their current projects. These talks take place across units—one each at ISAW, the IFA, and Arts and Science, in an effort to build connections and create shared conversations around innovations in the field that speak across disciplines, geographies and timescales.
NYU ArchaeoHub is a University-Wide Initiative that links the university’s archaeological resources, including people, projects, lab equipment, events and educational opportunities. ArchaeoHub's research cluster connects over 60 faculty and staff members, Research Associates and doctoral students working at multiple Centers, Institutes and Departments across NYU. Collaboration being a key feature of the hub, it fosters cross-pollination and collaboration on field projects on 4 continents and in 20 countries, analyzing the human condition amidst the natural landscape over more than 16,000 years of sociocultural practice.
The lecture will be followed by a reception.
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