Dr. Thor Heyerdahl, Founding and first president of the FERCO Scientific Committee, 1992-98
The highly respected Dr. Heyerdahl has been in the forefront of the news, of history, anthropology, archaeology, and other important pursuits since his earliest days in the South Seas in the 1930s. His explorations and researches have been recounted in significant books, both popular and scientific, and in films. Educated first as a biologist, he has also trained in zoology and geography. While many scientists concentrate on a very narrow field, throughout his life he has brought together different disciplines to look at the larger picture, which often results in a new and original perspective.
Dr. Heyerdahl's wide-ranging research on climate and culture changes circa 3000 BC, combined with Dr. Sandweiss's specialized knowledge of El Nino, were the impetus that prompted this Conference.
For example, Heyerdahl notes that the original site of Ur was covered by thick deposits at that period; and that the carbon dating of a log caught in the lava flow that emerged when Iceland cracked, forming a canyon continuing far southwestwards into the Atlantic Ridge, show that this event also coincided in time.
Dr. Daniel H. Sandweiss, Presdient of the FERCO Scientific Committee, 1998-, and Conference organizer: (B.A. in Archaeology 1979, Yale University; M.A. 1983 and Ph.D. 1989, both in Anthropology, Cornell University)
Dr. Sandweiss is an archaeologist with 20 years of experience in coastal Peru. He has done research in sites ranging from 11,000-500 years old, focusing on maritime adaptations. He has concentrated on the relationship between the environment and culture in the region, including studies of the origin, development, and cultural influence of El Nino. His work has been published in Science, Latin American Antiquity, The Journal of Field Archaeology, The Journal of Coastal Research, The Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum and others. His ten-year collaboration with Dr. Thor Heyerdahl has resulted in two books on Tucume, Peru, one published in the USA and one in Peru. Dr. Sandweiss is currently Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Quaternary Studies at the University of Maine, a position he has held since January, 1993.
Dr. Kirk A. Maasch, Conference co-organizer (B.S. in Geology 1981, State University of New York at Stony Brook; M.Phil. 1984 and Ph.D. 1989, both in Geology and Geophysics, Yale University)
Dr. Maasch is a geophysicist whose primary interest is the development of a theory for climate change on time scales ranging from years to millions of years. He has placed major emphasis on: (1) construction of dynamical systems models for global climate change over the past several million years, and (2) statistical treatment of the observed record of paleoclimatic change to guide the construction of such theoretical models. These dynamical systems models essentially represent all of the available evidence in the form of a closed set of statements which describe the time dependent variations of key climate variables. In addition, he has employed equilibrium climate models, such as global general circulation models (GCMs), and higher resolution regional climate models, in conjunction with the time dependent dynamical systems models an effort to develop a theory for climate change. Dr. Maasch is currently Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences and Quaternary Studies at the University of Maine, a position he has held since October, 1991.