Welcome to the South Florida Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America

Come join us at our monthly meetings held on the first Thursday of each month or attend one of our AIA sponsored lectures. Activities include discussions, videos, field trips, and mini-conferences offering the presentation of papers concerning the latest reseach being conducted in southern Florida. You may contact us at aiasfl@gmail.com or if you would like additional details please contact Rudolph Pascucci, AIASFL Coordinator at rpascucci@pbmnh.org

The South Florida Chapter of the
Archaeological Institute of America

Archaeology and Anthropology
Field trips

2010 Lecture Series

Why Civilizations Collapse

Presented by Dr. Joseph A. Tainter
Professor, Department of Environment and Society
Utah State University

and author of "The Collapse of Complex Societies"
Cambridge University Press, March 1990

Wednesday, September 20th at 7pm
Location: Florida Atlantic University, GN Building Room 102

Lecture Abstract:

Political disintegration is a persistent feature of world history. Any explanation of societal collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all such societies in both the present and future. Dr. Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than 2000 years of explanations. His far-reaching theory accounts for collapse among diverse kinds of societies, and presents a model for evaluating and clarifying the processes of disintegration through detailed studies of the Roman, Mayan and Chacoan collapses.

For more information, please contact:
Rudolph F. Pascucci
Coordinator, AIA-South Florida
rpascucci@pbmnh.org