Wilson W. "Dub" Crook, long-time member of the Houston Archeological Society and an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University, will speak on "The Peopling of the Americas: Is Clovis First Finally Dead?"

Dub will be highlighting the latest research and work on the Pre-Clovis occupation at the Gault site in Central Texas as well as give a summary of the older-than-Clovis data that has now been found throughout North America.

The Gault site, between Georgetown and Fort Hood, has been known to archeologists for at least 78 years. After some initial archeological investigations, the site was plundered by pothunters and collectors and even used as a pay-to-dig operation. The land changed ownership in 1998. A group from the University of Texas at Austin led by paleontologist Ernie Lundelius and archeologist Michael Collins were asked by the new owners to look at something they had exposed at the site. It turned out to be the lower jaw of a juvenile mammoth and some ancient horse bones surrounded by a large number of Clovis artifacts.

A three year lease between the University and the landowners allowed the first extensive research excavations at Gault. Between 1999 and 2002, more than 1.2 million artifacts were recovered. A unique feature, a stone floor, was discovered as well as more than one hundred engraved stones — amongst the earliest art in the Americas.

The lecture will be held in MD Anderson Hall.