Paradigm Shift. How Archaeology is Rewriting the History of the Americas

Paradigm Shift.  How Archaeology is Rewriting the History of the Americas 
Thursday, September 26, 2024, 6:30 pm - 9:15 pm

FREE. RSVP Required.

From the Canadian Arctic to the mountains of central Mexico, new research is shifting the long-standing western scientific narrative that human populations arrived in the Americas only 13,000 years ago. 

Join us for an evening event that includes the Canadian premiere screening of Walking with Ancients, a full-length documentary that challenges viewers to rethink the history of humans in the Americas based on new and emerging archaeological research. 

Following the screening, archaeologists Paulette Steeves, Ciprian Ardelean, Justin Jennings, and filmmakers Elizabeth Trojian and Robin Bicknell will discuss the archaeological evidence that is currently challenging how earlier generations of scientists framed the peopling of the Americas. Through their expert insights, we learn of new work being done to decolonize the discipline and gain a better understanding of the implications for how we understand our past, present, and future,

Program Partners: 

The Archaeology Centre, University of Toronto

Archaeological Services Inc.

Trent University Archaeological Research Centre

Yap Films

Speakers: 

Hosted by Rhéanne Chartrand, Hatch Curator of Indigenous Art & Culture at ROM

Justin Jennings

Justin Jennings is Senior Curator, Archaeology of the Americas at ROM, where his research centres on early state expansion and the spread of cultural horizons in the Ancient Andes. Dr. Jennings has curated exhibitions on the ancient peoples of Peru and Mexico, and has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Peru for the last twenty years. He is the author of over 11 books and hundreds of articles on his research.  

Paulette Steeves

Paulette Steeves Ph.D. (Cree- Metis) is an Indigenous archaeologist. She was born in Whitehorse, Yukon Territories, and grew up in Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada. In 2000, she received her BA in Anthropology, Honors Cum Laude, from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and in 2008, she was awarded the Clifford D. Clark fellowship for graduate studies at Binghamton University in New York State and was awarded her Ph. D in 2015. Dr. Steeves has taught in Canada and the USA, focusing on Native American and First Nations histories and the decolonization of academia and knowledge production. She is an associate professor in Geography, Geology, and Land Stewardship at Algoma University. In 2019, Dr. Steeves was awarded a five-year Canada Research Chair Tier II in Healing and Reconciliation. Her primary research focuses on the Western Hemisphere's Indigenous Paleolithic and healing and reconciliation. Her book The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere, published in 2021, was awarded an American Library Association Choice 2022 Outstanding Academic Title award.   

Ciprian F. Ardelean

Dr. Ciprian F. Ardelean is a Romanian-Mexican archaeologist established in Ontario, Canada. Born in Arad, Transylvania, Romania, he obtained his BA in Ancient History and Archaeology from Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj (1998). Moving to Mexico in 1999, he obtained an MA from the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH, 2001). He has been Professor of Archaeology at the University of Zacatecas, Mexico, and conducted fieldwork in multiple Mayan settlements of the southwest Yucatan Peninsula on the Candelaria River. While undertaking his PhD (2009-2013, Exeter University), he began leading the “Pleistocene Hunters of the Northern Highlands Archaeological Project” in northern Zacatecas, a 13-year project that has identified over 35 hunter-gatherer localities. Two of them, the world-famous cave sites Chiquihuite Cave and Sima de las Golondrinas, yielded some of the oldest evidence of human occupation in North America, with ages ranging between 12,500 and 26,000 years.

Elizabeth Trojian

Elizabeth Trojian is a Co-Principal and Chief Creative Officer of yap films, as well as an award-winning Producer, Writer and Director. She has worked on and created many television documentaries and series for North American and international broadcasters including Executive Producing the Emmy-nominated How it Feels to Be Free, and the Banff Rockie Award-nominated Ice Age America, Ice and Fire: Tracking Canada’s Climate Crisis. In 2023, Elizabeth Executive Produced Saving the Animals of Ukraine for CBC Gem and PBS Nature.

Elizabeth Trojian is a 2022-24 cultural envoy and diplomat for the United States. This important cultural advocacy work is run by the United States’ State Department through the American Film Showcase and the University of Southern California.

In addition to her work with yap films, Elizabeth is also Co-Founder and Principal of Noodle Factory Post, a boutique post-production house offering finishing services for audio/visual projects. Being a Principal of one of the few women-run post-production companies in Canada, Elizabeth is also part of the advisory committee for The Academy’s Women in Post Program which provides higher-level industry access and professional development for emerging to mid-level female and non-binary creatives working in all areas of post-production.

Robin Bicknell

Robin Bicknell is a multi-award-winning documentary director, producer, and writer. She is currently living in Toronto Canada. Her family is from Louisiana and Indiana in the United States. Bicknell specializes in high-end history, pop culture, deep access, and human stories. She is particularly accomplished at connecting with subjects in interview and excels at creating films and series that are equally authentic and cinematic. 
 
Top broadcasters she has worked with include BBC, Channel 4, A&E, History, PBS, CBC, Discovery Channel, ARTÉ, ZDF, Science Channel, Superchannel , MTV, Channel 5, TLC, Discovery Health, Discovery ID, Canal-Vie, Discovery Europe, Slice Network, W Network, Smithsonian Channel, CTV and Global Television. 
 
Bicknell just completed writing and directing a feature film for Discovery, ARTÉ and CBC's The Nature of Things entitled Walking with Ancients (Ice Age America) about incredible archaeological discoveries that push back the date of human arrival to the Americas by 15,000 years. Currently nominated at the 2024 Realscreen Awards for best non-fiction science and technology documentary. 

About the film: 

The recent discovery of ancient, fossilized footprints in a New Mexico desert challenges everything we thought we knew about humans populating North America. Traditional archaeology tells us humans arrived 13,000 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age. This new discovery, along with several others, now pushes that date back. While the footprints date back to between 23,000 and 21,000 years ago, tools discovered at another site in Mexico are thought to date back to 30,000 years ago, and possibly even earlier. Walking with Ancients documents a scientific paradigm shift in real time. It follows renowned archaeologist Ciprian Ardelean and other renegade scientists over several years as they uncover evidence that humans arrived in the Americas far earlier than previously thought.

A France / Canada co-production 

Co-Produced by Bellota Films and Yap Films Inc  

A CBC Original Production in association with Warner Bros. Discovery, ARTE France  

Produced with the participation of Canada Media Fund, Rogers Documentary Fund and the support of CNC Centre du Cinema et de l’image animée  Création Visuelle et Sonore 

Produced with the assistance of The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Ontario Film and Television Tax Credits 

Talks at ROM are generously supported by The Schmidt Family.