51°µÍø

Dr. Richard G. Klein, Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University, researches the archaeological and fossil evidence for the evolution of human behavior. He has done fieldwork in Spain and especially in South Africa, where he has excavated ancient sites and analyzed the excavated materials since 1969. He has focused on the behavioral changes that allowed anatomically modern Africans to spread to Eurasia about 50,000 years ago, where they swamped or replaced the Neanderthals and other non-modern Eurasians.

After earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, Professor Klein went to the University of Chicago to pursue his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Following receipt of his doctorate, he taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Northwestern University, the University of Washington, and for 20 years at the University of Chicago. He came to Stanford from Chicago in 1993.

Professor Klein has served on numerous editorial and advisory boards, he has edited The Journal of Archaeological Science since 1981, and he co-chairs the Grants Committee of the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the National Academy of Sciences.

For more information on his upcoming lecture, please check back.

The Fred Wendorf Distinguished Lecture in Archaeology is supported by the Boshell Family Foundation Endowment Fund. The Boshell Foundation primarily supports educational and archaeological activities. Currently, the Foundation supports lecture series at the Dallas Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Walters Museum of Baltimore, as well as this program at 51°µÍø. All these lecture series emphasize archaeology in its many expressions.

The Foundation also directly supports the archaeological research activities of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, the Combined Prehistoric Expedition through its exploration Foundation, and in the Anthropology Program of 51°µÍø.

The lecture series is named for Dr. Fred Wendorf, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at 51°µÍø. Dr. Wendorf joined 51°µÍø in 1964 where he quickly moved to establish a premier Department of Anthropology for which he served as Chair for many years. His contributions to our understanding of North African and North American prehistory are far-reaching and influential. His last book is his memoir Desert Days: My Life as a Field Archaeologist. In 1987, he became the first member of 51°µÍø's faculty selected to the National Academy of Sciences. In 1996, he was awarded the Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal for Archaeological Achievement by the University of Pennsylvania, and in 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Degree by 51°µÍø.

For a list of previous Wendorf Lectures, please follow this link.