UCA professor featured in PBS series

duncan-mckinnonCONWAY—Dr. Duncan McKinnon, visiting assistant professor in anthropology, will appear in a PBS television series this August, Time Team America.

Time Team America is a collaboration of numerous individuals conducting archaeological research in North America. The team is composed of media producers, archaeologists and a suite of scientific specialists and experts that present dynamic stories of the rich and diverse history that defines North America.

On the series, Dr. McKinnon is one of three researchers using geophysical methods at each of the sites that Time Team America investigated.

“It’s been a real pleasure working and engaging with very talented individuals as part of Time Team. One of the highlights of this experience is the focus on integration with ongoing research programs, the inclusion of field school students and the active participation of interested volunteers in the communities we worked,” Dr. McKinnon said. “All this while at the same time learning about the diverse and rich history that defines each of these sites. I’m very excited about the opportunity to be a part of this project and anxious to watch the episodes!”

The team explored and filmed four locations for each of the episodes:

  •  “The Lost Pueblo Villages” in Cortez, Colorado
    1500-year-old Native American village in the southwest
  •  “The Bones of Badger Hole” in the Panhandle in Oklahoma
    10,000-year -old bison kill site on the plains
  •  “The Search for Josiah Henson” in Bethesda, Maryland
    Remains of the plantation where Josiah Henson spent his enslaved life; his memoir is thought to have been inspiration for Uncle Tom’s Cabin
  •  “Lost Civil War Prison” in Jenkins County, Georgia
    A large Confederate prison camp where hundreds of Union POWs perished

“The Search for Josiah Henson-the Man Behind the Story of Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “The Bones of Badger Hole” airs on Tuesday, August 19. The “Lost Civil War Prison” and Lost Pueblo Village” air on Tuesday, August 26. The programs air at 8 p.m.

The upcoming series was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Dr. McKinnon is an anthropological archaeologist with extensive experience and training using geophysical technologies to investigate past human behavior. As a visiting assistant professor at UCA, Dr. McKinnon teaches a variety of courses in anthropology, archaeology and Native American studies where he strives to engage students in the real-world application of anthropological perspectives and diversity of the human experience.

Click on the following link to learn more about Dr. McKinnon. www.duncanmckinnon.com.

To see the PBS videos, click http://www.pbs.org/time-team/home/.

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