Professor Matisoo-Smith is a molecular anthropologist and Professor at the University of Otago’s Department of Anatomy; she holds her degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Auckland (MA and PhD).  Her areas of specialization are Pacific prehistory and origins of Pacific peoples, ancient and modern DNA analysis, and she has recently begun work on tracking Phoenician expansions across the Mediterranean.  Professor Matisoo-Smith is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Society of Antiquities, London, and her publications include DNA for Archaeologists (with K.A. Horsburgh, 2012).

This lecture is co-sponsored with the Narragansett Society, the Rhode Island chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America and is part of the AIA’s Jo Anne Van Tilburg Lecture Series.

Dr. Matisoo-Smith will also be a keynote speaker in the State of the Field 2019: The Ancient DNA Revolution in Archaeology starting on Friday, February 22 at 4:00pm in RI Hall 108.

Watch a video of the lecture here: Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith - Recent Advances in Understanding the Human Settlement of the Pacific