Calendar

Dr Peter Bogucki, archeologist, Princeton University

Farming first came to the valleys of the Odra and Wisła rivers, the area of modern-day Poland and adjacent regions, over 7,000 years ago. In recent years, a burst of excavations and new analytical techniques have provided a much better understanding of the establishment of farming settlements between about 5500 and 4000 BC. Pioneer farmers came north through the Western Carpathians and settled the fertile uplands of Małopolska and Śląsk as well as in Kuyavia and other parts of the lowlands. Dr Bogucki who has studied these early farming societies for nearly 50 years will present the archeological discoveries of this area and their relationship with contemporaneous developments elsewhere in Europe.

Dr Peter Bogucki received his PhD from Harvard University and serves as associate dean for undergraduate affairs of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University. He studies the prehistoric societies of central and northern Europe and has a particular interest in the spread of farming and its consequences.

He has written several books, including Forest Farmers and Stockherders: Early Agriculture and its Consequences in North-Central Europe (Cambridge University Press, 1988), The Origins of Human Society (Blackwell, 1999), and Lost Civilizations: The Barbarians (Reaktion Books 2017), along with many articles and chapters in scholarly and popular books and journals. Dr Bogucki is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. As associate dean for undergraduate affairs, he has executive oversight of the academic progress and professional development of nearly 1,600 candidates for the Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree.