Lake County Libraries

(Lakeview, Ore)— The Lake County Library Endowment Fund will present Dennis Jenkins, a Senior Research Archaeologist for the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon, as speaker for the 2016 Library Endowment Dinner. The dinner will be held on Saturday, October 15, 2016, with a no-host reception fundraiser at the new Main Library from 5 to 6 pm followed by dinner at 6:30 at the Elks Lodge. Jenkins talk is on archaeology and science at the Paisley Caves.
 
Dr. Luther Cressman’s 1938-1940 excavations at the Paisley Caves in Oregon discovered exciting evidence suggesting that people may have lived there as early as the Late Pleistocene, some 12,000 to 15,000 years ago.  However, it was not until recent developments in ancient DNA testing that he was proven correct. Dating of camel and horse bones, artifacts, twigs, and dried human feces containing Native American DNA between 12,900 and 14,500 years ago indicates that people lived in the caves and apparently hunted camels, horses, and other animals at the end of the Pleistocene. 
Dr. Jenkins will explain the scientific processes and results of archaeological and paleogenetic investigations at the Paisley Caves, bringing the audience the most up-to-date information about the evidence for the pre-Clovis (13,000 years ago) association of humans and Pleistocene animals in Oregon’s high desert country more than 14,000 years ago. 
 
​A native Oregonian, Jenkins was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada where he earned his BA (1977) and MA (1981) in anthropology at UNLV. He has taught and directed the UO’s annual Northern 
 

Great Basin archaeological field school in central Oregon since 1989. His research focuses on the first colonization of the Americas, obsidian sourcing and hydration, prehistoric shell bead trade, and settlement-subsistence patterns of the Northern Great Basin. He is an active researcher with publications in such prestigious journals as Science and Nature. He has made 11 appearances in television documentaries and has authored, co-authored, and edited numerous books, articles, and reports.
This year’s fundraising items include a special raffle item for a one-week stay in Hawaii. Stay is for a 1-bedroom ocean-side condo that sleeps up to 4 donated by Margot Dodds. Winner must provide their own airfare. Only 150 tickets for this item will be sold at a cost of $20 each. Regular raffle items include artwork, wine basket, a collection of books written by local authors, and more. Regular raffle tickets are $1 each, six tickets for $5, or arms’ length for $20. All raffle tickets sales begin on Wednesday, October 5, 2016 in the Main Library. You need not be present at the dinner to win raffle items.
 
Tickets to the dinner are $25 and may be purchased or reserved at the Lakeview library. No ticket or reservation is required for the no-host reception at the Main Library, which is open to all. Questions about the event may be directed to Amy Hutchinson, Lake County Library Director, at 541-947-6019.