Lecture At WCSU On Lost Metropolis Of Ancient Mexico

DANBURY — Archaeologist Dr Kim Goldsmith will separate facts from myths in the scientific study of ancient Mexico’s legendary metropolis Teotihuacan in her guest lecture Monday, November 12, at Western Connecticut State University.

Dr Goldsmith, who has pursued archaeological research at the Teotihuacan site near modern-day Mexico City for more than two decades, will offer her narrated slide-show presentation at 7 pm in Science Building Room 125 on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White Street. Her lecture, titled “The Ancient Mexican Capital of Teotihuacan: Archaeological Facts, Falsehoods and Feasibilities,” will be free and the public is invited.

The talk will be the first in the 2007-08 series of WestConn “Science at Night” lectures, organized by the School of Arts and Sciences to promote broader understanding and discussion of a diversity of scientific themes of public interest. Dr Goldsmith’s lecture will be sponsored jointly by the departments of biological and environmental sciences, social sciences, and world languages and literature as part of “International Education Week” at WestConn.

Goldsmith, who holds a PhD from the University of California at Riverside, has conducted extensive archaeological digs and field analysis of artifact finds, including a comprehensive study classifying more than 2,000 clay figurines recovered at the site of the ancient city. She observed in a summary of this study that these artifacts have provided a window on “the ideology, culture, and daily life of the people who used and produced them.” 

Dr Goldsmith has served as a guide and lecturer on the historical significance of the site, home to famous ruins such as the Temples of the Sun and the Moon, for many international groups and prestigious guests including former Presidents Carter and Clinton. Her research has been featured in television documentaries on the National Geographic and History Channel cable networks and the BBC.

Her lecture at WestConn will discuss some of the most lively topics of current scientific debate over the mysteries shrouding the origins, religious and secular practices, and decline of Teotihuacan.

For more information, call Assistant Professor of Biological and Environmental Sciences Dr Theodora Pinou at 837-8793 or the Office of University Relations at 837-8486.