In 1874, mining prospector Alferd Packer and five companions tried to cross the Rocky Mountains. Only Packer lived. The bodies of his companions were found and a firestorm of controversy ensued.
Packer told different accounts of their deaths. The press went wild with talk of betrayal, murder and cannibalism. Even after he was convicted and served 18 years the controversy continued. Dr. Erin Baxter provides a 21st century take on Alferd Packer analyzing historical information, new archaeological data, and experimental archaeology to tell and re-tell the story of the Colorado Cannibal.
Erin Baxter has worked in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Turkey, Bolivia, Ireland, and Tunisia, but has returned (quite happily) to Denver and the American Southwest where guinea pig and cat are not on the menu. She’s super interested in using old museum collections to answer questions about the ancient past. In her other life, she is an instructor of archaeology at CU-Boulder and teaches courses on Southwestern archaeology, method and theory, human prehistory and her personal favorite, the archaeology of death. Currently she’s working on projects related to cannibalism, ancient witchcraft, the superlative architecture from Aztec Ruins, the Toriette Lakes Great Kiva, Magic Mountain, and W.S. Ranch.
AGE GROUP: | Adult |
EVENT TYPE: | Online | Class |
TAGS: | lectureseries | #lecture | #adultlecture |
