7:00 p.m.

Americas Society
680 Park Avenue
New York

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Courtesy of the artists.

In Search of Lost Future: Documentary Film and Panel Discussion

A screening of the documentary In Search of Lost Future, followed by panel discussion centered on recent findings in anthropology, archaeology, and paleo-climatology that shed light on recurring themes underlying the demise of past civilizations.

7:00 p.m.

Americas Society
680 Park Avenue
New York

Share

Courtesy of the artists.

Overview

Registration for this event is now closed. Limited seating will be available at the door on the night of the event.

Admission: FREE and open to the public. 

Not yet a member? Learn how to become an AS member or a YPA member to access this event.

A screening of the documentary In Search of Lost Future will be followed by a panel discussion centered on recent findings in anthropology, archaeology, and paleo-climatology that shed light on recurring themes underlying the demise of past civilizations.

The panel discussion following the screening will feature journalist Luis Quevedo, geosciences professor Martín Medina Elizalde, geophysicist Richard Seager, and anthropology professor Radu Iovita

About the Film

In a road trip that spans the African heat and the polar chill, the lush fertile crescent in Turkey, and the impossible tangle of the Mayan jungle, a makeshift group of explorers searches for clues left by ancient societies. Might these clues help us understand the essential mechanisms that underpin all civilizations? What enabled the blossoming of culture and trade, and what precipitated the collapse of those who came before us?

This journey, led by renowned Spanish archaeologist Eudald Carbonell—Director of the Atapuerca site and a discoverer of Homo antecessor—and science journalist Luis Quevedo, explores the concept of "cultural evolution" as the engine of humanity’s singular progress, which has enabled us, from a situation from near extinction in Africa 150,000 years ago, to inhabit the planet in its entirety.

The secret? We human beings are doomed to think in much the same way giraffes are condemned to nibble at the tops of the acacia tree. To know, to think, underlies the behavior of our species: a singular behavior among living things that has led us to modify our environment rather than adapt to it.

In collaboration with:

 

Consulate General of Spain in New York