Episode 20: AJV Archaeology No. 020 - LEGACY Pt. I - The First Americans and America's Columbus - Dr. Jessi Halligan and Dr. Morgan Smith - a podcast by Aj Van Slyke

This is the first episode of the “LEGACY” series and is brought to you by Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica. The Maritime Legacy Project is a geoarchaeological initiative to Search for Columbus’s last shipwrecks in Jamaica which are the maritime component of the Taíno-Spanish Encounter of 1503. Archaeologists Aj Van Slyke and Morgan Smith from the Maritime Legacy Project:Jamaica interview Jessi Halligan and talk about the pre-contact landscape of the Americas.

In the coming months, the LEGACY series will interview the co-founders of the Maritime Legacy Project, Mare Everett Franklin and Dorrick Gray as well as others who have searched for the Caravels or join our team such as: Shawn Joy, Gabrielle Miller, and Chris Horrell.

Dr. Jessi Halligan of the Florida State University and Dr. Morgan Smith of the University of Tennessee, Chatanooga, join the Podcast for an intriguing look at the archaeology of the First Americans. Recorded on Leif Erikson day (October 9, 2022) on the day before Indigenous People's Day/Columbus Day, this Podcast broadens the context about humanity's arrival to the Americas and the rise of Columbus as an American symbol. With the broaden context, Halligan and Smith discuss the earliest sites in the Americas, their study of those specific geoarchaeological sites, and how archaeology continues to refine our understanding of symbols of the past.

Find the podcast wherever you enjoy podcasts or at ajvarchaeology.org

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Website of Aj Van Slyke