Guided by Tradition: Using Pawnee Oral Histories to Rethink Radiocarbon Dating on the Great Plains is a free evening lecture at the Scotts Bluff National Monument Visitor Center. Carlton Shield Chief Gover, a citizen of the Pawnee Nation and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas, examines how Indigenous oral traditions can inform archaeological methods, particularly radiocarbon sampling strategies.
Drawing on research from Central Great Plains town sites, the talk demonstrates how culturally grounded approaches reshape our understanding of chronology, community formation, and ethnogenesis.
The program begins at 7:00 PM Mountain Time on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, at the visitor center, 190276 Old Oregon Trail, Gering, NE. Free and open to the public.
This program is made possible through the support of Black Hills Parks and Forests Association, the official non-profit partner of Scotts Bluff National Monument. For more information, call the visitor center at 308-436-9700 or visit nps.gov/scbl.