Rosenberry-Donohue Lecture Series: Archaeology of Desperation: Starvation & Survival at the Donner Party's Alder Creek Camp with Dr. Kelly Dixon

The Donner Party’s tragic story is inextricably linked with survival cannibalism when a group of emigrants became snowbound and stranded in the Sierra Nevada during the winter of 1846/47. Archaeological fieldwork at the Donner Family’s Alder Creek camp on the Tahoe National Forest brought attention to the complexities of the human condition, revealing insights into broader issues facing humanity, including risk, vulnerability, and resilience.
Combining the approaches of history, ethnohistory, archaeology, bioarchaeology, and social anthropology, Dixon and her colleagues’ innovative look at the Donner Party’s experience at the Alder Creek Camp offers insights into many long-unsolved mysteries and misunderstandings. Centered on archaeological investigations near Truckee, California and drawing from the book, An Archaeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party’s Alder Creek Camp, this talk will walk you through an analysis of evidence to learn more about what happened out there.