Thanks for the heads-up on this. -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 9:12 AM Subject: [ZOOARCH] from Susan Crockford Dear colleagues, As some of you may know from previous announcements, last summer I participated in the filming of a new PBS documentary on dog evolution and breed development, called "Dogs That Changed the World." The show is now scheduled to air as a two-part Nature special next month in North America (others may be able to view it via satellite systems?): Sunday, April 22, 2007 (8:00pm) Part I Sunday, April 29, 2007 (8:00pm) Part II Around the period ICAZ06 was being held, Tigress Productions (London) took me to Mexico, Sweden and the UK to film a series of interviews discussing the origin of dogs, early human/dog relationships, the recent development of distinct breeds and my theory that thyroxine metabolism played a role in some of these events. Hours of taped interviews reduced, of course, to a few bites: I appear in both parts of the film (two interviews in Part I, three in Part II) and provided extensive consultation. Although I had no say in the final outcome and have so far only seen a synopsis of what got included, I believe this will be the first attempt take some of our archaeological work into account (although, of course, their ultimate goal was to produce an entertaining film....). I am both excited and apprehensive to see the outcome, but at least they asked for advice from one of us and actually took some of it, and that's a start: most other films I've seen only include "expert" interviews with geneticists and/or animal behaviorists/psychologists and figure the science is covered. Note that I did not choose the title! I've copied their press release below. I'll send a short reminder a few days before the first part airs in late April.... Best regards, Susan Crockford, Pacific Identifications, Canada ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM THE NATURE PRESS RELEASE: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/ NATURE PRESENTS A TWO-PART SPECIAL: DOGS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD - THE EPIC STORY OF HOW DOGS ALTERED HUMAN SOCIETY AND WE IN TURN HAVE RADICALLY TRANSFORMED THEM - PREMIERING APRIL 22 AND 29 ON PBS Shot On Location Around The World, From The Pacific To The Arctic, Mideast To Mexico Groundbreaking Scientific Theories On Dogs' Evolution; Today's Designer Dog Trend; Canines' Developing Uses In Cancer Detection And Other Healthcare It is the epic story of one of the most amazing evolutionary journeys ever taken by a species. Thousands of years ago, as humans began to settle in villages, the wolf emerged from the wild and made the startling leap to "man's best friend." Once domesticated, dogs would accompany human cultures down through the centuries and to the far corners of the world. Much more recently, the Victorian Age transformed them into the most varied species, and one of the most common pets, on the planet. And at the dawn of the 21st century, dogs are once more changing our world by their use in cutting-edge scientific research and lifesaving medical care. Part one of NATURE's Dogs That Changed The World, "The Rise of the Dog," premieres Sunday, April 22 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings). Part two, "Dogs by Design," premieres Sunday, April 29 at 8 p.m. (ET). The series is available in High Definition; Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham narrates [NB for his role in Amadeus]. "These programs are an ambitious, comprehensive natural history of the relationship between dogs and humans," notes Fred Kaufman, executive producer of NATURE. "We start with the long-ago dramatic morphing of wolf to dog, and arrive at dogs' competitive breeding and use in medical research today. In between, we travel to the Papua New Guinea jungle, the frozen Arctic, the Mideast desert, rugged British countryside and ancient Mexican ruins to show dogs' varied working roles in different cultures over the ages." Part one, "The Rise of the Dog," explores those roles - the dog as guard, hunter, herder, hauler, and spiritual protector - as well as current theories about the wolf's evolutionary leap. Part two, "Dogs by Design," details a much more recent phenomenon: the explosion of the basic working dog types into the roughly 400 breeds known today. "Dogs by Design" also features evolutionary biologist Susan Crockford, who explains her revolutionary theory that links thyroxine, a hormone that controls dogs' growth rate, to the differentiation of breeds. Dogs That Changed The World is a co-production of Thirteen/WNET New York and Tigress Productions Limited. NATURE is produced by Thirteen/WNET New York for PBS. Fred Kaufman is executive producer; William Grant is executive-in-charge. Major corporate support for NATURE is provided by Canon U.S.A., Inc., and Ford. Additional support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the nation's public television stations. The series is closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and distributed with Descriptive Video Service (DVS) for the sight-impaired. NOTE FROM THE PRODUCERS: Unfortunately, we are not at the stage when we make our programs available online. There will be a website to look at, with excerpts from the show. It's unclear just now which clips will be chosen, but there will be something. And there will be articles, and other resources available. Susan Crockford, PhD Adjunct Professor (Anthropology/Faculty of Graduate Studies), University of Victoria, B.C. see my new book website at www.rhythmsoflife.ca and Pacific Identifications Inc., 6011 Oldfield Rd., R.R.#3 Victoria, B.C. V9E 2J4 Canada (250) 721-7296 fax (250) 721-6215 email <[log in to unmask]>, <[log in to unmask]> www.pacificid.com -- Umberto Albarella Department of Archaeology University of Sheffield Northgate House West Street Sheffield S1 4ET United Kingdom Telephone: (+) 44 (0) 114 22 22 943 Fax: (+) 44 (0) 114 27 22 563 http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/albarella.html For Archaeologists for Global Justice (AGJ) see: http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/global-justice.html "There is no way to peace. Peace IS the way". ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.