Thanks for the heads-up on this.
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".