November 12, 2026: Eric Rodriguez-Delgado

Shelter Through the Storms: Ancient Community and Place on the North Coast of Borikén
Eric Rodriguez-Delgado, PhD Candidate, University of California, San Diego

Eric Rodriguez DelgadoZoom link: https://tinyurl.com/CGCnov2026

The North Atlantic is no stranger to the transformative power and destruction brought by hurricanes and other extreme weather events. As global conditions are projected to increase the intensity and frequency of these events, how will our communities navigate this changing world? This lecture approaches this question through the archaeology of Tierras Nuevas, a pre-Columbian ceremonial complex situated on the north-central coast of Borikén.

Using ancient storm records interpreted from sediment cores and the reconstructed history of site activities, this talk investigates how societies have navigated the changing environments and intense weather events for the past 5,000 years. In doing so, this lecture demonstrates the critical role that archaeology and community play in fostering the care and knowledge necessary to develop effective coastal hazard management strategies for the places we call home.

Eric Rodriguez-Delgado is a marine archaeologist with over 14 years experience working on academic and commercial projects in the Americas, Italy, Great Britain, Lebanon, Japan, and the Caribbean. Central to his experiences is his fascination with dynamic landscapes and how societies respond and adapt amidst these changes. His current research examines this topic in pre-contact societies in vulnerable environments during periods of climatic shifts. He holds a B.Phil in Anthropology and History from the University of Pittsburgh (2012) and an MA in Maritime Archaeology from the University of Southampton (2014), where his research focused on reconstructing sea-level rise impacts on environments and prehistoric settlement patterns for the Humber Estuary. Eric is currently completing his PhD at the University of California, San Diego, and works as a submerged pre-contact archaeologist for AECOM.