A2 THE FREE PRESS OUR TOWN OCTOBER 19, 1995 CALENDAR ^October 19 • The PG Rail & Forest Industry Museum general meeting is 7:30 p.m. at the PG Printers Boardroom (upstairs 1837 South Ogilvie). All welcome to preserve our history. • The Canadian Hard of Hearing Association meets tonight, 7:30 p.m., at CNC room 3-201. Call 964-6620 or 563-3304 for information. ► October 20 • Everyone is welcome to the Community Volunteer Network’s first ever Volunteer Fair. Over 30 agencies will have displays in the UNBC Northwood Winter-garden. It runs noon-9 p.m. ► October 21 • The Sacred Heart Auditorium is the site for a 50’s/60’s dance, music by Party Sound. Cost is $12.50 with a buffet at 11. Costumes welcomed but not required. Proceeds go to a Young Adults Group and the Sacred Heart PAC. call 563-5201 or 563-6388. • The comer of 5th and Victoria is the site for the Victoria Street Market at the All Angels’ Anglican Church. There will food, crafts, quilts and Christmas decorations. Call 564-4511. • The Salmon River Gymkhana Club awards and dance is at the Salmon Valley Hall. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Call 971-2373 or 971-2424 to reserve tickets. Digging deep for history Celebrating women’s past A m October is Women’s Histnrv Month and to celebrate this Dr. Elizabeth French’s presentation at the Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum is now history. The director of the British School of Archeology in Athens came to Prince George to discuss her forte, the excavation of Myce-nea. It is her first visit to B.C. and this was one of only eight lectures on this Canadian tour. “I’m a second generation archeologist," the lighthearted lady says through her lilting British accent. “My father also was. The area of his study was the late Bronze Age. When he died he left a lot of work unfinished, so I took some of it up.” The job of archeologist is sometimes compared to the person who cleans up after the party. There is no glamour, a lot of work created by other people’s discards, but the elation of stumbling upon hidden treasures. “We had one little ‘eureka’ when we found a cult centre with all kinds of strange idols,” she relates. “A lot of archeologists call things religious if they can’t be explained, but in this case there could be no other explanation. I’m quite convinced, however, that several cooking utensils have been labeled ’ritualistic.’” There are two primary goals of Dr. French. The first is to compile a data base of all knowledge on the Bronze Age that has been collected thus far. She basically wants to take inventory on all the various digs. The second goal is more imposing. “I would like to find out what made the Bronze Age civilization decline,” she says without pretension. “I would like to know why these brilliant cultures in Crete and Greece faded about 1100 BC. It may have been purely political, like the fall of communism, or it may have been drought or some climate shift that threw the economic base. There is some evidence to support this. What we do know is, the bureaucratic centres collapsed but some trading centres lived.” Dr. French is listed among the top half dozen experts on the Greek Bronze Age, and in her position at the head of the British School of Archeology in Athens (she is retiring) she feels qualified to criticize the lack of funding for this research. Archeology is actually classified an art instead of a science, even though it more closely resembles forensics than literature or October is Women’s History Month and to celebrate this event the Prince George Women’s Centre is holding a series of activities for people to participate in. There will be a presentation every Wednesday in the month to address this issue. Call the centre at 564-4329 for information, or Susan Lee at 562-6667. Dr. Elizabeth French wears a suit of armour from the Greek Bronze Age. Contributed Photo drama. She also laments the lack of committed undergraduates, although she has some fine assistants at the moment. “There is a lot of tediousness to the job,” says Dr. French, “but it’s fun to be in the field and see a building sight develop. Sometimes you will run across some weirdo artifact you just can’t explain. You have to put it into the GOK (God Only Knows) file, but five or six years later you might discover something else that puts it into its context and makes sense. That’s what leads to future answers and further studies.” oV^stpah^ INSTANT CASH -O.A.C.— Hand st°1 Now Accepting Furniture and Appliances on Loan 1126 Third Ave. Prince George, B.C. 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