LECTURE ON BECKWITH ON TAP TODAY

"Vacant Quarter: The End of Prehistory in The Middle Mississippi Valley" will be the topic when the Southeast Missouri State University Museum and the university's sociology and anthropology department co-host the 1993 Annual Thomas Beckwith Memorial Archaeology Lecture today.

The event is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the University Museum.

Presenting the lecture will be Kit Wesler, director of the research and visitors' center at Wickliffe Mounds, Ky. Wesler is an associate professor at Murray State University and a well known archaeologist. He has done extensive research and field work in prehistoric and historic native American cultures in this region, and has done field work in Africa. Wesler also has written several publications.

His lecture will address the controversy in archaeology concerning prehistoric native Americans disappearing from this area prior to historic contact with European explorers.

The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will follow. The University Museum is located in Memorial Hall, on Circle Drive on the Southeast campus.