The Institute for the Study of American Cultures (ISAC) was an organization devoted to the study of
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
contact between the Old and New Worlds. Although as an organization it did not espouse any particular theory, it was strongly oriented in a general way toward a hyperdiffusionist view that pre-Columbian contact had been extensive. It was greatly influenced by the work of
Barry Fell
Howard Barraclough Fell (June 6, 1917 – April 21, 1994), better known as Barry Fell, was a professor of invertebrate zoology at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. While his primary professional research included starfish and sea urch ...
.
ISAC was founded b
Dr. Joseph B. Mahan a professional anthropologist whose career was primarily devoted to work in museums. Headquartered in
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...
, ISAC's activities consisted of holding an annual conference and of publishing books advocating the hyperdiffusionist view.
ISAC continued holding annual conferences after the death of its founder and President Dr. Mahan in 1995. The 30th Anniversary Conference was celebrated in 2003. Currently, ISAC's collection is housed at the
Columbus State University
Columbus State University is a public university in Columbus, Georgia. Founded as Columbus College in 1958, the university was established and is administered by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
History
The university w ...
Archives in
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...
.
Organizations with similar perspectives whose memberships overlapped that of ISAC are the
Midwest Epigraphic Society and the
Epigraphic Society.
See also
*
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories are speculative theories which propose that possible visits to the Americas, possible interactions with the indigenous peoples of the Americas, or both, were made by people from Africa, Asia, Europe, ...
*
Pseudoarchaeology
Pseudoarchaeology—also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, cult archaeology, and spooky archaeology—is the interpretation of the past from outside the archaeological science community, which rejects ...
External links
Columbus State University ArchivesDefunct ISAC website available on Wayback Machine's web archiveEpigraphic Society
References
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
Hyperdiffusionism
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