This Brown Bag Lecture, sponsored by Penn Cultural Heritage Center, will be given by Lawrence Coben, SPI’s Executive Director and an archaeologist affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. Coben is also the founder, chairman and CEO of Tremisis Energy Corporation, a company that invests in and advises businesses in the energy and environmental sectors, and has served as CEO of both public and private companies.

Archaeological research and preservation have traditionally brought few economic benefits to the local communities in which sites are located. And to the extent such benefits existed, they lasted only as long as a particular project or program was ongoing. As a result, communities have utilized their sites in ways that are economically superior, including looting, agriculture, and home building. This talk argues that only through locally-controlled and sustainable economic development can this process be reversed, and that only through providing an alternative to the destructive uses described above can we save much of the world's cultural patrimony.

Here's a link to this and upcoming PCHC events: http://www.pennchc.org/page/coben2014