PRESIDENT’S CORNER by John Furey, M.A., RPA

FAS 2020, the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Florida Anthropological Society (FAS) which was to take place on May 8-10 has been rescheduled to October 2-4 at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples. This was cancelled due to the Covid-19 virus and the rescheduled date should get us past this pandemic. SWFAS is the host chapter for the FAS 2020 Annual Meeting. Please go to the FAS website for any updates on the program and to register.

The following statement was released by FAS:
     The Board of the Florida Anthropological Society and the Southwest Florida Anthropological Society are pleased to announce the 2020 Annual Conference and Meeting has been rescheduled to October 2-4, 2020 in Naples. These dates may be subject to change or cancellation should the COVID-19 threat not be abated by that time. We will continue to monitor the situation and follow any guidelines set forth by the Center for Disease Control and the Florida Department of Health.
     If you had previously registered for the conference and are no longer interested in attending, you may contact Charlie Strader at swfas@explorationsinc.com to request a full refund. For those who are interested in attending in October, we graciously ask that you allow us to carry over your registration fees to the October dates. We will have more information about registration soon.
     If you submitted an abstract and would like to withdraw it, please contact John Furey at jffurey@charter.net to do so. We will have more information about presenting at the October conference soon, including carrying over already submitted abstracts and a new call for papers. The Ritz-Carlton has indicated that room reservations made for May will be automatically cancelled by the hotel. Guests intending to attend the rescheduled conference will be able to rebook their rooms through the new conference link available on the FAS website in the near future.
     Thanks to everyone for your patience and understanding as we've been working through these decisions the past few weeks.

The Covid 19 Virus Pandemic has been affecting our planned presentations and we are using the SWFAS Newsletter as a communication tool to keep you informed. This month we have also cancelled the April 15, 2020 Presentation at the Collier County Museum at Government Center in Naples by Bob Carr.

In this issue: Neanderthals, not the Calusa, using shell tools and eating clams? Migrations and population dynamics shaped early human culture; a new look at the Beringia land bridge. New perspectives on both the old and new world.

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