SC Announcement

ANNOUNCEMENT

The first 40 years of the Archaeological Society of South Carolina's journal, South Carolina Antiquities is now available on DVD for FREE (to new or renewing 2009 members). If you don't want to join copies can be obtained for $25.

Individual and student memberships are $20 and $15 respectively. See out web site for further membership options and for an order form / application (http:assc.net - click on “Publications”).

Articles focus on South Carolina and the Southeast. Contributors range from non-professionals to some of the leaders in the field. Articles run the gamut from discussions of hunter-gatherers to modern city dwellers.

Contact Carl Steen for more information: E-mail: carl.steen@gmail.com.

To order send a check (and application) made out to the ASSC to:

Carl Steen
PO Box 50394
Columbia SC 29250.

Indian settlement saved from development with Land Trust purchase

This is a great news story on a site in South Carolina. I had the opportunity to observe the artifacts recovered from archaeological excavations at the site a few years back. The site was proposed for development, but instead will be protected as a natural preserve. Please follow the link and check it out. It just shows that archaeologists are accomplishing some great things!

Historic Preservation Group on Ning...the Lincoln County Historical Association

Our organization has a newly created site in addition to our other sites. Please visit at to become a member:
http://lincolncountyhistory.ning.com/

Standing On A Box

Standing on a Box (Exhibit)
Lewis Hine's National Child Labor Committee
Photography Gaston County, 1908

A multi-part community project exploring Greater Gaston's early twentieth-century textile heritage and its influence on our present and future.


Please check out the link for further details and dates.

Presented By:Gaston County Public Library, Gaston County Museum of Art & History, Preservation North Carolina, Gaston Arts Council, Friends of the Gaston County Public Library, Gaston County Historic Preservation Commission, Levine Museum of the New South, The Gaston Gazette.

Annual ASSC Fall Field Day

ASSC and Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site present:

"Historic Indian Trade and Colonial Interactions"On October 25th, 2008, between 10am and 4pm Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site will host the ASSC's 21th Annual Fall Field Day. Visit their web site for maps and more info: http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/park-finder/state-park/725.aspx

Join the Archaeological society of South Carolina, Inc. for the 21st Annual Archaeology Field Day at Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site near Summerville, South Carolina. Event begins at 10 a.m. and lasts until 4 p.m. Colonial Dorchester offers a wonderful setting to discover the past. Its tabby fort ruins and the brick bell tower of St. George's Anglican Church set a historic atmosphere and its archaeological record offers a window into village life from 1697 until the American Revolution.

The theme for this year's event will focus on Historic Indian Trade and Colonial Interactions. The Society's goal is to educate the public about the past that can be found beneath their feet by offering presentations and demonstrations, which bring life to the archaeological record and show the human side of history. While the theme, Historic Indian Trade and Colonial Interactions is our focus, presentations and demonstrations will not be limited to this subject.

There will be other technological demonstrations of maritime archaeological techniques and terrestrial remote sensing. Archaeologists will be there discussing excavations of historic sites which have informed us about the interactions between Native Americans, African and Europeans. Demonstrators include: aboriginal skills, colonial lifeways, Revolutionary War soldiers and more. Native American groups will be there to talk about their history and current culture. Tour fascinating archaeological exhibits and bid on unusual gifts at a Society fundraising auction. Please contact Nena Powell Rice if you have items for the auction (nrice@sc.edu / 777-8170 / (803) 331-3431 Cell).

Pack your picnic basket if you're coming for the afternoon or purchase food from concessions on-site. Please bring a lawn chair and/or blankets, items to be donated to the Society auction, and your favorite artifacts for identification. The all-day event fees are $8/adult, $5/child, or $6/senior. For further information contact: Sean Taylor, Vice-President of the ASSC and Archaeologist at SC Department of Natural Resources-Heritage Trust Program, (803) 734-3753 or Nena Powell Rice, SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, (803) 777-8170. This event is sponsored and partially funded by the Archaeological Society of South Carolina, Inc., SC Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, Leigh Fibers, Archaeological Consultants of the Carolinas, and Diachronic Research Foundation.

The Heritage Health Index Report

Summarizes the findings of the first comprehensive survey to assess the condition of the U.S. collections. The study concluded that immediate action is needed to prevent the loss of irreplaceable artifacts held in collecting institutions, large and small, from internationally renowned art museums and research libraries to local historical societies and specialized archives.

National Council on Public History Conference

National Council on Public HistoryWorking Group Call

NCPH working groups, led by senior practitioners and involving up to twelve participants, will allow conferees to explore in depth a subject of shared concern. In these innovative seminar-like conversations, participants will have a chance to discuss questions raised by specific programs, problems, or initiatives in their own public history practice with peers grappling with similar issues. For the 2009 Annual Meeting, six working groups are being assembled.

To apply, please send your one- or two-page resume or c.v. and a one-paragraph abstract of your case statement by October 31 to ncph@iupui.edu. Please include the specific working group title in the subject line of your email. Learn more about the April 2-5 conference by visiting www.ncph.org or calling 317-274-2716.

New Magazine Available from Camden, SC

JOIN or DIE
MUSTERING THIS FALL, 2008


Call to join the Continental cause for the American Revolution! Dispatched to you: a new quality magazine for the education about, promotion for and preservation of the people, places and principles of the Revolutionary War and the founding of our country. Come ye historians, living history reenactors, scholars, history buffs, authors, tourists, archaeologists, military gamers, military miniaturists, members of heritage and patriotic organizations such as the
SAR, DAR, Society of the Cincinnati, photographers, genealogists, preservationists, metal detectionists, 18th Century enthusiasts, site supervisors, teachers, etc.

The American Revolution Association is a national, nonprofit organization advocating LIBERTY and all things of and about the American Revolution. This includes connecting historians and historic sites. JOIN, contribute your time, talent and/or treasure to the enduring march of freedom. Without each other, stories are lost; hallowed fields forgotten; legacies diminished; banners furled; battles lost; and we die.

ENLIST TODAY!
Membership includes five (5) issues of American Revolution magazine, ($36 to be billed with first issue) keeping you current with informative articles, commentary, networking, and updated calendar; primary invitations to Revolutionary events and conferences nation-wide; a wallet card for enrollment; and the heart-felt knowledge that YOU
are making good things happen of historic difference on the ground and in the minds of AMERICA.


Name: ______________________________________________________________
Street: ______________________________________________________________
City: _______________________________________________________________
State/Zip: ___________________________________________________________
Phone: __________________________
Email: ______________________________________________________________

The American Revolution Association
306 Hampton Park office
P.O. Box 1716
Camden, SC 29021
803.425.8710
david@americanrevolutionassociation .com

"The battle is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave..."

NC Coastal Plain Symposium

N.C. archeologists to meet at ECU; public invited

GREENVILLE, NC (Oct. 1, 2008) -- North Carolina archeologists will gather at East Carolina University next week to discuss recent research in the coastal plain.

A symposium, “Twenty-five Years and Counting: Current Archeological Research in the North Carolina Coastal Plain,” will be held Saturday, Oct. 11, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Willis Hall on ECU’s campus. The public is invited to this free event.

The symposium is being held more than 25 years after the publication of “Prehistory in North Carolina,” a prominent guide to state archeology in its time. Presenters will discuss discoveries made since that journal’s release, as well as the direction of future studies. Their findings will be compiled in a new publication about archeology in the coastal plain.

Charles Ewen, ECU archeologist and symposium organizer, said the past 25 years have brought many changes to the study of archeology here.

“There are so many more archeologists in North Carolina today, and a lot more work is being done. As much, if not more archeology, has been done in the last 25 years, than in all of the previous years combined,” he said.

Ewen said much of that research has been driven by development. Before land can be developed, archeological surveys must be completed.

New data, Ewen said, have not changed common perceptions of history but, rather, filled in the gaps.
“We’re finding out more about the hunting and gathering societies in eastern North Carolina, and what life was like for the colonists. We’re rethinking what life was like back then,” he said.

The symposium will feature studies of all time periods, from the Paleoindian-Archaic period through Woodland and Historic periods. Some of the subjects include Native American subsistence practices, ongoing research at Fort Raleigh, underwater archeology and the digital future of research in the coastal plain.

Ewen encouraged the public to attend the talks, which will be accessible to everyone. “Everybody likes archeology; they just don’t know too much about it,” he said. “This will be a great opportunity to learn new things about North Carolina history.”

A reception planned for Friday, Oct. 10, will feature Dr. Stanley South, a well-known historical archeologist in the Carolinas who will discuss several of his recent inquiries into the archeological record of North and South Carolinas.

Registration for these free events will continue through Friday, Oct. 3. Walk-in guests are welcome to attend but will not receive lunch on Saturday.

To register or for more information, contact John Mintz John.Mintz@ncmail.net or Charles Ewen, ewenc@ecu.edu



Schedule for Symposium and Presentations:

9:00-9:10 AM
Welcome and Introduction to the Symposium, John J. Mintz (North Carolina Office of State Archaeology, Charles R. Ewen (Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University), and Lawrence E. Abbott (North Carolina Office of State Archaeology)


Paleoindian-Archaic Period Studies

9:10-9:30 AM
Geoarchaeological Investigations of Stratified Holocene Aeolian Deposits along the Tar River in North Carolina, Chris Moore, Savannah River Archaeological Research Program
.
9:30-9:50 AM
The Lithic Resources of the North Carolina Coastal Plain: Prehistoric Acquisition and Utilization Patterns, Lawrence Abbott, Office of State Archaeology, Kathleen Farrell, John Nickerson, and Kenny Gay, North Carolina Geological Survey

9:50-10:10 AM
“Paleoindian and Archaic Period Research in the North Carolina Coastal Plain” I. Randolph Daniel, Jr., Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University
.


BREAK 10:10-10:25 AM



Woodland Period Studies

10:25-10:45 AM
“Recent Woodland Archaeology of the North Carolina Coast” Joe Herbert, Ph.D. Cultural Resources Management Program, Fort Bragg, NC

10:45-11:05 AM
Woodland Period Site Distribution and Landscape Use in the Coastal Plain of Southeastern North Carolina-Tracy L. Millis (TRC Environmental Corporation, Inc.)

11:05-11:25 AM
Native American Subsistence Practices in Coastal North Carolina: Current Evidence and Future Directions. Dale Hutchinson, Ph.D., C. Margaret Scarry, Ph.D., Kim Schaefer, and Ben Shields, Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

11:25-11:45 AM
Broad Reach Revisited – What We Know Now
Heather Millis (TRC Environmental Corporation, Inc.)

LUNCH 11:45 AM-1:00 PM



Historic Period Studies

1:00 PM- 1:20 PM
Reenvisioning North Carolina's Coastal History. Charles R. Ewen, Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University

1:20-1:40 PM
“they in respect of troubling our inhabiting and planting, are not to be feared:” Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Native Coastal Populations Before and After European Contact. John J. Mintz (North Carolina Office of State Archaeology), Thomas E. Beaman, Jr. (Tar River Archaeological Research), and Paul J. Mohler (North Carolina Department of Transportation)

1:40- 2:00 PM
Archaeological Research at Fort Raleigh: The Past 20 Years. Phillip Evans, Eric Klingelhofer, Nicholas Luccketti First Colony Foundation


BREAK 2:00-2:15 PM


2:15- 2:35 PM
Material Snapshots of Tuscarora Life: The State of Cashie phase Research in Eastern North Carolina. Charles L. Heath, Fort Bragg CRMP, E. Clay Swindell, University of Leicester, and David S. Phelps, East Carolina University (Emeritus), John E. Byrd, Central Identification Laboratory, Hickam AFB.

2:35-2:55 PM
Giving Voice to a Silent Past: African American Archaeology in Coastal
North Carolina. Patricia M. Samford, Ph.D., Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory, St. Leonard, Maryland.


2:55-3:15 PM
Forty Years Beneath the Waves: Underwater Archeology in North Carolina
Richard Lawrence, Office of State Archaeology Deputy State Archaeologist, Underwater


BREAK 3:15-3:30 PM


New Problems- New Opportunities

3:30-3:50 PM
Now You See It; Now You Don’t. Coastal Erosion and Coastal Cottages: Twenty Years of Cultural Resource Management Studies.
Loretta Lautzenheiser, Susan Bamann, Ph.D., Dennis Gosser,
Coastal Carolina Research, Inc.


3:50-4:10 PM
Present and Future Trends in Coastal Development Patterns
Doug Huggett, Division of Coastal Management Major Permits Coordinator


4:10-4:30 PM
Taking a Byte From Your Trowel: Is There a Digital Future for the North Carolina Coastal Plain’s Past? Scott Madry, Ph.D., Research Associate, Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

PANEL DISCUSSION. 4:40-5:00 pm
Steve Claggett, NC State Archaeologist
Charles Ewen, Professor, Anthropology, East Carolina University
Randy Daniel, Professor, Anthropology, East Carolina University

Mystery Question

This week I am posting a photograph of the Battleground Theatre that was located in the vicinity of the Ramsour's Mill Battlefield, in Lincolnton, NC. The theatre was used for the productions of "Thunder Over Carolina" many years ago. Currently the site is no longer extant, but the LCHA is trying to relocate the original location of the theatre at the battleground. If anyone has any information or stories they would like to share with us about the theatre it would be greatly appreciated. You can post your comments to the blog, contact me, January Porter, at the LCHA via e-mail listed on the blog, or contact us at the office at (704) 748-9090.

I have encountered many issues with cuts in the non-profit world, but this issue completely shocked me. I have posted two letters that were sent out last week in regard to the cuts of the archaeology program at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. The idea is tragic, much less the program itself is something that has been building over the last 70 years. The second response, is in response to the first announcement about the cuts. Upon reading the announcements, I realize that I am skeptical about what will actually happen in the end. What I do hope, is that the organization will not be another to succumb to profit cuts and generalized assumptions of what is truly important in examining and interpreting the past.


Read as follows:


Some sad news from the United States, which will not only have an impact on the discipline across the pond but which will also reverberate in the very vibrant fields of historical, post-medieval and industrial archaeology in the UK and Europe. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which in many ways pioneered historical archaeology and has always been central to the discipline over the last 75 or so years, has closed the Department of Archaeological Research.Professor Marley R. Brown III, who was selected by Ivor Noel Hume to direct the department in 1982, has been made redundant. Curatorial and laboratory duties have devolved to the Collections division, while the one remaining full-time archaeologist now works for the Department of Architectural History (in an rather ironic full swing back to the 1930's division of labour). Those of you who enjoyed the 1984, 1997, and 2007 SHA/SPMA events in Williamsburg, and of course all of us concerned about the past, the present and the future of the discipline of historical/post-medieval archaeology, will be anxious about this development.

PaulPaul Belford, BSc., MA., MIFA.Head of Archaeology and MonumentsIronbridge Gorge Museum Trust


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of Jim Horn, V.P. of Research and Historical Interpretation at Co= lonial Williamsburg:As part of a recent reorganization, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has combined the departments of Archaeological and Architectural Research into a single department, the Department of Architectural and Archaeological Research, under the leadership of Edward Chappell.Colonial Williamsburg remains committed to archaeological research, excavat= ion, and field schools. The Foundation continues to support one of the largest archaeological units in the nation, consisting of staff and project archaeologists, laboratory and curatorial staff, and several part-time archaeological technicians. Staff archaeologists will be actively engaged in excavations in Williamsburg's historic area and elsewhere and curatorial staff will continue to have responsibility for the nationally known collection of artifacts and faunal remains. Hope this clears up any misconceptions regarding the Archaeology Program at Colonial Williamsburg.


Thanks,
Andrew Edwards
Staff Archaeologist
Department of Architectural and Archaeological Research
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

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Even though this is something I am completely passionate about, it it also a great example of the type of things that museum professionals deal with on a daily basis. Budget cuts are always a problem with non-profit organizations, and can cause severe problems for museums. We all know the economy is in a rough spot at this point, but my question is where do we decide what is more important?....Keeping an organization and running it at a lower standard with more financial security, or improving and maintaing research strength so that the pertinent information needed for accurate interpretation and living history programming can be presented to the public. It is a hard question......and one that will never be completely answered. Unfortunately, the museum world is at the bottom of the totem pole, and yet we are one of the most important facets of today's society since history is what makes us who we are!

As part of our job here at the LCHA, and as the curator it is my responsibility to help other colleagues with identification of objetcs. In addition, I also help people who come into the office who want information on a particuloar object. So, with that in mind, I wanted to share this inquiry to see if anyone can help me in this process. I am posting this message received from a friend on an artifact. If anyone has any idea what is is you can contact me, or contact Erin directly.

Erin wrote:

A friend of the museum dropped off this object for assistance in identification. I have no idea what it is... you can see photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/30851788@N07/?donelayout=1 It is about 4 feet tall or so, cast iron and has four of the upward-facing hooks at 90 degree intervals regularly placed all the way around. It is marked for a foundry, but is illegible due to pitting. It also says PAT APPL'D FOR. The only distinct wear is at the base of the shaft, which is rounded down slightly. I believe the lettering for the manufacturer is _ _ _OUR & CO. But, it is quite difficult to read. It is not a clock part.. other suggestions have been: Portable hitching post Meat hook or hook for storing meat on other hooks Hook for hoisting hay or cotton bales Any guesses are welcome.. also please forward on to any other listservs you think might be willing to lend a hand in identification.

Thanks! Erin.


Erin Crissman Curator The Farmers' Museum PO Box 30 Cooperstown, NY 13326 p: 607.547.1521 e.crissman@nysha.org The Farmers' Museum®