Dear Colleagues,
I have had several complaints that the Archeology E-Gram postings to
Histarch are illegible. I am re-submitting the June issue as an RTF file.
Please let me know if that helps at all. There is little else that I can
do, and I apologize to those of you who are burdened by a long message that
is unreadable.
Karen Mudar
June 2007, Archeology E-Gram (rtf. version)
Forest Service’s Passport in Time Program now Multi-Agency
Beginning in 1989, the Forest Service has provided information about
archeological projects on Forest Service lands to volunteers seeking
suitable projects through the Passport in Time (PIT) clearinghouse. In
1991, PIT became a national program and since its inception, more than
14,000 PIT volunteers have contributed more than 605 person years of
labor to archeological projects in National Forests. In 2006, PIT
announced that the program would also host information about volunteer
opportunities at archeological sites and historic structures sponsored
by other federal agencies. In 2006, PIT expanded clearinghouse listings
beyond national forests to include any projects that are sponsored by
any government agency, college, university, or archeological research
firm wishing to include volunteers in the accomplishment of
archeological or historical research. PIT projects may be field, lab,
or office based; and may include survey, excavation, artifact process,
analysis, archival research, recording oral histories, rehabilitation of
historic structures, or interpretation. While prospective volunteers
may search the website for free, the Forest Service charges an
administrative fee to sponsoring agencies.
Contact: Jill Osborn, [log in to unmask]
To learn more about PIT or volunteer archeological activities, visit
www.passportintime.com/
Archeology at Voyageurs NP
Over the past 20 years, archeologists and cultural resource specialists
at the NPS Midwest Archeological Center and at Voyageurs NP have
collaborated with members of the Bois Forte Ojibwe bands to carry out
research on historic use of the park. The study area is part of an
intact ecosystem contained within Quetico Provincial Park, Forest
Service Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and Voyageurs NP. The
ongoing project combines archeological and archival research to
investigate the use of the area between the 1700s and 1950s by Bois
Fortes bands. Field work and archival research have identified over 50
sites, and identified some of the ways that the Ojibwe were able to
maintain off-reservation settlements, community structure, and
traditional subsistence strategies well into the 1950s. At present
there is only one allotment inside the park but at the beginning of the
20th century, more than 30 Native American families owned land inside of
the boundaries of the present-day Voyageurs NP. Park staff have shared
the results of their research with local families to help identify the
places where parents and grandparents lived, worked, and were sometimes
buried.
NPS archeologist Jeff Richner has summarized this research in an article
in the March 2007 issue of the Society for American Archeology
Archeological Record. “The Bois Forte Ojibwe’s Historic Use of the
Voyageurs National Park Area” describes the program of archeological
research that has been carried out in the last several decades in
Voyageurs NP, and the collaborations that have developed between park
archeologists and the Native American communities.
For more information about archeology at Voyageurs NP, go to the
National Archeological Database (NADB;
www.cast.uark.edu/other/nps/nadb/nadb.mul.html) and query on Koochiching
County, MN. There are at least seven references!
To read the full article, go to
http://www.saa.org/Publications/theSAAarchRec/mar07.pdf
To learn more about Voyageurs NP, go to http://www.nps.gov/voya/
First Finds from Excavation of President’s House in Philadelphia
Archeologists working at the site of the President’s House at 6th &
Market Streets in Independence NHP have located remains of the actual
house. These findings are shedding new light on Presidents George
Washington and John Adams' residence from 1790 to 1800. “We’re very
excited,” said NPS Archeologist Jed Levin. “It was a long shot that any
portion of the house would survive. And now we’re learning things we
might otherwise never have known!”
Excavations in the kitchen where Hercules – one of at least nine
enslaved Africans who toiled in the
Washington household – presided as George Washington’s chef, have
unearthed a large portion of the southeast corner wall and foundation
along the south wall of the main house. As Levin explains, “Based on
documentation, we thought the President’s House kitchen was only one
story, so we didn’t expect it to have deep foundations. But now we know
it also had a basement.” A coin dated to 1833 from an upper level
confirmed that the Presidents house was torn down in 1832 and another
structure built on the lot.
This particular excavation is part of the preparation for commemoration
of the President’s House site. The team, headed by Kelly/Maiello
Architects and Planners, will design and build a new permanent outdoor
installation commemorating the President’s House and all its occupants –
including the nation’s first two presidents, their families, and the
enslaved Africans who lived and worked in the Washington household.
Contact: Jane Cowley, [log in to unmask]
For more information about Independence NHP visit
http://www.nps.gov/inde/
NPS Southeast Archeological Center Receives Award
The NPS Southeast Region Division of Education and Interpretation has
awarded the Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC) the Keeper of the
Light Award, the highest award it bestows. The award recognizes the
critical role that education, interpretation, and outreach play in
cultivating an understanding and appreciation for America's rich
cultural heritage.
For nearly two decades, through its Public Interpretation Initiative and
other activities, SEAC has contributed to public education,
interpretation, and outreach. The award recognizes significant public
outreach activities. SEAC’s public education activities aid the NPS in
accomplishing the NPS education/preservation mission set by the U.S.
Department of the Interior’s National Strategy for Federal Archeology.
For more information about the Southeast Archeological Center, visit
http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/
Pecos NHP to host Pecos Conference
The 2007 Pecos Conference will be held on August 9-12 at Pecos NHP.
This year's conference theme is Galisteo Basin Archeology. In addition
to the customary conference presentations and activities, the 2007
conference will highlight current research and preservation efforts in
the Galisteo Basin and northern Rio Grande. Two mini-symposia, a Friday
evening lecture, and Sunday tours to several Galisteo Basin
archeological sites will focus on the Galisteo Basin.
First inspired and organized by A.V. Kidder in 1927, the Pecos
Conference has no formal organization or permanent leadership. Open to
all professional and avocational archeologists and the general public,
the Pecos Conference is an important opportunity for students of
Southwestern prehistory to meet.
The 2007 conference is sponsored by the NPS; Museum of Indian Arts and
Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology; US Forest Service; New Mexico State
Historic Preservation Division; and the School for Advanced Research.
For more information about the Pecos Conference and to register, go to
www.swanet.org/2007_pecos_conference/
Archeological Resources on NPS History Program website
The NPS History Program, which posts information about unpublished and
out of print reports and books about national park resources on the NPS
History Program website, has surpassed the 2,000 document mark. First
developed for internal use to facilitate access to hard to get
resources, the studies available on the website reflect the wide
diversity of research carried out in the National Park system. Now in
the 10th year of the project, the website boasts over 2,000 electronic
copies of reports and books, and over 1500 articles on anthropology,
history, architecture, biology, geology, and other topics. In addition,
selected out of print park handbooks, and interpretive guides are
available.
Project manager NPS Historian Harry Butowsky notes that “these
publications were written by some of the best people the NPS ever
employed.” Butowsky, a noted historian whose recent activities include
collecting oral histories from Pearl Harbor survivors and historians,
has received the prestigious George Wright Society Communication award,
partly for the History website. Butowsky continues work to identify
documents for the website, and happily accepts suggestions of titles of
out of print or unpublished documents pertaining to the NPS. All of the
publications can be printed out, and can be located through internet
search engines.
Of particular interest to archeologists is the Archeological
Research/Publications in Archeology/Anthropology Papers Series,
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/archeology/index.htm.
These publications were the culmination of a series of archeological and
anthropological research studies conducted by the NPS starting in the
late 1940s and early 1950s. Originally published as the Archeological
Research Series, the series was retitled Publications in Archeology
following the establishment of the Office of Professional Publications.
The Anthropological Papers Series was discontinued after only two titles
were published. Three publications from these series are now available
electronically, which can be reached through the “Classic Publications”
button on the homepage. Others will be posted as they become available.
Underwater archeologists will be interested in the series of Submerged
Cultural Resource Studies
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/hisnps/submerged.htm. Currently, 15
reports are posted and others will be posted as they become available.
The majority of the studies report on the results of work completed by
the NPS Submerged Resources Center in units of the national park system.
The website also hosts electronic copies of publications from the NPS
“Fauna Series,” which will be useful to zooarcheologists (
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/fauna.htm). The studies
are an outcome of the wildlife survey program initiated by George Wright
in 1929. The website has eight out of print publications from this
series, including the first, by George Wright, “Fauna of the National
Parks of the United States,” and two by noted biologist Adolph Murie.
Contact: Harry Butowsky, [log in to unmask]
To visit the website, go to http://www.nps.gov/history/history/
Speakers at Archeology Field School, Vancouver National Historic Reserve
Experts in the fields of history and archeology will speak during the
seventh annual archeology field school at the Vancouver National
Historic Reserve, a program of the Northwest Cultural Resources
Institute. These fascinating talks are open to the public. The
lectures will address topics ranging from the archeology of Jamestown to
the Rogue River Indian wars at Fort Lane in southern Oregon. The field
school is a joint undertaking of the Northwest Cultural Resources
Institute and Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (NPS); Portland
State University; Washington State University, Vancouver; and the
Vancouver National Historic Trust Reserve.
All of the talks will be held in the Auditorium of the Pearson Air
Museum.
Contact: Doug Wilson, [log in to unmask]
For more information about the Fort Vancouver NHS go to
http://www.nps.gov/fova/
Projects in Parks: Battlefield Archeology at King’s Mountain NMP
Although portable metal detectors have been used recreationally since
the development of the equipment in the mid-1940s, little common ground
had been established between archeologists and metal detecting
hobbyists. A wildfire in 1984 that consumed the tall grass covering the
Little Big Horn Battlefield provided a unique opportunity for an
innovative archeologist and a group of metal detector hobbyists to
establish a mutually beneficial relationship. This collaboration on the
plains of Montana provided the basis for a whole new line of inquiry
which came to be known as Battlefield Archeology. Projects undertaken
on battlefields in the Southeast United States by staff of the NPS
Southeast Archeological Center employed and further modified, and
improved battlefield archeology methods to provide new and/or revised
interpretations of battles associated with the American Revolution, the
War of 1812, the Indian Wars, and the Civil War, including the Battle of
King’s Mountain, Revolutionary War.
NPS employees who can access the NPS intranet can read the full report
by going to Projects in Parks <
http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=279&id=3670> on
InsideNPS. Other readers can access the full report through the What’s
New page http://www.nps.gov/history/archeology/NEW.HTM on the
Archeology Program website.
Archeology E-Gram, distributed via e-mail on a regular basis, includes
announcements about news, new publications, training opportunities,
national and regional meetings, and other important goings-on related to
public archeology in the National Park Service and other public
agencies. Recipients are encouraged to forward Archeology E-Grams to
colleagues and relevant mailing lists. The Archeology E-Gram is
available on the News and Links page
http://www.cr.nps.gov/archeology/public/news.htm on the Archeology
Program website.
Projects in Parks is a feature of the Archeology E-Gram that informs
others about archeology-related projects in national parks. Prospective
authors should review information about submitting photographs on the
Projects in Parks webpage on InsideNPS. The full reports are available
on the Projects in Parks webpage
http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=279&id=3670 on
InsideNPS; and through individual issues of the Archeology E-Gram on the
on the News and Links page
http://www.cr.nps.gov/archeology/public/news.htm on the Archeology
Program website.
Contact Karen Mudar, Archeology Program, NPS, (202) 354-2103,
[log in to unmask] to contribute news items, stories for “Projects in
Parks,” and to subscribe.