Pay your dues or send a donation to AAS (a non-profit organization) online! Go to Dues & Donations
for instructions for this simple and quick way to be a part of archaeology in Alabama.
Upcoming Archaeology Events in the Southeast:
Trip to Bottle Creek Indian Mounds
Tour to Bottle Creek Indian Mounds on Sunday, December 4,
2011, 9:30 am to 1:30 pm
Bottle Creek with eighteen earthen mounds is the largest
Mississippian chiefdom (AD 1200-1400) on the north-central Gulf coast. It is a
pristine archaeological site located on Mound Island in the beautiful
Mobile-Tensaw Delta in north Baldwin County. Ride the Delta Explorer for
a 45-minute cruise up the Tensaw River, piloted by Blakeley State Park crew.
Once on Mound Island, the 1.5 hour walking tour, including climbing the largest
mound that stands 45 feet high, will be led by Dr. Greg Waselkov, Director of
the Center for Archaeological Studies at the University of South Alabama.
The boat leaves promptly at 9:30 am (please arrive early for
boarding) from Lower Bryant’s Landing, located on Highway 225 less than two
miles north of Interstate 65, just south of the town of Stockton (at least a 45
minute-drive from Mobile), and will return around 1:30 pm. The Delta
Explorer has a 50-passenger capacity, but it is not handicapped accessible.
There is a restroom on board. The boat is open so it may be a little cool on
the ride. Bring snacks, lunch, and drinks. Please wear hiking boots or similar
walking shoes and don’t forget your cameras and binoculars. (The hike is
somewhat rigorous and may be too rough for some).
For reservations and more information, please contact
Blakeley State Park at 251-626-5581. Cost is $35 per person, $15 for children
6-12 years of age, well worth the trip. Major credit cards are acceptable.
AAS Field Trip in Monroeville
The AAS will be having our third excavation field trip from Friday, June 24 through Sunday the 26th near Monroeville, Alabama. We will be doing test excavations on possible Middle Woodland house sites. The owner of the property has found artifacts on the site as early as the Early Archaic period (around 10,000 years old). From surface observations, it appears there are partially intact features associated with Middle Woodland... (these may be around A.D.400). We hope to collect data on subsistence, architecture, and material culture from datable contexts. Very little is known about the prehistoric archaeology of the area, so we will be doing pioneering archaeology. This project is partially supported by the University of West Alabama Museum of the Black Belt. We will assemble in Monroeville each morning to travel in "convoy" to the site. Plan to bring your own lunch. Facilities will be "primitive." Please contact Steven Meredith for details at mered003@gmail.com.
AAS Field Work at Fort Tombecbe
The next AAS field trip will be Saturday, June 4, at Fort Tombecbe -
near Epes in Sumter County. Dr. Ashley Dumas is continuing her
research at the site of the 1736-1737 French outpost, which was later
modified by the English (1763) and the Spanish (1794). Volunteers DO
NOT need any previous experience - just a willingness to dig into
Alabama history!
Dr. Dumas helped lead an excavation by volunteers from the Alabama
Archaeological Society at Fort Tombecbe earlier this year and found
numerous artifacts and features that helped outline the footprint of the
original fort. The French built the fort in 1736 in an effort to stake a
claim against the encroaching British. They also used the garrison
there to trade and build an alliance with the Choctaw Indians, hoping to
enlist their help against the British-friendly Chickasaws.
The site was purchased last year by the University of West Alabama,
the Sumter County Historical Society and the Archaeological Conservancy.
To volunteer, contact Ashley Dumas at 205-652-3830 or
adumas@uwa.edu. We will start at 9am and be packing up at 4pm. Tools and
water provided, but bring your own lunch, drinks, and bug spray....
Also important: There are NO bathroom facilities . For Directions to Fort Tombecbe CLICK HERE!
The Alabama Historical Commission to face very deep budget cuts! Recently proposed cuts to the state budgets include a 45% cut to the Historical Commission budget. The AHC manages our State Historic Parks and most of the Archaeological Resources in our state. Contact your local representatives to voice your opinion about this proposed funding cut. Read how you can share your opinion HERE!
Archaeology in the News:
AAS Field Trip in Monroeville News Story Steven Meredith with the Alabama Archaeological Society and
members from across the state set up a grid on the property in central Monroe
County, and sifted soil dug from each section unit of the grid to find
artifacts. Full Story Here!
Students in Macon County bring Artifacts to Light SHORTER -- University of Vermont student Eric Schlosser last week was
digging at the site of a Native American village occupied about 700 to
800 years ago when he heard a "tink" sound, the sound of his metal
trowel hitting ceramic.He said he slowly dug around the object, found about 20 inches
below ground level, and then gently scrapped dirt from a piece of
pottery about two inches long and wide, apparently broken from a larger
object. Curved lines adorned a brown surface."It is so exciting," Schlosser said. "You're holding something that
somebody put a lot of effort into making, which is pretty neat." The
pottery dates from about 1250 to 1300 A.D., estimated University of
Vermont anthropology professor Cameron Wesson. http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/06/students_in_macon_county_bring.html
Congratulations to Linda Derry! Our own Linda Derry was picked from over a hundred other archeologists nominated
for a "spotlight" in non-academic "Careers in Archaeology." Check out
"Grassroots and Boots: A Career in Community-Based Archaeology in Alabama's Tall
Grass" on page 19 of the "SAA Archaeological Record" (Publications on SAA home
page)at http://onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?i=65152&p=21
or click on the attached pdf: SAA Record- LDERRY."
The September AAS dig at the Upper Salt Works.
Over 30 AAS members participated on September 18 and 19 at the AAS excavation field trip to the Upper Salt Works. On both days we excavated an area of the site occupied in the Early Paleoindian (Clovis), Middle Archaic, and Late Woodland periods. On Sunday we continued excavations on the prehistoric components while some of us worked on excavation units in the ruins of a Civil War salt furnace. Thanks to Ashley Dumas and Steven Meredith for organizing this trip. The artifacts and records will be curated in the University of West Alabama. The dig was part of ongoing research on Salt production in Southwest Alabama and Paleoindian settlement in the Gulf Coastal Plain. See a video of the dig on YouTube.
Guidelines for authors for the Journal of Alabama Archaeology.
The Journal of Alabama Archaeology remains the primary forum for the publication of papers on the prehistoric and historic archaeology of Alabama, however papers on related topics in the Southeast are welcome. Papers from students, amateur, and professional archaeologists are solicited. The guidelines and style guide for authors, a PDF file, is available to download.
AAS is on Facebook! Look for the Alabama Archaeological Society on Facebook
and become a fan!
A Confederate cannon from the CSS Alabama is finally coming to Alabama.
The Confederate sloop, the CSS Alabama, never made it to Alabama, but one of it's cannons is currently being restored and will soon be on display at the Museum of Mobile.
For more information, read the Post and Courier article.
Also, see the University of Alabama's Hoyle Museum online digital collection
of images of the CSS Alabama.
Letter from AAS Vice-President Richard Kilborn About the Destruction of the Oxford Indian Stone Mound in Oxford, Alabama. The State of Alabama has a rich pre-historic past that in some locations is evidenced by the presence of Indian Mounds...It is the authors‚ opinion that the State of Alabama needs additional laws to afford some degree of protection, preservation or complete controlled excavation when dealing with rare sites of such cultural significance as the Oxford Indian Stone Mound.Read the entire letter here.
Genetic Data on Ancient American Populations Points to Single Ancestral Group:
For two decades, researchers have been using a growing
volume of genetic data to debate whether ancestors of Native Americans
emigrated to the New World in one wave or successive waves, or from one
ancestral Asian population or a number of different populations. Now,
after painstakingly comparing DNA samples from people in dozens of
modern-day Native American and Eurasian groups, an international team of
scientists thinks it can put the matter to rest: virtually without
exception, the new evidence supports the single ancestral population
theory. Read more at Sciencedaily.com.
Copper Axe Stolen from Exhibit at Cahokia:
It was recently discovered that a copper celt (axe) had been stolen
from one of the exhibit cases at Caholia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, Illinois.
The thieves apparently were able to
compromise the security of the case at the "Fiber" display. The artifact was
solid copper, 5 3/4" long, 2 1/2" wide, and 7/16" thick.
One side had a textile psuedomorph, created by the mineralization of a textile in contact with copper deposited in soil. Although the original textile no longer exists, what remains--its psuedomorph--can provide information of the characteristics of the original cloth or bag in which the axe originally had been wrapped. There was a catalog number
on it, "19 x 862".
Other than some minor vandalism, this is the first artifact
theft at the Interpretive Center since it opened twenty years ago.
Please keep an eye out for this axe and if you see
it or something similar for sale, please contact:
William R. Iseminger, Assistant Site Manager/Public Relations, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, 30 Ramey Street, Collinsville, IL, 62234; or via email at cahokia.mounds@sbcglobal.net,
or visit theirwebsite.
New methods for dating an archaeological artifact, rock art:
Rock art has been difficult for archaeologists to date employing scientific methods commonly used for archaeology.
Recently, Marvin W. Rowe,
professor of chemistry at Texas A&M, has applied the use of accelerator mass spectrometry,
which requires a very small amount of material to be removed from a painting.
For more information, see physorg.com, a web-based science, research and technology news service.
A recent news item on a federal listserve: Archaeology Magazine Reports on Drugs and Looting
The locus of archeological crime in the American Southwest and across
the nation is shifting into the world of guns and drugs, reports Samir
Patel in an article in the March/April issue of Archaeology Magazine. A
strange synergy is developing with meth that puts every archeological
site and collection at risk, Patel notes. Meth provides a surplus of
energy that users need to work off, and artifact
hunting to get the money for the next high is one way to do it. Meth
looters are changing the face of looting in the U.S., and Southeast Asia
and Europe may not be far behind.
The looting-meth connection is reported by Federal archeologists and law
enforcement officers across the nation. The involvement with drugs is
problematic for law enforcement officers who pursue cultural resource
crime. Once a looting suspect is caught, archeological resource
violation laws take a back seat to drug charges. Drug and firearm
possession carry much steeper penalties than ARPA violations, under most
circumstances. Drug cases can make it easier to recover artifacts, as
looters will more readily hand them over when faced with drug charges,
especially if doing so will save them from ARPA charges. As a result,
there is little risk for drug dealers who want to engage in antiquities
trade.
The entire article is available on-line at www.archaeology.org.
Norwood Pottery in Mississippi:
Archaeologists at the Center for Archaeological Studies
at the University of South Alabama have recovered Norwood
Pottery in Mississippi, farther west than this type of
pottery has been found in the past. More information is
available in the upcoming issue of the AAS newsletter, Stones & Bones (see the article).
Fort Mims:The Fall 2007 issue of American Archaeology magazine,
published by the Archaeological Conservancy,
featured an article about Alabama's own Fort Mims, Clarifying an Historic Event: Archaeologists are working to uncover the details of the massacre at Fort Mims (a 3.5 meg PDF).
The Archaeological Conservancy has generously allowed us to provide this digital
copy of that article to AAS members.
The Alabama Department of Archives and History, theAlabama Historical Commission,
Sharon Blair, and the Center for Archaeological Studies,
at the University of South Alabama, all contributed photographs for this article and also gave their permission
for this digital copy.
