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Dr. Jim Knight (far left) and Dr. Amanda Regnier (far right) were among the artifact experts on hand at the Camden Artifact Identification gathering on January 16 (photo by Teresa Paglione). See more of Teresa Paglione's photos on box.net. and see Amanda Hill's photos on snapfish.
AAS members and guests at the Roseland Plantation fieldtrip and dig this summer (photo by Ashley Dumas). See more of this AAS event: Teresa Paglione's photos on flickr.
The brick and stone remains of a salt-boiling furnace at the site of the previous two AAS field trips (photo by Ashley Dumas).
The AAS 2006 Public Education Grant helped Ben Hoksbergen construct a full-size replica of a Mississippian house and farm. To find out more about this project and AAS Grants, see the AAS Grants web page.
A late Archaic projectile point (photo by John Richburg)
An AAS grant helped Erin Phillips examine the Smithsonian's collection of Hemphill-style Moundville pottery, which has preserved pre-contact Southeastern Indian images such as this winged serpent (line drawing by Erin Phillips).
AAS members measuring the depth of a test hole at Tannehill State Historical Park on an AAS field trip this past summer.
This copper axe was recently stolen from Cahokia (photo courtesy of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site). More information is available below.
AAS members and archaeologists screening excavated dirt to look for small artifacts (photo by Steven Meredith)
Upcoming Archaeology Events in the Southeast:
- February 9, Auburn: The East Alabama Chapter of the AAS will meet on Tuesday, February 9, at 7pm in room 212 of the Rouse Life Sciences Building on College Street. Ned Jenkins will present the results of the 2007 survey in Dallas County and discuss the upcoming 2010 survey area: Wilcox County. The usual before-meeting dinner will be at 5:30 at the BBQ House across the street from the Rouse Building. Everyone is welcome to attend.
- February 11, Mobile: Shepard Krech--a distinguished ecological ethnohistorian, professor of anthropology at Brown University, and an accomplished birder--will present images and thoughts from his new book, Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South (University of Georgia Press, 2009) at 7:00 pm, Thursday, February 11, in Laidlaw Performing Arts Center Recital Hall. Copies of Professor Krech’s book will be available for purchase and signing after his talk. Everyone is welcome to attend. For more information, call Greg Waselkov at 251 460-6911.
Archaeology in the News:
- Distinguished Southeastern Archaeologist, Frank Schnell, dies at age 69. Archaeologist Frank T. Schnell, Jr., 69, died on January 18, 2010. According to an article on the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Web site, his wife Gail said he fell from a ladder in their home in Bradenton, Florida. The Columbus native was known for his deep knowledge of area history and culture, much of it gleaned from extensive field work on prehistoric Indian mound villages such as Singer-Moye near Lumpkin, the Rood mounds near Omaha and the Cemochechobee mounds near Fort Gaines, Georgia.
- 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 author’s 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 their website.
- 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, the Alabama 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.
Members at Work:
- AAS member, Cary Geiger, requests information on the distribution of MacCorkle Stemmed Points in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.