Annoucement Archive
April 16, 2008
APRIL MEETING CLARIFICATION AGAIN!!!
We are in error reporting that Jeannie Burke will be with us for our April meeting to discuss historic artifacts. Jeannie will in fact be with us in MAY. Our meeting will therefore begin at its regular time of 2:00 at the Falls Interpretive Center.
However, this is also Earth Day, as we have previously brought to your attention. This will be a very busy and crowded event at the Center. We will NOT be able to park in our usual places. Parking must occur elsewhere, such as at Ashland Park along the river. People must walk into the Center from there. If someone needs to do so, they can be dropped off at the front door.
>BR> Finally, we will have a shortage of chairs due to the event. If anyone has a sling chair, lawn chair, or folding chair, you might want to bring that along with you tp guaranatee a seat. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Perhaps you should consider coming a bit early to navigate the confusion!
APRIL MEETING CLARIFICATION!!!
There is a lot of confusion regarding April's meeting....this will hopefully clear things up. No meeting on the second Saturday of the month due to Thunder Over Louisville. At one time, the first Saturday was considered in its place. But it is actually the THIRD Saturday, April 19th, that the meeting will be held. Also, please consider coming over early with your historic artifacts. Jeannie Burke will be hosting a short session on identifying historic artifacts at 1:00 that day, before the regular meeting. Jeannie calls this session "You Show Me Yours, and I'll Show you Mine".
Also, artifact processing will now occur at Anne's new office at 10320 Watterson Trail in Jeffersontown (Do NOT confuse this with the place where she previously worked and where we occasionally washed artifacts in the past. The days of dragging all those boxes and tubs are over. Anyone who wants to work on artifacts before the meeting can show up at Anne's office any time after 9:00.
MARCH MEETING CANCELLED!!!
Due to the heavy snowfall, our meeting on March 8 is cancelled!
Also, be aware that our April meeting has been moved to the THIRD Saturday of the month because Thunder Over Louisville will take place on the second Saturday, and the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center will be closed. So, for APRIL ONLY, we will meet on the FIRST Saturday at the regular time.
February 7, 2008
New Archaeological Society in Meade County
Saturday, February 2, was the first meeting of the new Meade County Archaeological Society! The meeting was very well attended by some 65 people. FOAS member Jerry Fischer was instrumental in starting the society, which will meet at the Library Annex in Brandenburg on the first Monday of the month at 6:00 p.m. Saturday's meeting included several speakers beginning with Jerry Fischer and his students from the St. Nicholas Academy; Dr. Fred Coy on rock art of Kentucky; and Rick Brown who spoke on the chert resources of Gas Well Hollow. Several collectors were present to share their collections. Upcoming speakers will be announced on this website. It is hoped that FOAS will work together on upcoming projects with this new society. Congratulations to them all!
Artifact Processing Continues on Saturdays before our Meetings
Anyone who is free to help out with washing, sorting, and labelling artifacts is welcome to join us on Saturday before our regular meeting at the Interpretive Center. We should be there around 12:30 this week.
Scheule of Events has been Updated
Check out the Schedule page. This has been updated for 2008. As you can see, we still have some slots open. If you have any good suggestions for a speaker, please let us know and we will try to scheule them.
August 28, 2007
Archaeology Day - September 1, 2007
Saturday, September 1 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm is our annual Archaeology Day at the Falls of the Ohio State Park! We have several new activities for the kids this year, and as usual, displays of interest to adults. The children can earn a certificate as a Junior Archaeologist while they learn about prehistoric and historic artifacts. Come watch flintknappers and throw prehistoric atlatls! Need an artifact identified? Professional archaeologists will be present to answer your questions. Bring your artifacts for them to examine. A guest speaker will present a lecture at 2:00 in the auditorium. Mr. Josh Wells will be discussing his research as part of an ongoing survey for archaeological sites in Clark County, Indiana. For more information, see our flyer on the Archaeology Day page of this website.
For FOAS members, please come and help us out in manning the workstations, and if possiblem bring along some snacks. Also, do not forget, we are having a silent auction on some archaeological related items this year. All proceeds go to FOAS to offset the costs of Archaeology Day.
July 9, 2007
FOAS is 5 years old!!! Come Celebrate July 14!
5TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!
Doors open at 10:00. Members and non-members are invited to bring their collections to share.
12:30. Brown bag luncheon lecture on Responsible Collecting. Bring your lunch and learn!
1:15. Brief regular business meeting. Recap of history of FOAS. Recognition presentations. Cake and punch. Door prizes will be handed out throughout the afternoon! New edition of Currents of Change will be distributed. AND MORE!
2:00. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist and legal representative, Keith Keeney and Ann Nunn will present on the recent Federal ARPA (Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979) case at Barren River Lake, Kentucky.
3:00. Indiana State Archaeologist Dr. Rick Jones will address the membership on laws regarding collecting and digging artifacts in the state of Indiana.
Public Welcome!
May 1, 2007
Volunteer Opportunity from FOAS Member Terry Runner
Here is a message from Terry Runner regarding an opportunity to assist him in rebuilding several Mississippian Period houses at the Angel Mound Site in Evansville, Indiana that were destroyed by storms in 2004. Should be fun and very educational!
Hello all - Thank you for taking interest in this summer's reconstruction project at The Angel Mounds State Historic Site located in Evansville, Indiana. The project will begin on July 1st 2007, in the open air exhibit located in back of the museum where Jim Burton, the site supervisor and I will be leading the project.
As you are aware, the month of July can be very exhausting. Be prepared! Plenty of water and shade will be provided. Please let us know of any special needs and we will be happy to accommodate. Safety on the site is very important. It will be a construction site, therefore all proper safety precautions apply. Gloves and safety goggles will be provided and required for some tasks. Tasks may also include heavy lifting. Please inform me of any health issues.
For commuting volunteers traveling long distances, camping will be available during the weekends on site. Please contact me if you are planning to stay on site for a few days. I will need to know ahead of time so that I can notify the site manager. Alternatively, there are many hotels in the area that are pretty reasonable. Below is a link to the closest one: http://www.trails.com/all-hotels/hotel-info.asp?hotelid=9970.
If you are commuting from UofL try to find me on campus during these remaining days of the semester. I will be in the Anthropology department from 9:30 A.M. to 5:15 P.M. on Tuesday and Thursday. Usually sitting in the computer lab. If you cannot find me ask either Paula or just about anyone...
The best place to find directions is via yahoo maps. Simply type in your address and the address provided below.
Angel Mounds State Historic Site, 8215 Pollack Ave, Evansville, IN 47715, Phone number: (812) 853-3956. The best way to contact me personally is via email: Sluggercitykings@yahoo.com.
Please contact me if you have any questions. See you soon!
-Terry Lee Runner.
January 17, 2007
IMAX Movie on the Archaeology of Greece....FOAS "Fieldtrip"
Anyone who wants to go as a group to the IMAX Theater at the Louisville Science Center on Main Street in Louisville is welcome to join FOAS. We plan to view Greece, a film about the archaeological wonders of that country. If we have ten people, we get a group rate of $7.00. If we no not get ten people, I think we pay $8.00. Please email Anne at chezmoi@insightbb.com no later than 2:00 on Saturday if you plan to go so that we can get the group rate.
The movie shows at 3:00. We should probably meet in the theater around 2:30.
January 5, 2007
Regular January 13 Meeting and Other Activities
Michael Striker of Gray & Pape of Cincinnati will be our speaker on Saturday, January 13. He will be discussing aspects of Adena cosmology based partly on the symbolism of the mounds and partly on the imagery on the Adena tablets.
Also, do not forget that we will be in the meeting room from 9:00 on to wash/sort/inventory artifacts from the Indian Old Fields Site in Clark County, KY; the New Haven Battlefield Site, La Rue County, KY; and from site 12FL91 in Floyd County, IN (Budd Road Sports Park).
At 1:00, those interested in learning about Federal Laws and Regulations may come early and attend a session that presents information on these laws. Anne Bader will present. This is a mandatory training for anyone interested in Site Stewardship. Dr. Rick Jones will be addressing FOAS in April regarding more specifics of Indiana laws.
Upcoming Election of Officers
Don't forget to send in your ballot for the election of officers if you cannot make the meeting. President-elect, Secretary, and Treasurer positions will be filled for the next two-year period. Perry Harrell will take over as President.
Our many, many thanks to Sundea Murphy who has worked so very hard over the past two years as President! We could not have been so successful without her! Thanks also to our many other volunteers who have given so much of their time over the past year. You have really contributed to the effort and are truly living the mission of the Society! Thank you!
Updated Schedule for 2007 Activities and Speakers
Check out the Schedule webpage to see an updated list of speakers for 2007 as currently planned. If anyone has any ideas for other speakers, or any sort of activity, please let us know!
Newsletter
If anyone has anything of interest for the newsletter, please send to Anne at chezmoi@insightbb.com.
November 8, 2006
November 11 Meeting
The agenda for the regular November meeting has changed. Once again, our scheduled speaker has been called away. The presentation for November will be on the Panther Rock Site, a late Middle Archaic site located along the Ohio River in Carroll County, KY. This site was recently excavated by AMEC Earth & Environmental. Anne Bader and Perry Harrell will lead the discussion in the absence of PI Richard Stallings. This was an outstanding site that is now undergoing detailed analyses.
The meeting room will be opened at noon so that we can process artifacts from Indian Old Fields, also known as Eskipikathikki, in Clark County, Kentucky. This site is the only known historically occupied site in Kentucky, and was viewed by Daniel Boone when he first beheld the beautiful expanse of Kentucky from Pilot's Knob. The Kentucky Organization of Professional Archaeologists (KYPOA) has asked us to wash, inventory, and bag the artifacts collected last month at this threatened site. Please come and help.
We also plan to have the Meyer Site artifacts on hand Saturday for additional processing before our regular meeting. There is plenty to do! We could use some volunteers. Come help and learn!
October 7, 2006
Volunteer Opportunity
The Kentucky Organization of Professional Archaeologists (KYOPA) has asked if we can assist them on Onctober 21, 2006 in Clark COunty, KY at the site of what may have been the last last historically occupied Native American town in Kentucky. They have also requested that FOAS process and catalog the artifacts, and prepare a small write-up of the assemblage. This is a great opportunity. Please let Anne know if you interested. For more information, check out the Volunteer Opportunities section of this webpage.
August 20, 2006
FOAS has a New Address!
Anyone wishing to contact us by mail or send materials to the society may address them to the following:
Falls of the Ohio Archaeological Society
P.O. Box 99363
Louisville, KY 40269-0363
Stewardship Program
Saturday, August 12, 2006 we had our first training in becoming a site steward. This was primarily an overview of what the stewardship program is all about. It is not too late if you wish to join us in the upcoming trainings. Typically, the training session include approximately10 hours to complete. This is in addition to the regular classes and participant archaeology activities offered by FOAS. Please check the sidebar of this page under Stewardship to learn more about this program. The Indiana requirements for becoming a site steward have just been posted to the site.
Archaeology Day: Special Speaker!
Archaeology Day is September 2 at the Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center in Clarksville. Please stop by if you can and help us out at one of our activity stations. Even an hour or two would very helpful to relieve our regulars. If you cannot volunteer your time, perhaps you could bring some sodas or bottled water, or some cookies and snacks, to our refreshment booth. This booth was a great success last year, and not only was it an attraction to our visitors, but a benefit to our volunteers. It also put some dollars in our treasury.
This year, we are very fortunate to have Dr. Gwynn Henderson be our guest speaker at 2:00 in the auditorium. Gwynn is a terrific speaker. She is energetic, personable, and extremely knowledgeable. Her topic will be on Dispelling the Myth: Native American Indian Life in the Proto-historic period in the area. We have sought to get Gwynn here in several occasions. Please try to make it to this lecture. It is well worth it.
Newsletter
The July 2006 newsletter is now available on line. To access, go to the sidebar and select Newsletters. Our apologies to those who have not received their newsletter in the mail. It will be sent out shortly to all those who did not pick one up at the last meeting. We have had trouble with the mailing label program, and are currently rebuilding this database. If you do not receive your newsletter in the mail this week, drop us a line at chezmoi@insightbb.com and we'll get one to you.
Jeffersontown Archaeology Day
Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who came out to helo with Archaeology Day in Jeffersontwon. As usual, it was a hot day, but the kids all got into the spirit and had a great time. And we reached a new audience of adults during the lecture on regional prehistory. I am very grateful to Sundea and Leslie, as usual, along with Mark Milliner, Red Wynn, Tony Peake, Rick Hardin, and Kathy McGrath. And thanks as well to all the great volunteers from the Jeffersontown Historical Museum, and the Jeffersontown Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library.....I don't want to forget the Falls of the Ohio State Park interpretive center for lending us some equipment for Native American games.
Newsletter
Anne is accepting any submissions for the newsletter, due out in July. Please email to Anne at chezmoi@insightbb.com. There are many upcoming events, so please check the newsletter for dates.
Fourth Anniversary!
July is the fourth anniversary of FOAS! This is really hard to believe! We will have refreshments and more at the July meeting.
Panther Rock Site Excavations
Bad weather and holidays (Father's Day) have kept us from getting to Carroll County to excavate remaining features at this late Middle Archaic site. We will watch the forecast for this weekend to see if Sunday might be suitable for heading to the site. Check this website and your email for late-breaking annoucements on this subject. You can always call if you are interested in going, and unsure of the plans.
Training Session for Site Stewardship Program
This will be held before ourr regular meeting in August, 2006. Please arrive by 1:00 if interested in learning more about this program and how to become actively involved in site stewardship.
May 7, 2006
May Meeting-Change of Speaker!
Due to unforeseen problems of a personal nature, our speaker for May has cancelled his presentation for the time being. Mr. Blair will re-schedule to address our group on the subject of iron furnaces in Bullitt County at a later date. But!!!! We have an excellent substitute in Ms. Jane Sarles of the Clark County Historical Society who will speak to us about the history of early Clarksville, Indiana, and hopefully, plans for a proposed archaeological park in the city. Jane has been a member of FOAS for some time, and most of us all know her dedication to the history and historical resources of the area. I am sure the talk will be highly interesting to all.
April 26, 2006
Special Exhibit at the Falls of the Ohio State Park
We are (finally!) getting close to finishing the special exhibit on the archaeology of the Falls Area featured in the Special/Temporary Exhibit Room near the back door at the Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center. Please drop by and take a look! We will continue to add to it over the next few weeks. And on that note, we could still use some items from local sites. In particular, our display on Paleo and Woodland sites could use some additions. If anyone has any artifacts dating to those periods that they might loan us for three months or so, that would be great! The artifacts are all labeled, and in locked cases, so they are secure. Also, we have been asked to inform those who have already loaned us artifacts that they need to complete a loan form. These forms are available from Alan or Bett at the Falls State Park. These are necessary for insurance purposes in case of loss of artifacts (not likely!). So please...you all know who you are....stop by and fill out a form for your protection.
A lot of people have worked very hard to make this display nice. In particular, we want to acknowledge Sundea, Rich, Perry, Justin, Chayla, Sharla, Leslie, Mark, Tony, Steve (Mocas), and Bob and Christina DeMent......I hope I haven't left anyone out! And thanks to all those institutions who have generously loaned us artifacts, including Indiana University, Indiana State University at Terre Haute, Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology, and Indiana-Purdue University at Fort Wayne. In addition, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Albany-Floyd County Department of Parks and Recreation have allowed us to display information regarding recently archaeological projects near the Falls.
Volunteer Opportunity
For the remainder of this week, and possibly continuuing into next week, FOAS members are invited to join an ongoing excavation at the Panther Rock Site in Carroll County, Kentucky. This is a late Middle Archaic site, with another (surprise) component that dates to the late Middle Woodland period. A number of features have been excavated thus far. If interested, please email or call Anne for directions. Rain cancels.
Archaeology Day in Jeffersontown, Kentucky
The City of Jeffersontown (i.e., the public library, The Jeffersontown Museum, and the Jeffersontown Historical Society) has asked FOAS to conduct an Archaeology Day similar to that which we do every year in September at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. It is expected, however, that this first year will not be as large as the previous ones held in Clarksville, Indiana, and it will not run as long. It will be held on June 17 from 10:00-2:00. At 2:00-2:30, Anne Bader will discuss the prehistory of the Falls area with emphasis on the archaeology conducted in and around J-town. For those of you who have helped us out in the past, please consider whether or not you are available to assist us in this endeavor, which may become an annual event.
Anne Bader to Speak on Conrad Pottery
Anne will be speaking on the slip decorated redware pottery of Valentine Conrad, an early resident an entrepreneur of Jeffersontown. This will be held at the regular monthly meeting of the Jeffersontown Historical Society. The group meets at 7:00 on the first Monday of the month. Anne's presentation will be held at the June meetingof the society. Some of you interested in early pottery may have missed this talk, that was previously delivered at the December 2005 FOAS meeting.
April 2, 2006
FOAS Activities Featured in Indiana Publications
The Spring-Summer 2006 edition of Preserving Indiana, the newsletter of the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology (DHPA), is available on line at the following link:
Check out Page 15. There is a picture and caption related to the FOAS 2005 Archaeology Day at the Interpretive Center.
Also, there is a now an Archaeology Calendar that has been prepared by Amy Johnson of the DHPA. Amy plans to prepare one annually. She encourages you to all print the calendar for your use. "March" is dedicated to volunteerism, and contains several pictures, with some very familiar FOAS faces! You can access the calendar at the following link:
Saturday's (April 8) Meeting
Please recall that this Saturday you are welcome to bring in your collections, or portions of them, and spend a few minutes sharing these with the membership. This is a great time to have artifacts identified, which we always seem to be too busy for at our usual meetings. This "Show and Tell" session will follow a brief presentation by Mr. Jim Hash, Indiana Conservation Officer, who will talk to us about the laws in Indiana regarding collecting and digging for artifacts.
Exhibit Setup
Before the regular meeting Saturday, there will be a group of folks working on the special exhibit in the back room at the Interpretive Center (near the rear door). If you have time to come along and help, we can put you to work. Thanks to all of you who have worked so hard on this to date. If anyone has any special artifacts from the area they would like to lend us for four months, please bring them along. Be assured they will be presented in locked cases and will be perfectly safe.
March 30, 2006
Exhibit at the Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center
Thanks to Rich, Bob and Christina, Justin, Sharla, and Chayle for all their help this week in preparing for the exhibit on the archaeology of the Falls area. We have been busy painting the walls, and next week, we will start assembling the collections. The exhibit runs from April 9 through August 6. Bew sure to come by and see it. It will focus on the prehistoric archaeology of the immediate Falls area. Next year, we will concentrate on the historic archaeology of the area.
March 27, 2006
April 2006 Newsletter
Our quarterly newsletter finally has a name. The April 2006 edition of Bits and Pieces is now available on-line on the Newsletter page of this website. The newsletter is also being printed and mailed to everyone as usual. As always, we welcome contributions to the newsletter. Please, share what you know!
Exhibit Setup
We are having some logistical problems getting started with setting up the special exhibit at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Tomorrow, (Tuesday, the 28th), we will be purchasing paint for the wall mural of a Mississippian house floorplan. Hopefully, Wednesday we can get started on this. Please come if you are free. Call or email Anne to confirm if you need to.
Web site Updates
In addition to the News and Updates page of this website, improvements and additions are being made to other pages, including Archaeological Sites, Stewardship, Schedule, and more. Some sites are still incomplete, but we're working on them. Keep checking in!
March 25, 2006
April Meeting
At our next meeting, April 8, Jim Hash, an Indiana Conservation Officer, will address our group regarding the laws governing artifact collection and digging in Indiana. Since he will not require the entire hour, we enourage our members (and any non-members) to bring in some of their artifacts or collections, and have a brief "Show-and-tell" session. Anyone who wants to talk about their collections should plan on speaking no more than 5-10 minutes. If anyone has an artifact they want identified, this is a great time to bring it along!
March 21, 2006
Meeting Minutes
For those of you who are interested, the meeting minutes for 2005 and the first part of 2006 have now been posted on the website.
March 20, 2006
Wow! It HAS been a long while since the webpage has been updated! Apologies to all! Let's play catch-up.
Schedule of Events
Please check the Schedule page...it has been updated. If anyone has any speakers or topics they'd like to see discussed this year, we still have a few open months. Anne is currently filling those openings, and welcomes any and all suggestions!
Ken Tankersey Presentation
Archaeologist Dr. Kenneth Tankersley of Northern Kentucky University has a film coming out on NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TELEVISION on Pleistocene Paleontology called the BIG FREEZE, on March 29.
Special Exhibit
A special exhibit on the archaeology of the Falls area will run from April through August at the Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center in the Special Event Room near the rear exit. A committee has been working on this exhibit for the past several months, but anyone is welcome to join us as we finalize our ideas and start assembling. The last week in March, a group of us will be at the Interpretive Center to begin painting on one wall, installing flip charts, and arranging the layout. Please join us if you can. Also, if anyone has any artifacts they think worthy of displaying, please let Anne or Sundea know. The artifacts will be kep in locked cases. We will be sure to clearly correlate each artifact with the owner's name by means of labelled photocopies that are kept on file. We are looking especially for artifacts from the local area that are provenienced by site, if possible.
Fund Raiser
Keep in mind that we are still in need of objects for ourt summer fundraiser, which will be a silent auction/yard sale. While many of the objects can be day-to-day items to be priced and sold yard-sale style, we are also looking for items that may be more attuned to history, archaeology, or geology that may be sold by means of silent auction. In particular, we are looking for books, prints, jewlery, art figurines, posters, artifact replicas, and the like. Please bring these along to any of our regular meetings if you are interested in donating to the cause.
April 2006 Meeting
The agenda for our regular meeting for April is still up in the air. We will let you know ASAP if we plan to have a speaker, artifact "show and tell" from our members, or if we will be assisitng in an excavation at Farmington. Leslie will notify you as soon as we know more, and, also, watch this site.
Field Trip
Anne is interested in reviving the often discussed field trip to Indianapolis to visit the Eiteljorg Museum of the American Indian. This museum is truly outstanding. Anne is researching a date in June to hire a bus and visit the museum. From our previous research, the bus trip, admission, and lunch would run around $35.00 per person for the excursion, but this cost will be updated to see if it is still accurate. Please indicate your interest in attending ASAP, as the cost is contigent upon the number of people that participate.
Newsletter
Our newsletter is getting a new look. Most of our members agreed in the past that the cost of color was prohibitive, and that we should go to a black and white version. Our current layout is not very interesting in black and white, so one of our artists in residence is drafting a new banner that will be somewhat more striking sans color.
As always, we solicit any material for publication in the newsletter....it gets very hard sometimes to come up with material of interest to publish. Don't be shy. If you have a question, editorial, or some interesting tidbit to share, please submit it to Anne at chezmoi@insightbb.com.
Volunteer Opportunties
I have been asked on several occasions about any upcoming volunteer excavations or survey work. I have been approached by the Kentucky Archaeological Survey (KAS) about assisting with a project in western Kentucky. This would be a long drive, but perhaps we can select one weekend to stay over on a Saturday night and help out for several days. Other opportunities are in the works as well. More as these become finalized.
October 13, 2005
Budd Road, Floyd County, Indiana Dig this Saturday!
Please remember that this Saturday from 10-4, we will be helping AMEC and the New Albany Floyd County Parks Department conduct archaeological testing at what appears to be a great Middle-Late Woodland site. We need help manning displays and artifact washing stations, and to watch over and assisst volunteers in digging and screening. This is no mock dig! Our preliminary intelligence says we might have about 15 FOAS people committed to coming as of this writing. We could use more. The public is invited, and we need to be there to educate and assist them. However, bring your green training logbooks...this is a great time to log some hours learning from professional archaeologists such as Michael French, Steve Mocas (hopefully), and others. If anyone has anything they want to display, please bring that as well. This is not intended to be another Archaeology Day. However, we do need someone at the FOAS table to sell journals and merchandise, and to answer questions, and to watch over displays. Anyone who can come over early to help set up would be greatly appreciated. This should be a great event, and may grow into an annual event.
September 30, 2005
We will be going to New Haven Battlefield on Sunday, October 2, 2005. Anyone who wishes to caravan to the site may meet Anne around 8:00 a.m. at the Falls of the Ohio State Park parking lot. Otherwise, meet at the site around 9:15-9:30 or so. Sundea will try to mark the place where we turn off Lyons Station Road.
September 24, 2005
Battlefied Excavation Cancelled for September 25
Anne was just notified she is on alert to go on disaster duty to the deep south, and may need to leave immediately. Therefore, the dig at New Haven tomorrow is postponed. If Anne does not leave this weekend, we will go next weekend.....otherwise, she will try to find a professional to cover for her next week. More laters!
September 20, 2005
New Haven Battlefield Project
Please watch your email and this website for more information regarding this weekend's planned event at the New Haven Battlefield Site in LaRue County, Kentucky. This was originally planned for Saturday and Sunday, but this will likely be changed to Sunday only due to a late breaking conflict. If we go only Sunday, we will likely need to schedule a second day on a following weekend. Stay tuned....we'll try to get the word out tomorrow....
October Meeting
Please remember there is no regular meeting at the State Park interpretive center in October to allow us to meet at the Farnsley-Moreman House in southern Jefferson County. As has been our custom, this weekend we participate in the activities for Archaeology Day with Jay Stottman. Looking forward to seeing you all there.
Lori Stahgren will also be at Riverside, as well as Farmington HIstoric House on the following Sunday. Lori sends this message:
"Just wanted to let you know that there will be opportunities to help
out with some archaeology at the Riverside (Oct 8 - Saturday) and
Farmington (Oct 9 - Sunday) fall festivals! Don't have the exact times for each -
will have to send that latter - but I would love to know if anyone is interested in helping out for a while on either day.
At Farmington - we will be working in the area where we found another building last year - it is really close to the cabin that is currently exposed - but definitely a different building. Let me know if you can help!!
Oh - and food and goodies will be provided at Farmington for sure - and
I think there is a volunteer room at Riverside as well!"
August 29, 2005
Indiana Archaeology Month is September 2005. Amy Johnson of the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology has issued the official Calendar of Events online at the link posted below. We hope that you will be able to attend some of the exciting events during the 10th anniversary celebration!
FOAS is contributing to this effort by sponsoring Archaeology Day on September 3 at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana. Please check the Archaeology Day page from the Menu to the left of this screen to learn more about this event. We could use FOAS volunteers from 9-4 to help out with activities. If you cannot attend, perhaps you can assist by donating drinks, cookies, cupcakes, or other snacks. You may bring these to the Park on Saturday, or call/email us and we wil ltry to pick them up.
Schedule Changes
Be aware that there have been some changes in our speaker schedule. Check the Schedule page to the left to see a revised list of speakers. Also, if anyone would like to recommend a speaker for 2006, please notify Anne at chezmoi@insightbb.com.
New FOAS Historian
Mr. Tim Darst, our Treasurer, who already is of invaluable assistance to us, has agreed to also serve as our society historian. Anyone who sees newspaper items regarding FOAS, or has other items of interest such as old newsletters, please forward these to Tim as the official keeper of memorabilia. Thanks, Tim!
Hovey Lake Excavations
Don't forget that we are invited to assist Cheryl Musnon at Hovey Lake in Posey County, Indiana. This is a fascinating site, and a great opportunity to learn from someone who really knows her stuff.
Cheryl sends the following additional information:
From Cheryl Munson---
This September is slated to be our last excavations at Hovey Lake, given
the grant funding. Our focus is an important one: the age and
nature of the palisade. Finally through GPR surveys, soil
cores, and limited testing we have identified palisade features but have
not yet traced out any portions of the main wall, so the "chase" is on.
It should be fun work! Complicating our work is the expectation that
there are multiple palisade walls, since we found features that appear to
be rebuildings of bastions.
We are asking for help from experienced volunteers, and can probably
accomodate some inexperienced workers in screening.
So this email is our "formal" invitation to FOAS to join us as a
group if you wish, or if this isn't of interest, then as individuals.
Our schedule is for work on Wednesday to Sunday throughout the month of
September.
To make a real contribution to the excavation project, it is better for
people to plan to be with us for 2 days, if at all possible.
We may be able to accomodate several overnighters on our couches (first
come, first served). Other lodging options include bringing a tent or
camper to the yard at our fieldhouse and using our extra bathroom inside
(a preference for many our occasional student volunteers), or going to the
local motel (Four Seasons, in Mount Vernon).
Also, for volunteers this is a BYOF, B, S, & T -- bring your own food,
bedding (for couch or whatever), shovel, and trowel.
We do try to have team dinners together, with people contributing parts if
they wish to join in.
The one weekend that is "out" is Sep 23-25, when we have our Excavation
Open House for the public. Of course FOAS members are welcome to come to
the Open House and are other public events, but this time is not the best
time for excavation work.
Cheryl has also challenged us to an atlatl match, if a number of FOAS come as a group and Richard or other members bring their atl-atls. It would be our Falls
team vs. Cheryl's Mouth of the Wabash team.
If anyone would like to get together and go down, please call or email Anne at chezmoi@insightbb.com. Anne is planning to go, and would like to see how many might want to go along! Anyone planning to come, whether as a group or individuals, needs to email Cheryl which days they will be working.
Upcoming Archaeological Conference in Ohio
Mr. Al Tonetti, Trustee, of the Ohio Archaeological Council, Government Affairs Committee has sent the following Information about the lunar moonrise observance at the Newark Earthworks, as well as the Ohio Archaeological Council's November 19, 2005 program on Ohio's Ancient Earthworks: A Public Symposium.
The event will be held on Saturday, November 19, 2005 at the Reese Center at The Ohio State University-Newark. Ohio. It is sponsored by the Ohio Archaeological Council and the Newark Earthworks Initiative of The Ohio State University-Newark. This program is free and open to the public. More information can be found at the link below.
The papers to be held at the conference include the following:
9:30-9:40 Welcome. Alan Tonetti, Trustee, Ohio Archaeological Council; Elliot Abrams, Ph.D., Ohio University, President-Elect, Ohio Archaeological Council.
9:40-10:05 A Native American Perspective Concerning Archaeological Research at Ohio's Ancient Earthworks. Daryl Baldwin, Ph.D., The Myaamia Project, Miami University.
10:05-10:30 Archaeological Perspectives on the Lives of the Builders of Ohio's Ancient Earthworks. William Dancey, Ph.D., The Ohio State University.
10:30-10:55 Archaeological Perspectives on Building Ohio's Ancient Earthworks. Frank Cowan, Ph.D., Frank Cowan & Associates.
10:55-11:20 Electronic Reconstruction of Ohio's Ancient Earthworks. John Hancock, Master’s in Architecture, Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of Historic and Archaeological Sites, University of Cincinnati.
11:20-11:45 Resources for Teaching about Ohio's Ancient Earthworks. Thomas Law, Voyageur Media Group.
11:45-12:15 Audience Q&A (Baldwin, Dancey, Cowan, Hancock, Law, Abrams moderating)
12:15-1:45 Lunch (on your own) and OAC luncheon business meeting
1:45-1:50 Welcome (Tonetti and Abrams)
1:50-2:15 The Newark Earthworks. Bradley T. Lepper, Ph.D., Ohio Historical Society.
2:15-2:40 Hopewell Astronomy, Geometry, and Cosmology. William F. Romain, Ph.D.
2:40-3:05 Identifying and Preserving Ohio’s Ancient Earthworks. Jarrod Burks, Ph.D., Ohio Valley Archaeological Consultants.
3:05-3:30 Archaeological Research at Ohio’s Ancient Earthworks: Past, Present, and Future. N’omi Greber, Ph.D., Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Mark F. Seeman, Ph.D., Kent State University.
3:30-4:00 Audience Q&A (Lepper, Romain, Burks, Greber, Seeman, Abrams moderating)
4:00 Adjourn
Lithics Conference
This Saturday, July 30 is our first annual Lithics Conference. You can read more about this below under the heading "June 1". The meeting will be held at Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen House in southwestern Jefferson County, Kentucky from 8:30 to 5:00. To review the agenda, please click on the link below.
Anyone who would like to bring chert samples from the area to inquire about or exchange, please do so. We would welcome this.
Registration for the event is $15.00 with lunch if you RSVP to Anne (chezmoi@insightbb.com) by Thursday. After that, the admittance charge will be $10.00, and lunch is on your own. You may pay at the door.
Looking forward to seeing you all!
New Haven Battlefield
To anyone who unsuccessfully tried to find us this past Friday and Saturday at the New Haven Battlefield project in LaRue County, my apologies! We had a very difficult time finding the place ourselves! But take some comfort in the fact that we were very, very hot! Our hosts were very hospitable, and we worked with some stout-hearted people of the general public who braved the heat. It appears the work will be very interesting. We did not finish our assigned task there, and will be returning at a later (and cooler date) next month to finish up. Watch this web site for more information! And we WILL gather together so everyone can follow us to the site!
June 6, 2005
See changes regarding the speakers for our next few monthly meetings on the Schedule of Events page.
June 1, 2005
June 2005 Speaker
Our speaker for the June regular monthly meeting has been rescheduled for August. At that time, Mr. Joe Navari of the Archaeological Conservancy will address us. A replacement for Mr. Navari is being considered at this time, and an announcement made as soon as plans are finalized.
New Volunteer Opportunity
Check out our Volunteer Opportunities page for information on getting out into the field and learn archaeological techniques as FOAS assists a not-for-profit oreservation group interpret thier site for the public!
Training Session Planned for June 11
Please keep in mind that at 12:00 Saturday, June 11, before our regular monthly meeting, there will be a training session on general archaeological principles. This session will be taught by Dr. Donald Janzen. There will be a break before our 2:00 meeting. The training will be held in the library at the Falls of the Ohio State Park where our regular meetings are held.
New Site on Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology (DHPA) webpage regarding Agriculture and Archaeology
Indiana DHPA has recently added a page to their website regarding agricultural practices and archaeology. You can find a link to this site on our webpage entitled "What to do if you find artifacts on your land" listed in the menu at the left of this screen.
Newletter
Anne is now taking contributions for the July newsletter. Please don't be shy.....editorial letters/comments are welcome. Questions regarding artifacts seem to be a favorite...please submit a picture with such questions. News about FOAS events or any other related Falls of the Ohio event can also be included. Short articles about individual activities or local finds will also be considered. Please take a few minutes and share with our readers anything you think is of interest.
Lithics Conference
Click on the following link to view the announcement regarding our upcoming lithics conference to be held July 30, 2005 at the Farnsley-Mormen House, Riverside Landing in Louisville. We'd like for this to be well attended. Please consider sharing displays, posters, artifact collections, chert samples, or short papers. A reminder that reservations must be received by July 15 to reserve a lunch box.
Indiana Archaeology News
The link below provides on-line access to Archaeology News, a publication of the Indiana Division of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Dr. Rick Jones's visit to FOAS is mentioned {with pictures} in the June 2005 edition of newsletter. The June edition should be posted very soon on this site.
May 4, 2005
Meyer Site Processing
We will be cataloguing artifacts from the Meyer Site at AMEC on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 from 6-9:00 or so. All are welcome.
LAC Training for Red River Gorge
Training for the LAC fieldwork is being held on May 14, 2005. Unfortunately, this is our regular meeting day. However, do not let this deter anyone interested in helping out with the LAC. We need you at the training, and as you know, Sundea always tapes the speakers. We could perhaps arrange to play that tape for all who must miss the meeting for LAC. Please let Anne or Michael French know if you plan to attend. More details will be forthcoming.
Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand Exhibit
Anyone wishing to drive over to St. Louis to see the fabulous Hero, Hawks, and Open Hand exhibit, please contact Anne or Kathy Getsinger ASAP. We need to go in May, but it seems that May 21, 2005 may be the only option for this trip. We have thought about staying all night, and taking in Cahokia Mounds the next day, but this is entirely optional. Everyone needs to provide their own transportation, but we could meet and convoy over together. I hear this is an exhibit no one should miss. For more, see the following link:
May 3, 2005
Some of you may not have read this interesting article that appeared in the Bowling Green Daily News recently.
Updates
The latest newsletter has now been posted on-line at the Newsletter link. Also, latest meeting minutes have now been posted on the Meeting Minutes page.
Preserving Indiana
The link below provides on-line access to the Spring-Summer 2005 edition of Preserving Indiana, a publication of the Indiana Division of Natural Resources. Check out page 8.
April 25, 2005
Lithics Conference-July 30, 2005
A reminder to everyone FOAS will be sponsoring its first ever conference. The conference will be dedicated to lithic studies within the Ohio River valley centered at the Falls. Appropiate subject matter includes chert types and nomenclature; use-wear analyses; groundstone tools (atlatl weights or bannerstones); projectile point tyopology; chipped stone tool manufacture; organization of technology; and more. Papers by professionals and amateurs will be presented in the morning. Presentations should be no longer than 20 minutes. A box lunch will be provided. Following this, atlatl demonstrations and participation will occur. The remainder of the afternoon, until 5:00, will be dedicated to flintknapping and the display and discussion of chert samples from the area. Participants are encouraged to bring small smaples of chert types from the area to trade and share with others. This is a great time to expand your chert type collection. Please bring maps or locational information on your chert samples. Posters or display are also welcome.
The conference will be held at the Farnsley-Moreman House at Riverside Landing in southwestern Jefferson County, Kentucky from 8:00 to 5:00. Please contact Anne at the next FOAS meeting or at chezmoi@insightbb.com to 1) RSVP (a head count is needed to ensure sufficient lunches are ordered); 2) to submit an abstract for a paper; 3) if you intend to have a poster ot demonstrations. The cost of the attendance is $15.00. This includes a box lunch.
Volunteer Opportunities
Be sure to start watching the Volunteer Opportunities page of this website for upcoming fieldwork projects. At the moment, precise dates have not been determined, but several projects are on the horizon for this spring and summer. First is a Phase I survey of Loop Island in Clark County, Indiana. This will be a great opportunity to teach our field survey class. Michael French of AMEC has volunteered to be an instructor in this course.
A second chance for fieldwork will occur in July (exact date to be announced). We have been asked to conduct public archaeology at a Civil War skirmish site in Larue County, Kentucky on the Rolling Fork River. An 1830s house stands on the property, and some earthmoving needs to be done in the area of the house. This will be an opportunity to conduct archaeology on a historic site, and to hone our skills working with the public. Hopefully, this will turn into a long-term annual commitment.
Finally, we will likely be returning to the Farnsley-Moreman House sometime this summer to follow-up on our surface survey conducted earlier this year. Over 250 tools were recovered at that time. Additional fieldwork may entail ground-truthing anomalies indicated by remote sensing. Again, Michael French will be heading up this efffort.
Proposed Bylaws Changes
Please check the Bylaws link in the menu to review proposed Bylaws changes and amendments.
January 22, 2005
NO LAB WORK AT AMEC THIS TUESDAY....ANNE WILL BE OUT OF TOWN! RESCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 27. 6:00-9:00.
NEWSLETTER
Submissions for the first newsletter of 2005 now being solicited. If anyone has any comments, short articles, news items, questions, scheduled events, etc., please notify Anne this week. Email to chezmoi@insightbb.com, or call!
January 17, 2005
Lab Work Resumes on Tuesday Nights
Anyone interested in returning to labwork for the Meyer Site is welcome to join us on Tuesday nights at the AMEC office. We will meet beginning at 6:00 this Tuesday, January 19. We will try to wrap up work around 9:00. Note: Anne's cell phone is out of service being repaired. If you find the door locked when you arrive, please call 445-5538. Use this number on Tuesday night only.
New Archaeology Channel Video
Dr. Kelli Carmean of eastern Kentucky University has informed us of a new video available on the Archaeology Channel. It concerns archaeologists and Indians working together successfully, specifically, the National Register listing of New Echota, in Georgia. New Echota was the first capitol of the Cherokee Nation from 1825-1838, prior to their banishment from the Southeast U.S. Not only was New Echota the Cherokee political capitol, but was also as an important cultural site, hence it is listed as a Traditional Cultural Property. Russ Townsend (the EBCI representative that we're in contact with) also has a small speaking role.
Go to http://www.archaeologychannel.org/
Folks will need to download RealPlayer first.
Website Updates
Be sure to check the Training Page of this website for newly posted information on fieldschools and workshops! Other pages are currently being updated as well.
October 19, 2004
New Volunteer Opportunity!!!!!
Jeannine Kreinbrink of the Central Ohio Valley Archaeological Society (COVAS) has asked us to join them at Butler State Park in Carroll County, Kentucky on October 23 and 24 as they search for evidence of General Butler's original log home. Should be a lot of fun and a great time to meet our comrades in amateurism! Leslie Rumbley will email more information as Anne and Sundea will be in St. Louis all week at a conference. While they will not be able to go on Saturday, Anne may be able to join the group on Sunday.
September 22, 2004
Artifact washing and sorting at AMEC on Thursday, September 23 at 6:00, and also next Tuesday at 6:00. We could use some help!!! Thanks!
September 16, 2004
We will be going to the Meyer Site in Rockport, Indiana this Sunday. We could still use some help at this site to finish things out. Please join us if you can.
Cheryl Munson has asked me to extend an invitation to FOAS members who would like to visit their September 04 work at Hovey Lake site. They are open for visits: Mon-Fri throughout the month, and also Sat/Sun Sep 25/26 for their Excavation Open House.
If anyone would want to go work with them, Mon-Fri is the schedule. Just
email or call in advance.
Cheryl's work is going great. Background info in the first web link below. Click
on Hovey Lake.
September 12, 2004
Check out the link on the Laws and Regulations page, under ARPA arrests and convictions, regarding the recent looting charges made against two men at Camp Atterbury, Indiana!
September 8, 2004
Thanks to all of you who made Archaeology Day such a success. All of your hard worked paid off, and we had a great day. Next year, hopefully, we'll do even better. Thanks again, and we can all be proud of what we accomplished. Jay Stottman, who participated in the event, sent the following message to the Kentucky Organization of Professional Archaeologists:
.....I would like to congratulate the Falls of the Ohio
Archaeological Society (FOAS) and Anne Bader for organizing a very
successful archaeology day event this past Saturday at the Falls of the Ohio
Interpretive Center in Clarksville, IN. just across from Louisville. The
event was well organized and well attended. FOAS members worked very hard
on this event and have proven time and again how amateurs and professionals
working together can accomplish many positive things for archaeology. They
are truly an asset to our field.
Thank you, Jay!
This week's monthly meeting
Dr. Chris Schmidt has cancelled for this weekend due to a family matter. He will reschedule for 2005. I am not sure what we will do this weekend at our meeting, but we;ll think of something, I guess. If anyone has any ideas, please contact Anne.
Meyer Site
There has been a development that may mean the end of work at the Meyer Site in Rockport, Indiana. Please contact Anne before going down this weekend. A decision should be made tomorrow regarding the continuatio of work at this site.
August 31, 2004
ARCHAEOLOGY DAY!!!!
September 4, 2004 at the Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center
10:00 am-4 pm
Calling all members to please come out and help us. We need to be at the Interpretive Center early....at least by 9:00 am to set up the activities. We also need volunteers throughout the day to help man the stations. Call Anne, Sundea, or Leslie to volunteer for specific events. As usual, we will be having artifact identification, atlatl throwing, and flintknapping. Dr. Ken Carstens will return and speak at 2:00 on the archaeology of Mammoth Cave and area. Other new activities are planned this year. We need your support. This is a FOAS sponsored event!
August 28, 2004
Please keep in mind that if it is raining on Sunday morning, or looks likely to be raining that morning, we will not be going to the Meyer Site as usual. Please check the weather radar for Louisville and Evansville area. The current forecast calls for maybe 70% chance of rain tomorrow. Please call Anne at 502-639-6360 if you want to confirm the trip.
ARCHAEOLOGY DAY
We need to meet at AMEC on Tuesday night at 6:00 and finalize plans for Archaeology DAY...September 4, 2004 at the Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center. We need to print/fold brochures, make assignments to man the various stations, and be sure we have all the materials/artifacts required.
August 20, 2004
We will NOT be going to the Meyer Site on Saturday, the 21st. We expect to be there on Sunday, howeverr. The day-long rain Friday has made it unlikely that we could do good work by hamd or backhoe tomorrow. I will see you all on Sunday!
June 29
Plans are still on, weather permitting, to go to the Meyer Site in Spencer County on Sunday and Monday, July 4 and 5. It is about a 2-hour drive. On Sunday, we will be arriving at the site around 11:00 our time (Eastern), 10L00 Spencer County time. On Monday, we will arrive around 10L00 Eastern, 9:00 Spencer County time. Directions are NOT posted on the web site...please call Anne for directions, or you can meet Anne at the Falls of the Ohio State Park parking lot at 9:00 on Sunday, and 8:00 on Monday and follow us down. You may call Anne on her cell phone at 502-639-6360.
Also, we are still set to do the training on Responsible Collecting on Saturday at noon at AMEC. The address is 690 Commonwealth Center, 11003 Bluegrass Parkway, in Jeffersontown. If we do not get around 10 sign-ups, we will postpone for a two week period. Please call or email if you are interested in attending. Following the training, we will start processing and washing the artifacts from the Meyer Site.
June 25
There will be no training class tomorrow at AMEC due to the fact that Anne is still recovering from her recent illness. We will reschedule for noon next Saturday, July 3. PLease RSVP if you plan to attend....call Anne at 636-2560 and leave a message if you need to, or send an email to chezmoi@insightbb.com. If too few people sign up next week due to the holiday, we will reschedule for the following week....BEFORE our regular meeting.
Spencer County Dig
We still are being asked to go to Spencer County and continue our work there. A schedule for the upcoming weeks is being planned. However, we are largely restricted to the weekends, and next weekend if the holiday weekend. I need to know if there is any interest going down to Spencer COunty on Sunday or Monday next week. Please contact me if interested.
June 2, 2004
We continue our volunteer excavation/training dig at the Meyer Site in Spencer County, Indiana. We will be there Thursday, June 3 as well as Sunday, June 6 and Monday June 7. Please call Anne on her cell phone (502) 639-6360 if you are interested in participating.
May 26, 2004
This Saturday's scheduled class on Responsible Collecting will be rescheduled for a date to be announced soon.....this is because the FOAS has been asked to assist in emergency salvage excavations this weekend and next near Rockport in Spencer County, Indiana. The site is about 1.5-2 hours away, about 15 miles east of Evansville. Middle-Late Archaic features have been found as a landowner excavated footer trenches to build an addition to his house.
I will be leaving around 8:00 Saturday morning from the Falls of the Ohio State Park parking lot if anyone wants to follow me there. Heavy rain will cancel the dig. Anyone who would like to come please send me an email at chezmoi@insightbb.comcall 636-2560. Leave a message if you need to.
Indiana-Kentucky: Prather Archaeological Site, Public Lecture, June 5:
(Jeffersonville/Louisville area), 2:00 p.m., Falls of the Ohio State Park; for directions see http://fallsoftheohio.org/
Cheryl Ann Munson (Indiana University-Bloomington) and Robert G. McCullough (IPFW) will present a public lecture "2003 Archaeological Investigations at the Prather Site, Clark County, Indiana." This research project produced a baseline archaeological survey of the Mississippian component and its surviving mounds, which are presently in pasture and hay fields. The survey involved systematic auger sampling and was supported by a matching-fund grant from the federal Historic Preservation Fund (National Park Service, administered by Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology). Professional, student, and avocational archaeologists, including members of the Falls of the Ohio Archaeological Society, assisted the survey. In years past (the 1930s-60s), many residents of the Falls of the Ohio Region collected artifacts from the site, and conducted amateur excavations. After the lecture, Munson and McCullough will gladly comment on the research significance of any artifacts that people would want to bring for identification. The Prather project website (
May 21, 2004
The labwork at AMEC is cancelled for tomorrow at 12:00. Hopefully we'll see you all at AMEC next Saturday for class.--Anne
May 5, 2004
Cheryl Munson and Dr. Bob McCullough will be presenting the preliminary findings of the investigations at the Prather Site on June 5, 2004 at 2:00 at the Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center. All are welcome. This should be fascinating!
The May issue of the Kentucky Living Magazine features an article enititled "Digging Kentucky". This magazine is not available in stores, but by subscription. This is, however, one of widest circulating magazines in the state of Kentucky, though mostly in the rural areas. The article has several paragraphs dedicated to the FOAS. We are being sent a copy of the magazine, which we will share with you. However, in the meantime, check out this link for a sneak preview:
May 3, 2004
I have been informed that some April newsletters were returned due to the fact that address labels had apparently fallen off during the mail. If you have paid your membership and did not receive a newsletter, please email Anne (chezmoi@insightbb.com) and I will see that you get one. There will be extra copies of the newsletter at next Saturday's meeting.
April 22, 2004
Michael French, President of the Kentucky Organization of Professional Archaeologists (KYOPA), has suggested that the FOAS may be able to contribute some support to the current and future policies regarding land management at the Red River Gorge. Just this past year, the archaeological sites at Red River Gorge were listed to the National Register of Historic Places as an Archaeological District. These sites have been nominated to the 2004 Top 11 Most Endangered Historic Sites in the Nation.
Michael has written the following:
KyOPA is taking an active role as a consulting party on the upcoming negotiations for the "Limits of Acceptable Change" plan for the Red River Gorge in Eastern Kentucky. The LAC will set up a management plan of sorts that balances the needs of the many thousands of people who visit the Gorge each year for recreation with concerns about environmental degradation and cultural resource preservation and other issues. Heavy utilization of the Gorge has led to the damage and destruction of a number of archaeological sites across the Gorge. It is important that the archaeological community works together to insure that the Forest Service Planners incorporate measures that preserve these archaeolgical resources. The LAC consultation process are a number of very LOUD voices by groups who treasure their activities in the Gorge such as rock climbing associations, campers, hikers, etc. It's time for KyOPA to get involved and be heard as well.
Cecil Ison, our hardworking colleague at the Daniel Boone National Forest, has volunteered to take us on a tour of the Red River Gorge to show us some of the important sites that are at risk and discuss some of the management issues that are at stake in the Gorge. The trip has been scheduled for Saturday, May 15, 2004. I encourage any of you who are concerned about the Gorge to attend and help add your voice to the process.
Ms. Susan Neumeyer, who worked to get the Red River Gorge listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will help coordinate the trip with Cecil. If you would like to join us for a hike through the Gorge please let us know. Once the LAC consultation process is underway, there will be a number of public meetings scheduled. Members of the KyOPA Board of Directors and the Red River Gorge Consultation Committee will be attending these meetings. If any of you are interested in attending these meetings please let me know and I will be sure to keep you informed of where and when the LAC meetings will occur. Please let me know.
Best Regards to all,
Michael W. French, RPA
KyOPA President
Anyone who would be interested in representing FOAS and take the tour to support the KYOPA, please contact Anne Bader and we will provide you with details.
April 19, 2004
The website is finally coming back together! Recent meeting minutes have been added, and the past newsletters are now being posted. We are starting to build the section on archaeological sites in the falls area, so check that out periodically. Most of the links are now up and working. The on-line membership registration is still inoperative, but will hopefully be back on-line by the week-end. There are now some links for the children's page. Hopefully, soon, we will have the Gallery page populated.
Please Note:....There have been changes to the monthly schedule of speakers....please check the schedule page for the latest.
Also, I am finalizing the schedule and materials for our training modules.......this information will be posted shortly. Please check the listings and "assigned" readings.
Finally, I would like to suggest that you visit the Library page. If there is something you would like to borrow, please email Anne or Sundea, so they can bring that material along. Since we do not have a permanent home, it is very difficult for us to carry the whole library along with us at every meeting. We will be happy to bring the books/videos you want.....just give us a heads-up so we will have them for you.
NOTICE!!!!!
Lori Stahlgren cannot make our next meeting to speak due to a prior commitment. HOWEVER, she invites us to hold our monthly meeting that day (October 11) at the Riverside Landing, Farnsely-Moreman House on Lower River Road in Louisville. She and Jay Stottman will be busy with a number of archaeology-related activities, and we are invited to participate in them. You can get involved in digging, OR, you can simply watch, or tour the house which will be open. Also, you can visit the displays inside the visitor's center and the gift shop. FURTHERMORE, Lori invites us to join her at Farmington, near the Watterson Expressway on Bardstown Road in Louisville the following day, Sunday...October 12....where we can also get involved in digging or screening at this important site. More on the exact times later!!!
September 17, 2003
We have dates for the Mulberry Hill investigation. It will be on October 17 and 18. October 17, a Friday, will be a full day. Saturday, October 18, will only be a half-day. We need to know soon how many folks can make it on Friday. Please email or call me to confirm your participation.
Lost Notebook
Sundea Murphy has lost a notebook in which she has recorded som ethings that will be impossible to replace. If anyone present at last month's meeting recalls seeing anotebook, please call Sundea. This is important to her. Thanks.
September 12, 2003
ON THE WEB THIS MONTH!!!!
I received this from the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. I don't know if the trip is filled yet, but some of you may be interested in it.
Big Bone Lick Talk and Field Trip
In the 1700s the western frontier referred to as "Kentuckie" was "a place where the ground was littered with the bones of long dead behemoths, likes of which had never been seen anywhere else in the world. And, it was a place that held clues to America's most remote past." Thomas Jefferson became so intrigued with the site after examining mastodon bones that he had on separate occasions sent General William Henry Harrison and Captain William Clark (of Lewis & Clark) to collection artifacts.
Author and professor of Anthropology at Northern Kentucky University, Dr. Ken Tankersley will present a program on Big Bone Lick at the Ohio County Historical Society Museum on September 19, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. He will discuss many of these and other fascinating facts about Big Bone Lick. The cost of the program is admission to the museum.
On Saturday, September 20, 2003, 8:30 a.m. a tour will leave the museum parking lot on a bus trip to Big Bone Lick. The guide, Dr. Tankersley, will meet the tour at the site. Upon arriving the tour will see the area animals were seen in the early 18th Century "licking bare patches of black, and quaking, boggy ground around foul-smelling springs." Also on the tour are the dig sites that William and George Rogers Clark excavated in the summer of 1807. The tour will also see the Dinsmore Conservation Area and remnants of the Bison Trace.
The tour of the area is a walking tour so wear comfortable shoes and bring a sack lunch. Space is limited on the bus to 40 people. The cost is $10/person. Send payment to the Historical Society by September 17th. The Ohio County Historical Museum address is 212 S. Walnut Street, Rising Sun, Indiana, 47040. For more information about the event or museum please call Bill Dichtl at 812/438-4915.
September 11, 2003
Saturday, July 19, we will meet at 9:30 at our regular meeting place and then go to the log cabin site we discussed last week located on Wolf Pen Branch Road in Jefferson COunty, KY. We may not find anything of importance, but we will check it out. Rain will cancel.
We did not get enough interest to make the bus trip to Angel Mounds cost effective. We will, however, still be going on July 5, 2003. We will meet at 9:00 a.m. at our regular meeting place and carpool down. I will try to have some drinks in a cooler and maybe some snacks. We will drive into Evansville for lunch. Anyone wishing to join us, please come along. Call with questions.
Deadline to register for the trip has been extended to Tuesday, July 1. I need to know by then if you are coming along with us. We could still use about nine more folks to make this cost-effective. Bring along a friend!
Call Anne at 636-2560 if you'd like to come along.
I will post a note and call folks Tuesday about final arrangements. If we do not get enough to sign up, we may have to drive down.
We are planning a fieldtrip to Angel Mounds at Evansville, Indiana on July 5. We are chartering a bus to take us there and back. The bus line will provide us breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks. The Director/curator of Angel Mounds will be giving a tour of the site; the museum will also be open. Anyone wishing to go must call Anne at 636-2560 by Wednesday, June 25. While the museum and tour are free, the cost of the bus and food will be in the neighborhood of $35.00 each. This is open to non-members as well. It should be a very educational and fun day.
It has been jointly decided between the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archives, the Falls of the Ohio, and myself that it would be best to close up the site at Clark's Point and do no further digging there. Therefore, we will not be meeting this week-end. Our meeting at Taylorsville Lake is still scheduled for the following Sunday (the 11th) at 12:00. We will meet around 11:30 at our usual meeting place to drive to T'ville.
Anne
Anyone who does not know the way, we will have someone at our regular meeting place at 12:45 to escort people to the site. Meanwhile, I will try to find a map I can post for you.
Let's keep our fingers crossed. I will try to call folks or email and relay this same information. Last week, I had trouble reaching some people. If the forecast changes dramatically, and you have not heard from someone, you might give me a call. The only sure show-stopper is a heavy rain, strong winds, or very cold temperatues.
Anne
March 27, 2003
Clark's Point Excavation
Well, I took the chance and lost! This week-ends weather appears to be much worse than last week. We will wait one more week. We have one more weekend before Thunder, Easter, and our next Meeting...the 26th. So we will reschedule-hopefully for the last time--for April 4, 5, and 6th.
Anne
It was a tough decision, because Saturday looks so nice, but I have decided to do the excavation at Clark's Point NEXT week-end, starting Friday the 28th. I visited the site tonight; it is wet, but I think could probably have been dug and screened....it's not ideal conditions for fieldwork, but probably passable. However, showers are still in the forecast through noon tomorrow (Friday), and I really want to start work on this site on a Friday to make sure we get through in one week-end. By the time we get the tripods set up on Saturday, we would surely have to go into Sunday...I know that's okay for most folks. Still, I would prefer to set up on a Friday, get the units cleaned up and ready to go, explain the paperwork and methods, and start in earnest on Saturday morning.
I know I am taking a chance on good weather next week-end....
I will call on Thursday night next week, and/or send e-mails and post info on this site, if we need to cancel because of weather. I will also post the shift assignments on this site, as well as call/email.
Anne
March 6, 2003
Due largely to my heavy workload and procrastination, we will not have a newsletter this month. I want to remind everyone that Dr. Donald Janzen will be speaking this Saturday at 2:30 on the work he did during the 1970s/1980s in the Falls of the Ohio area. Much of this work dealt with Archaeic period sites.
On other matters, we voted in our officers as expected at last month's meeting. We also voted to accept our Bylaws as written with some changes that we are currently addressing. It was almost unanimously decided to adopt a Code of Conduct for membership as well.
We now have a bank account with Fifth Third bank, and were able to collect an impressive amount of dues on our first round. We have been receiving more over the last few week's and I expect that this trend will contine. Some of this will go towards publication of our first journal volume, since the membership approved that expense as well.
We will send out one more monthly newsletter free. After this, only paid members will receive the newsletter. Paid members will also receive free a copy of the journal. We will sell for $8.00 a copy of the journal to non-members.
Web Site
Several new pages are in the works for our web site. These include a listing of volunteer opportunties, information on our Volunteer Accreditation Program, and a page for our Bylaws. A page is also being prepared for our Code of Conduct. A section on Standing Committees will be added to the Officers page.
On February 8, 2003, we will be voting for our officers. We will also be voting to accept our bylaws. You wil be given an opportunity to review the changes to the bylaws prior to the vote. Of importance, we will start assessing annual dues this month. After some research, our bylaws committee has recommended 15.00 annual fee; 20.00 per family; 10.00 per student; and 100.00 lifetime membership. These are included in the bylaws; therefore your vote on this matter is important. I would like to be able to provide the journal free to all paying members. This will depend on the estimates I get this week to publish it and the number of paying members. I also intend to provide copies to others in the community for a fee. I hope to know the answer to this by the February 8 meeting.
Three additional pages to the website are in the works. One of these will be a list of books, journals, and articles in the lending library. A second will be a gallery of photo shots of our activities. The third will contain a listing and description of the more important archaeological sites in the Falls area.
Finally, I am researching and coordinating with the Kentucky Heritage Council and KyOPA to get our Accredited Volunteer program recognized and approved by other professionals in the state. We may have to formalize the "curriculum" a bit, but that can be done. I am considering adding another web page that will track the volunteer hours and training hours of those involved in this program.
Looking forward to seeing you on the 8th.
Anne
Lab Techniques Class
This class, originally scheduled for January 25, 2003 has been postponed to February 15, 2003 due to a conflict in schedule with the Ancient History Series at the Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center.
Field Trip Planned for Late February
Anyone interested in joining us for a winter blues feld trip to the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, please sign up! We will need to coordinate our trip with the museum. This is a museum of the Native Ameican people. For more on this museum, see the newly added link under the Resources page of this web site!
Web Site Additions
Two new pages have been added to our web site. Please check out Legends and Stories . This page contains brief synopses, related links, and references for additional reading relative to many of the legends, myths, beliefs, stories, or oral tradition of the region. While most of these are related to archaeology and/or prehistory, some are of anthropological interest generally. This page is still under construction...continue to check in as more is added. Anyone knowing of other such folklore or stories of interest, please let us know!
Also you will see a new page entitled Current Officers. This page is also under construction. In the next week or so you will find information related to those individuals "running" for office.....I use the term lightly, because there is only one candidate each for most of the offices. Anyone wishing to serve in this manner, please advise. We could use your help. Elections will be held at the February meeting regardless!
Bylaws
We now have draft bylaws thanks to the efforts of Sundea Murphy and Richard Lyons. We will be voting to accept these bylaws at the February meeting. Anyone wishing to preview a copy of the bylaws can request it on-line and we will send it to you.
Dues
As of the February 2003 meeting, annual dues will be assessed. There will be a reduced rate for family membership. Depending on how many people register as paying members, we will make the decision on whether or not we can afford to provide a copy of our upcoming journal with paid membership, or if we will have to charge a separate fee for the journal.
Journal
We are still on target for publishing our first edition of the Falls of the Ohio Archaeological journal by March 1 of this year. The journal will contain articles of various lengths, as well as a section of shorter submissions or "newsbriefs". To date, we have two articles submitted by our non-professional members, and four by professional archaeologists. We have been promised at least four additional articles in the next two weeks. Hopefully, they will arrive in time. We are still struggling with a name for our journal. No clear concensus was arrived at during our recent "vote" at the January meeting.
Newsletter
Many thanks to Walter Manka who has designed our newsletter and serves as the editor. He is very generously providing the printing at no cost to the society. He is also offered to assume the task of preparing the mailing for distribution. Walter is doing a fine job, and is due our thanks!
Lending Library
We are planning to have a small lending library of books and articles on the archaeology and history of the region. These books will be available at our regular meeting place. Anyone wishing to donate or lend books to the collection, or who have articles to place on file, please bring them along to any meeting. The books/articles can be checked out for a period of one month, to be returned at the subsequent meeting. If we find that books/articles are not returned, this service may be discontinued. Fees will be assessed for all books that do not find their way back to the society.
Upcoming Events
Ancient History Series
Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center
January 25, 2003 Madoc, Fact or Fiction by Jim Michael, President
February 22, 2003 The Moundbuilders by Dr. Lee Pennington, Director
March 29, 2003 The Mystery of the Red Paint People by Jim Michael, President
Call for times....
Other:
February 8, 2003 200 Years on the Ohio River 1803-2003 and introducing the video Spirit of the Land: The Expedition at the Falls Speaker: Chuck Parrish, Historian for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville.
1:00 at the Portland Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library, 3305 Northwestern Parkway.
The meeting date has been changed from the third Saturday of the month to the SECOND Saturday of the month at the request of some members who had scheduling conflicts with the original meeting date. The time of the meeting remains the same, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. The first 20-30 minutes of each meeting is related to business or news items. Typically, speakers have the floor from 2:30-3:30. Questions follow from 3:30-4:00.
Newletter
Member Walter Manka has designed a newsletter format for us. Many thanks to Walter! Walter has years of experience in graphic arts. The first real newsletter should go out in December, and will initially be published every three months, or four times a year.
Bylaws
We have received a copy of the bylaws from the Central Ohio Valley Archaeological Society (COVAS) (see a link to this group under Resources: Other Kentucky Societies). Copies of these will be provided for review by the Bylaws Committee. A draft version of the FOAS bylaws, once completed, will be posted online for review by the general membership. Hopefully, these bylaws can be voted into effect in January.
Elections
A tentative ballot has been prepared to elect officers, including President, President Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Bylaws committee will be reviewing the need for a five-member Board of Directors. The ballot will (hopefully) be finalized in December, with voting at the January meeting.
501c3 Non-profit Status
Sundea Murphy has graciously been researching the procedures and benefits related to the FOAS obtainiing non-profit status. More on this to come in the near future.
The Registration form will be online soon, as will be a map detailing how to reach the meeting place.
April 2, 2004
Important Notice! Because of problems with the previous webhost, we've switched to a new home. I apologize for the week-long
absence- reconstruction of the site will happen as soon as possible. Some information has been lost, but should be able
to be recovered without too much difficulty. A little more pateince please while we fix this. Thanks!
Registration form and gallery are both down until further notice. Again, sorry about this.
-Anne's adorable darling daughter, Leigh
September 20, 2003
The bad thing about letting one's daughter design your website: She gets to spout off nonsense on the news page. MUWHAHA!
The gallery page is finally open and running, now everyone annoy Anne about adding all the images. I'm also planning to redesign the layout
of the site soon, as to make it easier for Mother to update, therefore saving me from going bald whenever I try to teach her html. (Though I suppose I deserve it after all the hair I've made
HER pull out) But hey, living proof that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! =D
-Leigh
July 18, 2003
July 4, 2003
Angel Mounds Trip
June 22, 2003
May 1, 2003
April 3, 2003
The weather forecast so far is calling for temperatures in the 60s and a "chance" of showers each day...however, I think we will go ahead and schedule the excavation at the GRC cabin site. Unless it is raining hard, plan to be there. I will be at the cabin site around 1:00 on Friday...have a morning meeting I can't get out of. We will stay until around 5:00 or we reach a good stopping point. On Saturday, I'd like to go around 9-4. If we need Sunday, we'll plan on the same time, 9-4 or however long it takes to finish. It looks like folks can come almost any time they want...the sign-ups were not too heavy at any one period. If you have been there each day, however, and others show up that have not had a chance to participate, perhaps you can take a lesser role. I plan on needing so(1-2) diggers who can get in and out of the hole; a maximum of eight screeners; and I will have a table for washing and sorting artifacts. And someone will need to record the notes and take pictures. So there should be enough to keep people busy. We will rotate as needed.
EXCAVATION AT CLARK'S POINT......
February 9, 2003
January 28, 2003
January 20, 2003
Meeting Date