Here we are, summer is ending, school is starting for many
across the state of Pennsylvania and our busiest time of year is just
beginning. Each year the Section of Archaeology attends and hosts several
public programs to spread the word about Pennsylvania’s archaeological history.
Kipona
September
1st – 3rd
City
Island, Harrisburg
The kick off public program is Labor Day weekend’s Kipona Festival.
Kipona, meaning,
“To be upon the sparkling water,”
is held each year on City Island, surrounded by the Susquehanna River. Our
booth will be located on the west side of the Island, behind the baseball
field. Along with knowledgeable staff and volunteers available to answer
questions, our booth will highlight the over 8,000-year-old Native American
archaeological record excavated on the Island. Artifacts on display from these excavations
include numerous
spear points, some of which have been carbon-14 dated along with a cache of 4,000-year-old axe blades and celts. As
usual, we will also be exhibiting our ever-popular 20-foot dugout
canoe. This replica is based on the real dugout on display in the Archaeology
gallery of the State Museum. For those interested in experimental archaeology,
the stone tools, called adzes, which we made and used to “dig” out the canoe will
be available for examination. Finally, there will be a variety of free
brochures with information on hand summarizing the archaeology of
Pennsylvania.
Section of Archaeology
staff burning and scraping log to create the dugout canoe.
This year we will also be raffling off a chance to win a
behind the scenes tour of the State Museum’s Section of Archaeology laboratory!
Stop by our booth to take a “ride” in the dugout canoe, marvel at the more than
8,000-year-old artifacts from right beneath our feet on City Island and fill
out a raffle ticket for your chance to win!
The State Museum of Pennsylvania’s
Section of Archaeology booth at Kipona 2017.
Fort
Hunter
September
5th-October 5th
Mondays-Fridays
(9am-4pm)
Shortly after the end of Kipona each year, the Section of
Archaeology gears up and heads to Fort Hunter Mansion and Park for our month-long
excavation. This year we will be heading out to begin setting up and opening
our excavation units during the first week of September with true excavations
starting the following week on September 10th. As in past years, we
will be excavating in the backyard behind the mansion, looking for physical
evidence of the French and Indian War period fort that was supposedly built
somewhere in what is now the Fort Hunter Mansion and Park. Our excavations are
open for the public to visit and to speak with the archaeologists and
volunteers about what we have found and what we are looking for. Unless it
rains, we will be excavating from 9:00 am to 4:15 pm Monday through Friday
until October 5th. We will also be working Sunday, September 16th
on Fort Hunter Day. This is an annual fall celebration and craft fair sponsored
by the Park. For more information on the Fort Hunter Day visit the Fort Hunter
Mansion and Park website calendar of events here: https://forthunter.org/events/fort-hunter-day-3/.
Guests listening to staff discuss
what is going on in the excavations at Fort Hunter Day 2017
Also available at Fort Hunter during Fort Hunter Day and our
weekly excavations are brochures and pamphlets on Pennsylvania archaeology as
well as the new archaeology month poster and our registration pamphlet for the
Section of Archaeology’s annual Workshops in Archaeology.
2018 Annual Workshops in Archaeology
Saturday, October 27, 2018
The State Museum of Pennsylvania
300 North Street Harrisburg, PA
October is archaeology month and as we wrap up our Fort
Hunter excavations during the first week in October, we move straight into
preparations for our annual Workshops in Archaeology program. We will be
holding the Workshops program, on Saturday October 27, just a few days after
International Archaeology Day, October 20, (for more information on International
Archaeology Day check out the website at: https://www.archaeological.org/archaeologyday/about).
International
Archaeology Day Poster, available for download on the website.
The Workshops in Archaeology is a program designed to
provide the public with an overview of archaeological discoveries across the Commonwealth.
This year’s theme is John Smith’s
Susquehannock’s: The Archaeological Context of a Native Culture and
encompasses presentations from experts in the field, an ongoing flint knapping
demonstration by master flint knapper Steve Nissly, and artifact identification
and site recordation by the State Historic Preservation Office staff.
SHPO staff member educating
Workshops participant in recording sites.
Brief summary of this
year’s Workshops theme:
John Smith’s Susquehannocks:
The Archaeological Context
of
a Native Culture
For more
than 200 years, between 1550 and 1763, much of the Susquehanna River Valley was
home to the Susquehannock Indian Tribe. This was a matrilineal society, different
from many Indian societies, tracing kinship through the female line. They were
dependent on maize agriculture, along with other domesticated foods, wild
plants and animals. They lived in some of the largest Indian towns in
Pennsylvania, containing one thousand or more people. Their impact on the
Colonial period America was far-reaching, especially in the fur trade during
the 1600s. Capt. John Smith, founding father of the English colony at
Jamestown, Virginia, was the first European to describe the Susquehannocks in
detail. During his exploration of the Chesapeake Bay in 1608, he stopped at the
mouth of the Susquehanna River, where he made contact with sixty Susquehannocks
and stated that they “are the strangest people of all those countries, both in
language and attire.” At the height of the fur trade during the mid-1600s,
competition with Iroquoian groups, namely the Seneca and Mohawk, led to
upheaval and discord. By the late 1600s, conflict between these Indian tribes,
as well as with Europeans, led to the Susquehannocks dispersal and eventual
disappearance from the Susquehanna Valley in the late 1700s. The story of the
rise and fall of the Susquehannocks was the fate of many Indian tribes in the
eastern United States.
We welcome
archaeology and history enthusiasts to this informative program that will
provide insights into this fascinating period in our nation’s history. Admission
to The State Museum of Pennsylvania is included with registration.
Flint knapping
demonstration by Steve Nissly at 2013 Workshops in Archaeology.
So come out and join us this fall to celebrate the rich
archaeological heritage from all around us. We look forward to seeing you at
one of our informative programs: the Kipona Festival, our excavations at Fort Hunter
and the Workshops in Archaeology where you can learn more about how you can
help preserve our past for the future.
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