While our current outreach is limited by social distancing
and travel bans, this week’s blog will focus on ways to explore the diverse and
rich archaeological resources of Pennsylvania from the comfort and safety of
home.
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Petroglyph tour of
Pennsylvania. Image: PHMC
Petroglyphs Brochure
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The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), like many other public and private entities, has turned the negative of COVID-19 related museum and site closures into a positive opportunity to re-double efforts on long-term virtual access initiatives. The Commission as a whole has greatly increased available online exhibits, archives, and collections by adding new records and interactive web-based tools as part of our greater telework mission. We strongly recommend checking out our new and improved offerings, but we also want to share a handful of additional online resources produced by a variety of academic, professional, local non-profit, state and federal institutions.
To begin our virtual tour of PA’s archaeological resources, we’d like to highlight the recent soft launch of an online Argus object search engine for The State Museum and Trail of History Sites and Museums. The Section of Archaeology has added new artifacts every week to this database during the office closure. To quickly access archaeological objects in the Search Collection tab, use the wild card symbol (*) with the keyword search term (*Archaeology*) or (*Archeology*). We further recommend taking a brief side trip on the Pennsylvania Trailheads blog of the Bureau of Sites and Museums. This week’s post has more information about the PHMC’s new collection search tool.
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Archaeology Object
Search Example, Sandstone Petroglyph, Schuylkill County, PA
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In addition to the Section of Archaeology’s bi-weekly blog, This Week in Pennsylvania Archaeology, and Sites and Museums, Pennsylvania Trailheads, the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) also posts updates on a regular basis in their equivalent forum, Pennsylvania Historic Preservation. Again, using the search term “Archaeology” or “Archeology” you can read more about on-going archaeological projects throughout the state. Here’s a link to an archived blog about Shawnee-Minisink, a National Registered Paleoindian and Archaic Period site in the Upper Delaware Valley moving your virtual travel to the northeast.
Following the Delaware River downstream, Philadelphia is a
treasure trove of history and archaeological resources. We recommend a visit to
the Philadelphia Archaeology Forum, a one stop shop of information, and the
Digging I95 interactive website administered
by AECOM in collaboration with the US Department of Transportation Federal
Highway Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDot).
Expanding the exploration beyond the
confines of Pennsylvania you can also visit the Penn Museum at the University
of Pennsylvania. Their Daily Dig series features a new artifact from their world-wide
collections every day during the coronavirus shut down. A virtual visit to Philadelphia
would not be complete without a stop at Independence National Park, Preservation-Archaeology.
Next, take a virtual tour of Pre-Contact archaeological heritage
districts through a PHMC Historic
Marker Search. Select a county and search category “Native American” to
discover prehistoric and Contact Period local cultural resources. We would
recommend heading west from Philadelphia to Lancaster County in southcentral,
PA. Pick a marker and enter the provided
GIS coordinates in google earth to get a birds-eye or street-view of locations
marking the former village sites of the Susquehannock and other Native American
groups that lived along the Susquehanna River.
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PHMC Historical Marker
Search Example
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You can continue your virtual journey through the Susquehannock Native Landscape at The Zimmerman Center for Heritage. Part of the Susquehanna National Heritage
Area, this National Park Service (NPS) cultural center serves as the Trailhead
of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National
Historic Trail,
another resource worth exploring. Video content on the site allows you to fly
over the Susquehanna River from Columbia Crossing to the Zimmerman Center.
Then check
out other local history venues with archaeological collections using the
museums’ listing links on the archived PHMC Pennsylvania Archaeology website.
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PHMC Pennsylvania
Archaeology
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Not listed in the PHMC guide is the new home of the
Westmoreland Historical Society, Historic Hanna’s Town. This
site takes our tour west of the Allegheny Mountains to a frontier town,
established in 1773 by the British colonial government. Hanna’s Town played an
important role in the American Revolution and was burned down by a Seneca
raiding party in 1786 towards the end of the conflict. It’s reclamation from
early Republican county seat to farmland in the early 19th century
encapsulated in the archaeological record a turbulent time in our country’s
history.
To read more about recent archaeology conducted at the Hanna’s Town, follow
Ashley McCuistion’s blog, Digging
Anthropology, tales from the sandbox. This is an archived website dedicated
to her Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) graduate student investigations
at the DuPont Powder Mill site, Fayette County, PA; field schools at Hanna’s
Town, Pennsylvania and Ferry Farm, Virginia; and undergraduate work with the Virtual Curation Laboratory
(VCL) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).
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Dr. Bernard Means 3-D
scanning turtle carapace, Image: The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Section of
Archaeology Collections.
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Incidentally, VCL’s director, Bernard Means, has worked
extensively with archaeological collections held at The State Museum of Pennsylvania,
primarily from Monongahela Village sites in Somerset County. His research has
been featured in our past blogs about Somerset County and Sharing and Preserving
the Archaeological Record.
IUP also has a dedicated
archaeology blog that is regularly updated, Trowels and Tribulations, that is worth a view.
Continuing in Southwestern Pennsylvania, you can visit the
earliest documented archaeological site in North America, Meadowcroft
Rockshelter and Historic Village in Avella, Washington County. The park and
several other museums in the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area are
administered by the Senator John Heinz History Center. The History Center’s online
offerings are outstanding and include many interactive ways to explore its exhibit
and site holdings.
The Fort
Pit Museum in downtown Pittsburgh, part of the PHMC Trail of Military History, is also administered by the Heinz
History Center. The site has a long history of archaeological conservation and
investigation through the efforts of The Fort Pitt Society of the Daughters of
the American Revolution. Visit the Fort Pitt Block House
website for more information about past excavations and additional interactive
resources.
Here are a few resources to help you turn this tour into a
virtual family vacation. The National Park Service (NPS), Educator
Resources, and the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), Teaching Archaeology, websites have a number of options
for those of us struggling to find creative ways to engage our school-aged kids
during stay-at-home orders. Heading back southwest to Cambria County, the NPS
has Kindergarten through Sixth grade lesson plans for the Johnstown Flood
National Memorial. Or you can travel back in time across central Pennsylvania
on the historic Allegheny Portage Railroad which connected the Midwest to the
eastern seaboard between 1834 and 1854.
Finally, you can round out your experience at a virtual
excavation with the Archaeological Institute of America and Archaeology magazine’s
interactive digs. None of the available
excavations are located in Pennsylvania, but it’s worth mentioning as a fun way
to cap off our tour.
Most of us are itching to get on the road and have a change
of scenery after two months of quarantine. The global pandemic has given us all
opportunity to reflect on what we value and how an understanding of our past
can help us better plan for the future. It is still safest to stay home and
follow recommendations of Governor
Wolf and the CDC. A few PHMC sites are moving from red to yellow phase
restrictions in the northwest and northcentral health districts at the end of
this week. Drake Well Museum and the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum are in the
planning stages of re-opening their grounds, but not their facilities, to
visitors soon. Please continue to visit online resources and call ahead for
up-to-date COVID-19 health and safety restrictions as part of any travel plan
in the near future. In the meantime, we hope you are able to fulfill some of
your curiosity and wanderlust with a few of our recommendations for travel down
a virtual archaeological rabbit hole or two.
Online Resources
AECOM
2014 Home Page, Digging I95. November
14, 2014. https://diggingi95.com/.
Archaeological
Institute of America and ARCHAEOLOGY magazine
2019 Interactive Digs. https://www.interactivedigs.com/
Bureau of
Historic Sites and Museums (PHMC)
2020 Curating from Home, Pennsylvania Trails
of History Trailheads. Blog Post, May 8, 2020.
Bureau of
The State Museum of Pennsylvania (PHMC)
2017 Home Page, http://statemuseumpa.org/.
Bureau of
The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Section of Archaeology (PHMC)
2013 Somerset County, This Week in
Pennsylvania Archaeology. Blog Post, August 16, 2013.
2018 Sharing and Preserving the
Archaeological Record, This Week in Pennsylvania Archaeology. Blog Post,
August 13, 2018.
Fort Pitt
Society
2020 Fort Pitt Block House, Archaeology. http://www.fortpittblockhouse.com/archeology/
Indiana
University of Pennsylvania, Archaeology
2020 Trowels and Tribulations: IUP’s
Archaeology Blog. http://iblog.iup.edu/trowelsandtribulations/
McCuistion,
Ashley
2016 Digging Anthropology, Tales from the
Sandbox. Blog, last post January 22, 2016. See Hanna’s Town. https://diganthro.wordpress.com/; https://diganthro.wordpress.com/hannas-town/
National
Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
Educator Resources, Pennsylvania,
Archaeology, https://www.nps.gov/teachers/teacher-resources.htm?#sort=score+desc&q=Pennsylvania,+Archaeology
2016 Independence National Historical Park,
Pennsylvania. Archaeology at Independence. September 6, 2016. Learn
About Park, History & Culture, Preservation, Archaeology. https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/preservation-archeology.htm
2019 Captain Johns Smith Chesapeake National
Historic Trail, VA, MD, De, DC, PA, NY. March 12, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/cajo/index.htm
Penn Museum
2019 Events, Adult Programs, The Daily Dig. https://www.penn.museum/events/adult-programs/the-daily-dig?utm_source=collections&utm_medium=webpage&utm_campaign=homepage
Pennsylvania
Department of Health
2020 Health, All Health Topics, Disease &
Conditions, Coronavirus. https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Pages/Coronavirus.aspx
Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission,
2015 Pennsylvania Archaeology, Resources,
Museums and Tours. September 10, 2015. http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/archaeology/resources/museums-tours.html
Petroglyphs Brochure, pdf. http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/archaeology/files/petroglyphs.pdf
2020 Home Page, https://www.phmc.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx
Marker Search, http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/apps/historical-markers.html
Trails of History, https://www.phmc.pa.gov/Museums/Pages/default.aspx
Military Trail of History, https://www.phmc.pa.gov/Museums/Military-History/Pages/default.aspx
Museum Collection, Search Collection,
Archaeology, https://5074.sydneyplus.com/Public/PHMC_ArgusNET/Portal.aspx?lang=en-US&d=d
Pennsylvania
State Historic Preservation Office (PHMC)
2020 Pennsylvania Historic Preservation, Blog
Homepage. https://pahistoricpreservation.com/
2014 Spotlight Series: The Shawnee-Minisink
Archaeological Site. Pennsylvania Historic Preservation. Blog Post, March 12, 2014. https://pahistoricpreservation.com/shawnee-minisink/
Philadelphia
Archaeology Forum
2020 Home Page, https://www.phillyarchaeology.net/
Sea Grant
Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania State University
2016 The Pennsylvania Archeology Shipwreck and
Survey Team (PASST). https://seagrant.psu.edu/topics/projects/pennsylvania-archeology-shipwreck-and-survey-team-passt
Senator John
Heinz History Center
2019 Exhibits, Meadowcroft Rockshelter. https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/exhibits/meadowcroft-rockshelter
Fort Pitt Museum, https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/fort-pitt/
Society for
American Archaeology
2020 Education and Outreach, K-12 Activities
& Resources. https://www.saa.org/education-outreach/teaching-archaeology/k-12-activities-resources
Susquehanna
National Heritage Area
2020 River History, Susquehannock Native
Landscapes. https://www.susquehannaheritage.org/discover-river-history/susquehannock-native-landscape/
Thomas T.
Taber Museum
2020 Explore the Museum, American Indian
Gallery. https://tabermuseum.org/explore-museum/american-indian-gallery
Tioga Point
Museum
2019 Collections. https://www.tiogapointmuseum.org/collections
Virtual
Curation Laboratory, Virginia Commonwealth University
2015 Discoidal from Peck 2. Virtual Curation
Museum. Blog Post September 18, 2015. https://virtualcurationmuseum.wordpress.com/
Westmoreland
Historical Society
2018 Home Page, Historic Hanna’s Town, https://westmorelandhistory.org/hannas-town
For more information, visit PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania .
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