Recap of Archaeology Workshops 2011

We are delighted to report on the success of the return of our Workshops in Archaeology program. This past Saturday we hosted just over a hundred people from all avenues who just want to learn more about archaeology. Members of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Pennsylvania Heritage Society members, students, and the general public turned out to learn more at about the Prehistory of Pennsylvania.

Profile of Calver Island from Susquehanna Turnpike Bridge Replacement Project

Presenters for the program included Pat Miller, PhD. sharing information relative to The Late Archaic/Transitional Period. During this period hunter-gatherers adapted to environmental change and increasing population density by developing new technological, social, and economic strategies. Recently there have been several major contributions from sites excavated along the Ohio River and along the Susquehanna River including the Turnpike bridge replacement project. Dr. Miller was involved in these archaeological investigations and their subsequent analyses.




  Steve Nissly discusses the products of  his flint knapping demonstation with Workshop participants

 Workshop participants selected four sessions from a total of eight presentations. A behind the scenes tour of the Section of Archaeology which includes the processing laboratory was also offered. Steve Nissly provided an excellent demonstration on flint knapping that was very popular. Numerous individuals brought in their artifact collections for identification by Doug McLearen and Steve Warfel. This was an excellent opportunity for avocationals to share their site information and associated collections with Noel Strattan and Tom Held from the Bureau for Historic Preservation. Noel and Tom assisted participants in recording site information in the Pennsylvania Archaeological Site Survey and the Cultural Resources Geographic Information System (CRGIS). Dr. Bernard Means demonstrated three-dimensional scanning of artifacts from both the collections at The State Museum and from the Consol Site (36Wm100). Bernard will share the results of this technology in a future blog





Noel Strattan demonstrates the CRGIS program to Workshop participants.



Tom Held shares site recording information



The closing comments delivered by Dr. Dean Snow, Professor of Anthropology, Penn State University were an opportunity for reflection of our understanding of past cultural behavior and the direction for archaeological research in the future. Presenters and participants engaged in discussions of the day in an informal reception held in the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology.

Dr. Dean Snow delivers the closing comments for the day.

This is one of many public outreach programs that our department provides for the general populist. They are always well received and incredibly rewarding venues, but they require a lot of planning and assistance. We would be remiss in not recognizing the many contributors to the success of our program. The dedicated volunteers of The Section of Archaeology provided assistance with mailing registration forms, preparing registration packets, registering participants, organizing and furnishing the refreshments for breaks, and numerous tasks that could not be done without them. Andi, Toni, Sheila, Harmony, Melanie, Ande, Cassie and all did a terrific job! Many thanks to the following businesses Navarro & Wright, URS and TEC,Inc. for their donations which provided printing and refreshments for the Workshops. Thanks to the Pennsylvania Archaeological Council, Mark McConaughy, for his assistance in organizing the funding for this program. Staff of The State Museum provided facilities support and our wonderful security staff patiently waited for us to clear out after a long day on Saturday.

Reception following the programs in the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology

We are making lists and taking notes for Archaeology Workshops 2012 and are already planning speakers and presentations for next year. If you couldn’t join us this year, please keep watch on our blog for this program in November 2012.

For more information, visit PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania .

Gower Pottery Vessel Fragment

Our guest blogger this week is Dr. Bernard K. Means. Dr. Means has been conducting research for several years on some of the collections curated at The State Museum which were excavated under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Pennsylvania during the 1930’s and early 40’s.

This week’s artifact is a fragment from the rim of a pottery vessel recovered from “Fire Pit 10” at the Gower site (36So6) sometime between December 20, 1939 and March 2, 1940.

Gower Site Vessel Fragment

The site’s excavations were directed by Edgar E. Augustine, Sr., as part of a series of Work Projects Administration (WPA)-funded investigations in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

WPA Field Crew at Gower Site

The WPA was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and was designed to provide work for the unemployed during the Great Depression.

The Gower site is a somewhat enigmatic Monongahela tradition village located near the Borough of Confluence, on a saddle just below the better known site of Fort Hill (36So2). The WPA excavations at the Gower site encountered a fairly large palisaded enclosure destroyed partly by erosion, as well as traces of nine dwellings, one grave, six so-called “refuse pits,” and eleven hearths, labeled as “fire pits.”

Map of Gower Site drawn by Edgar E. Augustine, Sr., 1941

Three of the dwellings—Houses 1, 3, and 4—appear to have been associated with the palisaded enclosure, while the remaining dwellings—including House 2—formed an arc that overlaps the palisade. Two radiocarbon dates were obtained from the Gower site through the dating of burned food adhering to the interior of two pottery vessel fragments that are in the archaeology collections of The State Museum. Only one of these dates was valid and showed that the palisaded part of the Gower Site probably dated to the end of the thirteenth century A.D.

Radiocarbon date from Feature 1 at the Gower Site

Unfortunately, no other material suitable for obtaining radiocarbon dates exists in the Gower site collection at The State Museum. This collection is fairly small, consisting of just under 100 pottery vessel fragments, likely because most artifacts were given back to the farmer who owned the Gower site—this was the typical WPA practice in Somerset County. With the exception of the vessel fragment shown here, most of the pottery vessel fragments were fairly unremarkable, tempered either with crushed shell or limestone, and therefore not that useful in providing another possible date for the Gower site.

The pictured vessel fragment tells another story. As noted above, this vessel fragment was found in Fire Pit 10, which was located in House 7. Dr. William C. Johnson, a well known expert on American Indian pottery, was kind enough to examine this vessel fragment in detail. He noted that this vessel fragment was tempered with igneous rock and quartz, and has rectilinear incising at opposing angles on the upper part of the rim, somewhat resembling a chevron pattern. Overall, the vessel fragment bears close similarities with the Shenks Ferry Incised pottery type, which would date the arc of dwellings between A.D. 1300 and1575. While not precise, the identification of this pottery vessel fragment from the Gower site suggests that the arc of dwellings dates some time—perhaps a long time—after the palisaded part of the site.

Analysis of the field records and artifacts resulting from the WPA excavations at the Gower site is ongoing by Dr. Bernard K. Means. The Gower site was the only WPA-excavated village site in Somerset County that was not subject to an article by lead excavator Edgar Augustine in the pages of Pennsylvania Archaeologist and Dr. Means is working to correct this situation.
Details on New Deal archaeology in general, and specifics on the work relief excavations in Somerset County can be found at:
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=4671&&SortOrder=100&level=4&parentid=3891&css=L4&mode=2

For more information, visit PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania .

81st Annual SPA Meeting

It’s that time of year again! Next weekend, April 9 – 11, marks the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology’s 81St annual meeting. Hosted by the Westmoreland Chapter of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology (#23) this year the meeting will be held in beautiful Greensburg, PA, and the theme of the conference will be “Archaeology along Pa’s streams, rivers and hills”. As always, this year’s meeting promises to be enlightening and informative across a wide range of archaeological topics in the Keystone State.

Presentations put forth by State Museum’s Section of Archaeology staff will include a recap of excavations and public outreach efforts conducted at Fort Hunter Park this past fall, and also an in depth analysis of 15th century burial practices, correlating ceramic typologies and the implications for cultural assimilation in the Lower Susquehanna Valley.

Dr. Bernard K. Means will be the keynote speaker for Saturday evening’s banquet, discussing archaeological projects funded by the New Deal programs during the Great Depression era. More information on New Deal archaeology in Pennsylvania can be found here.

The Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology was formed in 1929 by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission to promote the study of prehistoric and historic archaeological resources of Pennsylvania and neighboring states; to encourage scientific research. Avocational and professional archaeologists come together to learn about current research and preservation of archaeological sites and artifacts.

The meeting, being held at the Four Points Sheraton in Greensburg is open to the public. Late registration at the hotel is $30. The Society is already one of our “favorite links” listed on the right hand side of the screen. For more information click the link to their homepage for the entire program including presentation abstracts.

For more information, visit PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania .