Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology's Annual Meeting

We're taking a break this week from our county by county posts to remind everyone that the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology's 83rd annual meeting is taking place this weekend, April 13-15, at the Holiday Inn, in Clarion, PA. Promising enjoyable and informative presentations spread out over three sessions, this year's meeting is being sponsored by the North Fork Chapter (#29) of the Society. Saturday night features Dr. Michael J. Shott, Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology and Classics, University of Akron, speaking on, Documenting the Archaeological Record: Complimentary Roles of Professionals and Amateurs.

The W. Fred Kinsey Scholarship will be awarded this weekend to two students.  The Kinsey Scholarship was created to encourage students to attend the meetings, provide financial support for the expenses, and assist students in preparing papers for future publication in the journal of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology(SPA).  Fred Kinsey was a former archaeologist with the Section of Archaeology and continued his career in archaeology at the North Museum in Lancaster and later teaching at Franklin & Marshall College. This year we were able to provide an undergraduate award to Stacie Riggins of California University of Pennsylvania for her research paper, Body Adornment from Prehistoric to Historic Times. The second scholarship was awarded to Jennifer Rankin a graduate student at Temple University for her research paper titled, Revisiting the Wolf Walk: Giving Life to Native American Place Names through Archaeological Investigations.  Hopefully the students who follow our blog will consider applying next year for this scholarship and attending the SPA meeting  in Uniontown , April 19-20th,2013.

Stacie Riggin from California University of Pennsylvania

Jennifer Rankin, Temple University

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. Stop by the Society's website for more information.

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