A New Year and a New Exhibit – The 2020 PA State Farm Show

A new year has just arrived, and like every year we kick it off with our largest outreach event, the Pennsylvania State Farm Show. The largest indoor agricultural event in the United States this year is the 104^th PA Farm Show, and we are busy as usual in preparations. The Farm Show begins tomorrow Saturday, January 4^th and runs through Saturday, January 11^th. As in past years, The State Museum of Pennsylvania’s exhibit is in the main hall of the Farm Show Agricultural Complex, across from the carousel on the MacClay Street side of the building. This year the State Museum’s exhibit will receive an update, providing a broader view of what the museum has to offer.

In the past, the State Museum’s Farm Show exhibit highlighted different Pennsylvania archaeological topics, the replica dugout canoe and our exhibit panels along with artifacts from our collections. This year the exhibit will still contain archaeological information, but it will also include information highlighting information on other galleries within the State Museum. The archaeological portion of the exhibit will highlight Pre-Contact peoples of Pennsylvania through a representation of the artifacts found in the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at the museum. The replica dugout canoe at the Farm Show is based on one in our gallery which was recovered in Mud Pond, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The original canoe was radiocarbon dated to 1250 AD. 

An exciting addition to our exhibit this year is the last known Eastern Cougar shot in Pennsylvania which represents the State Museum’s Mammal Hall. The History gallery’s hands on, T.M. Fowler “Bird’s Eye View” maps exhibit will also be present. This popular exhibit was on display last year at the museum, so if you missed it there, here is your opportunity to be captivated by images of Pennsylvania cityscapes from over 100 years ago. The Fowler maps provide a historic perspective of Pennsylvania towns from the late 19^th and early 20^th century and are essentially the google earth view of that period.  State Museum staff and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about the exhibit and about the State Museum. There will be plenty of informational brochures and magazines about Pennsylvania archaeology and the State Museum available to everyone, as well as a chance to win a behind the scenes tour, so stop by to enter for your chance to win!

2019 Farm Show Exhibit

As in the past, the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology (SPA) and the Pennsylvania Archaeological Council will be participating in the exhibit. Representatives will be on hand throughout the week of the Farm Show to answer questions about the activities of these organizations and membership. If you are interested in joining a local chapter of the SPA, please stop by the exhibit and receive three past issues of the SPA journal for joining at the Farm Show.

The 20-foot long replica dugout canoe has been an anchor in the exhibit for all to enjoy. Family traditions of group photos every year makes this a popular stop.  Everyone is welcome to stop by and test it out by taking a seat inside and imagining how it would have been to live hundreds of years ago with this as one of the main modes of transportation. You can take in our poster and look at the photos about how dugout canoes were made and how the State Museum’s archaeologists and volunteers made this exact replica using traditional methods and traditional stone tools.

Children enjoying the dugout canoe

The 2020 State Museum’s Farm Show exhibit will also be connected to and integrated with the Pennsylvania State Archives exhibit. The State Archives has been a part of the Farm Show for a few years now, this being their third year, and has become a key component of the Farm Show. The Archive’s exhibit provides individuals with access to dig through historic records and discover new information about their family history. This year they will also feature an opportunity to win a free DNA kit from Ancestry, so make sure to stop by and sign up!

Individuals searching archives data with staff help 

We will continue to share Pennsylvania’s natural and cultural history with all who wish to learn, so please stop by and visit us in the coming week at the PA State Farm Show. We would like to thank all of you for your interest in Pennsylvania’s history and we wish you all a Happy New Year as we continue to Preserve Pennsylvania’s Past for the Future. 

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

Another Internship Draws to a Close

This week we share with you some thoughts from the second of our two college interns this semester.  Our interns were great this spring and provided an enormous amount of support for tasks associated with analysis and curation of collections. These students offer a fresh perspective to the curation process and often provide valuable suggestions.  We applaud and thank both Krissy Kramer our intern and guest blogger this week and Sean O’Hara from our blog on May 3, 2013.

 

Internship Reflection

I’m Krissy Kramer. I am majoring in Public History and minoring in Anthropology at Shippensburg University. After volunteering with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Section of Archaeology for a year-at Fort Hunter, the Farm Show, and in the lab- I decided I’d like to try my hand at an internship.

Intern Krissy Kramer (right) assists Liz Wagner (left) and Andrea Carr (middle) with mapping of a prehistoric level at Fort Hunter (36Da159)

Working with the State Museum, the archaeology lab works to preserve, interpret, and provide the public with information focused around our archaeological heritage. Not all history is written down. History that occurs before writing is deemed prehistoric. As a result, an archaeology site may consist of prehistoric or historic artifacts, or a combination of both. The site that I was specifically looking at was City Island (36Da12), a prehistoric site that also included later historic occupations. As a result, I've dealt with looking at a majority of prehistoric artifacts and ecofacts such as fire-cracked rocks, projectile points, hammerstones, animal bone, and debitage. However, I also identified several historic artifacts such as various glass and ceramic vessels but also nails and the occasional coin, comb, or button.

Block excavation at City Island (36Da12)

From cleaning artifacts, to identifying, labeling, and preserving, this internship has taught me that although tedious, context means nearly everything to the archaeologist. Attention to detail, organization, and patience are key traits to working as an archaeologist. As history often incorporates written documents and artifacts, it’s important to study and preserve artifacts correctly in order to fill in the gaps that exist in the written documents. Similarly, many written documents or oral histories may express biased accounts or exclude certain aspects of a peoples or a culture. So by enhancing these traits I am better able to understand what it is like to be a detective, an archaeologist, a historian. These traits are beneficial to a plethora of careers. With that said, these traits will better prepare me for future careers. While I am highly interested in public history, this internship has provided me with a wide array of tasks accompanied by explanations as to why they are necessary in addition to another field that may coincide and intertwine with public history.

Like many other fields, concepts and ideas are always changing. Archaeological and museum standards continuously change as well. I have thoroughly discovered the challenges of dealing with an excavation that has extended over several years and have been processed to varying degrees of completion. As a result, Andrea, my mentor, and I have taken nearly three months to correct and update all of the artifacts from site 36Da12. To bring the collection up to current standards, we corrected and updated artifact inventories, and rehoused artifacts and ecofacts for long term curation. We also edited existing catalog information for digital entry into Microsoft Access. In addition to sorting out these inconsistencies in the collection, we applied the current artifact coding system of The State Museum of Pennsylvania for inventory purposes. In other words, this code is unique only to their archaeology lab and so we needed to properly catalogue the artifacts and their codes and label their bags accordingly. Needless to say, site 36Da12 required a lot of tender loving care. Although the project is still ongoing, Andrea and I, with the help of other lab volunteers, have bagged, coded, preserved, labeled, boxed, and cataloged nearly all of the artifacts from both the prehistoric and historic levels of occupation at the site. Because of this, I became more familiar with Microsoft Access databases, identifying lithic materials and types of artifacts, correct archival materials for storing artifacts, cataloguing color slides, finding artifact proveniences based off of photographs and grid drawings, and more.

cataloging individual fire-cracked rock specimens from City Island (36Da12) in the lab

In addition to focusing on 36Da12, I was able to assist several other archaeologists and perform various tasks throughout my internship. On certain days, I would assist an archaeologist on another project; often times the site that they are currently focused on. One such task involved uncovering specific artifacts that were provided to the lab by PennDot. Another task involved rehousing artifacts to ensure its protection and preservation. Furthermore, I assisted in storing artifact boxes in the storage area, studied artifacts under a microscope, and helped prepare and photograph artifacts in the photo room.

My internship in the lab was a wonderful experience. The staff welcomed me into this internship with open arms, treated me completely like any other member of their staff, and taught me so many details that can only be learned through hands-on experience. They never failed to answer my questions and provided me with the confidence to perform tasks that I wouldn’t have thought possible since I have not had much experience or knowledge in archaeology. After this internship, I will be interning at the Cumberland County Historical Society to design the upcoming exhibit “Treasures from the Archives” while attending an archaeological field school in Belize focused on studying the Classic Maya Period. I hope to continue working with my archaeology family in the lab and eventually gaining a career related to public history in some way or form.


WEEKEND EVENT
Join our senior curators Kurt Carr and Janet Johnson as they take the dugout canoe on the road again. This Saturday, May 18th, they will be at the grand opening of the Lancaster Longhouse located at the Hans Herr House and Museum, 1849 Hans Herr Drive, Willow Street, PA. Come check out the replica canoe and the traditional tools used in it's construction from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. For more information about the event visit the following websites. Lancaster Longhouse or Hans Herr House.

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

Does that really float?

Archaeology Month continues throughout Pennsylvania this month and we hope you are seeking out those venues in your local community that help to Preserve Our Past for the Future.

We took a break from excavations at Fort Hunter last weekend to take our dugout canoe to a public venue at Gifford Pinchot State Park, in York County. We were invited to participate in an event sponsored by The Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, Ltd.. This is a non-profit membership organization devoted to preserving, studying, building, restoring and using wood canoes, and to disseminating information about canoeing heritage throughout the world. There are over 1800 members in this association and the event was well attended from folks all over the northeastern U.S. If you ever have an opportunity to attend one of their meetings, you should. These canoes are incredible and the canoeists are very knowledgeable and skilled.

Five years ago as part of our public outreach for Archaeology Month in Pennsylvania the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, Section for Historic Preservation, took on the task of making a dugout canoe. The method of construction was based on dugout canoes found in Pennsylvania and from early historic accounts of Native peoples producing these dugouts. A dugout canoe is simply a hollowed out log used as a watercraft. Dugouts have been found preserved in lakes and bogs all along the eastern seaboard and into Ohio. The oldest of these dugouts dates to more than six thousand years ago(BP). In Pennsylvania seventeen dugouts have been documented in bogs and lakes, mainly in the Poconos of northeastern Pennsylvania.

Dugout canoe on exhibit at The State Museum found in Mud Pond, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

Our dugout was made from an Eastern White Pine log donated by Michaux State Forest through the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources(DCNR). The process of burning the log with a controlled fire and then scraping and chopping the wood was completed with the use of replica stone tools. Archaeologists find stone tools and have many theories as to their use; this was an opportunity to test these theories and compare the edge wear on these tools.

Stone tools, adzes, celts and axe which were used in making the dugout canoe.

We have been sharing this dugout with the public at various venues including the Pennsylvania State Farm Show, Harrisburg’s Kipona Festival and recently to Cabella’s at Hamburg, PA. It has been subjected to all kinds of temperature and humidity and has stood the test of time quite well. A question that is repeatedly asked of us is “ Does it float?” . We tell our visitors Yes! On October 2nd, 2005 it traveled from Fort Hunter to City Island.

Picture of the maiden voyage October 2005

And yes, that was the only time we've put it in the water until October 9th of 2010. Almost five years to the date the dugout was launched on Pinchot Lake.

The dugout did well and the enthusiasm was contagious. Kurt Carr delivered a lecture and power point on the dugout process and shared the stone tools used to create the dugout with attendees. Everyone wanted to either make their own dugout or at least ride in ours. Now when folks ask us if it floats, we can be confident that yes- it floats!

October 9th, 2010 on Gifford Pinchot Lake

Today is our last day at Fort Hunter Park. We will have lots to write about next week and some more interesting observations on the well. Thanks to all of our regular visitors and the many volunteers who have helped us with excavations. Now the shift is to the lab and cataloging and inventorying the collection. In closing here are a few shots of our progress this week.

View of well with about 3 feet of soil removed, note clear view of construction trench around perimeter.

View after removal of 5 feet of soil from well surround, students from Franklin & Marshall College helping us with excavations on October 13th.

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

Experimental Archaeology at the Historical and Museum Commission - Building a Dugout Canoe

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) has carved three dugout canoes over the past decade. These have been done as public programs using replicated historic and/or prehistoric tools. The sight of people sometimes dressed in loin cloths, wood chips flying and fire attracts a lot of attention and these programs have been very popular with the public. The resulting dugouts have been included in a variety of presentations, most notably, the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show. Although the publicity is good, these projects are examples of experimental archaeology. They are being conducted to aid in the interpretation of the archaeological record.

As a simple definition, a dugout canoe or, simply, a “dugout” is a hollowed-out log used as a watercraft. It is typically made in a cycle of burning and cutting that includes repeatedly burning the log with a controlled fire and then scraping and chopping out the charred and softened wood with a variety of tools that can be as diverse as shells, wooden scraping tools and stone adzes.

The dugout is likely the earliest form of constructed watercraft in the world, and specimens in Europe have been dated to over 9,000 years old. Considering that humans voyaged to Australia at least 50,000 years ago, dugouts are probably at least that old. In North and South America, dugouts have been the main form of water travel since Native Americans arrived from Siberia over 16,000 years ago. In addition, there has been recent speculation that these early people first arrived by boat. The Northwest Coast seems to have the greatest variety of dugouts with some of these being very large and elaborately designed. In Eastern North American, dugouts are preserved in the lakes and bogs of Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The oldest of these date to over 6,000 years before the present.

During our 2005 project, we only used tools that were available to the prehistoric inhabitants of the Commonwealth. It has frequently been assumed by archaeologists that stone adzes were a common tool in dugout construction. The stone adzes were made by grinding down basalt into the desired shape. This was time consuming but attaching them to handles was the real challenge. Several handles and one adze were broken but eventually we developed a design that worked very well. Once the dugout was completed, the wear patterns on the stone adzes were analyzed and compared to archaeological specimens. Surprisingly, the wear patterns on the experimental specimens were not the same as most of the archaeological specimens. Our conclusion was that adzes were not commonly used in dugout construction. For more information on dugouts, visit our Building a Dugout page.

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