This copper axe was recently stolen from Cahokia (photo courtesy of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site). More information is available below.
An AAS grant helped Erin Phillips examine the Smithsonian's collection of Hemphill-style Moundville pottery, which has preserved pre-contact Southeastern Indian images such as this winged serpent (line drawing by Erin Phillips).
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A late Archaic projectile point (photo by John Richburg)
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AAS members and archaeologists screening excavated dirt to look for small artifacts (photo by Steven Meredith)
Upcoming Archaeology Events in the Southeast:
March- March 30 in Huntsville: Dr. John E. Kelly, of Washington University in St. Louis, will present, "Cahokia's Mound 34 and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex," at 7:30pm in the Chan Auditorium on the campus of the University of Alabama in Hunstville. Dr. Kelly is an expert on eastern North American archaeology, particularly Mississippian culture as evidenced at the extensive site of Cahokia, just outside of St. Louis. Cahokia, a World Heritage UNESCO site, possesses approximately 120 mounds, including Monk's Mound, the largest mound in North America.
- March in Florida: March is Florida Archaeology Month. For more information, see their web site.
- April in Tuscaloosa: Throughout the month of April at the Tuscaloosa Public Library, a display prepared by the St. Andrew's Society of Tuscaloosa will include information about several of the early leaders of Scots and Indian ancestry. This display will include brief biographies and comments on their genealogies, a map of the pre-removal tribes in the Southeast, some replica trade goods of the day loaned by reenactor Leh Lehman, and some Scottish items such as an example of a tartan fabric and a small county map of Scotland. Also included will be a Suggested Reading list, with copies of that list available for interested patrons. The display will be at the library throughout the month of April, and is located in the entrance foyer of the Library. Caroline Gerrard of tinyworld.co.uk provided genealogical support.
- AAS Event! April 4 at Tannehill: The first AAS field trip of this year had to be rescheduled due to bad weather. It is now scheduled for this coming Saturday, April 4 at Tannehill State Park. We will be testing a promising prehistoric site located on a bend in Mill Creek. The site we will be working on has shown evidence of a Woodland period component. It is well situated on a terrace above a beautiful stream, so it is very likely that there are earlier components there also. Dr. Jack Bergstresser hopes to map the extent of the site, determine if any intact parts exist, and begin to learn the site’s human history. Most of the work will involve shoveling and screening, but we can also use volunteers to help keep track of the level bags and records. We will assemble at the Hoot and Hollar Pavillion at the east end of the park at 8:00am, Saturday morning. When you enter the park be sure to tell the guard that you are working for “Dr. Jack” so they won’t charge admission. For maps to the park and to the assembly area, please visit Jack's web site. We will eat lunch at the dig site, so please bring your lunch. Drinks and snacks will be provided. There is a short walk to the site. For folks staying overnight, Tannehill State park has excellent camping and RV facilities. Tannehill offers a few cabins for renting. For directions to the park and for more information on its facilities, visit the park's web site. If you plan to take part in this field trip please contact Steven Meredith, mered003@bama.ua.edu or (205) 566-5376.
- April 4 in Mobile: For the next four Saturdays (April 4, April 11, April 18, and April 25) the University of South Alabama field school will be at Old Mobile (1702-1711) and volunteers are welcome. The University of South Alabama field school is excavating units with shovels and trowels, and water screening the dirt. They meet at the Center for Archaeological Studies lab, on the USA campus, at 8:30am and travel as a group to the DuPont plant on Highway 43 in Axis. If you plan to meet them at DuPont, they should be there around by 9:15. They will return to the lab at 4:00pm. There is no food or water available on site so bring lunch and plenty to drink (there is a portable toilet at the site). For more information, call Bonnie Gums at (251) 460-6562.
- AAS Chapter Event! April 6 in Livingston: The Black Belt Chapter of the Alabama Archaeological Society will meet on Monday, April 6, 6:30pm on the University of West Alabama campus, at the Center for the Study of the Black Belt (in Kelly Land Hall, former Baptist Campus Ministries Building). George Shorter from the University of South Alabama will give a talk entitled “Archaeology at Old St. Stephens: Where Alabama Began!” For more information, contact Dr. Ashley Dumas at adumas@uwa.edu or (205) 652-3830, or Steven Meredith at mered003@bama.ua.edu or (205) 566-5376.
- April 15 in Livingston: The UWA Department of History and the Center for the Study of the Black Belt will sponsor a Symposium on History and Culture called, "Indians of the Black Belt," on April 15 at 9:30am in the Bell Conference Center on the campus of the University of West Alabama in Livingston. A panel of guest lecturers will give short presentations on various time periods and cultures of the prehistoric and historic Black Belt. Lecturers include Dr. Ashley Dumas (UWA), Dr. Amanda Regnier (University of Oklahoma), and Christopher Haveman (Auburn University), followed by a discussion led by Dr. Gregory Waselkov (USA). The keynote speaker is Dr. John Blitz of the University of Alabama. The syposium is free and open to the public. For more information, see their web site.
- April 16 in Montgomery: Mills Thornton will present "The Cotton State" at the Alabama Department of Archives and History ArchiTreats lecture series. For more information, visit the web site of the Alabama Department of Archives and History or call (334) 353-4712.
- May 21 in Montgomery: The ArchiTreats Lecture series presents Robert B. Bradley and "The Civil War in Alabama". For more information, visit the web site of the Alabama Department of Archives and History or call (334) 353-4712.
- May 22-23 at Auburn: The Creek War and War of 1812 in the South: A Symposium will be hosted by the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University an Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. Registration fees for the conference are $25 for one day or $40 for both days, this includes lunch and refreshments. Presenters include: Susan Abram (Western Carolina University), Kathryn Braund (Auburn University), Robert Collins (Auburn University), Gregory Dowd (University of Michigan), John Grenier (Norwich University), David Heidler (Colorado State University, Pueblo), Jeanne Heidler (United States Air Force Academy), Ted Isham (Creek Council House Museum), Ove Jensen (Horseshoe Bend National Military Park), Tom Kanon (Tennessee State Library and Archives), Marianne Mills (Horseshoe Bend National Military Park), Jim Parker (Fort Toulouse-Fort Jackson), Criag Sheldon (Auburn Montgomery), Robert Thrower (Poarch Band of Creek Indians), and Greg Waselkov (University of South Alabama). For more information or to register, call (334) 844-4948.
- June 7 at Old St. Stephens: The Alabama Museum of Natural History Expedition program will be at Old St. Stephens this year. The 4-week Archaeology Field Camp will begin on June 7. Expedition 31 will be comprised of 3 one-week sessions followed by a mini-week (3 days) June 28 to July 1. Only $400 per week ($200 for mini-week) for all food and equipment. The camp is offered to adults and students over 14 (unless accompanied) and a maximum 25 campers per week are accepted. Contact the museum at 205 348-7550, museum.expedition@ua.edu, or visit their website, the Expedition.
- AAS Event! June 13 at Old St. Stephens: The Alabama Archaeological Society will hold its Summer Meeting on Saturday, June 13, in the Museum at Old St. Stephens Park. The afternoon meeting will be preceded and followed by excavation work under the direction of George Shorter of the University of South Alabama on one of the most important historical sites in Alabama. From the town’s beginning in the 1790’s to its decline in the 1820’s, St. Stephens was the site of a Spanish fort, an American fort and trading post, a federal land office, and the Alabama Territorial Capitol where the legislature met in 1818 as the new state of Alabama was formed. The town contained some 450 buildings, but started to decline in 1826 and was a ghost town by the time of the Civil War, quickly reverting back into the quiet woods of Washington County. Excavation work will concentrate on three areas of the Globe/Chamberlain Hotel site: around the slave’s quarters, the well to the west of the quarters, and the wall leading east from the southeast corner of the old hotel building. We will have the opportunity to assist in all aspects of the excavation along with members of the Expedition Program of the Alabama Museum of Natural History who will also be working on the site. Some of these areas have been partially excavated during past years yielding many artifacts that are shedding light on this early period of Alabama history. For information on the park, visit the St. Stephens web site. Watch this AAS calender of events for updates and additional information about this event.
- Event coordinators: To share your event information with the AAS membership, contact the AAS web editor.
Archaeology in the News:
- Copper Axe Stolen from Exhibit at Cahokia: It was recently discovered that a copper celt (axe) had been stolen from one of the exhibit cases at Caholia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, Illinois. The thieves apparently were able to compromise the security of the case at the "Fiber" display. The artifact was solid copper, 5 3/4" long, 2 1/2" wide, and 7/16" thick. One side had a textile psuedomorph, created by the mineralization of a textile in contact with copper deposited in soil. Although the original textile no longer exists, what remains--its psuedomorph--can provide information of the characteristics of the original cloth or bag in which the axe originally had been wrapped. There was a catalog number on it, "19 x 862". Other than some minor vandalism, this is the first artifact theft at the Interpretive Center since it opened twenty years ago. Please keep an eye out for this axe and if you see it or something similar for sale, please contact: William R. Iseminger, Assistant Site Manager/Public Relations, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, 30 Ramey Street, Collinsville, IL, 62234; or via email at cahokia.mounds@sbcglobal.net, or visit their website.
- New methods for dating an archaeological artifact, rock art: Rock art has been difficult for archaeologists to date employing scientific methods commonly used for archaeology. Recently, Marvin W. Rowe, professor of chemistry at Texas A&M, has applied the use of accelerator mass spectrometry, which requires a very small amount of material to be removed from a painting. For more information, see physorg.com, a web-based science, research and technology news service.
- A recent news item on a federal listserve: Archaeology Magazine Reports on Drugs and Looting The locus of archeological crime in the American Southwest and across the nation is shifting into the world of guns and drugs, reports Samir Patel in an article in the March/April issue of Archaeology Magazine. A strange synergy is developing with meth that puts every archeological site and collection at risk, Patel notes. Meth provides a surplus of energy that users need to work off, and artifact hunting to get the money for the next high is one way to do it. Meth looters are changing the face of looting in the U.S., and Southeast Asia and Europe may not be far behind. The looting-meth connection is reported by Federal archeologists and law enforcement officers across the nation. The involvement with drugs is problematic for law enforcement officers who pursue cultural resource crime. Once a looting suspect is caught, archeological resource violation laws take a back seat to drug charges. Drug and firearm possession carry much steeper penalties than ARPA violations, under most circumstances. Drug cases can make it easier to recover artifacts, as looters will more readily hand them over when faced with drug charges, especially if doing so will save them from ARPA charges. As a result, there is little risk for drug dealers who want to engage in antiquities trade. The entire article is available on-line at www.archaeology.org.
- Norwood Pottery in Mississippi: Archaeologists at the Center for Archaeological Studies at the University of South Alabama have recovered Norwood Pottery in Mississippi, farther west than this type of pottery has been found in the past. More information is available in the upcoming issue of the AAS newsletter, Stones & Bones (see the article).
- Fort Mims:The Fall 2007 issue of American Archaeology magazine, published by the Archaeological Conservancy, featured an article about Alabama's own Fort Mims, Clarifying an Historic Event: Archaeologists are working to uncover the details of the massacre at Fort Mims (a 3.5 meg PDF). The Archaeological Conservancy has generously allowed us to provide this digital copy of that article to AAS members. The Alabama Department of Archives and History, the Alabama Historical Commission, Sharon Blair, and the Center for Archaeological Studies, at the University of South Alabama, all contributed photographs for this article and also gave their permission for this digital copy.
Members at Work:
- AAS member, Cary Geiger, requests information on the distribution of MacCorkle Stemmed Points in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.