|
The Society for
Pennsylvania Archaeology, Inc. Fall Newsletter 2007 
SPA Past-President Stephen G. Warfel Retires as Senior Curator Section of Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania Steve Warfel began his career in archaeology in 1969 while a student at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He continued working on Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, PHMC, excavations during summers thru 1975. Steve ventured to New Jersey and then to Boston, obtaining his graduate degree before returning to Pennsylvania and the PHMC in 1980. Steve’s began his career as a museum curator under Barry Kent in the Section of Archaeology, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, and upon Barry’s retirement was appointed to the position of Senior Curator. Steve conducted excavations at many PHMC sites, most notably Ephrata Cloister. Over the course of his career Steve instructed numerous field schools providing his knowledge of archaeology to countless students and volunteers. He also imparted his knowledge via multiple publications and presentations to both professional and novice archaeologists throughout the mid-atlantics. Steve served as President of SPA for the term of 1985-1986. He was awarded the Society’s J. Alden Mason award for contributions by a professional archaeologist in 1990. The SPA is appreciative of Steve’s extensive efforts on the behalf of the Society and of archaeology in Pennsylvania. Steve’s official retirement from the PHMC was effective June 22nd, 2007, but this does not mark the end of his interest in archaeology. Steve has multiple interests to pursue during his retirement and archaeology will surely be one of them. Once an archaeologist, always an archaeologist.
October is Archaeology Month in Pennsylvania
PENNSYLVANIA ARCHAEOLOGY MONTH CALENDAR OF EVENTS October 2007 SAVE THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE Archaeology Month is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Inc., and the Pennsylvania Archaeological Council. Its purpose is to increase awareness of the important historic and prehistoric archaeological sites in the Commonwealth. These sites are part of the heritage of all Pennsylvanians. Every day, archaeological sites are destroyed. We hope that through the Archaeology Month events more Pennsylvanians become aware of this part of our history and work to protect our endangered resources. Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public. The following event listings are organized by region. Northeast
Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology – Frances Dorrance Chapter 11 Event: Annual Open House and Picnic Date & Time: October 7, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Location: Conrail site 36Lu169 Contact: Inquiries may be addressed by contacting these members: Edythe Gozdiskowski at elgozdiskowski@yahoo.com or Ted Baird at tedbaird@verizon.net. Event: Public Meeting with Guest Speaker Date & Time: Tuesday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m. Location: Duryea Municipal Building, 315 Main Street, Duryea, Pa. Contact: Inquiries may be addressed by contacting these members: Edythe Gozdiskowski at elgozdiskowski@yahoo.com or Ted Baird at tedbaird@verizon.net. Description: Monthly chapter meeting of the Frances Dorrance Chapter 11 Event: Excavations at the Conrail site 36Lu169 Date & Time: Sundays in October from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Location: Conrail site Contact: Inquiries may be addressed by contacting these members: Edythe Gozdiskowski at elgozdiskowski@yahoo.com or Ted Baird at tedbaird@verizon.net. Description: Ongoing chapter excavations of the Conrail site. Southeast
Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology – John Shrader Chatper 21 Event: Hay Creek Valley Historical Association’s (HCVHA) Apple Festival Location: Joanna Furnace, off Route 10 near Morgantown, Berks County, PA Date & Time: Saturday October 13, 2007 from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Contact: Cathy Spohn, President, Chapter 21, Phone # 610-678-1274 (home); 610-205-6711 (work), Email: cspohn@state.pa.us, Charles Jacob at Phone 610-469-9530 or Gene Delaplane, Vice President, Chapter 21, Phone # 610-873-2128 Email: planedg@comcast.net Description: John Shrader Chapter 21 will have an information stand at HCVHA’s annual Apple Festival at Joanna Furnace in Berks County on Saturday, October 13. Chapter members and other volunteers will be excavating at the Wheelwright Shop. We will also have an exhibit on the archaeological research and field schools that have been going on at Joanna for over 25 years. Admission is free and parking is on site. Rain date is Sunday October 14. Event: Excavation and Information Stand at the Wheelwright Shop during the Hay Creek Festival Location: Joanna Furnace, off Route 10 near Morgantown, Berks County, PA Date & Time: Friday, September 7 through Sunday, September 9, 2007 Contact: Cathy Spohn, President, Chapter 21, Phone # 610-678-1274 (home); 610-205-6711 (work), Email: cspohn@state.pa.us, Charles Jacob at Phone 610-469-9530 or Gene Delaplane, Vice President, Chapter 21, Phone # 610-873-2128 Email: planedg@comcast.net Description: Admission is $8 per person over age 12; children aged 12 and under get in free. The official time is 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but you can come earlier (7:00 a.m.) for Hay Creek’s wonderful all you can eat pancake and sausage breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. Besides the archaeological and historical exhibits, there are also children’s activities, antique cars and steam engines, a Civil War encampment, nineteenth century crafts, a home craft marketplace, traditional music and food, plus other attractions. National Park Service and Philadelphia Archaeological Forum Event: Archaeology Month at the Visitor’s Center, Independence Hall Location: Independence Hall National Historical Park, Philadelphia, PA Date & Time: Saturday, October 6, 2007 and Saturday, October 20, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Contact: Cathy Spohn (see above), Dee and Gene Delaplane (see above) or Jed Levin, NPS Archaeologist at Phone: 215-597-1782 or Email: Jed_Levin@nps.gov Description: This has become a yearly event sponsored by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum (PAF). SPA Chapter 21 will man an information table on October 6 and October 20. NPS and PAF have a one-day program on Archaeology in Philadelphia on October 20 at the Living History Center at Independence Hall. Central
Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology – Cumberland Valley Chapter #27 Event: Presentation by Daniel P. Barr, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History, Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA titled “A Road for Warriors: Native People in the 7-Year War in Pennsylvania Location: Visitor’s Center, Renfrew Museum & Park, 1010 E. Main Street, Waynesboro, PA. Date & Time: Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. Contact: Pandy Yeakle at yeakle5411@comcast.net. Description: Lecture sponsored by a grant from the PA Humanities Council Commonwealth Speakers Program. Event: Presentation by Doug Stine on the “Ebbert Spring Site Archaeology” Location: Globe Club of Hanover, PA meeting location Date & Time: Friday, October 12, 2007 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Contact: Pandy Yeakle at yeakle5411@comcast.net. Description: Archaeology presentation. Event: Artifact Display Location: Tayamentasachta, A Center for Environmental Studies in Greencastle, PA during their Apple Festival Date & Time: Friday, October 13, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Contact: Pandy Yeakle at yeakle5411@comcast.net. Description: Artifacts are from the recent test pits and excavations done near the spring on the property. Event: Ebbert Spring site artifact display. Location: Old Jail in Chambersburg, PA during their AppleFest Date & Time: Saturday, October 20, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Contact: Pandy Yeakle at yeakle5411@comcast.net. Description: Archaeology display sponsored by the Franklin County Historical Society. Event: Artifact Display Location: Lilian S. Besore Memorial Library in Greencastle, PA. Date & Time: The month of October during library hours. Contact: Pandy Yeakle at yeakle5411@comcast.net. Description: Display of a variety of artifacts. Northwest
Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology – North Fork Chapter 29 and Jefferson County Historical Society Event: Native American Lifeways in Western Pennsylvania Location: Jefferson County History Center, 172-176 Main Street, Brookville, PA 15825 Date & Time: Ongoing exhibit through April 2008. History Center hours are Tuesday – Saturday 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Sundays from 2:00 p.m.– 5:00 p.m. Contact: JCHC@alltel.net or 814-849-0077 or www.orgsites.com/pa/jeffersoncohistsoc Description: An archaeological-based exhibit featureing artifacts from this region’s prehistoric and early historic cultures, ranging in time from 10,000 B.C. to 1750 A.D. Southwest
Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology – Westmoreland Archaeological Society Chpt 23 Event: Indian Artifact Show and Tell Location: Unity Township Building, 1400 Beatty Road, approximately six miles east of Greensburg. Date & Time: Saturday, October 6, 2007, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Contact: Bob Oshnock at oshnock@wpa.net or Mary Jane Shaw at emmjay10@gmail.com. Description: Bring your arrowheads that have been collected from plowed fields, and members of the Westmoreland County Archaeological Society will assist you in properly identifying them, as well as advise you of the time period that they represent. Pre-historic artifacts from various sites and collections will be on display. A brief program on lithics will be presented. If you wish to display your artifacts, please contact us. No admission fee. The public is invited. More information is available on these websites: Special Event: Tuesday, October 23, is Archaeology Day at the Capitol. This annual event is part of Archaeology Month and is aimed at focusing public attention, especially that of our legislators and public officials, on the contribution that archaeology makes to the understanding of Pennsylvania’s past and our common heritage. Archaeology Day events will occur in the East Rotunda of the capitol in Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania Archaeological Council has organized a series of exhibits and activities from 10 AM until 2 PM on October 23. The SPA, the Bureau for Historic Preservation, the State Museum, PENNDOT, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and PAC will participate again this year, as they have in the past. A new and special event this year is the first Pennsylvania Archaeological Council Archaeology Day award to a public official for his or her support or promotion of archaeology. This year’s award will be presented to Governor Rendell for his support of funding for the Meadowcroft site in Washington County. Dr. James Adovasio of the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, the excavator of Meadowcroft, will be the featured speaker and will make the award to the governor’s representative in a ceremony at noon. The legislature is in session that day, so we hope for a good showing from our representatives and senators. We expect to have coverage of the event by local newspapers and television stations. This is an excellent opportunity for SPA members to promote archaeology in Pennsylvania. Please consider calling or e-mailing your state representative and senator and encouraging them to attend. Let them know that you are concerned with the protection of archaeological sites and the preservation of Pennsylvania’s past. Tell them about Archaeology Day and mention the award to Governor Rendell. If you are in the area, please try to attend. A large crowd will demonstrate the strong support of the archaeological community. Building an Exhibit By Ken Burkett, North Fork Chapter 29 For anyone traveling through Western Pennsylvania, a worthwhile stop is at the Jefferson County History Center in downtown Brookville. Here the newly opened exhibit “Native American Lifeways in Western Pennsylvania” offers a rare chance to view a large group of displays and regional artifacts that are mostly on loan from private collections. As they tour the gallery, visitors are invited to compare the various cultures and objects and are challenged to refute fifteen common misconceptions about the Native Americans of this region. The exhibit is based on five different Late Prehistoric cultures all of which were discovered and named through archaeology. Dating between 970AD and 1550AD they include the Mead Island, Allegheny Iroquois, Fishbasket, Monongahela and McFate cultures. There is also a display covering the Historic Period Iroquois. Each section of the exhibit is accompanied with site maps, photographs and lots of artifacts including numerous restored pottery vessels. Other displays include a Paleo Indian case with mammoth and mastodon fossils along with early tools and projectiles, a locally discovered large cache of rhyolite blades, a 20 ft. dugout canoe, house dioramas, and walk-through longhouse. Actual castings of the local Parkers Landing Petroglyphs tempt thoughts as to their meanings. Other educational cases and panels cover the archaeological recovery and identification of Native American botanical foods which are displayed alongside recently grown examples, local cherts and their sources, trails and trade networks, primitive cordage manufacture and the use of the atlatl and bow. The concept, design and actual building of the exhibit were mainly by members of the North Fork Chapter 29 of the Society for Pennsylvania working closely with the Historical Society. This was a great opportunity for the volunteers to actively share their love of archaeology by creating an educational display for the public. The group quickly learned however that creating any exhibit has its problems including how best to fill the large 1400 square foot exhibit area. But there was more! Just where do you find a dugout canoe? How do you build a longhouse? What general myths about the Indians do you want to correct? Fortunately some of the crew is also active as French and Indian War re-enactors and came to the rescue with a donated canoe and the materials and expertise to construct the longhouse along with its interior bed racks, matting and realistic furnishings. Many others donated time, materials and the loan of artifacts and other items to make the exhibit all come together. The Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission graciously provided a loan of some of the original McFate site materials excavated in the 1930’s and since then in storage in Harrisburg.. Along with being a lot of fun to create, this exhibit is a great example of what local museums partnering with avocational and professional archeologists can accomplish just by working together. It will remain open through April of 2008. For more information check out the Jefferson County History Center Web site at http://www.orgsites.com/pa/jeffersoncohistsoc or the North Fork Chapter 29 site at http://www.orgsites.com/pa/northfork29 The exhibit will be open for the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology Annual meeting hosted by North Fork Chapter # 29, scheduled for April 4-6, 2008 at the Holiday Inn in Clarion, PA. Mark you calendars! 
CALL FOR PAPERS
79TH ANNUAL MEETING SOCIETY FOR PENNSYLVANIA ARCHAEOLOGY HOSTED BY THE NORTH FORK CHAPTER #29 HOLIDAY INN CLARION, PA APRIL 4 - 6, 2008 The theme of the 79th annual meeting will be "Archaeology on the Edge: From Glacial Fronts to Historic Frontiers, Advancing Our Understanding of the Past". There will be three open sessions, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Anyone wishing to participate should send abstracts of 150 words or less to the Program Chair by March 1, 2008. Program Chair: Amanda Valko 116 E. Englewood Avenue New Castle, PA 16105 Phone: 724-654-2744 (H) Phone: 412-269-7959 (W) Fax: 412-375-3985 (W) E-mail: avalko@mbakercorp.com Future SPA Annual Meeting Sites
2009 hosted by the BHP in the Harrisburg Area—80th Annual Meeting 2010 hosted by Westmoreland Chapter #23 in the Greensburg Area 78th Annual Meeting News
New officers for 2007- 2009 were elected at Allentown.
They are as follows:President: Paul Nevin, 1st Vice President: Brian Fritz, 2nd Vice President: James Wosochlo, Treasurer: Paul Cowin, Secretary: Judy Duritsa. Directors Noel Strattan and John Sites were elected to six-year terms ending in 2013. Annual Awards: The J. Alden Mason Award was bestowed upon Dr. Frank Vento. Archey Awards went to Doug Stine, Cumberland Valley Chapter #27 and Fred Assmus, Forks of the Delaware Chapter #14. The Frances Dorrance Award went to Ohio Valley Chapter #22. The John Witthoft Award went to Conejohela Chapter # 28. There were no nominations for the Shrader/George Youth Award. All Active Chapters filed annual reports with the Secretary. Speakers, publications and current chapter information and meeting dates are available on the SPA website at www.pennsylvaniaarchaeology.com. National Register Nominations—Brian Fritz reported that the Shade Furnace Site has be returned to him for the third time for additional information and adjustment to meet the requirements for the National Register nominations. The goal is to nominate new archaeological sites for the National Register with Conrail and Parkers Landing as possibilities. There is expense involved to register sites. Therefore, funding is built into our grants to cover expenses. Since this is a lengthy and intense process, a committee was appointed to work on the nominations using experienced persons. To this end Brian Fritz will chair the committee with Verna Cowin and Kurt Carr serving. Contact a committee member for help with the application. Site Survey—Noel Strattan reported on the annual recording of sites in Pennsylvania and the new PASS forms. The forms will be available online with links from the SPA site. The numbers will be tallied on the calendar year. SPA members are asked to designate their chapter on the forms when recording sites for credit toward the Frances Dorrance Award. Noel will report the numbers to the awards committee The SPA Newsletter will be getting a new look in 2008. If you have suggestions of want to help, contact the Secretary. The SPA Newsletters are available to read on the SPA website. C-14 Awards—SPA application information in available on the SPA website. Paul Raber announced that PAC would be offering a C-14 dating program with grant funding from the PHMC. Grant funds include $2500 for standard or AMS dates from any site in Pennsylvania. Anyone interested in applying should contact Heather Wholey, chair of the review committee, at Department of Anthropology and Sociology, 102 Old Library Building, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383, wholey@wcupa.edu or (610) 436-2400. Meeting Notices and Announcements: Society for American Archaeology 73rd Annual Meeting Hyatt Regency Hotel 655 Burrard Street Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2R7 Canada Information at www.saa.org |