Sunday, June 13, 2010

Opekiska Lock and Dam on the Monongahela River...Image via Wikipedia

Hi All!

Well summer is almost officially here, and I have been hard at work. I've two major projects going on right now. The first is a phase III excavation of a prehistoric resource processing site in southwestern Pennsylvania. This site was used to gather and roast tree nuts for consumption. The major indicator of this activity is in the dozen or so "nutting stones" or pecked stone tools found throughout the excavated portion of the site. My second project is my dissertation. So far I have collected one oral history from a gentleman who worked and toiled on the Monongahela River as a deckhand on a variety of steamboats. I however need more people to interview. I'm looking for 20 individuals who worked on the steamboats until their eventual phasing out in the late 1950's early 1960's. I want to capture their story of what life was like working on the river, living in a community where the river was an important natural resource, and hopefully gain an understanding of what it means to be a river worker. If any of my dear readers know anyone, by all means send them my way!
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