Archaeological Conferences and a Need to Attract New Blood.

Hello Everyone,

Over this past weekend, I attended the annual Eastern States Archaeological Conference in Langehorne, Pennsylvania. This is probably my thirteenth ESAF conference since I was an undergraduate in 1997. I presented a paper titled, "Riding the Lightning: An examination of the Waynesburg and Blacksville Street Railway Company in Green County, Pennsylvania." This was a summation of an archaeological survey that the company I work for performed over the summer.  

While I have been an active conference goer for most of my archaeological career, I would like to point out the value of attending such conferences. I was lucky as an undergraduate, I had a professor who had the means and where-with-all to take a group of you adults to a meeting, sometimes states away, and have them actively participate in giving papers and networking with advocationalists and professionals in our trade. He also had the fortitude to put up with nights of partying with archaeologists, who like pirates, enjoy liquid refreshments of the alcoholic type. 

One of the things I have noticed over the years is a lack of attendance of these national conferences both by professionals and students. Granted we've lost a few good women and men due to ravishes of time, but we also have ignored the costs to students and young professionals just starting their archaeological career. The costs of travel, memberships, registration, hotel, and board have skyrocketed. I know many will say, "but we have student discounts!" Sure and that is admirable. Some even have prizes and some colleges have travel grants. I know many archaeology/anthropology student who have to work a job or even two just to stay in school. Education is skyrocketing and conference attendance is down. How do we stop this?

While sitting and listening to papers I had an idea. I'm a bit of a technology guy, and I think technology can offer unparalleled access to those in need, and I'm not just talking about archaeology. Ted talks and podcasts are the rage right now as people live in small sound bites or lives that can be paused and resumed at will. I think this offers a unique opportunity for students and conference organizations.

My idea would be to POD cast the papers live and record them for Youtube or some other media outlet. Let students pay a small fee, or better yet, allow classes to pay a small fee so that archaeology professors can show these videos to their class on their own time. Conferences such as the Eastern States Archaeological Federation (ESAF), Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Conference (MAC), Society for American Archaeology (SAA), and Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA), plus others, could offer a digital membership to students or classes. These conferences could be integrated into lesson plans and used instead of physically attending the meetings. Students could watch them live, download them, and save the ones most relevant to their own research. 

What do you think?     

Where have I been?

Hello Everyone!

          Well it's been a few months since my last blog post and many of you know the reason why. I became the onscreen production archaeologist on the National Geographic show Diggers. For those of you who read my blog you know that I was an outspoken critic of the show specifically in the way that the digging… or um looting of artifacts to some, was portrayed. I was approached by Michael Baker International an engineering/environmental firm out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the on camera role and to keep all activity of the Diggers crew within Department of Interior standards for archaeological survey and excavation. I want to stress, and this is where my colleagues come in, the show has had an archaeological firm behind it since Season 2.  Bryan Cunning (Principal Investigator for Michael Baker International) has been providing consulting services as the Supervising Archaeologist since Season 2 and has ensured that all artifacts were recovered and recorded according to professional standards.  Although Bryan only appeared a few times on-screen, Mike Durkin (Archaeologist with Michael Baker International) was the Production Archaeologist providing field recordation, on-camera assessments, and support.  During Season 2, Diggers participated in excavations conducted by RISHPO, Charles Ewen (SHA President), and at Fort Adams (Rhode Island State Park).  None of this would have been possible without the support of Michael Baker archaeologists, who remained mostly behind the scenes...it is, of course, a show about two other guys.  I was merely coming in for the third season as a full-time archaeologist who possessed a PhD and over 17 years of field experience and several years teaching at a university level.
           

      The production company really didn’t want me. They feared I’d hold them to task and make shooting the show difficult. I can tell you that staying within the standards is easier than trying to skirt them. Half Yard (through the advice of Michael Baker) approached Trimble about sponsoring a GPS handheld so that all artifacts could be marked at sub-centimeter accuracy and plotted in GIS. After my field recordation and on-camera assessments, Bryan conducted all the artifact processing, analysis, report writing, and ensured the land owners received their artifacts.

            Is this the perfect system for showing archaeology on a reality TV series like Diggers? No. Can this create a foundation where one community (archaeologists) and another community (metal detectorists) can work together? Absolutely. Common ground is what we seek, and have to seek. There are no laws protecting cultural resources on private land. The show never went on any property that was not privately held and always with landowner written consent. Archaeologists have to accept the fact there are people with metal detectors. We cannot lament their existence or try to stifle their use. Fathers take their sons or daughters out metal detecting, people comb beaches with metal detectors, and looters raid sites with them. All of them are passionate about history even the ones who feel they are entitled to own it. It is then up to us, the archaeologist to guide the narrative. For too long has organizations like the SAA (Society for American Archaeology) and SHA (Society for Historical Archaeology) called for a public presence of archaeologists to engage the public about the value of cultural resources. We are to be activists leading the charge in the public’s eye as the holders of the arcane knowledge of the past! That is a pervasive sentiment among our profession. Who owns the past? The archaeologists? We feel we’re the most qualified to interpret it. The metal detectorists? Many have a deep connection to the land and feel as if history can be owned or commoditized.
            The Diggers show has introduced me to both camps now and everyone in between. I met hardened looters who keep what they find and distrust archaeologists. I’ve met archaeologists who keep what they find in white storage boxes in backrooms ready for their “analysis”. Diggers places us in a unique position. For one, we as archaeologists should have had shows like this a long time ago. Instead we attend conferences and write papers waiting for the production companies to come to us and talk about public engagement. Now there is a controversial show where we must be reactionary. I disagree, this is the moment we need to seize. This is the moment we can help metal detectorists and others in their community become stewards of the past like we are. We can educate by creating programs like the one Matt Reeves established at Montpelier, Virginia, using metal detector enthusiasts to help interpret a site. Both communities can work together to explore and preserve the past.         

John Snowdon and Son's Vulcan Iron and Machine Works: 2013 Field Season

Hello Everyone,

           It sure has been a while since my last post, and much has been going on. For one, we reached above and beyond our Kickstarter goal raising over $1700! That allowed us to buy the required liability insurance and some much needed tools to continue excavations at the Snowdon and Son's Foundry. The second thing that has been going on is the excavation, with the help of volunteers. I'll briefly refresh everyone why the foundry is important not only locally, but nationally as well. 
           The Vulcan Iron and Machine Works has a rich history in our nation's early industrialization. It patterned and cast the first iron bridge in the United States, the Dunlap Creek Bridge in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. The foundry cast the half of the iron obelisk markers on the National Road, now Route 40. The foundry also built numerous steamboats and stationary steam engines some of which were used in the Mexican American War. 
           I want to share the first weeks field season photos with you, and hope you enjoy them.

'Alien-like' skulls are unearthed in 1,000-year-old cemetery

Hello Everyone,

Archaeologists have known for decades that some native groups practiced skull deformation. I guess the "Alien-Like" is something to grab the attention of readers. Very cool discovery!

'Alien-like' skulls are unearthed in 1,000-year-old cemetery

Archaeology Day in D.C.

Susan posing with Day of Archaeology banner.

Day of Archaeology was celebrated in Washington D.C on July 30th. The sponsors of the event was a nonprofit organization called Archaeology in the Community http://archaeologyincommunity.com/. My fiance Susan lives in the DC area, and it was pure luck that this event was happening as I was down there visiting.

Left-Andrea Harrison             Right-Alexandra Jones

I met the Chief Executive Officer of Archaeology in the Community, Alexandra Jones along with Andrea Harrison a board member for the organization. One of the chief goals of Archaeology in the Community is outreach and education in the DC area.

Some of the activities in the area were sponsored by different local and even national organizations. The Society for American Archaeology;http://www.saa.org/was represented by Maureen Malloy who is the head of the Education and Outreach side of the SAA. At her booth children could sift through sand and discover artifacts. 

Maureen Malloy Society for American Archaeology

Other booths were sponsored by the Maryland Department of Highways and offered a variety of artifacts for people to handle and ask questions about. 

Archaeology in the Community represents everything that is right about outreach. While like many nonprofits, funding is sparse, Archaeology in the Community brings together several interests that stakeholders have: History, Archaeology, and Visual Learning. What I have found out through community involvement in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, is that people truly are interested in their community's past. In a place like DC where history has an "in your face" presence, what is lost is the average person.  

I had the opportunity to talk to Ruth Trocolli, DC's City Archaeologist. At her booth were artifacts from the everyday lives of common people in the 19th Century. Her table garnered the most interest from people there, and perhaps generated the most discussion. Why? Because the artifacts there dealt with things you and I can relate to. An inkwell, a pencil, glass bottles, and porcelain dolls. Objects that everyday people can understand and place back into the hands of the past owners. 

Community archaeology will always be difficult. There are a vast majority of people who revel in the ability to examine and hold the past in their hands. These people enjoy the artifacts, but cannot commit themselves to the discovery end of archaeology- the digging. At Brownsville Archaeology Month we had visitors of every kind, but we were thirsting for volunteers who wanted to get dirty. I pleaded with my Facebook followers to please come down for a day and just experience what is to dig and discover. I had out of hundreds, one or two come down. A small contingent of the hundred who follow Brownsville Archaeology Month on Facebook. This will always be a problem for community outreach programs in archaeology. When I head to DC in the fall, I plan on becoming a part of this organization and help further their cause. We have to place artifacts into the stakeholder's hands.

That is the importance of community archaeology, make the distant past just a little closer. 

                                                                                    

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