ASSC Charleston Newsletter- Winter 2010

NEWSLETTER

Do you have ideas about future meetings and activities?

We would love to hear them! Our

email address is at the bottom of this

page.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

WINTER 2010

CHARLESTON CHAPTER

Meeting Schedule

February 16th,

Tuesday,

6 pm.

Speaker:

Charla Springer

Charla will talk about The Chapel of Ease excavations and her involvement as a volunteer in

this project. Refreshments will be

served.

What’s new?

� The Chapel of Ease dig led by ASSC Charleston Chapter members Andrew

Agha and Nicole Isenbarger made it to the local papers! Despite spooky

stories of hauntings, Andrew, Nicole, and a group of volunteers excavated

the site on Halloween, looking for Col. George Chicken’s grave. Read the

article at http://www.ourgazette.com/news/Halloween-dig-focuses-on-uncovering-gravesite .

� Charles Towne Landing field season is coming to a close. Archaeologists are

planning on working on their finds and reports for a few months before

they go back out to the field. For their site update and other articles go to the

SC State Parks archaeology newsletter at http://southcarolinaparks.com/enews/Jan10.htm#news

� A few of our members went to the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA)

annual conference and presented papers. Read the conference recap on

page 3.

� We are on Facebook! You can join discussions, share resources, and look at

photos from past events.

If you have any news you would like to share with the rest of the Chapter, contact:

[email protected]

ASSC Charleston Chapter

ARCHAEOLOGY PHOTO CONTEST! CALL FOR ENTRIES

Photographic documentation is an essential part of the

excavation process. We try to document what we see as

objectively as possible using photo boards, north arrows, and

giant bed sheets for shadow. We obsess over foot prints,

leaves in our units, soil colors, and those annoying clippers

that somehow make it into the frame! It doesn’t mean that we

cannot appreciate the artistic merit of a beautiful image.

If you think you have an eye for photography, submit an

image to our “1st Annual Archaeology Photo Contest.” The

subject matter can be anything archaeological, including

images of sites, monuments, crew members, artifacts etc.

Please read the contest rules and submission guidelines on

page 6.

GOOD LUCK!!

CHARLESTON CHAPTER

PAST EVENTS

This year’s Christmas Party was hosted by Charles Towne Landing at Founders

Hall. The gathering united many of our members, including students, professional

archaeologists, and volunteers. The guests feasted on a large spread of food,

including ham, chili, meatballs, wings, potato salad, veggies, chicken pot pie, and

casseroles, not to mention an entire table devoted to desserts.

◄ Founders Hall at Charles Towne

Landing State Historic Site.

Guests are arriving at Founders Hall.

CTL volunteers Barbra and Zoe in the

foreground.

►

While munching on food, guests also enjoyed some friendly competition. Prizes

were given to the winner of “Pin the Whip on Indy” as well as those who solved

the online puzzles correctly. The “Archaeology Trivia Tournament” tested

everyone’s knowledge of “trivial” facts. As it turned out, everyone was a big fan of

coprolites, but only one team had watched The Mummy closely enough to

remember the mummy’s Egyptian name!

Our special thanks to everyone who brought a dish to the party and stayed

afterwards to help us clean. We are looking forward seeing everyone again at the

next get-together.

◄ One of the altered images for the

online puzzles. Participants tried to

guess the archaeological site or

monument shown in the picture.

The answer was Easter Island! ►

ASSC CHARLESTON CHAPTER

CHRISTMAS PARTY

WINTER 2010

SOCIETY FOR HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY (SHA) 2010 Conference Recap

The 43rd annual SHA conference was held on January 6-9 at Amelia Island

Plantation near Jacksonville. Amelia Island Plantation is a 1,350-acre beach resort

with Audubon International certified sanctuary golf courses, spas, tennis courts,

and restaurants. Despite the unusually cold weather, the attendees enjoyed

beautiful ocean views and excursions to St. Augustine, Fort Clinch, Kingsley

Plantation, and Historic Fernandina.

This year’s theme was Coastal Connections: Integrating Terrestrial and Underwater

Archaeology. The conference started on Wednesday, January 6th with specialty

workshops such as Archaeological Illustration, Chemistry for Archaeologists, and Bones

for Archaeologists. On the same day, the conference officially welcomed the

attendees with a plenary session titled Coastally Connected: Current Ethical and

Preservation Dilemmas on Land and Underwater, followed by an opening reception.

The organized sessions began on Thursday, January 7th. One the first sessions was

Charles Town and Beyond: The Evolution and Adaptation of Town and

Country (1670-1740), organized by Katherine Saunders of Historic Charleston

Foundation. Among the presenters were our very own Andrew Agha, Martha

Zierden, David Jones, and Cicek Beeby. The papers in this session were titled:

Archaeology at Charles Towne Landing: New Discoveries and Changing Interpretations at

South Carolina's First Permanent English Settlement Site by David Jones, Cicek Beeby;

“not a tolerable Place to plant”: Dr. Henry Woodward at St. Giles Cussoe by Andrew

Agha, Charles F. Philips. Jr.; 15 Minutes of Fame: The First Frontier of South Carolina

by Sarah E. Stroud; Native American Ceramic Variability at Early English Trade

Settlements in the Carolina Lowcountry by Brent Lansdell, Jon Marcoux; A

Comparison of Cattle Remains from Eighteenth-century Charleston, South Carolina and

Mary Musgrove's Cow Pen by Elizabeth J. Reitz, Michael Kennerty; Innovation or

Fortification on the Ashley River by Eric C Poplin; "Fencing our Vineyard": Defense of

Early Charles Town by Martha A. Zierden, Katherine Saunders, Nicholas Butler;

Early Foodways at Public Entertainment Establishments in Charleston, South Carolina:

Animals Remains from the Dock Street Theatre Privy by Carol Colaninno. With such a

good range of papers on daily activities, entertainment, diet, trade, architecture,

and defense, the session offered an extensive view of early colonial life.

The conference resumed on Friday and Saturday. There were about 75 sessions

and hundreds of presentations, making it difficult for the attendees to pick and

choose. One of the interesting sessions was The Life and Times of Leland Ferguson:

From Mississippian to Moravia where our treasurer Ron Anthony presented a paper

titled The Right Time, The Right Place. Our president Andrew Agha did not only

organize this session, but also shared his memories of Leland Ferguson through

his paper Learning How to Write from an Author: Forgetting about Colonoware, the X,

and Artifacts for a Minute. The conference came to a close on Saturday.

PAST EVENTS

CHARLESTON CHAPTER

The Archaeological Society of South Carolina is pleased to Call for Papers for the

36th Annual Conference that will be held on April 9th and 10th, 2010. It will be held

at USC Columbia in Gambrell Hall Auditorium, Room 153. The theme for this

year’s conference is “Archaeological Sciences”. This broad topic was chosen to

allow presenters to highlight the diversity of scientific techniques and applications

that underlie modern archaeology in their own research and will comprise the first

session. A second general session of papers covering archaeological research

findings of interest will be presented as well. We encourage and welcome members

of the public and professional archaeologists working in the Carolinas or Georgia to

submit papers. We recognize that many of the same questions and issues important

to South Carolina's archaeology community cross state borders in our region.

Deadline and Format for Submission: January 5, 2010- March 8, 2010.

Early submission is encouraged to ensure placement on the schedule. Submissions

should include the author(s), title and a brief abstract. The abstract should be no

more than 100 words. Please send all submissions to Program Chair Jon Leader by

email at: [email protected]. You may also contact Jon with questions or comments at

803-576-6560.

Poster Awards

Two awards will be given to the best student poster presentations. The awards will

be presented at the Awards Ceremony at the 2010 Annual Meeting.

Key Note Speaker

We are very pleased to have Dr. Vincas Steponaitis as our speaker this year. He will

be presenting a public lecture on the evening of Friday, April 9th, and a conference

paper on the 10th. Dr. Steponaitis is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the

Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill.

A catered conference dinner is planned for Saturday evening after the conference

ends. The meal will include a vegetarian option.

Conference Registration : $10, Students/Seniors $5

Conference Dinner: TBA

Checks should be made payable to the Archaeological Society of South Carolina

and reference the ASSC 36th Conference in the memo area.

Please send the checks to:

ASSC Annual Conference

ATTN: Helena Ferguson

1321 Pendleton Street

Columbia, SC 29208

ASSC 36TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS

UPCOMING EVENTS

WINTER 2010

Infections, Afflictions, and Perilous Prescriptions: Charleston and "The

Sickly Season"

February 18, Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

Sadly, of the original thirteen American colonies, South Carolina was by far the

unhealthiest. To most early Charlestonians, getting sick in the heat of late summer

was not a question of if but, more appropriately, when. During the 18th and 19th

centuries, diseases of epidemic proportion severely hampered the city’s growth. In

fact, just staying alive during Charleston’s “sickly season” was a major

accomplishment among its residents. Join Curator of History Grahame Long as he

discusses the Sickly Season in this second in a three-part Curator Lecture Series.

Pushing Up Palmettos: Funerary Art in the Carolina Lowcountry

March 25, Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

Life is indeed fleeting, yet death remains ever

permanent. Therefore, Charleston's historic grave

markers and mourning heirlooms stand as more than

just cultural remnants. Lowcountry cemeteries and

graveyards can easily double as art galleries, and

mementos such as mourning jewelry are best

described as fine examples of early American

sculpture and artisanship. Join Curator of History

Grahame Long for this final installment in the three-

part Curator Lecture Series.

Visit http://charlestonmuseum.org/calendar.asp for more events at the Charleston

Museum.

THE CHARLESTON MUSEUM

Curator Lecture SeriesCurator Lecture SeriesCurator Lecture SeriesCurator Lecture Series

Mourning pendant, from the Ehney Family of

Charleston ca. 1805. The scene is made with hair

from William Rose Ehney, a two-year-old boy who died in Charleston in 1805.

It shows his parents, Peter and Sarah, mourning by William's grave marker. Courtesy of the Charleston Museum.

All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information, please call 722-

2996 or contact [email protected].

◄

UPCOMING EVENTS

CHARLESTON CHAPTER

ASSC CHARLESTON CHAPTER

PHOTO CONTEST Rules and Submission GuidelinesRules and Submission GuidelinesRules and Submission GuidelinesRules and Submission Guidelines

Subject Matter:

Anything related to archaeology, including but not limited to: sites, crew members,

monuments, artifacts, features, archaeological tools, underwater archaeology,

surveying, fieldwork in progress etc.

Rules and Conditions:

• Photos must be received by May 31, 2010. Winners will be announced in our

Summer 2010 newsletter.

• Entrants must be 18 years of age or older. By participating in the contest, the

entrants agree to the rules and conditions listed here.

• The contest is open to ASSC members and non-members alike. There is no fee

for participating.

• A maximum of two (2) images are allowed per entrant. Photographs must be

shot by the entrant.

• The photographer retains all the rights to his/her images, and by entering the

contest, grants the ASSC Charleston Chapter the rights to use the images for the

society’s promotional purposes, including but not limited to the newsletters and

websites. Photos reproduced will be credited to the owner.

• Photos that have been previously published are not eligible. It is assumed that

the entrant has the right to distribute the images. It is recommended that the

entrants seek permission from project directors before submitting photos of sites,

artifacts etc. ASSC Charleston Chapter will not be responsible for copyright

infringements the photographer may have violated.

• If the image includes recognizable individuals, each individual (or their

guardian) must fill out a release form. (see How to Enter below)

Technical Specifications

• All photos must be in digital format. Accepted formats: .jpeg, .jpg, .gif, .bmp,

and .tiff. Jpeg format is preferred.

• Photographs may not exceed 2 MB in size. High resolution images are

preferred.

• Photos may be in color or black-and-white.

How to enter

• Fill out the photo submission form: http://sites.google.com/site/asscsite/chapters/charleston-chapter

• If necessary, fill out a model release form for each recognizable person in the

picture: http://sites.google.com/site/asscsite/chapters/charleston-chapter

• E-mail all documents and photos to [email protected]

For more info on the prizes and the judging process, please visit our website.

PHOTO CONTEST

ASSC Charleston Newsletter- Winter 2010

Documents

Transcript of ASSC Charleston Newsletter- Winter 2010