Archaeological evidence of our past is disappearing rapidly, and members of the Society for Georgia Archaeology are dedicated to making preservation happen. Join the SGA and you can help save Georgia's past and learn about it at the same time. The SGA's members are avocational and professional archaeologists, and the interested public.
The Society meets twice a year, in the spring and fall, at locations that rotate around the state. The spring meeting is in conjunction with Archaeology Month, in May. Meetings are open to the public.
Google offers free software that delivers satellite images to your computer (if you have a fairly fast broadband connection and video card). This powerful software allows you to “fly” over the landscape (and the ocean!), and even to overlay historic maps over the modern terrain. Google offers instructional videos to teach you how to use their software. We examine a Civil War map “draped” over modern downtown Atlanta.
Undisturbed archaeological sediments and remains include invisible chemical and physical clues to the past. Scientists studying ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland have analyzed the oxygen isotopes in small air bubbles contained in ice cores from ice that was formed thousands of years ago. They have found that the Earth underwent abrupt climate change between 14,700 and 14,500 years ago.
Larissa Thomas, editor of The Profile, is working on the newest issue, which will appear here, on this website, when finished.
Mark your calendar now! The SGA’s Fall 2009 meeting will be Saturday, October 17th, at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center. Stay tuned for details!
Every once in a while news about the archaeology of southeastern North America is reported in mainstream publications. This week, the New York Times includes a report on carvings found on the wall of a cave in southeast Kentucky which may be an extremely early version of Sequoyah’s Cherokee syllabary. The final syllabary had 85 characters, each representing a syllable.
This week our federal government released a report on global climate change that says in part, “Likely future changes for the United States and surrounding coastal waters include more intense hurricanes with related increases in wind, rain, and storm surges (but not necessarily an increase in the number of these storms that make landfall), as well as drier conditions in the Southwest and Caribbean.” These changes will affect Georgia’s archaeological heritage.
Many academic archaeological research projects are funded at least in part by the National Science Foundation. President Obama has made it an administration priority to as part of his Plan for Science and Innovation to double funding to key research agencies over the next decade. The House of Representatives in turn has proposed a reduction in the President’s proposed increase for FY 2010 for NSF.
To explore and learn about the decorations used on prehistoric pottery from Georgia, visit the University of Georgia’s website on Georgia Indian ceramics. The helpful website has pictures, discussions, and full bibliographic citations for pertinent literature.
The National Park Service website offers a list of laws and regulations pertaining to our nation’s cultural heritage on its website, along with links to the complete texts of the legislation. Perhaps most historically important is the Antiquities Act of 1906, which has been amended once and protects historic and prehistoric antiquities on Federal lands. Another important one is Executive Order 11593, signed in 1971, which charged the Department of the Interior with leading historic preservation activities for the nation.
The SGA is proud to make a digital version of our 2009 poster celebrating the Society’s theme of this year’s Archaeology Month, Mounds in Our Midst. Mounds are easy-to-see remnants of Georgia’s prehistoric past, mainly built between 500 BC and AD 1550. Research over the last century and more indicates that these artificial, human-constructed features of Georgia’s landscape varied in their design and purpose.
Dennis Blanton is blogging about his current field project, excavations in south Georgia. This informative blog constitutes a diary of on-going investigations at the site in Telfair County, in south Georgia….
Georgia’s Historic Preservation Division has released the first “issue” of a new monthly on-line publication called Preservation Posts, with articles on HPD activities, in more depth than are reported in their weekly newsletter, Preservation Georgia Online. Read staff profiles, National Register news, and about other interesting topics.
Rebecca Burns writes a lively and informative blog on Atlanta called Terminus 2.0. Terminus is one of Atlanta’s old names, and her blog is about the history of the city. Plus, Ms. Burns’s blogroll includes a link to thesga.org! Thanks, Ms. Burns!
The SGA’s Spring Meeting on Saturday, May 16th, with the theme Mounds in Our Midst: Monuments of Prehistoric Culture in Georgia, hosted over 100 attendees who enjoyed formal presentations, informal networking, and the unveiling of SGA’s newest outreach project: the Archaeobus!
SGA President Dennis Blanton has received a Preservation Achievement Award from the Georgia Historic Preservation Division, honoring him for his success in bringing one of Georgia’s few existing Native American dugout canoes to Fernbank Museum, among his many other activities that promote archaeology in Georgia. Kudos to President Blanton!
NEWS FLASH: Georgia’s 2008 “Archaeological Encounters in Georgia’s Spanish Period” poster wins Society for American Archaeology annual Archaeology Month Poster Award on April 24th!
For each of the last twelve years, the SGA has produced a Lesson Plan in coordination with Archaeology Month. This year’s Lesson Plan, called Learning through Archaeology: Etowah Indian Mounds, is now available. It coordinates with the theme of our 2009 Archaeology Month meeting, Mounds in Our Midst: Monuments of Prehistoric Culture in Georgia. Our Spring Meeting will be held May 16th and 17th at Wesleyan College in Macon.
The complete archive of online news is here, in reverse order of publication.
Welcome to the website of the Society for Georgia Archaeology, a non-profit organization whose vision is that all Georgians understand the significance of their archaeological sites so that they will support archaeological preservation, education and research.
The SGA's mission is to unite all persons interested in the archaeology of Georgia and to work actively to preserve, study and interpret Georgia’s historic and prehistoric remains.
