Learn about Georgia's archaeology! Help save Georgia's fast-disappearing past! Tour the ArchaeoBus!
Join the SGA, and meet avocational and professional archaeologists, and the interested public.
The Society has two meetings each 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. Check our calendar for the date of the next meeting!
Read one of the first blog entries on the new PLoS Blogs, which discusses viral archaeology—the “archaeology” of viruses! The Public Library of Science has debuted PLoS Blogs, a “new network for discussing science in public; covering topics in research, culture, and publishing.” PLoS sees the blogs as an extension of their mission to make “the world’s scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource.”
The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society teamed with the Fort Daniel Foundation to again combine their public archaeology event with FDF’s 2nd annual Frontier Faire at the Fort Daniel site in Gwinnett County, May 22-23. A highlight of the weekend was a brick making project employing methods and technology that would have been used in the late 18th–early 19th centuries.
Heritage management involves several basic steps. Resources must be located and described. Once found, some kind of filing and data retrieval system is needed to manage them properly. Here in our state we have the Georgia Archaeological Site File. For places with fewer options than we have in the US of A, the Getty Conservation Institute has spearheaded development of an electronic inventory system that includes locational data; the pilot project is based in Jordan, but probably will be expanded to other areas.
If you haven’t done so already, we invite you to make plans to join the SGA at the Fall Meeting, which will be held on St. Simons Island and environs from Friday-Sunday, 15-17 October 2010. The theme of the meeting is Historic Preservation of Prehistoric, Colonial and Plantation Structures on the Coast, and attendees will tour (plan to carpool!) many interesting historic and prehistoric sites in the area, guided by archaeologists familiar with each location.
Many archaeological projects are only possible because of the hours and energy that volunteers contribute. The same is true for your SGA. Please think about what you can do to help the SGA.
Even the national news recently picked up on the story about Camp Lawton, where investigations, including a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey, have revealed the exact location of this Civil War/War Between the States prisoner of war camp that was established in 1864.
UPDATED!
Now’s the time to get out your calendar and checkbook, and make your reservations for the Fall 2010 meeting. The Fall meeting will take place on St. Simons Island and environs from Friday-Sunday, 15-17 October 2010. The general theme of the meeting is Historic Preservation of Prehistoric, Colonial and Plantation Structures on the Coast. Reservations for events and hotel rooms are due by September 8th. We have dropped the Friday night BBQ and accordingly adjusted the Friday activities for early arrivals. Send in your completed form and check NOW!
Believe it or not a study of moose bones is illuminating about the incidence of osteoarthritis in humans. Bioarchaeologist Clark Spencer Larsen believes that moose data from Isle Royale in northern Michigan helps understand osteoarthritis rates in 16th-century native peoples from Georgia.
Archaeology is a sub-field of anthropology. So is linguistics. Just what is linguistics and how does it relate to anthropology? Why is language so important to anthropologists? And just how is language important to our human species? Do you agree with Roy Rappaport that: “Flexibility is central to adaptive processes, and the enormous flexibility of the human species rests, of course, largely upon a property universal to and unique to humanity, namely language”?
Ten years ago, archaeologists raised the submarine H.L. Hunley from where it had been resting since February 1864. HeraldOnline’s Brian Hicks reports on the latest research and plans for what he calls “the first successful combat submarine in history.”
Looking for digital access to early twentieth century soil maps of Georgia? The University of Alabama’s Historical Map Archive includes them, but only if you use the free Mr SID plugin, which is only available for Windows XP or Vista.
Are you familiar with the hypothesis that an extraterrestrial impact lead to the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna in North America? This hypothesis has been raised in opposition to hypotheses that posit that Paleoindians and/or climate did in the megafauna. This story introduces the basic ideas of these arguments, and includes links so you can read the paper that introduced the impact idea, and one which scientifically tested that model. Then, you can login and tell us your opinion!
Are you interested in visiting a castle? There’s a thirteenth-century fortress under construction in northern Arkansas that opened in May. Well, the construction site opened. Planners say it’ll take thirty years to finish the stone complex.
The University of Georgia Press has partnered with the Digital Library of Georgia to offer out-of-print history books free online. Take a look at the selection and read about Georgia’s past—for free!
The US National Archives and Records Administration keeps papers, photographs, moving images, and more, only a very few of which are available online. Examine a photo from the digital collection, and consider the information about the photograph. You can search the online records yourself by following a link in the full story.
Georgia’s Historic Preservation Division has composed a survey to solicit your input about the goals of their program for their next five-year preservation plan. Their existing plan goes through 2011. The full story has a link to the online survey, which will take you perhaps five minutes to complete. Your opinions are important!
Take a moment to browse some of the two thousand photographs the National Park Service has posted online from its Historic Photograph Collection. The posted photos include six of Ocmulgee National Monument, including one of the earthlodge while it was being excavated. That photograph dates to the 1930s.
Kennesaw State University journalism student Elizabeth Johnson put together an eight-plus minute video documentary for her senior capstone project about the efforts to preserve and protect the Leake site in Cartersville, Georgia. Go to the full story to read more about the preservation efforts at the Leake site (you can help, too!), and for a link to the video.
Think about your favorite picnic foods, or the ones you’re most likely to see on plates at a family reunion. Chicken, green beans, cornbread…(are you getting hungry?)…. From around the globe, where are these foods native to? North America?
Many of us have probably been thinking about impacts of the oil washing ashore on coastal archaeological resources—but what about underwater resources like shipwrecks? An AP story from early July notes that BP has hired an archaeological firm in the face of concerns about the effects of the spill on terrestrial and underwater archaeological resources.
Georgia’s Mobile Archaeology Classroom—the ArchaeoBus—provides hands-on and minds-on activities to enthuse your students about learning. Archaeology is a great tool for turning on the minds of students, as well as a great motivational tool. More important, it is a discipline capable of instruction in a wide variety of skills. Archaeology is a holistic academic and intellectual approach that involves all subject areas, social skills, and conceptual skills. Georgia’s Mobile Archaeology Classroom offers the opportunity for students and teachers to leave the traditional four-walled classroom and use a new approach to learn state standards!
The complete archive of online news on various topics in archaeology is here, listed in reverse order of publication on this website. If, instead, you are interested in an archive of notices about the business of the Society (e.g., preparations for meetings), click here.
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.
