The next meeting of the Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society, a chapter of the SGA, will be March 9th, 2010, at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History (Clifton Road, just north of Ponce de Leon), at 7:30 PM.

The speaker will be GAAS’s own Allen Vegotsky. Allen will discuss Dr. Lindsey Durham (1789-1859), a physician who worked in the Scull Shoals community, south of Athens. Allen’s innovative presentation will take the form of a one-act play, and Allen will play both the Doctor and a narrator. He explains:

Many GAAS members have participated in excavations at Scull Shoals in the Oconee National Forest with Dr. Jack Wynn. What was once Creek and Cherokee hunting grounds, later a frontier village occasionally at war with the Creeks, and still later, part of Georgia’s industrial revolution, is now a ghost town on the Oconee River with only traces of brick structures remaining. During the rapid rise of Scull Shoals to a busy factory town, there were a few individuals who were bigger than life, who became very well known in Georgia and the Southeast.

One of these was Dr. Lindsey Durham (1789-1859), who became one of Georgia’s most successful and popular physicians as well as one of the town’s wealthiest plantation owners. As a doctor, he was known for his complex receipts (formulas for medicines) and Scull Shoals became a magnet for sick people from Georgia and even distant states.

The Durham Family papers are housed at the University of Georgia and I have been studying Durham’s more than 200 medical receipts for the last year. The formulas range from cures for familiar diseases like malaria and consumption (tuberculosis) to cures for esoteric conditions like the effects of witchcraft. The medical receipts provide a rare glimpse into medicine and pharmacy of the early 19th century. I would like to tell you about several of these medical formulas and explain how they were viewed 150 years ago.

The format of the talk will be a one-act play in which I will sometimes be Dr. Durham, himself, in 1850, telling you about his medicines, and sometimes I will be a narrator in the present providing more modern insights into Dr. Durham’s remedies. The talk is in the tradition of historical archaeology, which blends archaeological and archival approaches to understanding a site and its people.

There were few aspects of early 19th century life in frontier communities as important as health and disease.

The meeting is free and the public is invited.

Archaeological sites contain irreplaceable information. Sites are nonrenewable and finite. They can only be excavated once. There is no second chance to recover the important information concealed in the soil. Our precious hidden heritage is vulnerable to erosion and deliberate destruction. Consider the following—Augusta Archaeological Society President John Arena writes with unfortunate news:

A few years ago the Archaeological Conservancy purchased Stallings Island, filled in looters pits, put goats and donkeys placed on the island to control the vegetation, and put a fence around the mound. The Archaeological Conservancy then approached the Augusta Archaeological Society and asked us if we would be site stewards for Stallings Island. Since then, we have periodically inspected the island to check on the animals and also check for looting. AAS member Bobby Brassell and I recently visited the island and found new evidence of looting. We found a couple of small holes inside the fence and a couple of larger holes outside the fence. This was the first evidence of looting we have found in approximately two years.

Looter pit documented by John Arena and Bobby Brassell in winter 2009/2010 on Stallings Island.

This looting, which is the deliberate destruction of archaeological deposits, is illegal. It is illegal because the private landowner has not given written permission for this ground-disturbing activity.

Private-public partnerships in archaeological stewardship are more common in the US Southwest, where there are vast expanses of public lands, many archaeological sites, and few staff members to oversee the land.

Without doubt, our hidden heritage is difficult to protect. Places that are isolated are particularly at risk to disturbance and destruction. The AAS’s stewardship of Stallings Island is an important undertaking.

Can you think of other practical methods archaeological site stewards can use to discourage looters and be more effective caretakers of our hidden past?

Click here to take a look at Resources at Risk: Defending Georgia’s Hidden Heritage, a special issue of Early Georgia published in May 2001, for more on archaeological stewardship and site destruction.

Newsletter Editor Louie Campbell of the Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society, a chapter of the SGA, has forwarded digital copies of the January and February 2010 issues of Atlanta Antiquity for your perusal.

The January issue includes an interesting article about GAAS’s first year, in 1987, by Allen Vegotsky. Allen continues his series in the February issue by recounting GAAS’s third year, in 1989, including pictures of some well-known members.

The GAAS meets monthly, except in the summer months of July and August, so these newsletters provide a way for members to stay in touch.

Here’s the January issue.

Here’s the February issue.

The Augusta Archaeological Society’s February speaker will be Robert W. Benson. The meeting will be at the Flyin’ Cowboy Restaurant, 2821 Washington Road, Augusta, on Thursday February 4th, at 6:30 pm. Mr. Benson’s topic is hafted biface and point types from Sumter National Forest (see page 2 for more details).

The February issue of the AAS newsletter, Debitage, is now available.

SGA member Allen Vegotsky writes on behalf of the Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society:

I am very pleased to announce that the next presentation the the Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society (GAAS) will be given by Scot Keith. He will tell us about “The Leake Site: History and Future of a Prehistoric Ceremonial Center in Northwest Georgia”. The Leake Site is located along the Etowah River near Cartersville, Georgia, and it represents a significant prehistoric mound center. The primary occupation of the site dates to the Middle Woodland period, during which at least three earthen mounds and a large ditch enclosure were constructed. During this period, the site was a gateway city that linked the Southeast and the Midwest regions, functioning as a ceremonial center for peoples from throughout the Eastern U.S. With the exception of portions owned and protected by Bartow County and Cartersville, the significant archaeological deposits at Leake are in jeopardy of being lost to development. In an effort to raise awareness of this significant historic resource, the site was recently listed on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s Places in Peril for 2010.

Learn more about the Leake Site and its significance at the next GAAS meeting. The presentation is scheduled for 7:30 PM on Tuesday, February 9th. It will be given at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History (Clifton Road, just north of Ponce de Leon). Prior to the meeting, there will be a “Show and Tell” of artifacts related chronologically to the Leake Site. Hope to see you there.

Read more about the Leake Site on this website by clicking here, or by clicking on the tag for the Leake site in the tag cloud to the right.

Back by popular demand, the Northwest Georgia Archaeology Society will hold a prehistoric pottery washing and seminar on Thursday, January 14, 2010 at New Echota Historic Site located near Calhoun, Georgia. The meeting will begin at 7 pm.

Jim Langford, President of the Coosawattee Foundation, will lecture and supervise this event.

“For several years, we held this program in January as part of our regular meeting of the Northwest Georgia Archaeology Society. We stopped a couple of years ago, but many people have requested that we have another such seminar,” stated Mr. Langford.

He continued, “we wash and identify pottery from multiple time periods while learning about the chronological sequence of the pottery types and their methods of manufacture. We always have a good turnout for this program, and everyone seems to really enjoy it.”

The New Echota Historic Site located on GA Hwy. 225 (Exit #317) just north of I-75 about 1 mile. For those using GPS systems, the physical address is 1211 Chatsworth Hwy, Calhoun, Georgia 30701.

The public is invited to attend the program and meeting. For more information, contact Jack Walker at 770-655-2595.