http://thesga.org SGA site, redux Fri, 18 May 2012 09:00:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://thesga.org/2012/05/get-your-copy-of-frontiers/ http://thesga.org/2012/05/get-your-copy-of-frontiers/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 09:00:27 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10822 If you don't already have a copy of Frontiers in the Soil, click here to access an order form! Clocking in at over 100 pages, Frontiers tells the story of young archaeologists working on an excavation project, using lively text and humorous cartoon illustrations. This classic volume will be enjoyed by everyone curious about Georgia’s archaeological heritage. There's also a free lesson plan based on the book.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/05/get-your-copy-of-frontiers/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/05/meetings-crossroads-to-knowledge/ http://thesga.org/2012/05/meetings-crossroads-to-knowledge/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 09:00:23 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10771 Meetings are a crossroads to knowledge. The full story discusses the April 2012 statewide preservation conference. You've missed that meeting, but it's not too late—May also has interesting events scheduled for 2012 Archaeology Month, including the SGA's Spring Meeting, which will be held Saturday, May 19th, at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/05/meetings-crossroads-to-knowledge/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/05/may-1-2012/ http://thesga.org/2012/05/may-1-2012/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 16:28:04 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10762 …in which Abby the ArchaeoBus visits Auburn, Georgia, and hosts over 200 visitors including middle-schoolers, homeschoolers and parents, city administrators, a state representative, and more—read the whole story and look at the photos!]]> http://thesga.org/2012/05/may-1-2012/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/05/april-30-2012/ http://thesga.org/2012/05/april-30-2012/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 15:39:23 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10756 …in which Abby the ArchaeoBus attends the 2011 Georgia National Fair, and hosts mobs of happy visitors. See lots of pictures from the Fair!]]> http://thesga.org/2012/05/april-30-2012/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/05/beware-of-ticks/ http://thesga.org/2012/05/beware-of-ticks/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 12:49:25 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10735 May is Archaeology Month in the state of Georgia, and also Historic Preservation Month, but did you also know that May is Lyme and Tick-borne Disease Awareness Month? The Georgia Lyme Disease Association sponsors this month to promote awareness about these diseases as well as encourage prevention practices. Find more information online here, where you can find resources, stories, statistics, and articles detailing the signs and symptoms of tick-borne diseases. In Georgia, ticks may be active year round, but they are most active on calm, cool, damp (humid) days over 60 degrees. You can engage in some prevention by avoiding tick infested areas, using tick/bug sprays, and checking yourself thoroughly after venturing outside.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/05/beware-of-ticks/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/04/walking-the-landscape-georgias-prehistoric-trails/ http://thesga.org/2012/04/walking-the-landscape-georgias-prehistoric-trails/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:00:59 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10719 "Before Georgia had roads, it was laced with Indian trails or paths," writes Dr. Louis DeVorsey in his 2003 entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Indian Trails. Why did people establish, maintain, and travel these trails? Dr. DeVorsey suggests that normal economic needs motivated much of the travel. What do you think?]]> http://thesga.org/2012/04/walking-the-landscape-georgias-prehistoric-trails/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/04/dekalb-county-research-project-open-to-the-public/ http://thesga.org/2012/04/dekalb-county-research-project-open-to-the-public/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:29:26 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10714 The Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance, Inc. and Georgia's Historic Preservation Division (HPD) are partnering in a public archaeology project at the Lyon Farm in DeKalb County. The public is invited to attend and participate in excavations planned over two weekends in 2012. Fieldwork is designed to 1) locate cabins that housed slaves prior to the Civil War; and 2) uncover evidence of Creek settlement prior to the establishment of Lyon Farm around 1800. You must notify HPD ahead of time if you want to participate in this fieldwork.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/04/dekalb-county-research-project-open-to-the-public/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/04/panel-discussion-scheduled-for-saturday-may-12th-in-savannah/ http://thesga.org/2012/04/panel-discussion-scheduled-for-saturday-may-12th-in-savannah/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:05:01 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10706 The Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission announces a panel discussion titled "Perspectives in Archaeology: Digging for the Truth" to be held Saturday, May 12th, at 2PM, at Trinity Church, Telfair Square, Savannah. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. This is one of many events celebrating Georgia's 2012 Archaeology Month.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/04/panel-discussion-scheduled-for-saturday-may-12th-in-savannah/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/04/urbanization-causes-archaeological-resource-destruction/ http://thesga.org/2012/04/urbanization-causes-archaeological-resource-destruction/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:00:32 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10686 Call it a megapolitan area or a megaregion, but Georgia's Piedmont is experiencing an increase in human settlement that endangers—and destroys—archaeological remains. Join the Society for Georgia Archaeology and help preserve Georgia's archaeological heritage. Once you've joined the SGA, volunteer with the Society to actively help the SGA to preserve, study and interpret Georgia’s historic and prehistoric remains.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/04/urbanization-causes-archaeological-resource-destruction/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/04/dams-hold-more-than-water/ http://thesga.org/2012/04/dams-hold-more-than-water/#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:00:20 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10567 We all know dams hold water, but they can also preserve archaeological information. The recent dynamiting of the Eagle & Phenix dam in the Chattahoochee River adjacent to downtown Columbus has revealed considerable data on the industrial history of the mill complexes that lined this stretch of the river. The water also concealed many archaeological artifacts. Read about what destruction of the dam has revealed, and the exhibits that will be created to tell the story of the Eagle & Phenix dam and the mills it served.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/04/dams-hold-more-than-water/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/04/volunteer-for-the-sga-join-now/ http://thesga.org/2012/04/volunteer-for-the-sga-join-now/#comments Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:00:01 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10560 The Society for Georgia Archaeology is a volunteer organization. It only can achieve its goals if you help. So, join the SGA and become an active participant in SGA activities. Click here for more information on joining the SGA. Help our wonderful organization achieve its goals, and help preserve Georgia's archaeological heritage in the process! Begin your involvement in the SGA by attending our Spring Meeting, to be held at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville on Saturday, May 19, 2012, in conjunction with 2012 Archaeology Month.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/04/volunteer-for-the-sga-join-now/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/03/spring-2012-meeting-hotel-and-meeting-info/ http://thesga.org/2012/03/spring-2012-meeting-hotel-and-meeting-info/#comments Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:00:40 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10534 Please make plans to attend the Spring 2012 Meeting of The Society for Georgia Archaeology on Saturday, May 19th, at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville. The meeting will be held in the Student Center (Level 1, LVIS Room), and registration begins at 8:00am. The SGA has reserved rooms at the nearby Country Inn & Suites—Lawrenceville. These rooms will be available at the group rate until Wednesday, April 18th.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/03/spring-2012-meeting-hotel-and-meeting-info/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/03/2012-georgia-social-studies-fair-sgagcpa-award-winners/ http://thesga.org/2012/03/2012-georgia-social-studies-fair-sgagcpa-award-winners/#comments Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:00:17 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10541 The Society for Georgia Archaeology (SGA) and the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists (GCPA) gave two awards at the Georgia Social Studies Fair 2012. The SGA and GCPA are pleased to give awards at this event because it supports our mission “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.” The 2012 winners are fifth-grader John Hendricks of Jasper Elementary in Pickens County and eighth-grader Connor Hynek of Herschel Jones Middle School in Paulding County. Awards include a copy of the book Frontiers in the Soil, also available from the SGA.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/03/2012-georgia-social-studies-fair-sgagcpa-award-winners/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/03/archaeological-lessons-for-us-today-coping-with-environmental-stresses/ http://thesga.org/2012/03/archaeological-lessons-for-us-today-coping-with-environmental-stresses/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:00:53 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10484 How do archaeological investigations can help us understand the present, and give us insights into the future of the world? A series of articles in a Special Feature called "Critical Perspectives on Historical Collapse," published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2012, vol. 109, no. 10), and available online here for free, offers archaeological examples that are helpful in understanding how societies under stress react, and what reactions are more and less successful. Dr. Karl Butzer, in his contribution, argues that "resilience and readaptation depend on identified options, improved understanding, cultural solidarity, enlightened leadership, and opportunities for participation and fresh ideas" (p. 3632).]]> http://thesga.org/2012/03/archaeological-lessons-for-us-today-coping-with-environmental-stresses/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/03/archaeology-real-world-to-hypotheses-theories/ http://thesga.org/2012/03/archaeology-real-world-to-hypotheses-theories/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10471 How do archaeologists do…archaeology? Archaeologists analyze the material remains (sites and artifacts) people have left behind, then interpret and recreate past human life. So, how does the analysis lead to the interpreting and recreating? A new, 2012 publication by the National Academies provides a helpful discussion of how all kinds of scientific researchers, including archaeologists, move from the real world to hypotheses and theories. Archaeologists use their understanding of material remains to reconstruct our human past.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/03/archaeology-real-world-to-hypotheses-theories/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/03/rock-carving-expert-to-speak-at-etowah-museum/ http://thesga.org/2012/03/rock-carving-expert-to-speak-at-etowah-museum/#comments Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:28:45 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10446 Come to the Museum at Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site on Thursday, March 15th at 7:00pm to hear the REAL story of rock structures on a mountainside in Union County—structures that sparked the recent controversy about Mayans in North Georgia. Our speaker for this meeting of the Northwest Georgia Archaeology Society will be Dr. Jannie Loubser, an archaeologist and world expert on rock carvings and rock structures.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/03/rock-carving-expert-to-speak-at-etowah-museum/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/02/1875-newspaper-article-leads-researcher-home/ http://thesga.org/2012/02/1875-newspaper-article-leads-researcher-home/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:00:54 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10371 Recently, SGA member Tom Gresham found an 1875 article in the Oglethorpe Echo in which the newspaper's editor and publisher, T. Larry Gantt, discussed an overnight fishing adventure he made with friends along the Oconee River. As Tom comments, "Fortunately, little of the article discusses fishing, and most describes his ten-mile buggy ride to and from the river and the archeological sites they found along the river, including the Scull Shoals mounds." We offer the full text of the article in a format evocative of the original, and Tom's account of finding the article.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/02/1875-newspaper-article-leads-researcher-home/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/02/abandonmentreuse-of-the-etowah-mounds/ http://thesga.org/2012/02/abandonmentreuse-of-the-etowah-mounds/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:00:47 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10346 While the Etowah mounds are large and imposing, and people used them over several hundred years during the Mississippian period, they were not continuously occupied. Read the story of the Etowah mounds in detail in Adam King's Etowah: The Political History of a Chiefdom Capital (2003; University of Alabama Press), which is now available in paperback and ebook versions.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/02/abandonmentreuse-of-the-etowah-mounds/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/02/10338/ http://thesga.org/2012/02/10338/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:12:49 +0000 Kelly http://thesga.org/?p=10338 Tammy Herron of the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program (SRARP) will be the guest speaker at this month's GAAS meeting. Tammy will discuss her research on colonial sites in Aiken County, South Carolina and also some of the programs of the Society for Georgia Archaeology (SGA).]]> http://thesga.org/2012/02/10338/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/02/long-distance-travel-the-leake-site-example/ http://thesga.org/2012/02/long-distance-travel-the-leake-site-example/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:00:25 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10329 In an article in the Fall 2011 issue of Early Georgia (vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 173–200), Scot Keith discusses evidence for long-distance trade and exchange in Middle Woodland times (from about 350 BC to AD 650), using data from the Leake Site, near Cartersville. Members of the SGA in 2011 received that issue of Early Georgia as a benefit of membership. Join the SGA, and you will receive the current volume of Early Georgia!]]> http://thesga.org/2012/02/long-distance-travel-the-leake-site-example/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/01/february-gias-meeting-the-life-and-times-of-the-sixteenth-century-guale/ http://thesga.org/2012/01/february-gias-meeting-the-life-and-times-of-the-sixteenth-century-guale/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:11:33 +0000 Kelly http://thesga.org/?p=10317 The Golden Isles Archaeological Society will hold their February meeting Tuesday the 7th at St. Simons Elementary School in the Cafeteria at 7:00pm. The meeting will feature Ryan Sipe of Georgia Southern University and is titled Georgia’s Mission Frontier: The Life and Times of the Sixteenth Century Guale.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/01/february-gias-meeting-the-life-and-times-of-the-sixteenth-century-guale/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/01/combating-damage-and-deterioration-of-artifacts/ http://thesga.org/2012/01/combating-damage-and-deterioration-of-artifacts/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10309 Museums and other institutions store and display artifacts. Curators—the professionals who care for artifact collections in museums and other institutions that preserve artifacts—must be very careful to make sure that artifacts are preserved and not damaged while in their care. Read about many potential agents of deterioration, degradation, and destruction in the full article.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/01/combating-damage-and-deterioration-of-artifacts/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/01/blue-ridge-parkway-archive-online-with-geolocation-data/ http://thesga.org/2012/01/blue-ridge-parkway-archive-online-with-geolocation-data/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:00:15 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10252 Do you geotag your digital photographs? North Carolina archivists have determined the geographic location of myriad photographs and other historical materials that illuminate the history of the Blue Ridge Parkway, then put scans of those materials online for researchers to browse. Read more about Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina in the full story.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/01/blue-ridge-parkway-archive-online-with-geolocation-data/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/01/ocmulgee-75th-anniversary-celebrated/ http://thesga.org/2012/01/ocmulgee-75th-anniversary-celebrated/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:55:58 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10217 SGA Vice-President Tammy Herron and two colleagues, George Wingard and Keith Stephenson, attended the 75th Anniversary Reception on Thursday, December 1, 2011 at Ocmulgee National Monument. In a later ceremony, the SGA received a Certificate of Appreciation for helping to "preserve and protect the 'Ocmulgee Old Fields'" and for helping to "create Ocmulgee National Monument" in 1936.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/01/ocmulgee-75th-anniversary-celebrated/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2012/01/mining-in-georgia-gold-and-online-resources/ http://thesga.org/2012/01/mining-in-georgia-gold-and-online-resources/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:00:33 +0000 Rachel http://thesga.org/?p=10122 The first documented find of gold in Georgia dates to the summer of 1829, according to E. Merton Coulter in Auraria: The story of a Georgia gold-mining town (University of Georgia Press, Athens, originally published in 1956 and released in paperback in 2009, and available online for free). Auraria, in Lumpkin County, was a town that flourished during the rush and is a ghost town today.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/01/mining-in-georgia-gold-and-online-resources/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/12/is-religion-an-adaptive-behavior/ http://thesga.org/2011/12/is-religion-an-adaptive-behavior/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:00:45 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10113 Nicholas Wade, in his 2009 book, The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures, argues that behaviors we describe as religious conferred a survival advantage on early humans, and thus were adaptive and favored by natural selection. The benefits he ascribes to religious beliefs and practices include emotions like trust and loyalty, which support cooperation and empathy, improve group cohesion, and improve the survival rate of groups.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/12/is-religion-an-adaptive-behavior/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/12/an-ethnohistorians-insights-into-untangling-the-past/ http://thesga.org/2011/12/an-ethnohistorians-insights-into-untangling-the-past/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:00:57 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10106 Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to travel in North America with an early European adventurer? Read Joyce Rockwood Hudson's Looking for De Soto: A Search Through the South for the Spaniard's Trail (published in 1993) and you will learn what it was like to try to trace the route that Hernando De Soto and his entourage took through southeastern North America in 1540. Mrs. Hudson and her husband, then UGA professor Dr. Charles Hudson, set out to retrace and verify the route of the De Soto expedition in 1984.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/12/an-ethnohistorians-insights-into-untangling-the-past/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/12/ways-to-make-the-past-a-story/ http://thesga.org/2011/12/ways-to-make-the-past-a-story/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:00:27 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10086 Historical and archaeological books and articles commonly tell the story of the past either using a timeline (a sequential version of the past) or using a specific topic—a place or person or theme—to anchor the tale. This story notes that there're two sequential versions of Georgia's past on this website—a table and a prose post. The full story contrasts these with Caldwell's volume on research prior to the flooding of the Allatoona Reservoir, and a book on food and the human past (and future)—both with topical foci. Caldwell's volume is recommended to anyone interested in Georgia' prehistory.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/12/ways-to-make-the-past-a-story/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/12/diaries-as-research-tools/ http://thesga.org/2011/12/diaries-as-research-tools/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:00:01 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10063 Diaries are one of many primary sources about the past. Primary sources are records from people who had first-hand experience with what is recorded in the materials they have left behind. On this website we have a diary—of Abby the ArchaeoBus. The ArchaeoBus is a major outreach project of the SGA, and billed as Georgia's mobile archaeology classroom. Using Abby's diary as an example, consider the strengths and weaknesses of diaries as aids to understanding the past.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/12/diaries-as-research-tools/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/12/november-29-2011/ http://thesga.org/2011/12/november-29-2011/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:15:45 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10058 …in which Abby the ArchaeoBus attends the Georgia Council for the Social Studies Conference in Athens along with hundreds of teachers, many of whom, she discovered, are quite knowledgeable about Georgia archaeology.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/12/november-29-2011/feed/ 0