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/war-of-1812-a-british-caricaturists-perspective/ http://thesga.org/2012/05/war-of-1812-a-british-caricaturists-perspective/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 09:00:56 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10728 Archaeology Month 2012 recognizes the Bicentennial of the War of 1812. The War was declared by the USA under President James Madison against Great Britain, which was already fighting France under Napoleon. One British etching of the time shows the Archangel Gabriel blowing his trumpet, conveying criticism of Madison. Witnesses to this event include personifications of the USA and Great Britain as women. Examine this Library of Congress holding and the British perspective on this New World conflict in the full story.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/05/war-of-1812-a-british-caricaturists-perspective/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/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/2012/03/annual-website-statistics-2009-2011/ http://thesga.org/2012/03/annual-website-statistics-2009-2011/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:00:01 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10504 How much attention has thesga.org, the website of the Society for Georgia Archaeology, received over the period 2009–2011? Read the full story and learn about the success of the SGA's website. 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," and this website aids the Society in reaching its goals.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/03/annual-website-statistics-2009-2011/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/war-of-1812-bicentennial-commemoration-planned/ http://thesga.org/2012/03/war-of-1812-bicentennial-commemoration-planned/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:00:45 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10410 We hope you will join us in commemorating the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 by attending the SGA's Spring Meeting on May 19th at the Georgia Gwinnett College campus. Georgia’s role in the War of 1812 had three main focus points: the Creek War (1813–1814), the British blockade, and the British occupation of St. Mary’s and Cumberland Island (1814–1815). Attend the Spring Meeting and learn about relationships between the Creek and the frontier people and feature research on fortifications from that period.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/03/war-of-1812-bicentennial-commemoration-planned/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/snacking-in-middle-woodland-times-plant-foods/ http://thesga.org/2012/02/snacking-in-middle-woodland-times-plant-foods/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:00:23 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10357 Back in Middle Woodland times, there was no McDonalds, no Starbucks, and no drive-up windows. Middle Woodland times date to roughly 2000 years ago and more, so the lack of convenience food stores is not surprising. This leaves us with the question: just what did the people of Georgia eat back then? In a recent Early Georgia article "Middle Woodland Gardening in the Etowah River Valley, Northwest Georgia" (2011, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 119–136), Leslie E. Branch-Raymer and Mary Theresa Bonhage-Freund discuss plant foods people ate back in those times. Follow the link to learn more….]]> http://thesga.org/2012/02/snacking-in-middle-woodland-times-plant-foods/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/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/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/georgias-naval-stores-industry-harvesting/ http://thesga.org/2012/01/georgias-naval-stores-industry-harvesting/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:00:27 +0000 Rachel http://thesga.org/?p=10142 The naval stores industry was important to Georgia's economy for generations. Naval stores are made from the sap of pine trees. This industry was concentrated in the piney areas of the Coastal Plain. Visit the Million Pines Rest Area north of Soperton and learn about harvesting pine sap.]]> http://thesga.org/2012/01/georgias-naval-stores-industry-harvesting/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/georgia-archaeology-transportation-sites/ http://thesga.org/2011/12/georgia-archaeology-transportation-sites/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:00:06 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=10021 There's a little-known type of archaeological site called a transportation site. Transportation sites are of many sub-types, including railroads and railroad depots and yards, roads and trails, canals, and wharves and docks. These are archaeological sites but not residential sites. Read more in the full story, which focusses on the Brunswick-Altamaha Canal, which SGA members and guests visited during the tour of archaeological sites near St. Simons Island that was the focus of the SGA's exciting 2010 Fall Meeting.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/12/georgia-archaeology-transportation-sites/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/11/columbian-exchange-quiz-results/ http://thesga.org/2011/11/columbian-exchange-quiz-results/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:00:10 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=9993 For about three months, the SGA's website had a twelve-question quiz on the origins of commonly used species, mostly plants. The question posed was: is this species native to the Old World or the New World? The movement of plants and animals between the Old and New Worlds after Christopher Columbus’s First Expedition in 1492 is commonly referred to as the Columbian Exchange. Thus, the quiz provides insights into quiz-taker knowledge of the Columbian Exchange. Should you wish to take the quiz before reading the answers, click here.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/11/columbian-exchange-quiz-results/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/11/how-important-is-dating/ http://thesga.org/2011/11/how-important-is-dating/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:00:39 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=9972 Many people have encountered one of the editions of James Deetz's In Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology of Early American Life, which was first published in 1977 and is still an insightful volume. Dr. Deetz discusses, among many other things, the importance of chronology and dating to the study of the past. He also argues that small things are extremely important to understanding the past, giving examples of how we may continue behaviors with roots in the past in everyday life today.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/11/how-important-is-dating/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/11/what-was-the-new-world-like-in-1491/ http://thesga.org/2011/11/what-was-the-new-world-like-in-1491/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:00:01 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=9961 In 2005, Charles C. Mann's 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus appeared on bookstore shelves, and still is selling well in a paperback edition with a new afterword. Mann's book focuses on what the New World was like prior to the arrival of the Columbus expedition in 1492. Mann offers enough information for you to envision what you would have seen if you could have flown over the Western Hemisphere in AD 1000. What he writes about may be a bit (or a lot) different from what you learned in school about his subject.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/11/what-was-the-new-world-like-in-1491/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/11/historic-preservation-primer-available-from-hpd/ http://thesga.org/2011/11/historic-preservation-primer-available-from-hpd/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:00:59 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=9866 Careful preservation planning means knowledge about important historical and archaeological resources are part of the planning process. In late October 2011, Georgia's Historic Preservation Division released Preservation Primer: A Resource Guide for Georgia, available in both high- and low-resolution PDFs. The Primer will help you identify historic properties, evaluate them, and develop local preservation planning strategies. And help protect your community's resources.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/11/historic-preservation-primer-available-from-hpd/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/10/origins-of-agriculture-discussed-in-detail/ http://thesga.org/2011/10/origins-of-agriculture-discussed-in-detail/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:00:33 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=9800 The origins of agriculture is one of the major topics of the field of archaeology. The journal Current Anthropology has just published an issue dedicated to this topic, called The Origins of Agriculture: New Data, New Ideas. The issue's twenty-two articles can be accessed for free. An article by Bruce D. Smith considers the origins of agriculture in eastern North America, in particular the seed plants squash (Cucurbita pepo), sunflower, sumpweed (Iva annua), and lambsquarters/pigweed (Chenopodium berlandieri).]]> http://thesga.org/2011/10/origins-of-agriculture-discussed-in-detail/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/10/volcanoes-and-archaeology-pros-and-cons/ http://thesga.org/2011/10/volcanoes-and-archaeology-pros-and-cons/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:00:12 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=9630 While volcanoes are undeniably destructive, they can aid archaeological tourism by preserving ancient homes and settlements. We discuss the case of AD 79 Roman Herculaneum, formerly on the Bay of Naples, Italy, and offer a few photographs.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/10/volcanoes-and-archaeology-pros-and-cons/feed/ 0 http://thesga.org/2011/10/description-of-indian-mound-from-the-1770s/ http://thesga.org/2011/10/description-of-indian-mound-from-the-1770s/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:00:07 +0000 sammy http://thesga.org/?p=9545 Ever wonder what an Indian mound was like in the late eighteenth century? In the mid-1770s, natural historian William Bartram traveled through what is now Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. He described his adventures in a 1793 volume Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws…. He describes a special round building the Cherokees used for important group activities. His architectural description gives a good idea of what careful archaeological excavation may reveal of a building like this.]]> http://thesga.org/2011/10/description-of-indian-mound-from-the-1770s/feed/ 0