UPDATED! Issue number 150 of the SGA’s quarterly newsletter, The Profile, is now available as a downloadable and printable PDF. All stories in The Profile all were originally posted to this website.

It is that time of the year when good things happen. Read President Catherine Long’s message to members about recent and upcoming events and plans. And plan to see fellow SGA members at the 2011 Fall Meeting in Athens on 22 October, and attend the silent and live auctions that evening to benefit the SGA’s Endowment Fund.

Early Georgia’s new Editor, Jared Wood, introduces himself and briefly discusses plans for upcoming issues of the SGA’s journal. Your submissions are encouraged!

UPDATED 4:24pm, Wed, 12 Oct!

Join members of the SGA and guests of the Society at the 2011 Fall Meeting, to be held all day on Saturday, 22 October, in room 171 (first floor) of the Zell B. Miller Learning Center on the UGA Campus, in Athens. Registration is $10 per member ($15 for non-members, $5 for students with ID; $25 for families), and begins at 8:30am. The meeting features morning and afternoon presentations on various topics related to archaeology in Georgia, with breaks to allow time for socializing. Stay in Athens for the SGA fund-raiser that begins at 6:30pm, when you can also tour the ArchaeoBus.

Around this time last year, as I prepared to board a plane and begin my MA program in the United Kingdom, I began to ask myself if the complication and expense of continuing my education in the UK was really worth it. Could these folks with their “sophisticated” accents, meat-pies, and flat ale really give me some deeper insight into the nature and value of archaeology?

You are invited! Come out for an adventurous evening and leave with a treasure! Participate in both a silent and live auction to benefit the SGA on Saturday evening, October 22, 2011, at the Terrapin Brewery, just outside of Athens. Entry is free. Silent auction and tours begin at 6:30pm. The live auction begins at 8pm, with Georgia Hall of Fame Auctioneer Colonel Wilbur C. Mull. We offer two kinds of items for both the live and the silent auctions: 1) Ethnic Objects from Around the World (no archaeological artifacts, of course), and 2) Outdoor Adventure items. Access sample item photos in the full story.

Archaeologists think of human society as very complex. Other social scientists prioritize certain aspects of human social life. For example, political scientists look at political behavior, of individuals and the groups they form. We consider an example offered by anthropologist Thomas Barfield in which he observes that Afghani society prioritizes group interests (e.g., honor), whereas modern Americans, as a society, prioritize individual interests (e.g., household wealth).

Make a field trip to Athens and check out the Civil War-period double barreled cannon on the top of the highest hill downtown, on the northeast corner of the grounds of the old city hall. Consider visiting the cannon on 22 October 2011, as well as attending the SGA’s Fall Meeting that day and the Society’s silent and live auctions in the evening. Click here for more information on the Fall Meeting.

Macon.com contributing writer Jim Gaines featured a story August 30, 2011, regarding the Lamar Institute’s renewal of their 2005 dig at Fort Hawkins. The article mainly addresses the call for volunteers at the site from October 10 through 28, 2011. Lamar Institute President Daniel Elliott is looking for about twenty-four volunteers who can work at least five days, front $150 to cover basics and insurance, and those with field experience.

The talk will cover Dr. Jeffrey Glover’s recent archaeological investigations at the ancient Maya port site of Vista Alegre. Located along the north coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, the work of Glover and colleagues is shedding light on this little known section of coastline.

The Northwest Georgia Archaeology Society will have our next regularly scheduled meeting of the Northwest Georgia Archaeology Society on next Thursday, Sept. 8th, at New Echota Historic Site. The meeting will begin at 7:00pm. All members of the public are invited. Admission is free.

Plan to attend a meeting at 6:30pm tonight, September 6th, at UGA’s Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, 315 Riverbend Road, to help change the fate of historic Rutherford Hall, which is currently slated for demolition. Rutherford is a dorm in the Myers Quad on the University of Georgia campus in Athens.

Attend the Georgia National Fair and help the SGA by volunteering to present the ArchaeoBus to the public. No experience necessary! The ArchaeoBus is the SGA’s fun mobile classroom and museum. The 2011 Georgia National Fair in Perry runs from Thursday, October 6 through Sunday, October 16.

The SGA Board and Officers met Saturday afternoon, 27 August, at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in Macon. In partnership with the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists, the SGA is supporting a plan to interface more effectively with the Atlanta Regional Commission. The ArchaeoBus is scheduled at events in Perry and along the coast this fall. We look forward to seeing you at the SGA Fall Meeting in Athens on Saturday, October 22. Slots are still open for those who wish to give presentations. On Saturday evening, we hope you can attend a live auction to raise money for the SGA. In addition, we plan to implement click-online membership renewals and donations soon.

Georgia Southern University’s archaeology team has announced more artifacts that have been identified from Camp Lawton. Camp Lawton was a Confederate prisoner of war camp located just outside of Millen. The camp was occupied for only six weeks before evacuations began in the middle of the night on November 26, 1864, as the Union army approached during Sherman’s March to the Sea. “The amount of artifacts and the variety of artifacts we are finding at this site is stunning,” said Georgia Southern archaeology professor and director of the project Dr. Sue Moore. Dr. Moore is a Past President of the Society for Georgia Archaeology. This story considers a trade token found by archaeologists that was issued in 1863 by a grocer-wholesaler in Niles, Michigan.

Check out Georgia Flashback to take a look at the newest available learning tool designed with 8th grade students in mind. The game teaches students about our state’s history, architecture, and cultural geography. It was created by a team from the Georgia Department of Transportation, Greenhorne & O’Mara, and the History Workshop. Watch out! It’s addicting!

The Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society-GAAS has been busy this summer. Many chapter members have volunteered at various sites throughout Georgia and have been able to expand their archaeological knowledge through hands on excavation as well as participation in site supervisor lectures and updates. GAAS continues to be a great avenue for individuals interested in the hands-on archaeological experience. GAAS also has big news regarding their chapter president. Dennis Blanton has stepped down as president and, replacing Dennis will be Lyn Kirkland, who has been a member of GAAS for over 20 years.

Long-time SGA member Dr. Jack T. Wynn of Dahlonega thanks “the hundreds of volunteers who have helped keep the pursuit of archaeology alive, vibrant, and fun for me for all these years!” He suggests that “if you have been wondering what you could do in archaeology, then contact the SGA leadership, or members of the SGA Chapter in your area, and find out what’s going on in archaeology in your neighborhood.”

A June 2011 report called The State of America’s National Parks warns on page 25 “that cultural resources in the National Park System—considered the most important to our country’s heritage—are in serious trouble. In fact, these places and collections are being maintained in a condition well below the level that the National Park Service itself has deemed appropriate.” The report concludes on page 27 that the reason this has happened is that “[t]here simply aren’t enough qualified and trained people overseeing the parks’ cultural heritage.” Given the many National Park System properties with an historic or archaeological slant in Georgia (e.g., Ocmulgee National Monument and the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site), are you surprised at this situation?