The Society for Georgia Archaeology » archaeological methods

Long-distance travel: The Leake Site example

sammy — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:00:25 +0000

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!

Combating damage and deterioration of artifacts

sammy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

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.

2011 Fort Daniel Faire conclusions

Kelly — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:51:30 +0000

Prior to the 2011 Fort Daniel Frontier Faire in Gwinnett County, several geophysical surveys had been conducted at the site by Dr. Sheldon Skaggs of Georgia Southern University, the combined results of which suggested the presence of features within the footprint of the fort. We have also previously reported that the footprint of the fort’s palisade walls and corner blockhouses, as determined by archaeological investigations, corresponds precisely to the plan for frontier forts sent by President Washington’s Secretary of War, Henry Knox, to the Governor of Georgia in 1794.

An ethnohistorian’s insights into untangling the past

sammy — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:00:57 +0000

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.

How important is dating?

sammy — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:00:39 +0000

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.

Fort Daniel: A geophysical survey of an 1813 Georgia frontier fort

sammy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:19:59 +0000

Where was Fort Daniel? This frontier fort was long believed to have been on a ridge-top knoll on Hog Mountain in Gwinnett County. In 2007, the Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society, a Chapter of the SGA, began a research program under the direction of Dr. James D’Angelo to locate physical remains of the fort using two forms of subsurface remote sensing, metal detection and ground penetrating radar. This detailed article reports the happy results of that research.

Kevin Kiernan to lecture at the Ashantilly Center in Darien, Georgia, September 18, 2011

Kelly — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:18:07 +0000

Kevin Kiernan, Board member of the Society for Georgia Archaeology, will speak about WPA Archaeology on St. Simons Island during the Great Depression. His lecture is this Sunday, September 18, 2011, at 5 p.m. at the Ashantilly Center in Darien, Georgia.

Lamar Institute to dig at Fort Hawkins

Kelly — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:44:55 +0000

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.

Melissa Webb of GSU enjoys interning at Fernbank Museum of Natural History

Kelly — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 15:02:24 +0000

Melissa Webb discusses her intership experience, spring semester 2010, at Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, Georgia. This essay is comical, honest, and realistic, as many university students do not know what to expect when they show up to intern. Melissa Webb graduated from Georgia State University with her bachelor degree January 2011. Congratulations, Melissa!

Scouts learn what Real Archaeology is

sammy — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 09:07:29 +0000

Boy Scouts from Troop 125 in Holly Springs performed some real life science by helping William Phillips, an Eagle Scout from Troop 11 of Gainesville, in early May 2010. Under the supervision of Dr. Jack Wynn, North Georgia College and State University archaeologist and long-time SGA member, the boys visited a prehistoric site that Mr. Phillips had targeted for testing. The scouts helped precisely measure and mark the locations of the new test holes, then worked in supervised groups, making careful notes as they proceeded. At day's-end, scouts had recovered dozens of pottery fragments, along with a few groundstone artifacts, and the artifacts all had to be cleaned and categorized. The boys learned that science isn’t always done the way it appears to be in the movies.

It’s not what you find, but what you find out

Kelly — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:20:19 +0000

Linda Lane, member of SGA's local chapter Golden Isles Archaeological Society (GIAS) wrote an article for Dig magazine titled "It's Not What You Find-But What You Find Out." Dig magazine is published for children ages nine and older in partnership with Archaeology magazine. Its main focus is making archaeology, paleontology and earth sciences interesting to children.

“Big things” in archaeology: cliodynamics and chiefdoms

sammy — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:00:35 +0000

Archaeologists consider little things and big things. A little thing would be studying the soot on the outside of a pottery fragment to discover what species of firewood was used—and little things do have big implications. Cliodynamics is a new field that generates mathematical models of long-term social processes. The full story briefly examines cliodynamical modeling of late prehistoric Native American political units before the arrival of Europeans.

Visit Harvard’s Peabody Museum collection online

sammy — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:00:24 +0000

In the March 2011 issue of American Anthropologist, Meg Gaillard reviews the website of the online collections of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Take a look at the review and the online collection and see pictures of artifacts from Georgia, and some information about the conditions under which they came into the collection. The article considers a "groundstone bowl fragment" as an example of this useful online collection.

Undergraduate research projects presented to GAAS

sammy — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:10:45 +0000

Four archaeology students affiliated with Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University, and interning at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, presented the results of substantive research projects to members of the Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society (GAAS) and their guests on Tuesday, February 8th, 2011. The students have been working with GAAS President Dennis Blanton on data from a ca. 1540 village site in south Georgia. Read the full story for more information about their findings.

January 2011 SAA Archaeological Record online

sammy — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:05:57 +0000

The January 2011 newsletter of the Society for American Archaeology, The SAA Archaeological Record, is now available free online. The issue includes a Special Forum titled "Digital Communication and Collaboration: Perspectives from Zooarchaeology," and includes ten articles and many examples of data-sharing among zooarchaeologists.

Archaeologists use iPads during excavations at Pompeii

sammy — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:00:17 +0000

A recent story on the Apple website describes how archaeologists working at the famous site of Pompeii, near Naples in central Italy, have been using iPads to record detailed excavation data, using “off-the-shelf” software. While using the iPads in the field reduces post-fieldwork data-entry time, this story asks you to consider the potential drawbacks of using a tablet computer in the field instead of pencils, erasers, and graph paper.

CGAS sponsors talk in February

sammy — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:20:52 +0000

The Coastal Georgia Archaeological Society is sponsoring a speaker on Sunday, February 6, at 2:00 pm at the Savannah-Ogeechee Canal Museum, 681 Fort Argyle Road (Route 204), Savannah, as part of Super Museum Sunday. The speaker is P.T Ashlock, and the presentation is titled, "Archaeology of Ebenezer: How the Method of Ground Penetrating Radar Helped Reveal a Fort from the American Revolution".

Interpreting broken pottery: Exploring rim diameters

sammy — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:00:46 +0000

Archaeologists often find large assortments of broken pottery—dating to either historic or prehistoric periods. Rim sherds, from the opening or mouth of the vessel, can be quite informative. This article leads the reader to consider what the implications of different vessel rim diameter assortments may be.

Report on GPR survey conducted during 2010 fall meeting now available online

Kelly — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:02:10 +0000

The report GPR Survey at Gascoigne Bluff, St. Simmons Island, Georgia presents the findings of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey conducted during the SGA's 2010 fall meeting. GPR survey of a portion of Gascoigne Bluff on St. Simons Island was performed on October 16, 2010, and report author Dan Elliott was assisted by SGA members in completing the survey. This project was a joint public outreach and research effort by the LAMAR Institute, the Society for Georgia Archaeology, and the Cassina Garden Club.

The Lacy Hotel Project: Historical archaeology in graduate school

Kelly — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 22:21:57 +0000

When Melissa Scharffenberg, a graduate student in archaeology at Georgia State University began contemplating thesis topics she was approached by the curator of the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History. The curator asked if she would interpret the Lacy Hotel collection housed at the museum which she had previously researched and analyzed as an intern in 2007. Melissa thought her familiarity with the artifacts and history of the Lacy Hotel would make for a great thesis topic and provided the opportunity to start The Lacy Hotel Project which uses the combination of archaeological and historical data to document civilian life during the Civil War.

What is this?

sammy — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 09:00:51 +0000

This story asks YOU to figure out what an object is. The clues are all in a single photograph.

How do we decode the past?

sammy — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:00:46 +0000

The long version of this story introduces a multipage online presentation by the Smithsonian Institution called "Decoding the Past: The Work of Archaeologists" (with lesson plans). This raises issues of how to envision the past so that you can reveal patterns, rhythms, and cycles that it encompasses. French historian Fernand Braudel's tri-partite division of the rhythms of the past are introduced.

Maps and mapping: Georgia’s coast in 1562

sammy — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:00:30 +0000

In a simple operation, you can use Google Earth software (free!) to overlay historic maps with the modern landscape. Here we demonstrate how informative this operation can be using the British Library's online copy of a 1562 historic map by Spanish cartographer Diego Gutiérrez. We just examine North America's southern Atlantic coastline, including the Georgia bight.

Tools of the trade

sammy — Fri, 14 May 2010 09:00:31 +0000

This story explores one particular hand tool that archaeologists frequently use: the shovel. Did you know that the field archaeologist in Georgia usually uses only two types of shovels? And that they are used for specific activities? And that they are usually sharpened so they cut the soil? Read all about it in the full story!

2010 lesson plan now available online

sammy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:05:55 +0000

The Society for Georgia Archaeology proudly presents this year's lesson plan for teachers and other interested parties! The theme SGA has chosen for Georgia Archaeology Month 2010 is Making the Past Come to Life! Exploring Ancient Techniques. We hope that the readers of this lesson plan will become familiar with a range of skills and techniques used by the early inhabitants of Georgia, and perhaps better understand the dynamic interaction between the natural environment and humans and their culture.

Casting a critical eye on historical research

sammy — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:00:31 +0000

Archaeologists do historical research. They don't just dig in the soil, they dig into dusty book collections—and more! Read the full story and learn about primary and secondary document sources. Also learn about how to structure an archival research project.

2010 SAA Electronic Symposium papers available

sammy — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:25:45 +0000

Lately, the Society for American Archaeology has included an Electronic Symposium as part of its annual meeting. This year's Electronic Symposium is "The Canvas of Space: Method and Theory of Spatial Investigations in the 21st Century." Eleven papers are posted online, which means that anyone who can get online can download and read them.

Blue jeans and radiocarbon dating

sammy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:00:04 +0000

Blue jeans, what do blue jeans have to do with radiocarbon dating? Click on the headline to go to the full story and discover the answer! In the process read about relative and absolute dating, calibration curves, and more! This wandering Ponder began with explaining the notation "cal BP," which you may encounter in archaeological reporting.

Mysteries of prehistoric turkey domestication

sammy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:00:10 +0000

Among the world's major regions, ancient North America is not known for having many domesticated animals. In an article free online, Camilla F. Speller and her colleagues examined the DNA of modern and ancient turkeys and argue that there were at least two places were turkeys were domesticated: in Southern Mexico and a second time with Rio Grande/Eastern wild turkey populations. Read details in the full story.

Archaeogenetics summarized in Current Biology

sammy — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:00:57 +0000

Global Genetic History of Homo sapiens is the title of a new special issue of Current Biology, with eight papers available free online. This topic is also called archaeogenetics. There's an introductory and a summary article, which bracket six articles that focus on human migration in specific geographic areas, including the New World.