Abby, the ArchaeoBus, has had a busy summer and fall. Summer found Abby enjoying the Athens library scene, where she shared more than archaeology books with library patrons. Tom Gresham delivered informal programs as he brought Abby to the Athens Regional Library and the Oglethorpe County Library. ArchaeoBus Outreach Specialist Kathy Mulchrone ably assisted Tom in the latter program. Kathy, ArchaeoBus Outreach Specialist Teresa Groover, and Rita Elliott prototyped the formal program at the Athens Regional Library. This allowed them to consider changes and improvements to the program content and delivery methods. Thanks to Kathy and Teresa, and to Tom for his ongoing efforts on this project. We also appreciate the Athens Regional Library’s continued support of the ArchaeoBus and the interest of the Oglethorpe County Library and many others throughout Georgia.

Figure 1. Throngs visit the ArchaeoBus.

By October Abby was ready for a visit to Georgia’s coast. She made her debut in Brunswick at the 11th Annual CoastFest, sponsored by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Abby played to standing room only crowds as she sat adjacent to The Society for Georgia Archaeology booth (Figure 1). Both the bus interior and SGA’s outside interactives under the tent fostered a large and heartwarming display of intergenerational learning between children, parents, and grandparents, and between scouts and their leaders (Figure 2). Abby was available for 7,500 visitors at CoastFest.

Figure 2. Abby appealing across generations.

Abby is back in school now under the firm hand of Ellen Provenzano in Glynn County, Georgia. Since mid-October Ellen has taken Abby to two schools. This includes Sterling Elementary School, where 115 4th graders and 8 teachers participated in informal programming, and Altama Elementary School, where 86 4th graders, 7 teachers, and 2 administrators interacted with Abby. Ellen has also brought Abby to Fort Frederica National Monument for several hours of programs reaching 34 visitors of all ages, and to the Golden Isles Archaeology Club with an attendance of 15 adults. Ellen is making Abby do extracurricular work, and has her scheduled to visit an additional three to four schools in Glynn County before the end of the year. At that time, Ellen and Rita will do a final prototyping of the formal program for middle school students using the new materials and content created from the first prototyping session in Athens. A big thank you to Ellen, who has already reached 267 students with Abby and will likely engage another 300 in the next few weeks!

Abby’s increasing success would be impossible without the help of several dedicated individuals. A huge thanks to volunteers Tom Gresham and Ellen Provenzano. The phrase “working tirelessly” does not even begin to sum up their endeavors. Appreciation also goes to Kathy Mulchrone and Teresa Groover for their work. The ArchaeoBus Committee continues to stand on alert to help as needed. A handful of “guardian angels” have graced us with their help at the most opportune moments this past year. This included Steve Hoyt who rescued a despondent Abby (and driver Tom) on the side of the road in Macon when her alternator broke. Thank you Steve for your speedy mechanical abilities and your much appreciated generosity! And speaking of saving…Tony Shore has saved untold numbers of potentially twisted ankles by building sturdy steps for visitors to use to exit the bus. We appreciate Clay Helms’ electrical work involving the much needed hefty power cord for the bus. Our programs are benefitting from the donations of Native American replica pottery and tools made by Brian Floyd and Scott Jones. Starr Wright appeared exactly when needed to help solve a significant technology issue in the nick of time. Thanks to all of Abby’s guardian angels! Another set of individuals who form the loose coalition known secretly as the ArchaeoBus Spouses Support Group (Dale Provenzano, Gisela Weis, and Dan Elliott) are thanked for their long-suffering through bus rides and car/bus drop off schedules, late night and weekend work assignments, dead batteries, absentee spouses, jammed locks, and blown bulbs!

Abby’s year in review includes: the construction of her interior infrastructure, exhibit creation and installation, mechanical repairs and upgrades, development of the formal program (including hands-on activities) for middle schoolers, development of Teacher Guidelines and associated resource materials for the SGA web site, and writing the initial draft of the administrative manual and guidelines. Abby was not finished until May of 2009. In spite of this, she still managed to reach 8,492 people, primarily through informal programs.

Figure 3. ArchaeoBus funding sources.

Figure 3 is a chart showing the breakdown of all funding sources to date (2007–2009). Currently, all but approximately $5,000 of this has been spent in a successful effort to take the vehicle from a bookmobile to a 21st century ArchaeoBus. We give a resounding cheer of thanks to all of our sponsors and funders for their much appreciated financial support. This includes The Georgia Transmission Corporation, BestBuy, The Council on American Indian Concerns, The Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists, Southern Research, and Mr. and Mrs. Carleton Crabill, Jr.. Some funds were earmarked, such as the BestBuy grant for technology and certain funds for programming. The Georgia Transmission Corporation made two contributions, the first for the vehicle “wrap.” SGA also provided a second infusion of funds this past May.

Figure 4. ArchaeoBus expenses.

How were these funds, totaling just over $20,000, allocated? As Figure 4 depicts, almost $6,000 has gone into the purchase of the vehicle, inspections, repairs, maintenance, and a large chunk to insurance. Just under $5,500 was spent on the prep and wrapping of the bus exterior. Just over $4,000 went to the construction of the bus interior and the fabrication and installation of the exhibit. A total of $4,000 has been spent on technology. The smallest portion of expenditures to date has been spent on programming, totaling just over $1,000.

Insurance and maintenance will continue to be a large piece of the pie. The wrap, interior and technology are complete, so we expect no huge expenses in this arena in the near future. Our smallest area of expenses, programming, is the very reason the bus exists. And now that we have the vehicle remade and repaired, we look forward to throwing our time, energy, funding, and resources into programming and expect that a year from now, programming will be most of the pie!

During the past six months with few attempts to solicit venues, we have exposed 8,500 people to the Archaeobus and archaeology. We expect to reach much larger numbers when we begin a concerted effort to deliver both formal and informal programming next year.

You may wonder about Abby’s New Years’ Resolutions. She resolves to be even busier in 2010 as she rolls into extensive programming. Abby will wrap up her coastal visit in January and return to Athens where she will be available for formal programming to 8th graders in the public private, and parochial schools of Athens-Clarke County. Throughout the year she will also visit non-school venues for informal programs. Abby may even venture to the capitol steps in Atlanta, so Georgia’s state lawmakers can meet her and discover Georgia archaeology. Track Abby on this website and see if she keeps her resolutions in 2010!

GMAS » BRAG + NoGAG

There is both bad news and good news in the story of SGA’s chapters. First the bad news: sadly, the Georgia Mountains Archaeological Society (GMAS) in Gainesville is no more. The good news is that there is a new SGA chapter rising in north Georgia. The Blue Ridge Archaeology Guild (BRAG) is meeting on the third Thursday each month at North Georgia College and State University (NGCSU) at 7:00 pm in Young Hall.

The new club is made up of community members from Dahlonega and the surrounding area, and meets regularly with the newly-formed student club, the North Georgia Archaeology Guild (NoGAG). Each group has 20–25 potential members on their mailing lists. Since both groups are still in the formative stages, actual membership is hard to define, but it is expected that each will have 15–20 members. They will undertake projects together as they become available. Their differing schedules will allow different members of the two groups to work on various projects, depending on the time of year, semester calendars, holidays, and so on, throughout the year.

BRAG officers include Jason Norsworthy, President; Rob Jones, VP; Beni Gail Head, Secretary; and Gary Northcutt, Treasurer. NoGAG officers are Kyle Duncan, President; Megan Parks, VP; Ginni Walker, Secretary; and Amber Cannon, Treasurer. Drs. Jack Wynn and Tamara Spike are the professional advisors for the groups. By-laws are being prepared for BRAG, to be adopted shortly and submitted to the SGA for approval as a new chapter. By-laws for NoGAG are being reviewed by committees within the University for acceptance as an official University student club.

The clubs began monthly meetings in late August, 2009. So far, the initial programs have been general how-to sessions. One person called them “Archaeology 101 classes.” They have included impromptu talks about Georgia archaeology and prehistory, artifact identification, methods and techniques, and ethics, and lively discussions of what the members want to learn and to do. Those attendees who had not seen it were encouraged to read the Dickens and McKinley book, “Frontiers in the Soil, The Archaeology of Georgia,” from the Carl Vinson Institute at UGA, which they can order online.

The groups worked together to assist Forest Service Archaeologist Becky Bruce-Vaughters in preparing a total station map of CCC Camp Woody (GA F-1) in the Suches community of Union County, on October 31. Later they will assist her in surveying new wildlife openings in the mountains. Additional field and laboratory projects are planned for December and after the New Year begins.

The creation of these two new groups was announced at the Fall SGA meeting at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center in October.

Read Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Cameron McWhirter’s story “Science digs into Civil War sites,” dated 28 November 2009 by clicking here.

The story discusses how public archaeologists are using modern technologies to discover new information from Civil War sites. Most of the article stems from an interview with SGA member Garrett Silliman, and also mentions SGA member Dan Elliott.

The precision this technology offers is startling. To demonstrate, Silliman picked up a small plastic bag on his desk. Inside was a bullet that he recently recovered from a site at Tanyard Creek in Buckhead. Through global positioning he knew the exact location where the bullet was found. Examining its markings, he was able to tell it was a British-made bullet fired from model 1853 Enfield rifle. Because it was slightly marked, he could tell it had been rammed into a gun that had been fouled, probably from being shot a lot that day. Because the lead bullet didn’t have any impact marks, he could tell it had not hit a target, but probably just traveled through the air, then dropped to the ground. Military records showed fighting at that location. Using mapping software showing modern Atlanta overlaid with Civil War fortifications, he traced back 1,100 to 1,300 yards—the distance an Enfield-fired bullet would travel—to Rebel earthworks.

The online version of Jacksonville’s The Florida Times-Union published a story on the Society’s own ArchaeoBus on 24 November 2009, saying:

Glynn County students are getting an education this week without have to dig for it.

Check out the full story here, including four pictures taken by Terry Dickson.

Ryan Blackburn, of Online Athens, the online version of the Athens Banner-Herald, has written a glowing article about the SGA’s own ArchaeoBus!

Click here to go to the article.

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society, together with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, hosted an Archaeology Month function at Fort Daniel on Saturday, 2 May, called the Frontier Fort Faire and Public Archaeology Event.

The Gwinnett Daily News, on Sunday, 3 May 2009, published a story worth reading on the event, by Heath Hamacher. Click here to read it.

Click here to check out the calendar of events on this website.

On Friday, April 24, the Society for American Archaeology, at their Annual Business Meeting, held this year in Atlanta, presented the Archaeology Month Poster Award to Georgia.

Each state is qualified to submit a poster each year. The deadline for submission is in March, so the posters are from the year before each competition. So, the Georgia poster in the competition was from 2008, and is called “Archaeological Encounters in Georgia’s Spanish Period.” Read more about the poster here.

SGA President Dennis Blanton received the award on behalf of the Society, which produced the poster, during the awards portion of the Business Meeting.

Congrats to all involved for the prize-winning 2008 poster.

On Thursday, 2 April, Governor Sonny Perdue proclaimed May Archaeology Month for 2009. The proclamation states:

Whereas: Georgia’s archaeological sites are important to our state’s heritage, making the arrival of American Indians more than 10,000 years ago and documenting the exploration, colonization and founding of our nation by Europeans, Africans and Asians; and

Whereas: Georgia’s archaeological sites lie under forests, farms and cities as well as beneath rivers, streams and coastal waters. These sites, which hold clues about our state’s rich and diverse history, are fragile and endangered by forces such as erosion, uncontrolled development and looting or vandalism; and

Whereas: Georgia’s archeological landscape features sites with artificial earthen mounds created by diverse Native American cultures, primarily between 500 B.C. and A.D. 1550. These remarkable monuments are evocative reminders of prehistoric societies that once flourished in every corner of the state; and

Whereas: The study, interpretation and preservation of our archaeological sites offer important educational, cultural and economic benefits to all Georgians; and

Whereas: Georgia’s archaeologists seek to increase our citizens’ awareness of our state’s archaeological history as a means to protect and preserve these irreplaceable links to our past; and

Whereas: Georgia Archaeology Awareness Month offers Georgians an opportunity to explore “Mounds in Our Midst: Monuments of Prehistoric Culture in Georgia”: now

Therefore: I, Sonny Perdue, Governor of the state of Georgia, do hereby proclaim May 2009 as Archaeology Month in Georgia.

Click here to download a PDF of the Proclamation.

To see the original picture of the signing on the Governor’s website, click here.