Submitted by Rita Elliott (ritafelliott@windstream.net)

Ever wonder what happens to all those wonderful Endowment contributions to the Society for Georgia (SGA) Archaeology Endowment Fund? The contributions generate interest that is used to fund archaeology research and public education projects. The SGA Board recently approved the use of the 2006 interest for its first Endowment project. These funds will provide assistance for a survey of artifact collections in Georgia. SGA member John Whatley is leading the project that will document prehistoric stone tools and pottery collected by members of the public. John will record information about site locations, the types of artifacts in the collection, and the time periods represented. His notes, photographs, and site forms will be an extremely useful record to help us understand where people lived in the past, how they moved across the landscape over time, and what their everyday lives were like. The gathering of this information now is crucial, as archaeological sites are being destroyed at an increasingly rapid pace, and as artifact collections and their context often become scattered when passed down through generations, or are sold on the internet. Stay tuned as John works on this exciting and important project and follow his progress in future Profile articles and the SGA web site. Congratulations to John and to all the many endowment contributors who have made this, the first of many endowment-funded projects, a reality!

Endowment contributions can be made to: The Society for Georgia Archaeology. Please write ‚“Endowment” on the memo line. Checks may be sent to: SGA Treasurer, P.O. Box 693, Athens, GA 30603. If you would like more information about the endowment, please contact Rita Elliott, SGA Endowment Co-Chair at ritafelliott@windstream.net or (912) 826-5214.

Posted online on Friday, September 1st, 2006