News and Announcements
This page has announcements about where excavation, training, certification, and other archaeological opportunities may be found. News items are also included.
Check here often for the latest info we've received. If we haven't got it here, and you know of info of interest, please send it to us.
ADVANCED METAL DETECTING COURSE
ADVANCED METAL DETECTING FOR THE ARCHAEOLOGIST,
WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA, NOVEMBER 15-17, 2013
Advanced Metal Detecting for the Archaeologist (AMDA) will present its third class offering, in Winchester, Virginia in November 2013. AMDA is certified under the Register of Professional Archaeologists' continuing professional education program. The goal of the class is to provide professional archaeologists with an understanding of current best practices in metal detecting, and to provide the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with a variety of devices from a variety of manufacturers.
The course is offered with 16-credit and 24-credit options. Under the former, there are 8 hours of classroom work and 8 hours of field instruction/experience. Under the latter, the field portion is expanded to 16 hours and the classroom remains 8 hours. Fees have not yet been finalized, but earlier classes were $250 for 16 credits and $350 for 24 credits.
The classroom portion (November 15) will be held at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. The field portion (November 16, plus November 17 for the 24-credit option) will be held at Clermont Farm, a state historic site that includes standing buildings from as early as 1770 (801 East Main Street, Berryville, VA). The VA DHR management plan for Clermont Farm calls for metal detector survey in several areas of the property (see www.clermontfarm.org ).
For more information please contact Chris Espenshade at cespenshade@ccrginc.com or Patrick Severts at (770) 594-4734 or Pseverts@newsouthassoc.com .
For an application forms, please see http://www.newsouthassoc.com/amda/index.html .
2013 ASV Annual Meeting
The 2013 ASV Annual Meeting will be held from October 25-27 in Virginia Beach, VA. at the Cavalier Hotel, 4201 Atlantic Ave Virginia Beach, VA 23451 The preliminary overview and the registration form are available. The registration form contains active fields. Click here to get the as a Word file. DHR Threatened Sites Proposals DHR is interested in receiving Threatened Sites proposals for the 2013-2014 fiscal year (July 1, 2013-June 30, 2014). We anticipate a budget of $50,000 available for this year. We are looking for significant sites threatened with damage or loss for which no funding is available or no permits are in place requiring mitigation. Because of the limited amount of funding available requests often come in projecting a cost of less than $5,000.
Death of Cindy Dauses It is with great sadness that we have learned of the April 6, 2013 death of long-time ASV Board member and Kittiewan Archivist Cindy Dauses. Cindy worked relentlessly on the Kittiewan paper legacy of the Cropper family to reduce a gargantuan mountain of paper items to manageable proportions. Eastern Shore Fieldwork/Certification Opportunity From April 17-24, 2013, a fieldwork opportunity will exist to focus on 3 research goals. The Northampton County Survey, testing of Pitts Neck Plantation and testing of the Courthouse Green, Eastville will take place. The HQ for the field school will be at Kirwan Hall 5.5± miles west of Eastville on the Bay. Application date closing is 4/1/13. Click here to download the info sheet and application. Contacts are listed in the form. Digital Edition of ASV Quarterly Bulletins Available ASV has completed the task of digitizing the entire run of Quarterly Bulletins from the beginning of the ASV in 1940 (with the first QB in 1942 and with a WWII hiatus) to 2010 with each one scanned and in searchable PDF format. The digital QB is available on an 8GB memory stick for $25.00, shipping included. Click here to order. DHR Conservator Position Filled DHR has announced that Kate Ridgway has been appointed to the position of conservator to take care of the DHR artifact collection. 2012 ASV Annual Meeting The 2012 ASV Annual Meeting was held from October 12-14 in Wytheville, VA. at the Wytheville Meeting Center at 333 Community Boulevard, Wytheville, VA. 2012 ASV Student Paper Competition The Archeological Society of Virginia (ASV) provides cash prizes to the best student papers presented at the Annual ASV Meeting.
2011 ASV Student Paper Competition The Archeological Society of Virginia (ASV) provides cash prizes to the best student papers presented at the Annual ASV Meeting.
ASV Annual Awards Nominations The ASV presents awards at the Annual Meeting in several categories. Society members nominate candidates and the Awards Committee evaluates them and makes the decision. Click here to download the awards form. The Awards Committee is listed on the Officers page.
Categories of the Awards:
1. The Avocational Archeologist of the Year Award recognizes an individuals outstanding contribution to VA archaeology. This award may be a cumulative award or in recognition of efforts within that year.
2. The Professional Archeologist of the Year Award recognizes an individuals outstanding contribution to VA archaeology. This award may be a cumulative award or in recognition of efforts within that year.
3. The Out-of-State Award is for outstanding service to Virginia archeology. This award is made to an Out-Of-State recipient who has contributed in an outstanding fashion to VA archaeology.
4. The Hall of Fame Award is made to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the history of Virginia archeology. This is a posthumous award, awarded once every 5 years. The first recipient was Thomas Jefferson, recognized as the father of American stratigraphic archaeology.
5. The Past-President's Award is given to the immediate past-president of the ASV.
6. The Site Survey Award is given to an individual and to a chapter which records the greatest number of archaeological sites at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR)within the last year.
A point will be given for each site survey form updated to current standards. The DHR database is composed of site survey forms from the past 70 years of survey and many are completely out of date. Normally, an award for the highest number of sites would be made on the basis of newly recorded sites.
7. A Scholarship for outstanding students in anthropology, archeology, or history.
Click here for the list of past recipients of the Professional, Avocational, Out of State and Hall of Fame Awards from ASV.
2011 Kittiewan Excavation Opportunities The ASV 2011 archeological season at Kittiewan began in early March. Attention initially focused on areas south and west of the manor house where proposed landscaping activities would disturb possible archeological features or deposits. An initial round of shovel testing, completed in April, revealed two areas of interest: a concentration of early 19th century artifacts southwest of the manor house, and a brick feature (foundation or walkway) about 100 ft west of the manor house. Archeological work, including additional shovel testing and excavation of test units, will continue through the summer to investigate these areas further. ALL interested ASV members are invited to participate in this work. Members currently enrolled in the certification program are particularly encouraged to attend; they can earn both excavation and laboratory credits. Excavation dates planned through mid-summer are (weather permitting): 2011 ASV Student Paper Competition The Archeological Society of Virginia (ASV) provides cash prizes to the best student papers presented at the Annual ASV Meeting. This year's meeting will be held October 13-16 at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton. The competition is open to undergraduate students and graduate students. Three official award categories exist, recognizing student research contributions in Prehistoric Archeology (The McCary Award), Historical Archeology (The Williams Award), and Collections-Based Research (The VMNH Award). Two judges will evaluate the presentations. Students need not specify the award category in which they are interested.
Awards of $100.00 are provided to contest winners, once their winning paper is submitted to the ASV Quarterly Bulletin. In addition, award recipients will receive a free one-year membership in the Archeological Society of Virginia. Click here for Contest Information.
NEW ASV WEB PRESENCE The ASV has moved in-house to a larger and faster web service.
(757) 425-8555
There will be a tour of Fort Monroe with a chartered bus for $9.00. This National Historic Landmark has quite a history. It was built as a response to British attacks during the War of 1812 as part of the Third System of fortifications that were built in all the major and minor harbors from Maine to Texas at a cost of $800,000 making it the most expensive defensive buildup in the history of the United States. Fort Monroe, and Fort Sumpter were part of the Third System of fortifications (1817-1867) designed to prevent ship attacks against American harbors. Among the more notable visitors were Abraham Lincoln, Lt. Robert E. Lee who completed it, Gen. Benjamin F. Butler who commanded it during the Civil War and who ruled that escaped slaves were "contraband of war", Edgar Allan Poe and the only CSA President Jefferson Davis who was there as a "guest" of the US government after the Civil War. Fort Wool was a companion fort that is visible on the right just before the tunnel entrance on the westbound lane of I-64 at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. The wooden tower dates to WWII.
Often the money serves as seed money encouraging other entities to pitch in additional funding. Rarer sites such as Paleoindian and historic 17th century sites, and those filling in gaps in our data base such as Archaic sites may receive more attention than other sites about which we may have extensive data. Proposals are evaluated by a committee comprised of representatives from COVA, ASV, and DHR.
A proposal form may be obtained by going to the DHR website. We do not expect lengthy proposals but do expect you to stress the significance of the site and the threat it faces and what course of action you recommend. Note at the bottom of the form that the person or entity that submits a proposal may not necessarily be the ones awarded the funding. The state encourages the involvement of SWAM vendors and all who receive funding must be EVA registered. We encourage submissions as needs dictate but are now looking for proposals to be received in the regional offices by May 1, 2013.
If you have questions please contact regional office archaeologists or the State Archaeologist, Mike Barber.
The funeral service for Cindy was held on Friday April 12, 2013 at 2:00 pm. at the Currie Funeral Home, 116 Church St. in Kilmarnock.
Memorials may be made to Kilmarnock Museum, P. O. Box 2276, Kilmarnock, VA 22482
Please note that due to the US Post Office machines that have mangled and stripped memory sticks from their envelopes, we have had to purchase padded envelopes and will have to use additional postage so we will regretfully have to charge $5.00 on all future orders for shipping and handling.
Thanks go to May Tabor and the other organizers for their efforts in putting on a superb meeting.
The recipient of the 2011 ASV Williams Award in Historical Archaeology is Kathryn Barca, of George Washington University. Her paper was entitled, "Stemming Off in a Different Direction: An Analysis of Tobacco Pipes from Mount Vernon."
The recipient of the 2011 ASV Virginia Museum of Natural History Award for collections-based research is Kathryn E. Lamzik, of The University of Tennessee. Her paper was entitled "Eggshell in the Archaeological Record: Identification and Analysis of the Bird Eggshell Fragments Recovered from Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, Virginia, Site A, the Southeast Terrace."
May 14 and May 28 (Saturdays)
June 11 (Saturday)
July 9 (Saturday)
The Kittiewan website has been re-written and will be placed for review by the Board before posting.
Any chapters ready for ASV websites should now contact me for sign-ups.
Lyle Browning
New Newsletter Co-Editors
The ASV Board is pleased to announce that Randolph Turner and Laura Wedin are the new ASV Newsletter Co-Editors.
Email transmissions are preferred, but when necessary for large files or other items, please mail items for consideration to:
Dr. E. Randolph Turner, III
122 Arena Street
Williamsburg, Virginia 23185
757-229-7658
Kittiewan Brief
Here's the first Kittiewan Brief . It has a recap of events at Kittiewan in 2010 and expectations for future work in 2011. Click here for a Word version.
Kittiewan Volunteer Survey
Here's a volunteer survey for Kittiewan for those who might wish to volunteer at Kittiewan. It has categories of specialties needed. Click here for a Word version of the form.
Certification Graduates
The Archeological Society of Virginia (ASV) welcomes eight new certification program graduates.
Their certificates were awarded at the 2010 Annual Meeting.
They are:
Biller, Janice (MCASV)
Garber, Becky (NVC)
Grealy, Susie (NVC)
Johnson, Maggie (NVC)
McGovern, Ginger (NVC)
Santamaria, Wilther (NVC)
Watlington, Lee (NVC)
Wedin, Laura (NRVC)
Kittiewan Archaeology Week Flyer and Registration Form
The 2010 Kittiewan Archaeology Week was held from June 19-27, 2010. The plan is to investigate the suggested ice house depression near the manor and to locate Dr. William Selden's office. Probing in the cemetery for field stones and markers, and transit mapping will also be conducted during the week.
ASV SEEKS SPONSORS FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS.
The Archeological Society of Virginia (ASV) has announced a list of twenty-two (22) research projects statewide that it considers important and urgent. The society is willing to sponsor and help in the work, but it needs fiscal support. The projects are major tasks which will take months or years to carry out, and costs are appreciable. ASV is a 501.c.3 nonprofit organization which can serve as a broker for projects by administering funds, providing volunteers to work under a professional archeologist, and publishing reports on the work done and its results. For details on projects, including estimated costs and durations, please contact Patrick O'Neill. There are many precedents for such financial backing for archeology, and details on these are available. Thanks for your interest in Virginia archeology.
ARK--The Archaeological Resource Kit.
The ARK contains books, drawings, videos, replicas, and a computer game that will give students a variety of ways to explore archaeology and the Native Americans of Virginia. The kit circulates on temporary loan at no cost.
Museums, teachers, and educational organizations may make a reservation to borrow the kit by contacting Dee DeRoche
telephone (804) 367-2323 ext. 134
Fax: (804) 367-2391
email: Dee DeRoche
or contact the nearest Department of Historic Resources (DHR) regional office.
VA-Arch mailing list
A new mailing list has been created to serve the Virginia Archaeology community. This mailing list was set up to provide an open forum for the discussion of Archaeology in Virginia. Topics are expected to include current research and projects in prehistoric and historic archaeology, information about conferences, events, and field school opportunities, and discussions related to any aspect of Virginia Archaeology. This list was created to facilitate the dissemination of information by members of the Archaeological Society of Virginia, the Council of Virginia Archaeologists, and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The list is open to everyone with an interest in archaeology or the history and prehistory of Virginia.
If you wish to learn more about the mailing list or you want to subscribe, please see our VA-Arch mailing list page or go to Yahoo.com/group/VA-Arch webpage.
ASV Website
If you have corrections, suggestions, problems, or comments about this site, or if you have any photos of ASV activities, excavations, etc., that could be used on the site, please contact Lyle Browning. Photos will be scanned and returned to you as soon as possible