The updated NSF REU Parker Academy website

NKU students and NSF Parker fellows have been busy updating our NSF REU Parker Academy Research Project website (https://parkeracademy-nsfreu.weebly.com). It is worth checking out. The story maps are amazing as are the archaeology and archive updates. We are constantly adding new information and new finds to the site so stay posted and follow us on Instagram for weekly or daily updates (https://www.instagram.com/parker_academy_nsf_reu/?hl=en ).

NSF REU Parker Academy website: https://parkeracademy-nsfreu.weebly.com/

NSF REU Parker Project on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parker_academy_nsf_reu/?hl=en

Archaeology is Celebrated in the Month of September

September is Kentucky Archaeology Month!

Photo of Fort Boonesborough from the Kentucky State Parks website.

 

For the past several years, the Governors of Kentucky have proclaimed September Kentucky Archaeology Month. In accordance with this proclamation, “professional archaeologists continue to work with the public to provide new insights into our collective past and greatly expand our knowledge about different cultural traditions.” In this spirit, he Kentucky Heritage  Council/State Historic Preservation Office has created a blog, “30 Days of Archaeology,” as a contribution to Archaeology Month events sponsored by the Kentucky Organization of Professional Archaeologists (KyOPA). Blog topics range from what makes archaeology important to society, to how cool it is for a student to find that first artifact. (This is a quote from the 30 Days of Kentucky Archaeology Blog). Follow the blog at www.30daysofkentuckyarchaeology.wordpress.com. 

ANTHRO-TEACH is also happy to announce that the Parker Academy Project has been funded by the National Science Foundation. This story ran recently in the Northern Kentucky Tribune:  

Excavations at the Parker Academy site by NKU students and Dr.'s Sharyn Jones and Brian Hackett.

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $336,300 grant to the Northern Kentucky University’s Parker Academy project in New Richmond.  The grant is for Research Experiences for Undergraduates and involves a three-year trans-disciplinary collaboration under the direction of Dr. William Landon, Dr. Sharyn Jones, and Dr. Brian Hackett.  The work to be done by undergraduates will build on previous work at the Parker Academy and both faculty and student research will focus on exploring important real world problems include race, gender equality and social justice in American History through excavations and archival research at the Academy. 

The Parker Academy, founded in 1839, was, evidence suggests, the first school in Ohio, and possibly the country, to offer education to both boys and girls, regardless of race — in the same classroom.
Most importantly this grant enables the research team to hire up to 15 undergraduate students each year to work as research fellows.

The foundation for this project is built on a wide range of community partnerships including that with the Village of New Richmond, with Greg Roberts (the landowner), and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which is planning an upcoming exhibition based upon the findings.

Thank you to the Tribune for sharing our story!

Updates on Teaching and Outreach for the Parker Academy Project

The Parker Academy Team has been busy sharing our work with communities in the Tri-State area including Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

View of the Parker Academy buildings, property, and the Ohio River.

Last month we participated in the Ohio River National Freedom Corridor Conference (ORNFC) in Maysville, KY (check out the group's website: http://www.ohiorivernationalfreedomcorridor.org/ ). We engaged in a lively panel discussion about the Parker Academy Project and related themes with a large audience from all over the US. Our panel is discussed in more detail here: https://parkeracademy.wordpress.com/2016/10/03/parker-academy-at-the-2016-underground-railroad-conference/

Our Parker Academy Panel a the ORNFC Conference.

We also set up a new exhibit at the Pendleton County Library in Falmouth, KY.The exhibit will be up through mid-December. You can expect to see artifacts from our excavations of the men's dorm and the school house as well as photos and items from the archives. The librarians have created a collection of books for all ages that relate to the Parker Academy Project themes which are displayed along with the historical and archaeological materials. Our team will host a round table discussion about the project at the Pendleton Co. Library in January or February of 2017.

The Pendleton Co. Library, Falmouth, KY.

The Parker Academy Exhibit at the Library in Falmouth, KY.

Books on display with the Parker Academy Exhibit.

Parker Academy

 

Founded in 1839, the Parker Academy represents the first school in Ohio, possibly the first in the country, to offer gender and racial equality-based education in the same classroom between 1839 to 1889. 

NKU  faculty and students from the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Philosophy and the Department of History and Geography have been working at the Parker Academy site since spring 2015.

Our team recently gave a public forum on our work at the Parker Academy site and in the archives. We have an exhibit a the Clermont Co. library in New Richmond. It will be open to the public through October. More information is on our Wordpress site: https://parkeracademy.wordpress.com

Follow our progress and check out our findings...
You can also follow the Parker Academy project on Instagram, @parkeracademydig.

Supporters and Friends: Standing with Standing Rock!

Kiksuya/First Nations is standing with Standing Rock Reservation as they organize to protect our water!  We will be driving a U-Haul to North Dakota this fall with needed supplies.  Watch here for more information as it becomes available, and please come to our meeting on Wednesday, September 14 at noon in Landrum 207 to help us plan!  Contact Dr. Grant at grantn@nku.edu if you have questions.

Here are some links to learn more about what is happening at Standing Rock and why we stand with them:
https://www.facebook.com/lakotacountrytimes/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED
http://www.thehoodwitch.com/blog/2016/9/7/defend-the-sacred-10-ways-you-can-help-the-standing-rock-sioux-fight-the-dakota-access-pipeline

If you would like to consider signing the petition to support Standing Rock, go to this link:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/275/077/005/demand-for-legal-action-against-dapl-protest-attackers-and-energy-transfer-partners/  

September is Kentucky Archaeology Month!

Kentucky Archaeology Month 2016 – 30 Days of Kentucky Archaeology

Photo: Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C./Art Resource (The earliest writing in the system developed by the Cherokee known as Sequoyah has been found in a Kentucky cave.)

By: Nicolas R. Laracuente, MA

Archaeology Review Coordinator, Kentucky Heritage Council

Welcome to Kentucky Archaeology Month 2016! For the last two years the Governor has proclaimed September as Kentucky Archaeology Month and we have celebrated a wide array of interesting archaeology projects and public events that take place throughout the Commonwealth, especially the annual Living Archaeology Weekend (http://www.livingarchaeologyweekend.org). LAW is Kentucky’s oldest and largest public archaeology event, which has taken place since 1989 in Daniel Boone National Forest/Red River Gorge. This year the 28th annual LAW will be Sept. 17 at Gladie Visitor Center in Slade, KY, and as always this is free to the public.

To kick things up a notch from previous years, we are borrowing an idea from our neighbors to the south. For the last two years, Tennessee has celebrated Archaeology Awareness Month (also during September) with a blogfest. 30 posts in 30 days on any aspect of Tennessee Archaeology (https://tennesseearchaeologycouncil.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/30-days-of-tennessee-archaeology-2015-day-1/). Surely, we have more than enough material here in Kentucky to join them.
We are already starting to see posts roll in, so check the KyOPA website (http://www.kyopa.org/30-days-of-kentucky-archaeology/) daily for new posts! There may be a story on something that is right in your backyard.

Aside from LAW there will be plenty of other things to see and do during September. Watch for future posts on public archaeology days at Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site (http://parks.ky.gov/parks/historicsites/wickliffe-mounds/) or archaeology during the Gaslight Festival in Louisville (http://www.jtownchamber.com/gaslightfestival.aspx). I wouldn’t be surprised to see some invitations to artifact wash nights, where volunteers join archaeologists and students at the Office of State Archaeology in Lexington to sort and clean artifacts recovered from field schools and other excavations.

There are a few upcoming presentations as well – The Eastern Kentucky Archaeology Group will be hosting a Larry Gray at the Boonesborough Campground Recreation Building on September 28. Gray will be discussing his research on prehistoric ceramics recovered from a site in the Red River Gorge.
Watch the Kentucky Archaeology Month Calendar (http://www.kyopa.org/kam-calendar/) for details on these and other events.

______________________
Check out these links for more information on Kentucky Archaeology:
http://www.livingarchaeologyweekend.org/
http://archive.archaeology.org/0907/trenches/cherokee.html
http://heritage.ky.gov/kas/

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/kentucky/8-things-archaeologists-ky/

Museum Studies Internships at UAB

In the fall of 2013, the Anthropology department at the University of Alabama Birmingham added a Museum Studies course to its curriculum. The Museum Studies course introduced graduate and undergraduate students to Museum history, philosophy, and function. Students gained practical experience with the UAB Josselyn Archaeological Collection. In working with the collection, students were instructed in the proper techniques for object handling, storage, object processing, and record keeping and maintenance. The class afforded students experience for their resumes while fulfilling departmental goals of curating the UAB Josselyn Collection. 

The success of the class and the need to continue the inventory of the collection opened up internship opportunities for two students during the Spring 2014 semester. Based on their outstanding work in the Museum Studies course, undergraduate students Jessica Brodt and Anna Lathem were chosen for the internship.

During the Spring 2014 internship Anna and Jessica completed a total of 25 drawers full of artifacts including stone tools, pottery, historic glass, soil samples and botanical remains. The internship afforded them opportunities to work with a wider range of artifacts, to discover and solve several curation problems, and to develop long-term procedures for working with the collection. Anna, for example, developed and implemented records curation procedures as part of her Honor's Thesis. Her research highlights the necessity for records curation in the collection and provides procedures outlining how records should be processed in the future. Her thesis addressed records management issues, including inconsistencies between records and site names, linking UAB records to the Alabama State Site Files, and development of an inventory of Site Records.

Both students gained an appreciation for the size of the collection and the amount of work it will take to complete the inventory. Jessica stated “I was shocked at how many artifacts and sites the Josselyn Collection contains", and Anna explained that, "During the internship I gained a better understanding of just how much work is needed to accession and complete the inventory of the Josselyn collection."

The Josselyn interns gained crucial hands-on experience that museums and institutions with collections value in potential employees. As work continues with the collection through the Museum Studies class and internships, opportunities to learn and gain hands on experience with other Museum aspects, such as exhibit design and community involvement will become available.

Kiksuya First Nations Student Organization at NKU

 The Kiksuya First Nations Student Organization at NKU has a google+ page. You can follow their activities here or if you are an NKU student, at Orgsync. The Kiksuya Student Organization/First Nations serves the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Indian Reservations in South Dakota. Members work to raise awareness in our local communities about issues facing Native American people. They raise funds to support self-help projects on the reservations, providing building supplies, propane, books, bedding, and other items, as needed. The organization also trains selected representatives who will periodically travel to do volunteer work on the reservations, including housing repair and construction, organic gardening, and/or work with children and youth. KSO is committed to support the health and well-being of its members, stressing healthy choices in the way we eat, live, work, play and interact with each other and with the communities Kiksuya serves. Kiksuya respects core Lakota values including humility, compassion, generosity, and perseverance, and we strive to practice these values in our lives and work.

Kiksuya is looking for volunteers for their summer 2014 work. Contact Dr. Nicole Grant (grantn@nku.edu) if you have questions. 

Fiji NSF REU 2013!

Dr. Jones returned to Fiji for the Research Experiences for Undergraduates fieldschool with a new group of students earlier this summer. Students, Catrina Callahan, Lauren Bridgeman, Kelly Ledford, Shelby Mullins, Kaitlyn Reed, Alea Rouse, Yoonhee Ryder, Phil Pearson, and Jerred Schafer learned and applied archaeological skills in during this six week field school.


Dr. Jones along with field assistant Christel Carlisle, instructed students in archaeological methodology allowing them first hand experience in archaeological research.




Through this experience the students were allowed first hand knowledge of the many facets of field work. They were taught archaeological techniques such as, excavation, surveying, mapping in the field.There were also lessons in professional ethics in archaeology. Following the close of the excavation site, students learned about artifact maintenance at the Fiji Museum and in the laboratory.
                                                                                                                                                       

                                       
                             Alea Rouse digging.

   

 Jerred Schafer screening.

                           

                                                                  

Kelly Ledford mapping.

A major feature of the field school was that the students had to live and work together in a rustic environment.

At the end of the field school all of the students had experienced the many aspects of archaeological field work and returned to the U.S. to apply the lab skills to cataloging the Fijian artifacts. For more information about the Fiji NSF REU Fieldschool contact Sharyn Jones.

UAB Attends the SAS

This past March, members of the UAB Department of Anthropology travelled to Johnson City, Tennessee, attended the Southern Anthropological Society (SAS) annual conference.

The department was well represented with six graduate students presenting papers, including Brian Nichols, Sherrie Alexander, Ashley Wilson, Christel Carlisle, Brandon Grisaffi, and Daniel Lowery. Dr. Sharyn Jones (Chair) and Mallory Messersmith (Adjunct Instructor) also presented. Undergraduate Miriam Hood attended the conference as well. Miriam is a math major, but working on her minor in anthropology.


From left to right: Jonathan Daniel Lowery, Miriam Hood, Christel Carlisle, Brandon Grisaffi, Mallery Messersmith, Sherrie Alexander, Brian Nichols, and Ashley Wilson.



The topics presented were broad and ranged from biological to cultural anthropology, and certainly reflected the diversity of interests within our department, not to mention the field of anthropology!

• Dr. Sharyn Jones: “Feasting and Ritual in Fiji.”
• Christel Carlisle: “Archaeology after the field: Assessment of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Collection.”
• Brian Nichols: “The Potential for Functional Analysis of the Josselyn and Analogous Collections.”
• Ashley Wilson: “Afflictions of Tradition: Perspectives on traditional African American foodways in relation to health problems in contemporary African American communities."
• Sherrie Alexander: “Ethnoprimatology of the Barbary Macaque: Cultural Perceptions of Endangered Macaca sylvanus in the Rif Mountains of Morocco."
• Jonathan Daniel Lowrey: “Priests and Players: A Cross-Cultural Survey of Astragalus Dice Utilization."
• Brandon Grisaffi: “Experimental Production of Nothing: Understanding the Lack of Bone Modifications in the Archaeological Record.”
• Mallory Messersmith: "Beyond Idealism: Teaching Anthropological Peace Studies."

The following students were awarded ANTHRO-TEACH scholarships to cover the costs of travel and attendance: Brian Nichols, Sherrie Alexander, Ashley Wilson, Christel Carlisle, Brandon Grisaffi, and Daniel Lowery.

March 26, 7 PM 

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

The House I Live In

The UAB Department of Anthropology and the Jemison Visiting Professorship in the Humanities invite you to attend a screening and presentation of The House I Live In by director Eugene Jarecki.

Screenshot from The House I Live In

Directed by Eugene Jarecki, this film is a sobering look at America's war on drugs and its effects on our culture. It examines America's longest war as it is driven by political and economic corruption, and affects our country's minority and poorer populations.

Follow the LINK to read award winning filmmaker Eugene Jarecki's bio.

Location: The Hulsey Recital Hall @ 950 13th Street S Birmingham, AL 35233.
Time: 7:00 pm  THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Michael Franti

JANUARY 24, 2013 - FREE EVENT: OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Presented and Sponsored the the UAB Anthropology Department and the Jemison Visiting Professorship in the Humanities-

Join us at 7:30 PM at the Alys Stephens Center, Jemison Concert Hall for a performance and lecture by MICHAEL FRANTI. 

Alridge Gardens Whispers from the Past 2012

Some of the many artifacts on display at the event

Aldrige Botanical Gardens hosted the third annual Native American festival, Whispers from the Past, on October 6th this year. Students and faculty from UAB ANTHRO-TEACH were excited to participate and help educate about our Native American Culture.

The festival includes a variety of activites such as flintknapping demonstrations, dance preformances by the The Sylestine Legacy, and many activities for childen such as leaf pounding and loom beading.

The Sylestine Legacy is a family of Alabama Coushatta Native Americans 

 

Hoop Dancing preformed by Lyndon Alec

The Three Sisters Garden was filled with squash, maize, and beans. These vegetables were a staple in many Native American gardens. You can learn more about the folklore behind the three sisters here!

Children learning Cherokee leaf pounding

UAB is home to one of the most diverse collections of Native American artifacts. The Josselyn Archaeological Collection contains artifacts, such as pottery, arrowheads, stone tools, and many other unique treasures, all of which were found in Alabama! UAB students and staff are currently working to create a digital catalog of the collection, helping to promote education and assure preservation. 

  UAB graduate students, Mallory and Brandon, explaining the difference between projectile points. 

    Collection of traditional Native American musical instruments

In addition to having artifacts from Alabama, UAB also houses some from South America and Louisiana. 

Above are artifacts that were found at Poverty Point. This site, located in Northern Louisiana, is home to some of the most ancient earthworks in the United States. Due to the extremely unique artifacts found there some are simply given the name "Poverty Point Objects". 

Whispers from the Past allows us to get in touch with our Native American culture in fun and interesting ways. ANTHRO-TEACH looks forward to helping again next year! 

Welcome back picnic

 A picnic at the Mini Park welcomed students back to school this Fall.

Co-hosted by the Anthropology Club, the Dept.s of Social Work and Anthorpology, and ANTHRO-TEACH, the picnic had Shindigs catering and cupcakes from Dream Cakes.

Anthropology students and Social work were around to talk about the programs UAB offers to new students.

For those who could not attend, welcome back! We hope you have a great Fall semester!

UAB students dig at Sloss Furnace

As reported by this article in the Birmingham News, nine Anthro students just finished an archaeological dig at Sloss Furnace. They were seeking to learn about the Quarters -- an area where company houses used to be in the 20th century. The site was home for many Sloss workers and their families.

The next step is to take the findings to the McWane Center and clean, study and then catalog items valuable for the study. UAB News produced a second story with a video.

Graduate fellow Christel Carlisle and public administration graduate student Jeremiah Rastegar were two of the nine students digging at Sloss Furnace