Whispers from the Past at the Aldridge Botanical Gardens

Three sisters garden at Aldridge

On October 23rd the ANTHRO-TEACH students and faculty participated in the Aldridge Botanical Gardens second annual celebration of Native American Culture. This exciting full-day of outreach and education for the public and their families was hosted by the Aldridge Gardens with the partnership and support of ANTHRO-TEACH, Moundville Archaeological Park, Legacy Partners in Environmental Education, and the Alabama Humanities Foundation.

One of the activities for kids included a puppet show about the Native American myth of the Three-sisters (corn, beans and squash).










Chip Wente created a traditional kitchen and cooked native Alabama foods in an earth oven using clay pots he created in the traditional Native American style.

 Using Native American flint knapping and hafting methods Chip created an array of tools that would have been used in the past by the Southeastern Native Americans.

UAB ANTHRO-TEACH students and faculty worked with the Aldridge volunteers and crafters to teach the public about the lifeways of the Native Americans in Alabama and the Southeast. Visitors to Aldridge learned about beading and the bead loom.

UAB Anthropology Department faculty Lori Cormier and Sharyn Jones explained artifacts, (their use and construction) from the Josselyn Archaeology Collection housed at UAB Here visitors are handling enigmatic clay "Poverty Point Objects" from the site of Poverty Point in Louisiana.

UAB Anthropology student Brandon Grisaffi explains pottery making in Alabama per-Columbian times to Aldridge visitors.

UAB Anthropology Graduate Student Christel Carlisle describes Native American homes and musical instruments to program participants.

Graduate student, Anna McCown explains ground stone technology and the distribution of Native American tribes in the past.

Dr. Jones discusses Alabama archaeology with visitors to the Josselyn exhibit.

Visitors to the Aldridge event learned about native gourd crafts, that include rattles, spoons, and bowls. Pictured above, two Anthropology graduate students, Jade Delisle and Anna McCown clean and work gourds as they teach local kids about this process.

Aldridge visitors select gourds to work and create useful household items with.

Andrew Kirkpatrick, a UAB Anthropology student (pictured below) worked with Aldridge volunteers and program participants to teach about the atlatl. The atlata is a tool invented by Native Americans in the Southeast who used it for leverage to enhance the distance that a dart could be thrown.

Visitors also engaged in leaf pounding, an ancient Cherokee craft.

Ethel Owen displays her beautiful pine needle baskets, a type of weaving art used by Native Americans.

The photos below are of the Sylestine Legacy, a troupe of Creek Indian dancers who participated in the Whispers from the Past event.

These young visitors to Aldridge try their hands at making music.....

Earth Week

Earth Day 2011 will be observed on April 22nd and during the week leading up to the 22nd. This year Anthro -Teach will sponsor and host events full of holistic activities for the celebration. The big bash will occur on Friday, April 22 in the UAB Mini Park (on University Blvd. between 13th and 14th St. S.), and will include the following:
•       LIVE MUSIC all day by Nag Hammadi
•       FOOD & a bake sale all day
•       Free composting course hosted by West End Community Garden 11:00-12:00
•       Free Yoga by India Henson 12:30-2:30
•       Environmental discussions between students, spiritual leaders, environmental initiatives, and cultural groups from the Birmingham community 12:00-4:00
•       Slam poetry featuring students from Real Life Poets, Inc. Hosted by 95.7 Jamz Lady Woo and HBO Def Poet Shariff Simmons 4:30-6:00

Additionally, we will host a donation based bake sale on Monday April 18th the first floor lobby of Heritage Hall (1401 University Blvd). The proceeds will be donated to local green initiatives.

On Wed., April 20th we will screen films that illustrate the current state of the Earth and there will be discussion sessions following the films. During this week there will be several opportunities for students, faculty, staff, as well as any visitors to come together and discuss issues, thoughts, and opinions about the earth and the role of humans in relation to the environment.

We also plan to have guest lecturers to speak about different elements of environmental conservation. All are welcomed to come and share their thoughts during discussions and lectures. 

On Friday April 22nd (Earth Day). There will be activities that will allow for UAB students gather information about how they become more involved with local green initiatives, as well as slam poetry, yoga demonstrations, and more.

Anthro- Teach would appreciate help from volunteers who may interested in contributing their services on any of these days. If you are interested in lending a hand please contact or if you have any comments or questions about the activities please contact Dr. Sharyn Jones sharynj@uab.edu.

Volunteers will be needed to help with set up in the morning and clean up in the afternoon, to man the tables during the sale and we will need food donations for the bake sales, so any prepared food items would be welcomed contributions.

On Sunday, October 24, The Aldridge Botanical Gardens in Hoover, AL presented in partnership with the Moundville Archaeological Park , "Whispers from the Past: A Native American Experience" During the event, visitors got to experience traditional Native American culture through a number of activities provided. The Anthro-Teach team was present to offer an anthropological perspective on Native American cultural history.


Both students and faculty members provided presentations in three different sessions. Many of the visitors in these sessions were educators from local schools. The information presented was along with suggestions of ways that it could be incorporated into the K-12 classroom curriculum.


The topic of the first session was Native American ethnobotany. In this section the presenters were Dr. Loretta Cormier, Courtney Andrews, and Ashley Wilson. Here the presenters discussed different ways that Native Americans from the Southeastern U.S. identified and used plants in their everyday lives. The main focus of this section was the use of plants for food and medicinal purposes.



The topic of the second session was Native American archaeology. In this section Dr. Sharyn Jones, Mallory Messersmith, and Brandon Grisaffi discussed different aspects of Native American culture that have been discovered through archaeological research. The presenters provided information about different methods that archaeologists use to study material remains of past cultures, physical examples of different types of Native American artifacts, and information about what can be learned from the study of them.

In the third session the presenters Dave Cunningham, Anna McCown, and Chauntelle Sharp were able to recruit audience members to participate in demonstrations of Native American music and dance. Along with this they included information about the cultural and social contexts involved in the performances.

ANTHRO-TEACH outreach at local Birmingham city schools

In November and December, 2009 the UAB ANTHRO-TEACH program and students from Lori Cormier and Sharyn Jones' Voyage in Anthropology course (ANTH 481/682) visited local schools in the Birmingham area to conduct outreach workshops. Students are "excavating" mock archaeological sites in dig-boxes and learning about marine biodiversity (left) with Megan Sunderman.

(photos by Lindsey Whiteaker).




Pictured above are Lenny Blottin and Parker High School students during a workshop on Australopithecus. Lenny's presentation included activities from BUILDING BODIES: Student Activity Pages Primate Bipedalism: Understanding Standing Up (see also: the Becoming Human site). Students reconstructed human, chimpanzee, and Australopithecus skeletons, learned about bipedality, the hominid fossil record, and paleoanthropology.

Jade Delisle and Megan Sunderman both presented workshops on marine resource exploitation and environmental archaeology in Fiji, drawing from lesson plans that educate students about the sea. Caitlin Aamodt did a poster and presentation on Place Names in Fiji, based on her research in Fiji this summer. Below are pictures of Caitlin, Jade, and Lindsey Whiteaker at Parker High working with students.

Anne Sorrell directed a workshop on herbal medicine and a history of native healing. She drew activities from the Alabama Learning Exchange and a lesson plan on herbs vs. pharmaceutical medicines. Anne's poster is pictured below.

Chris Pass (above) at Holy Family Elementary School teaching 1st graders about Japanese culture. Photos by Sharyn Jones.

Lindsey Whiteaker at Holy Family teaching students about healthy eating and how to make smart food choices.

Ashley Wilson is pictured below at Holy Family, directing a workshop and poster presentation on the Ethnohistory of Food in Folk Remedies of the Alabama Slaves. Ashley has been studying slave narratives and working on an associated ethnohistory project for over one year now.

Dave Cunningham made a presentation on Ethnomusicology and the culture of music across the world. He illustrated how to use a variety of instruments and taught the kids at Holy Family to play drums and didgeridoos.

Anna McCown discussed what we can learn from studying garbage in Fiji. She based her presentation on a research project she did with Caitlin on the island of Nayau, while conducting an NSF REU fellowship in Fiji's Lau Island Group. Anna and Caitlin plan to present their findings at the Southern Anthropological Society meetings this year.







Mallory Messersmith conducts a workshop about Archaeology and her research in Fiji, at Holy Family Elementary. Mallory is in the process of analyzing a curious archaeological feature that she excavated on the island of Nayau, (Lau Group, Fiji); we think this feature may be a large ritual earth oven, or lovo. She plans to present her data at the Southern Anthropological Society meetings.