Thanks

Thanks to a wonderful team of volunteers, students, institutional partners and donors, Field Season 2015 was an overwhelming success. We exceeded all of our goals for the season, and successfully implemented two new programs: our educational outreach program and our international volunteer program. Don't miss our fall newsletter for all of the details. It will be issued at the beginning of October. If you're not on the mailing list, be sure to get on it. Simply send your request to avp.archaeology@gmail.com, or AVP, 900 S. Lamar Blvd. #213, Austin TX 78704. Until then, keep checking back here for updates, or check out the Facebook page.

A large section of "Pot O" prior to removal. This is the interior 

of a portion of the neck and shoulder, with the rim to the north.

A Busy Last Few Days

While our students and crew worked to finish up the excavations on schedule, we had a few group tours and many casual visitors to the site over the last week. It has been a wonderful season here in Allegany. One of the groups was a busload of visitors from the Seneca Nation Summer Rec program, seen here learning about the longhouses of their ancestors. (Yes, the bus made it down to the site and back.)

Still Going

Matt's pottery section just keeps getting bigger as he excavates around it. Hopefully, we'll be able to remove it before the end of the season...

Winding Down

As things are winding down, excitement is picking up. In the last few days, in addition to the recent projectile point, we've had a number of nice pottery fragments and charcoal samples turn up. Matt and Shawn found this large section of pot working in Feature 13-05 today. It appears to be a neck and rim, but it will take a few days to fully excavate, as it extends beyond the current unit level. Come on out to the site to watch as it's uncovered. Hurry though, by Thursday all of the units will be back-filled.

Jay's Levanna

Heading into the last days of the season, the site still has a few surprises in store. Jay and Destiny found this nice little Levanna point in their 1 by 1 unit today.

Youth Program

Here are just a few of the great kids that participated in our Archaeology and Atlatls program at the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum on Tuesday. We performed a functional analysis on some stone tools (we guessed what they were used for based on observations), and we provided lessons in the proper technique for launching projectiles with a lever mechanism (we threw darts with atlatls).

Some CAD Highlights

We had a beautiful day and a wonderful turnout at our second annual Community Archaeology Day. Here are a few highlights.

Jay was busy with his flint knapping demonstrations all day. His family stopped by to say 'hi' as well.

Destiny and Clare taught the little ones (and a few big ones) how to make and decorate ceramic pots.

New this year, we installed interpretive signs along the path from the market building to the site, offering a self-guided tour with 12 stations altogether.

Shawn and Matt give advice as a guest tries his hand at dart throwing with the atlatl, while others visit the dig site in the distance.

We all had a great time visiting and building our archaeological community.