Defense Successful

I have successfully defended my dissertation (now officially Dr. Howard!), so now I can begin to focus on the continued investigations in the Allegheny Valley. The Bockmier Point article has been accepted for publication at Northeast Anthropology, and I am in the process of preparing portions of the dissertation for publication. Hopefully, I'll be back in the field early next summer...

Hiatus

Been a while, working on the dissertation and other projects (2 papers being published soon), but the defense is less than a week away. Posts will become more regular when the 2011 field season approaches.

December Update

Bockmier Point report is under review at Northeast Anthropologist. The artifact catalogue is complete and the analyses are underway for the final section of the dissertation. It's almost done! The Allegheny Valley Project will likely have a hiatus from fieldwork in 2010, while plans are worked out for the annual field school and research center. Starting in 2011 and every year thereafter, the Allegheny Valley Project will provide opportunities for volunteers of all ages and abilities a chance to participate in the various aspects of archaeological study in the Allegheny Valley.

New Sites

Several new sites were discovered last field season. Here is a current list of the sites to be used in the dissertation (new site names are tentative):

NEW:

Altenberg 1

Altenberg 2
Threadgill

Karl

Weidman
Dorcus

Doris

Canticle Farms 1

Canticle Farms 2

Previously recorded:

Bockmier Point (report soon to be published)

Bockmier Field

Bockmier Terrace

Five Mile North

Five Mile South

Four Mile 1

Lemon

McCaffery

IA-Barie

Below are a few artifact photos from the various sites:

Pitted Stone from Karl Site

Stemmed Point fragment from Doris Site (Robbins type)

Notched Point from Altenburg 2 (untyped, probably Early Archaic)

Stemmed Point from Bockmier Terrace (Genesee type)

January/February News

Newsletters for Spring 2009 have been mailed out. They have been sent out to participating landownwers and a few interested neighbors and volunteers. If you would like a newsletter, let me know. They are sent out every three months or so...
Fieldwork continues at the end of March, weather permitting. Mapping and gradiometer surveys top the list of things to be done in Spring. Volunteers will be learning how to use a Total Station and a Fluxgate Gradiometer. Shovel testing will also occur, and limited excavations will take us into mid-summer. There is one field that still needs to be surface collected. This will occur in April, before the field is planted. More volunteers are always welcome. Most of the work will occur on long weekends this Spring, as I will be teaching in Columbus Tuesdays and Thursdays.