Winter Newsletter

The electronic version of the newsletter has been issued. If you have not received it, check to see that you have space in your inbox or check your spam box. Email me if you need it re-sent. (sph1@email.com) The paper version will be mailed out early this week to those of you who requested it. If you are not currently receiving newsletters, but would like to, send an email request.

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The Allegheny Valley Project now has a Facebook page, for more informal communications. Keep in touch here and there!

December Update

The processing of the Karl Site materials is running smoothly along. The surface survey materials are processed and catalogued, and the excavation materials processing is underway. I've included a few examples of artifacts from the surface survey of Area B below. The project is going through the process of becoming a registered non-profit entity. This will enable us to better fulfull our mission, and will provide our donors with a tax deduction. We have formed an incorporating board of directors and are now going through legal processes. The Allegheny Valley Project, Inc. mission statement and financial records will be posted on pages within this site once all details have been finalized through the board. The Winter newsletter will be sent out late January or early February, and will have more details about this process and the 2013 field season.

                                      Pitted stone, Karl Site Area B

                                       Hammerstone, Karl Site Area B

Projectile Point (Lamoka type), Karl Site Area B

More artifacts from Area B are pictured on the Karl Site page.

September Update

It's been a while since my last post, so I figured an update was in order. The Summer-Fall newsletter will be ready the last week in September, and should be sent shortly thereafter. If you're not on the mailing list or email list, let me know at sph1@email.com or showard@austincc.edu that you would like to be connected. This year's field season provided a wealth of information to further our understanding of the subsistence patterns along the Allegheny during the Archaic Period. We collected several more carbon samples for dating, so we'll know when during the Archaic the Karl site was inhabited. A new artifact type that hadn't previously been recorded from the site is the netsinker, which will be a featured article in the newsletter. Three of these very simple yet effective tools were recovered during the 2012 season.

Karl Site netsinkers

 

 

 

 

Area B, the Stoeckel Tract, yielded additional bifaces as well, including a few types we hadn't seen previously at Karl. Distribution information from the Stoeckel Tract also helps us understand the settlement pattern at the Karl site, revealing two lithic "bands" parallel to the terrace edge, and a small scatter to the east of the main Karl site distribution. Analyses are underway to figure out what it all means.

 



Small projectile point from Area B

Thanks everyone!

Although I wish I could have stayed in the (relatively) cool summer of New York, I am back in Texas now ... toasty. Thanks to all who participated and to all who supported us through kind words and contributions. AVP 2012 was a great success, and now there is plenty of work to be done analyzing the data. Artifact pictures will be posted soon, as well as updates on the analysis process, report production, and AVP Field Season 2013 (already in the planning stages). I hope to see all of you next year, whether returning or for the first time. Special thanks go out to the Seneca Iroquois Nation Museum and Seneca Nation THPO for their involvement and support, to Tom Sherman for his tireless efforts for three weeks, to Marcia Karl and Jack Stoeckel for allowing us to work on their adjacent parcels, and to Alice Altenburg, Jill Patton, Marcia Karl, Dave Hornburg and Shults Auto for their support of the project. Finally, a hearty thanks goes out to all of our volunteers! I hope to see all of you again next year!

Last Days Schedule Changes

We will be open to volunteers and visitors at the site Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9am to 6pm. You may just show up at the site if you'd like (4316 S. Nine Mile Rd). Thursday we will be having a lab workshop at the Seneca Nation Museum's curation facilities in Salamanca, beginning at 10am. Email me at showard@austincc.edu if you'd like to participate in the workshop, and I'll email the directions to you. Saturday, sadly, we will be closing up the site and I'll be packing up for my trip back to Texas. We would like to see you at the site or the workshop this week!

Mapping

A participant through the Seneca Nation Vision 20/20 program learns to map a plan view.