PAN ISSUE 11
JULY 2022
Have you enjoyed past issues of Public Archaeology Notes (see archives below)? If so, then please distribute PAN to your networks, constituencies, and community contacts. Email us interesting news and resources to share with everyone! Our contact information may be found at the bottom of this newsletter (or click on the envelope icon below this message).
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New in 2022
Rebecca Wiewel, PAN Editor
Some recent changes to leadership positions have occurred within the Network of State/Provincial Archaeology Education Coordinators. Elizabeth Reetz has taken on the duties of communications lead (Bernard Means most recently filled that role), and Rachel Kulick has ended her tenure as PAN editor, handing over that position to me (Rebecca Wiewel). Thank you, Bernard and Rachel, for your leadership and commitment to archaeology education during a very challenging time! The Network group also decided to retire our Facebook page due to lack of traffic, so we no longer have our own social media presence. Rather, we can share Facebook-worthy news via the SAA Public Archaeology Interest Group page.
Although the public archaeology community may be "returning to normal" in some ways, we recognize the continuing presence of COVID-19 and the lasting changes, including much more robust online resources and virtual events, brought on by this pandemic. We will continue to work with Ryan Wheeler and Angela Labrador (SAA PEC Co-Chairs) and Beth Pruitt (SAA Manager of Education and Outreach) to coordinate safe and creative public archaeology education and outreach efforts.
We are pleased to present you with PAN Issue 11, which has been a team effort with the State/Provincial Coordinators (several of whom are new) and the public archaeology community.
Rebecca Wiewel, incoming PAN editor, kayaking to survey sites along the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Rebecca works as an archeologist and coordinator of education and outreach at the Midwest Archeological Center (NPS) in Lincoln, Nebraska. She also serves as one of Nebraska's state coordinators.
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Arkansas's Annual Training Program Resumes
Mel Zabecki, Arkansas State Archeologist
Edited by PAN Editor
A teacher workshop was held in conjunction with the training program. While they didn’t get to dig, they did see archeology in action and get their hands dirty with lab work. Photo by Mel Zabecki.
 For decades, the Arkansas Archeological Society and the Arkansas Archeological Survey have joined together to offer an annual training program where both field and lab methods, in addition to specialized analysis techniques, are taught to citizens who have an interest in participating in the science of archeology. Some volunteers come back year after year, and it was like a big family reunion to return after a two-year pandemic break.
This year the training program was held in southwest Arkansas in DeQueen at the site of Holman Springs, a Caddo salt-processing site. Volunteers learned excavation and lab techniques and took classes in lithics, Caddo ceramics, and site survey. The site itself was the focus of the training program back in 1985, and this year we attempted to fill in some remaining gaps. Participants and archeologists alike were astounded by the amount of Caddo pottery found, but a larger surprise was the uncovering of a post-contact brick floor thought to be the base of a modern salt-processing furnace. We thought we were going to learn more about Caddo salt works, but we now have a deeper understanding of the long-term use of the site. This unexpected discovery really showed the volunteers that a site can always divulge more information!
The first week of this two-week training program ends with a photo of the group. Photo by Marilyn Knapp.
Images provided by Mel Zabecki.
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Penny for your Thoughts? Survey Respondents Needed
Edited by PAN Editor
Public Archaeology Conference Survey
Barbara Clark, Regional Director (North Central & Northwest), Florida Public Archaeology Network
The Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) staff are gauging interest in the development of a public archaeology conference. Currently, we are in the information-gathering stage and would like to hear from potentially interested parties. What would you like a public archaeology conference to look like? What type of programming would you like to see? Take the Public Archaeology Conference Survey to share your thoughts.
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Site Stewardship Program Survey
Sarah E. Miller, Regional Director (Northeast & East Central), Florida Public Archaeology Network
In 2014, Samantha Rubinson did an original study on site stewardship programs, which compared and contrasted seven programs, most of them located in the West. FPAN staff are replicating that study in 2022, and 31 site stewardship programs have responded to the survey so far. If you manage or are creating a site stewardship program, we’d love to hear from you, no matter the size of the program. The survey requires some numbers and open-text answers, so it may take 30 minutes or more to complete. Contact Sarah Miller for more information. Take the Site Stewardship Program today!
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Site Stewardship Session at the 2023 SAA Annual Meeting in Portland
Sarah E. Miller, Regional Director (Northeast & East Central), FPAN
Edited by PAN Editor
For the 2023 SAA annual meeting, the Public Education Committee is sponsoring a session on site stewardship programs (see the abstract below). We are hoping for robust participation and attendance. If you are interested in participating in the session, please see the Call for Papers for submission instructions or contact Sarah Miller directly with questions.
Site Stewardship Matters: Comparing and Contrasting Site Stewardship Programs to Advance Our Practice
In 2014 the initial site stewardship survey was conducted to gather information from the known site stewardship programs, located at that time primarily in the west. Since then, more site stewardship programs have emerged and more are starting to organize. The second site stewardship survey was launched in spring of 2022 to update and expand the original study. This session presents papers from the various organizations demonstrating their own affordances and constraints. The session will summarize findings from the 2022 survey and premier a video that links the program together.
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Spotlight: Outreach Campaigns
Edited by PAN Editor
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Florida
Barbara Clark, Regional Director (North Central & Northwest), Florida Public Archaeology Network
 The Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) is gearing up for a very busy summer of library reading programs. This year's theme is "Oceans of Possibilities," which lends itself perfectly to underwater archaeology programming. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage all Florida archaeologists to contact their local public libraries and offer their services. The libraries are looking for both youth and adult programming.
Image: Map of Florida (public domain).
Oregon
Virginia Butler, Professor Emerita, Portland State University
The 10th Archaeology Roadshow in Oregon Goes Virtual
Over the month of May, Portland State University’s Department of Anthropology and a state-wide planning committee hosted the 10th Archaeology Roadshow, a large-scale public outreach event designed to promote stewardship of Oregon’s heritage and educate adults and children about the value of heritage to all citizens. Given lingering COVID concerns, we went virtual again, building on the website we created last year (archaeology roadshow.org), and featuring a gallery of new exhibits (videos, blogs, activities) where organizations and university students shared recent activities with visitors, a calendar featuring 10 Zoom lectures and panels scheduled over the month of May, and a map of archaeological and cultural heritage points of interest in our region.
This year’s theme, The Archaeology of Water, was ideal for exploring through archaeology, Indigenous knowledge and history. Our very existence depends on water – and all the plants and animals we rely on for sustenance require water too. We have built our communities next to oceans, rivers and springs. We’ve piped it, dammed it, dug canals to direct water to our crops. We’ve built canoes and ships to travel in it and bridges to cross over it. Over 17 organizations (federal agencies, avocational organizations, students, private companies) and Tribes created virtual exhibits that illustrate some of the ways the human story has been shaped by water.
Our 2021 Roadshow website was visited close to 6,000 times by 1,700 unique visitors between June and December 2021, indicating our wide reach.
Please visit our website. Share with your communities!
Contact Virginia Butler, project director, for more information. She has recently become Oregon’s representative to the network and looks forward to learning from you all.
Image provided by Virginia Butler.
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Spotlight: Digital Archeology
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tDAR Helps Archaeology Make Records that Last
David Decker, Program Manager, Center for Digital Antiquity, Arizona State University
Edited by PAN Editor
 One challenge we face as researchers, scientists, and stewards of cultural heritage is that of preserving and archiving our archaeological data to protect it for future reuse. Collecting data and information takes a tremendous amount of time and effort, and ensuring they are in a proper digital format for modern recordkeeping takes more still. More often than we care to admit, the data we produce on a project are lost without a trace after the individual or team fail to take steps toward permanent preservation of that information. But there are technological solutions to ensure this information is made findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable for future generations of archaeologists, Native communities, and the public.
The Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) is an internationally recognized repository and data solution for preserving and making accessible digital records of archaeological resources, such as documents, images, data tables, and more. Launched by the Center for Digital Antiquity (CDA) at Arizona State University (ASU) in 2010, tDAR currently houses nearly 500,000 contributions from every major area of the archaeological constituency. CDA is an independently funded center, housed within the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and maintains a staff of five full-time employees and student digital curators in an effort to ensure the long-term preservation of these irreplaceable resources.
To aid these efforts, CDA has developed a partnership with both the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) to create member benefit packages that allow forward-thinking members of these professional communities a head start toward widespread digital archiving of the information we derive from the physical archaeological record.
For SAA members, there is an annual membership benefit for presenters at the annual conferences to upload and share their presentation material for free. Use of this benefit enables students and professionals to get their materials not only digitally preserved but also protected as intellectual property so that it is citable. SAA Members that are active students, members of a tribal nation, retired SAA members, or international members are entitled to a complimentary set of three file uploads (up to 30 MB) each year, per member. More information is available at https://www.tdar.org/saa/.
For SHA members, presenters from the annual conferences may also upload and share their presentation material for free. More information is available at https://www.tdar.org/sha/. For both societies, even if you did not upload your materials from this most recent conference, we welcome you to upload your materials from past years (back to 2015).
During the last two years of the COVID pandemic, CDA found that pageviews, downloads, and contributions to tDAR spiked substantially compared to the years prior because, just like other online resources, these were among the only records that were accessible to students and professionals that were searching for archaeological citations remotely or from home. This fact, and the realization that many archaeologists nearing retirement are interested in preserving their lives’ work is what motivates CDA to partner with these societies and to inquire with colleagues and partners about their plans for long-term digital archiving.
The leadership of societies like SAA and SHA toward enabling the digital preservation of this information testifies to their commitment as stewards of the nation’s cultural heritage. Benefits such as these help future generations of archaeologists, Native communities, and the public learn from past works; which is of critical importance as we continue to lose key findings and resources to the ages along with the unfortunate and inevitable passing of members of our aging community. If you are interested in learning more about how to preserve your work, please reach out so that we can help guide you on your own data lifecycle journey.
Footnote:
Want to support tDAR’s overall mission of helping students, Native communities, and other archaeologists? As a non-profit privately funded organization, you can donate to the cause by clicking here and choosing one of their programs.
Image provided by David Decker.
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The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology Begins Historic Cemetery Digitization and Collation Project
Melissa Timo, Historic Cemetery Specialist, NC Office of State Archaeology
Edited by PAN Editor
 In order to better serve the communities of North Carolina, the NC Office of State Archaeology’s (OSA) Historic Cemetery Program has begun phase one of an initiative to digitize and incorporate nearly 85 years’ worth of cemetery surveys held in state agencies’ files into one useful database and GIS map. With the rise in popularity of genealogy and the unprecedented development seen across the state, North Carolina’s citizens are reaching out in growing numbers with questions and concerns. In response, OSA is assembling the state’s previously recorded survey files before seeking county, municipal, institutional, and public cemetery resources to create a list that better reflects the totality of North Carolina’s resources. This database and resulting map will help OSA and the wider NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources find information gaps, understand cemetery trends, assist citizens with their questions, develop outreach and education strategies, and more. It will also help private and public land managers create climate change impact plans and identify threats.
Although in its early stages, this project is a part of a larger effort to support these often-threatened resources and their communities. For example, OSA has partnered with the NC African American Heritage Commission on the NC African American Cemetery Project to provide support, training, and education about the state’s pre- and post-emancipation African American cemeteries. To share new resources and information, OSA will soon be revealing an updated Cemetery Program webpage as well as launching an NC African American Cemetery Project webpage. Visit https://archaeology.ncdcr.gov/programs/cemeteries for updates and more!
 Old Beaufort Cemetery in North Carolina.
Images provided by Melissa Timo.
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News from SAA Headquarters
Beth Pruitt, SAA Education and Outreach Manager
SAA 2022 Public Day
 SAA is grateful to the organizers, volunteers, and visitors who contributed to a fun and rainy Public Archaeology Day on April 2 in Chicago. Despite the weather, volunteers gave out a total of 116 walking tour guidebooks, 198 stickers, and 65 embroidered patches. Even after the event, the celebration continues! You can view a playlist of videos about archaeology and heritage, take the virtual tour, or earn a patch by completing a digital activity (PDF 9.7 MB). The patch design this year was a collaboration from SAA member Kristin Donner and Chicago-based Ojibwe artist Andrea Carlson. If you have feedback about this year’s Public Archaeology Day, help us improve by taking our survey.
Image of the 2022 Public Archaeology Day Patch from the SAA website.
SAA Annual Meeting Poster Contest
Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 State Archaeology Celebration Poster Contest: Wyoming, Tennessee, and California! With 15 entries and over 1,000 votes cast, this was an exciting tribute to local heritage for all participants. The winners will be honored at the 2023 annual meeting awards ceremony in Portland.
First Place in the 2022 SAA State Archaeology Celebration Poster Contest: Wyoming.
Second Place in the 2022 SAA State Archaeology Celebration Poster Contest: Tennessee.
Third Place in the 2022 SAA State Archaeology Celebration Poster Contest: California.
Images of winning posters from the SAA website.
Upcoming SAA Online Seminar
On September 6, there will be a one-hour online seminar on Story Maps for Public Archaeology. The lecture is free for all SAA members! Registration for the seminar will open soon.
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