PAN ISSUE 7
AUGUST 2020
We hope you've enjoyed past issues of Public Archaeology Notes (see Archives below). Please feel free to distribute Public Archaeology Notes to your networks, constituencies, and various communities. Email us interesting news and resources, so we can share with everyone! Our contact information may be found at the bottom of this newsletter.
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 PAN & COVID-19
We recognize that each of you are impacted differently by COVID-19. Our Network Volunteer Team: Melissa Zabecki (Arkansas State Coordinator), Bernard Means (PEC member and Virginia State Coordinator), and me - Rachel Kulick (Ontario Provincial Coordinator) wish you well during these challenging times. We are working together with Elizabeth Reetz (SAA PEC Chair) and Beth Pruitt (SAA Manager of Education and Outreach) to continue to coordinate remote and safe public archaeology education and outreach efforts.
We are pleased to present you with PAN Issue 7, which has been a team effort with the State/Provincial Coordinators and the public archaeology community.
Photo by Amy Johnson, Indiana State Archaeologist: Dr. Henry, Professional Archaeologist, with postcards.
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Spotlight: 2020 Archaeology Months
Contributions edited by PAN Editor
Indiana
By Amy Johnson, Indiana State Archaeologist, Archaeology Outreach Coordinator
September will be the 25th anniversary of a statewide celebration of archaeology in Indiana. Indiana Archaeology Month will still happen, but we anticipate more virtual events this year.
Florida
By Barbara Clark, Regional Director, North Central & Northwest, Florida Public Archaeology Network
Unfortunately, the quarantine happened during Florida Archaeology Month in March, and many of our state’s usual events were cancelled. The Florida Archaeology Month website helped to keep the public engaged even though events were cancelled. The Florida Anthropological Society also had to cancel their annual meeting, which was to be held in Naples back in May. The 2021 meeting has been scheduled to take place in Sanford. The Florida Anthropological Society has been pushing other organization’s webinars and virtual events on their social media and highlighting fieldwork that continues during COVID-19. Several of the FAS chapters have been doing virtual events and promoting quarantine activities on their social media sites as well.
Kentucky
By Gwynn Henderson, Education Director for the Kentucky Archaeological Survey (KAS) and PEC State Network Coordinator for Kentucky
Virtual Living Archaeology Weekend 2020 will take place in September 2020 during Kentucky Archaeology Month. We plan to create short videos linked to standards-based lessons, refresh and redesign our website, and provide opportunities for students and teachers to participate in short face-to-face Zoom conversations with Living Archaeology Weekend demonstrators. Voyager Media Group, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio, will produce two 7-minute videos focused on textile technologies: one about ancient Native American textiles and one about Pioneer textiles. The lesson plans will be linked to both videos and will highlight the parallels between these two different textile production traditions. See additional info below under "Spotlight: Virtual Outreach Campaigns."
Texas
By Rebecca Shelton, Terrestrial Archeologist, TASN Coordinator
At the Texas Historical Commission, we are collaborating with preservation partners in avocational groups, universities, and other state agencies to develop a calendar and list of resources for online Texas Archeology Month this October. Our website will host virtual events, lectures, online exhibits and “tours”, videos, "how to" for activities or hosting events, and contests. We will promote through social media and our preservation partners websites; content will be updated as we get closer to October.
Washington, D.C.
By Christine Ames, Assistant District Archaeologist, DC Historic Preservation Office
Past International Archaeology Day (IAD) activities have included Make Your Own Corn Husk Doll, Clay Pinch Pots, artifact guessing game “What is This?”, 3D-printed artifacts to touch and handle, etc. The Office is looking to adjust their education and outreach activities for this IAD (October 17, 2020).
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Spotlight: Archaeology at 'home'
Dr. Henry’s adventures in Indiana
By Amy Johnson, Indiana State Archaeologist
 While working remotely, Indiana State Archaeologist Amy Johnson has been joined by Dr. Henry, Professional Archaeologist. He is one of the office mascots, and “helps” us do our jobs. He has been wearing a mask during these covid times, and has his own hashtag: #drhenrydhpa. While helping Amy, he has been catching up on his reading regarding Indiana archaeology and checking out historic postcards and pottery from the Southwest in her collection. We share Dr. Henry’s adventures on our Division’s Facebook page.
Summer Scavenger Hunt Bingo from Iowa
Participate in the Summer Scavenger Hunt Bingo, an initiative of the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist, organized by Elizabeth Reetz. Learn how scientific and historical inquiry are used to study the past, and win prizes by participating!
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Spotlight: Online Educational Resources
Texas Public Archaeology Network (TxPAN)
By Rebecca Shelton, Terrestrial Archeologist, TASN Coordinator
Contribution edited by PAN Editor
The Texas Public Archaeology Network (TxPAN) has been developed in partnership with other organizations. The TxPAN website is still under development, but we have compiled resources here for remote teaching, for the professional and avocational archaeological community, as well as for educators and learners of all ages!
For Texas archaeology and history, the Bullock Museum also has online educational context for kids and families, including interactive maps, artifact galleries, and campfire stories!
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Spotlight: Virtual Outreach Campaigns
Florida
Zoom Lectures, Tea and Trowels, and More
By Barbara Clark, Regional Director, North Central & Northwest, Florida Public Archaeology Network
 FPAN has been doing a variety of Facebook Live and Zoom events and lectures to keep public education going while everyone must social distance (many are available on the YouTube channel). Some examples of these virtual outreach programs include hurricane preparedness workshops for museums, Zoom lectures, “Tea and Trowels,” facebook live interviews with fellow Florida archaeologists, lesson plan dissemination to homeschooling parents, and Facebook live children’s activities. FPAN archaeologists have also continued to do limited field visits to sites that are threatened by climate change during the quarantine period, while adhering to appropriate social distancing and safety protocols.
Maryland
Prince George's County Virtual Summer Clubhouse
By Sarah Janesko, Maryland State Coordinator
Archaeologists with Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, Department of Parks and Recreation Prince George's County developed programming for their new virtual Summer Clubhouse that was implemented after the pandemic struck. The team of three professional archaeologists, Stephanie Sperling, Kristin Montaperto, and Exa Grubb, worked with their park colleagues to create live and recorded content for two virtual classes. One virtual program, "Time Travelers", is where they explained the difference between archaeology and paleontology and created games to explain the concept of stratigraphy. The other program, "Hidden Legacies", discusses how Native American oral histories and archaeological discoveries can be combined to paint a vibrant picture of life before Contact. As of this writing, almost 1,000 children have signed up for the virtual Clubhouses and dozens of kids ages 6-12 will participate in the archaeology-based curriculum.
Photo: Schedule of Virtual Clubhouse. Photo courtesy of Sarah Janesko.
Oklahoma
Building OKPAN’s Virtual Community through OKCHP!
By Meghan Dudley, Director of Education, Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network
Like many public archaeology organizations in the age of COVID-19, the Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network (OKPAN) has had to quickly adapt to conducting outreach and building community in a virtual world. To that end, we have created our most recent project, the Oklahoma Community Heritage Project (OKCHP)! Inspired by Project Archaeology lessons, the project has two goals: to foster a virtual community from Oklahoma and beyond who cares about the past and to teach the general public how archaeologists learn about people and their cultures in the past. To do this, we invited everyone to identify an object they had in their homes that either was a part of or represented their heritage, answer several questions about it (e.g., when was the object made and what was the object made of), and submit their response via a Google Form along with an optional photo. OKPAN staff compiled these responses and presented them on our website and social media, along with educator lesson plans and coloring pages for kids. The results of our community’s submissions will be highlighted on our archaeology month poster this October!
Photo: Poster images courtesy of Meghan Dudley.
Kentucky
Virtual Living Archaeology Weekend 2020
By Gwynn Henderson, Education Director for the Kentucky Archaeological Survey (KAS) and PEC State Network Coordinator for Kentucky
For many years, KAS has partnered with the Daniel Boone National Forest and the Kentucky Organization of Professional Archaeologists to hold the longest-running public education event in Kentucky: Living Archaeology Weekend. Now in its 32nd year, this free, two-day program offers high-quality educational experiences for 5th-grade students (Friday) and the public (Saturday) in the form of demonstrations that focus on American Indian and pioneer technologies and the archaeological evidence linked to those technologies. Because of the pandemic, it became quite clear to the Steering Committee that plans and holds the event on the National Forest in the Red River Gorge, that Living Archaeology Weekend would not be possible in its usual format: over 1000 visitors a day; up close and personal, hands-on learning experiences.
 So, the Committee has come up with Virtual Living Archaeology Weekend 2020. We plan to create short videos linked to standards-based lessons, refresh and redesign our website, and provide opportunities for students and teachers to participate in short face-to-face Zoom conversations with Living Archaeology Weekend demonstrators during Kentucky Archaeology Month in September, which is when the event has always been held. Voyager Media Group, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio, will produce two 7-minute videos focused on textile technologies: one about ancient Native American textiles and one about Pioneer textiles. The lesson plans will be linked to both videos and will highlight the parallels between these two different textile production traditions.
Photo: Image of textiles from previous Living Archaeology Weekend.
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Spotlight: Project on Past Pandemics
Washington, D.C.
By Christine Ames, Assistant District Archaeologist, DC Historic Preservation Office
Contribution edited by PAN Editor
Has anyone been involved in a pandemic or epidemic disinterment project, e.g. 1832 Cholera pandemic, typhoid epidemic, etc.? We are looking for resources and references to build a bibliography. Any information that can be sent our way would be much appreciated!
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Spotlight: Kentucky Archaeological Survey (KAS) Website
By Gwynn Henderson, Education Director for the Kentucky Archaeological Survey (KAS) and PEC State Network Coordinator for Kentucky
The Kentucky Archaeological Survey (KAS) moved in August 2019 to a new home: the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We have spent our time since then finding our way around campus, organizing our lab and offices, meeting new people, working with student, hiring staff, transferring projects - all kinds of things that are associated with a move of any kind. First things first.
But now I can report that one of our more important second things to do has just been completed. I’m very pleased to announce the redesign of the Survey’s website. Along with the redesign, we took the opportunity to pull together, reorganize, rewrite, and refresh our old website pages, and to add new ones!
Now, through our new website, people - educators and the interested public - can more easily access our videos, Heritage Spotlight essays, booklets, lessons, and other relevant educational information. Folks can learn about the various projects that we have conducted in the past, read about what we have learned from those projects, and learn how to become involved.
Photo: Screenshot from new KAS website.
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Spotlight: Online Technical Journals
By Amy Johnson, Indiana State Archaeologist, Archaeology Outreach Coordinator
Indiana Archaeology - The 2019 volume of the journal Indiana Archaeology is available from the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology (DHPA). Volume 14, Number 1 includes articles about archaeology in Benton County, Indiana and at:
- Anderson Mounds
- Fort Ouiatenon
- Indiana’s first penitentiary site
Per state statute (Indiana Code 14-21-1-12), one of the duties of the DHPA is to develop a program of archaeological research and development, including the publication of information regarding archaeological resources in the state. This journal is one of the ways that the office continues to address that mandate, and it is hoped that the public enjoys reading the interesting articles.
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Spotlight: YouTube Archaeology
By Barbara Clark, Regional Director, North Central & Northwest, Florida Public Archaeology Network
FPAN has developed a network-wide YouTube Channel, which highlights many of the videos that have been produced by staff during COVID-19. It also links to other FPAN regional YouTube Channels and channels of other archaeological related organizations. FPAN has been trying to push more ethical videos on YouTube, since there appears to be an over-abundance of unethical or looting videos. They would like to encourage other organizations to create YouTube channels to help counteract the unethical ones that are available.
Contributions by Gwynn Henderson, Education Director for the Kentucky Archaeological Survey (KAS) and PEC State Network Coordinator for Kentucky
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Spotlight: Archaeology Podcasts
Podcast: Talk of Iowa
From the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist, Elizabeth Reetz (SAA PEC Chair) was recently featured on a recorded podcast: Talk of Iowa. She discusses how you can explore history and heritage at home. You can also download your own field notebook!
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Spotlight: Social Media 
'Lockdown Edition' Archaeology
Posted on the Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network: "The Best of Archaeology on Web & Social Media (Lockdown Edition)"
Florida Frontiers
By Barbara Clark, Regional Director, North Central & Northwest, Florida Public Archaeology Network
The Florida Historical Society Archaeological Institute’s latest episode of Florida Frontiers focused on Florida’s many historic natural attractions. It included early tourist attractions such as Silver Springs, Weeki Wachee, Jungle Adventures, and Marineland. This episode aired on PBS stations throughout the state but is also available on the Florida Historical Society’s website.
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