IAS Fellows and Friends…..

I again have a couple of news items to pass along. The first comes from Fellow Cheryl Munson of Indiana University. She has asked that I pass along an invitation to visit the Hovey Lake Project as we travel to or from the IAS Conference. Thanks for the "engraved email invitation," Cheryl.

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Hi Len

Here is an "engraved email invitation" for IAS members.

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Dear IAS members:

We have begun what may be our "last" excavations at the Hovey Lake site (given current grant support), and I would like to invite you to visit.

Our work schedule is Wednesdays to Sundays to the end of September.

Hovey Lake site is located near the confluence of the Ohio and Wabash rivers. From Illinois, the site is about 80 miles east of Carbondale, which might make it convenient from people to stop by on their way to or from the IAS meeting.

Best route from north of Carbondale is to follow I-64 across Wabash to the first exit at Griffin, and head south on State Highway 69.

Link to directions from State Highway 69 or from the Wabash bridge east of Carbondale:

http://www.slashtmp.iu.edu/public/download.php?FILE=munsonc/64910Ruo26X

Our work this year is the final investigation under a Transportation Enhancement grant, and is also supported by a small HPF-DHPA education grant, which is focused on public education. Ground Penetrating Radar has given us an expanded focus on village fortifications. We are excavating a long trench to identify whether a later palisade wall was built beyond the houses in the south part of the enlarged residential area

See more info: http://www.indiana.edu/~archaeo

Call if questions, 812-325-3407.

Cheryl

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The last item of interest is an update from President Wagner on the 51st Annual Conference scheduled for this Friday and Saturday in Carbondale (the Saturday soirée was pretty close to "sold out" but if you contact Mark directly there may still be openings). I think that the only major schedule change has to do with the Board meeting on Friday afternoon. It has been expanded by a couple of hours, rescheduled to start at 3 pm, and, unfortunately , forced to move to a new location. This will afford Paula Cross of IHPA more time to offer her comments. Remember that if there is something that you would like the Board to address in anticipation of the Business Meeting later in the evening, please get your thoughts to one of the Board members. The list of Board members and their email addresses can be found at:

http://virtual.parkland.edu/IAS/member_com/announcements/announcements.htm

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The 51st Meeting of the Illinois Archaeological Survey will be held in Carbondale, Illinois from September 14-16, 2007. This year the meeting is being co-hosted by the Heritage Program of the Shawnee National Forest and SIUC’s Center for Archaeological Investigations. The meetings will consist of the IAS business meeting Friday evening (September 14) followed by a reception at the Center for Archaeological Investigations (CAI) Curation Facility north of Carbondale. Paper presentations consisting of current research (morning) and more formal papers (afternoon) will be held at SIU Carbondale on Saturday, September 15.

There is a $10 registration fee (which is separate from the $30 banquet fee) that can be paid at the Friday night business meeting or prior to the paper presentations on Saturday. This fee will go to cover the costs of the Friday night reception and coffee and pastries on Saturday.

The schedule for the meeting is as follows:

Friday, Sept. 14:

(1) 3:00 p.m. - IAS Board meeting at. at SIU Curation Center (only Board members and committee heads need to attend)

(2) 6:00-7:30 pm. - IAS Annual Business meeting at the University Museum, Faner Hall, on the SIU Campus. See directions at the end of this message. Information regarding the SIU Museum can be found on line at http://www.museum.siu.edu/facilities.html

(3) 7:30 –9:00 IAS New Members Reception sponsored by the SIU Zooarchaeology Laboratory – Refreshments including beer and wine will be provided. This will be held at the SIU-Curation Center, which is located on U.S. 52 at the north edge of Carbondale. Directions will be provided at the business meeting.

Saturday, Sept. 15:

(1) Registration: 7: 30- 8:30 A.M. – Museum Auditorium Lobby.

(2) Paper/Poster Presentations: 8:30-3:00 p.m. – Museum Auditorium

(3) IAS banquet at Von Jakob Winery: 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m. This winery is located approximately 20 miles southwest of Carbondale. We will use SIU buses to travel to and from the winery. Information on where and when to meet the buses will be provided at either the Friday night business meeting or Saturday paper presentations.

Sunday, Sept. 16: Site Tours (time and place to be arranged)

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Directions to the SIU-Carbondale Campus

Both the Friday Night IAS Annual Business Meeting and Saturday Paper presentations are going to be held in the SIU University Museum Auditorium in Faner Hall on the SIU Campus. You can park in any SIU parking lot that requires a blue (faculty) or red (student) sticker after 4:00 p.m. Friday and anytime Saturday or Sunday. The largest and most convenient parking lot is the Pulliam Hall parking lot, which you can reach by following the below directions. Directions to the Friday night reception at the SIU Curation Center will be given out at the business meeting.

(1) From I-57

From Interstate 57, use exit 54B. This exit is the Illinois Highway 13 exit that will you send you to the west from Marion, Illinois. Carbondale is located about 14 miles west of Marion, Illinois on Highway 13.

Once in Carbondale, Highway 13 becomes Main Street. You will pass Wal-Mart Supercenter, University Mall, and K-Mart as you come into town. Keep going west, staying in the center or left lane. Main Street divides into a one-way street just past the mall with all lanes going to the west. You will need to make a left turn at University Avenue, which is the second street (the first being Illinois Avenue) after you cross the railroad tracks that divide Carbondale in half. The University Avenue stoplight is the 8th stoplight from the very first Carbondale stoplight you will pass -- the one at Giant City Road by the Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Go south on University Avenue (also known as US Route 51). Go through the stoplights at Walnut and College Streets until you reach the Mill Street stoplight. Turn right at the Mill Street stoplight, get in the left lane, and go to the first stop sign. Turn left at this stop sign on to Normal Avenue and enter the university. Then turn right almost immediately on to Lincoln Drive, go less than a block and turn left on to the road (Clocktower Drive) that runs behind Pulliam Hall. You can park in this lot after 4:00 p.m. M-F without a sticker and all day Saturday-Sunday. From the Pulliam Hall Parking lot walk south on the sidewalk that leads past Woody Hall to the University Museum which is at the north end of Faner Hall (see map). The Museum Auditorium where both the Friday night business meeting and Saturday paper presentations will be held is right inside the Museum/Faner Hall entrance.

(2) From Illinois 127

Illinois 127 extends south from I-64 for about 45 miles, passing though Nashville, Pinckneyville, and Vergennes, making a T-junction with Hwy 13 at the east end of Murphysboro, Illinois. Turn left at the junction of Hwy 127 and Illinois 13 and go about five miles east to Carbondale. When you enter Carbondale, Hwy 13 will turn into Walnut Street. Go past the Murdale Shopping Center and Turley Park and stay on Walnut until you come to University Avenue (also known as Hwy 51) where you will make a right turn. If you cross the railroad tracks you have gone too far and will have to come back.

Go south on University Avenue/US Route 51. Go through the stoplights at Walnut and College Streets until you reach the Mill Street stoplight. Turn right at the Mill Street stoplight, get in the left lane, and go to the first stop sign. Turn left at this stop sign on to Normal Avenue and enter the university. Then turn right almost immediately on to Lincoln Drive, go less than a block and turn left on to the road (Clocktower Drive) that runs behind Pulliam Hall. You can park in this lot after 4:00 p.m. M-F without a sticker and all day Saturday-Sunday. From the Pulliam Hall Parking lot walk south on the sidewalk that leads past Woody Hall to the University Museum which is at the north end of Faner Hall (see map). The Museum Auditorium where both the Friday night business meeting and Saturday paper presentations will be held is right inside the Museum/Faner Hall entrance.

Maps

Two maps showing the locations of the IAS Friday and Saturday meetings at the University Museum at the north end of Faner Hall in relation to Pulliam Hall Parking Lot are included below. An on-line map of the Carbondale campus also can be found at http://www.siuc.edu/maps/. You can also access a printable parking lot map that shows additional parking lots from this site.

Map 1. General Map of Carbondale

Map 2. Detail of North End of SIU Campus Showing IAS Meeting Location

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I hope to see everyone at the Conference this week end.

Len

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Illinois Archaeological Survey_News Flash #24
4 Sept 07

IAS Fellows and Friends…..

A couple of items have come to my attention that I thought I should pass along prior to the Annual Meeting on the 14th of September (nudge…nudge, if you haven't registered). The first is that at the last Board meeting a discussion was held regarding changes to our Constitution and By-laws. I am including the semi-official heads-up.

Proposed Constitutional and By-law changes. In its last meeting the Board discussed two possible changes to the constitution and the by-laws. These involved updating those documents to allow mail voting by the membership and creating a more diverse nominating committee. In general the Board believed that this would increase members participation in the election process and also bring the IAS voting procedures into line with the practices of regional organizations such as MAC, PA, SHA, SEAC and others. As part of this process the Board also supported the concept of designating the eight non-officers of the Board as the standing Nominating Committee. The effect of this action would be to broaden the representation and diversity of views in the Nominating Committee (which now usually consists only of several volunteers) and ensure that committee members are elected representatives of the membership. These proposed changes and the suggested specific language will be presented to the membership at the annual meeting for discussion and voting.

The second item that I would like to pass along comes from Fellow Bob Jeske, (Anthro Chair at UW-Milwaukee, for those of you that have lost track). Bob and his colleague John D. Richards have an interesting little project going on that you might be able to help with. I have included Bob's note

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Dear Colleagues:

We are compiling several related data sets under the terms of a sponsored project entitled "Ceramics, Chronologies, and Raw Material Sources in the Western Great Lakes." We hope to collect and analyze approximately 80 AMS radiocarbon samples from sherd residues and to collect compositional data for each sampled sherd. We also wish to collect compositional data from sherds typologically similar to the radiocarbon-sampled sherds. Finally, we plan to obtain compositional data from as many regional clay sources as can be identified.

The project is focused on the late prehistoric period in the western Great Lakes, ca. A.D. 700-1400. Consequently, we are particularly interested in pottery referable to Late Woodland, Oneota, or Mississippian associations. However, we may include selected samples of earlier or later ceramic wares on a case-by-case basis.

Our plan is to acquire Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from charred residues adhering to potsherds of known type or cultural affiliation. Since current AMS technology allows confident age determinations from as little as 5 mg of carbon, the AMS sampling procedure will be minimally destructive. We will obtain compositional data using a handheld x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer that is non-invasive and non-destructive. In the event that you and your institution are willing to allow more destructive analyses, we will also collect additional residue for use in analyses aimed at identifying residue constituents through protein, lipid, or phytolith analysis. In addition, we would ask for a sample of each sherd that can be used to produce a petrographic thin-section. Our intent is to use these data to begin building a regional library of petrographic reference samples to complement the XRF data.

However, we stress that our primary goal is acquiring residue for AMS dating and the collection of associated XRF data.

All cooperating individuals and institutions will be acknowledged in our reports and publications, and we will share specific radiocarbon and compositional data with our contributors.

If you are willing to provide access to collections containing appropriate material please click on:

http://www.uwm.edu/~nicholls/samplereq.html

to access a web-based response. The same form is attached to this notice and may be returned also by email, FAX, or post. Also please feel free to contact John Richards or Robert Jeske directly. We will be happy to schedule visits to sample collections at your convenience.

We apologize for any cross-posting that may occur.

Sincerely,

John D. Richards, Ph.D.
jdr@uwm.edu
414-229-2440

Robert J. Jeske, Ph.D.
jeske@uwm.edu
414-229-2424


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Well, I think that should about do it for this News Flash. I hope to see everybody in Carbondale next week.

Len

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Illinois Archaeological Survey_News Flash #23
16 Aug 07

IAS Fellows and Friends…..

President Wagner has asked that I send along the following communication. He sends it to us under the intriguing rubric "Happy News Flash." So here it is. The photos are available on the Announcements Page of our web site. See the Editor's Note below

We also want to remind everyone of our upcoming annual meeting and conference (Could it possibly be only a couple of weeks away? What did they do with August??). Please recall that the entire conference package costs only a slim $30. Could there possibly be a better price on such things anywhere in North America? Mark says that he needs for us to get those menu decisions to him ASAP if you haven't already done so. He also informs that it is still possible to get a couple more papers into Saturday's program. If you have been equivocating, now is the time to move forward. I am sure that Saturday's programming will be, and how shall I say this, most interesting and informative.

The link to the Conference Announcement is:

Conference Announcement

The link to the Registration Form is:

Conference Registration Form

Len

Editor's Note: I thought that rather than continue to fill your mailbox with large graphics, I would just post them on our web site. Please go to our Announcements Page to view them. Always be sure to Reload/Refresh your web browser screen when visiting the Announcement Page to ensure that you are viewing the most recent update.

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Flatboat America Stabilized by SIU Researchers

Mark J. Wagner
Center for Archaeological Investigations
SIU-Carbondale

Robert Swenson
ASA School of Architecture
SIU-Carbondale

In 2002 SIU-Carbondale archaeologists and other SIU volunteers mapped and documented the wreck of an early nineteenth century flatboat exposed on the Ohio River shoreline in Pulaski County, Illinois Flatboats were one-way shoebox shaped wooden vessels used by settlers and farmers between 1790-1900 to carry emigrant families and produce down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Although it is estimated that over 100,000 of these boats were constructed during the flatboat era, the America is the only known example of this type of pioneer water craft discovered to date. Based on the artifacts recovered from the wreck, the America is believed to date to ca. 1801-1830, which places it near the beginning of the flatboat era (Wagner 2005:90-156; Wagner and McCorvie 219-247).

After documenting the wreck in 2002 with a grant received from IHPA, we covered it with a heavy weed-guard black fabric, then used a backhoe to cover this with a large amount of river gravel. Over the next four years, periodic inspection of the wreck whenever the Ohio dropped low enough to expose it once again on the bank, revealed that this stabilization method was holding it in place. About three weeks ago, however, we were contacted by local residents who told us that the almost intact 45' long "gunwale", or bottom side of the boat which had been cut from a single piece of timber, had broken loose and was in imminent danger of washing away. A visit to the wreck revealed this was true, with the Ohio River current having picked up the gunwale and dropping it cross-ways across the wreck (Photos 1 and 2). The gunwale had lodged against another section of the wreck only by the merest chance and it was clear that it would wash away with the next rise of the Ohio.

We informed the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois (LPCI) regarding this and they provided us with emergency funding to pay for a backhoe and other supplies to bury the displaced gunwale next to the wreck. On August 23, 2007, we returned to the wreck with a crew of volunteers and found that the local land owner had removed the displaced gunwale from the wreck and laid it next to the boat (Photo 3). We braced the gunwale to prevent it from breaking while being moved by tying 16' long treated lumber boards to both sides of the gunwale (Photo 4). The backhoe then dug a ca. 50' long by 3' wide trench next to the wreck which we lined with weed-guard fabric. The backhoe operator then used his bucket to hoist ropes tied to either end of the gunwale to pick it up off the ground and place it in the bottom of the trench (Photo 5). The gunwale survived this procedure in one piece, attesting to the strength of ca. 200 year old oak. We then filled in the trench and anchored the ropes attached to the gunwale to plastic stakes located next to the wreck.

Burying the displaced gunwale is admittedly a short-term preservation solution. We are hoping to have the America listed this coming year as one of the LPCI's ten most endangered architectural sites in Illinois. It is our hope that such a listing will make it possible to secure additional grant monies to remove the wreck from the bank, pay for the conservation treatment of its wooden framework, and arrange for its display in a museum setting somewhere in the lower Ohio River valley in the near future.

References

Wagner, Mark J.

2005 The Flatboat America (11Pu280): An Early Nineteenth-Century Flatboat Wreck in the Pulaski County, Illinois. Illinois Archaeology 14:90-156.

Wagner, Mark J. and Mary R. McCorvie

2006 Going to See the Varmint: Piracy in Myth and Reality on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, 1785-1803. In X Marks the Spot: The Archaeology of Piracy, edited by Russell K. Skowronek and Charles R. Ewen, pp. 218-247. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

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Click on the image if you would like to zoom a view to 2500 pixels in width.

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A Reminder on Conference Dates and Places

MAC
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana
4-6 October 2007
Abstracts of proposed papers and symposia must be submitted by 27 Au