Professor in Anthropology, Oklahoma State University. The meeting will begin at 8:00 am in the Murray Building on the OSU Campus .
Thursday, October 25, 2012
November OAS - Welcome Dr. Bonnie Pitblado! (Nov 5)
Professor in Anthropology, Oklahoma State University. The meeting will begin at 8:00 am in the Murray Building on the OSU Campus .
Thursday, September 27, 2012
October Events
October will be a busy month!
Caddo Archaeology
On Monday, October 1 at 7pm at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Dr. Elsbeth Dowd will give a talk at the monthly meeting of the Cleveland County chapter of the OAS. Dr. Dowd is the Interim Collection Manager of archaeology at the Sam Noble Museum. Her talk is titled Backwater or Crossroads? Caddo History along the Mountain Fork. The Ouachita Mountains have often been considered as the backwater of ancestral Caddo society. In comparison to settlements in the Red River Valley, settlements among the mountains tend to be smaller – smaller communities, smaller mounds, and less exotic goods. A close examination of settlements along the Mountain Fork, however, reveals a dynamic history, major shifts in ritual activity and regional affiliation. Dr. Dowd’s presentation explores the history of the Mountain Fork Caddo from an archaeological perspective, with a focus on how small sites can tell big stories of movement through the mountains.
Parasites and Ancient DNA in Archaeology
On Thursday, October 4 at 7pm at the Norman Public Library, Lauren Cleeland (doctoral candidate at OU) will give a talk at Science Cafe Norman. Her talk is titled From Parasites to Paternity: Ancient DNA in Archaeology. It should be pretty neat stuff!
More Caddo Events
If you are into Caddo heritage, the Jacobson House in Norman is hosting a fantastic set of events this month:
Every Monday, 6:30-7:30pm:
Caddo language classes with members of the Edmonds family
Saturday, September 29, Noon:
Pottery pitfire with artist Chase Kahwinhut Earles
Friday, October 12, 7:30pm:
Lecture on Caddo pottery with Chase Kahwinhut Earles and Jeri Redcorn
Saturday, October 13:
1pm - Caddo archery
2pm - traditional food tasting
3pm - Caddo dancing
Caddo Archaeology
On Monday, October 1 at 7pm at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Dr. Elsbeth Dowd will give a talk at the monthly meeting of the Cleveland County chapter of the OAS. Dr. Dowd is the Interim Collection Manager of archaeology at the Sam Noble Museum. Her talk is titled Backwater or Crossroads? Caddo History along the Mountain Fork. The Ouachita Mountains have often been considered as the backwater of ancestral Caddo society. In comparison to settlements in the Red River Valley, settlements among the mountains tend to be smaller – smaller communities, smaller mounds, and less exotic goods. A close examination of settlements along the Mountain Fork, however, reveals a dynamic history, major shifts in ritual activity and regional affiliation. Dr. Dowd’s presentation explores the history of the Mountain Fork Caddo from an archaeological perspective, with a focus on how small sites can tell big stories of movement through the mountains.
Parasites and Ancient DNA in Archaeology
On Thursday, October 4 at 7pm at the Norman Public Library, Lauren Cleeland (doctoral candidate at OU) will give a talk at Science Cafe Norman. Her talk is titled From Parasites to Paternity: Ancient DNA in Archaeology. It should be pretty neat stuff!
More Caddo Events
If you are into Caddo heritage, the Jacobson House in Norman is hosting a fantastic set of events this month:
Every Monday, 6:30-7:30pm:
Caddo language classes with members of the Edmonds family
Saturday, September 29, Noon:
Pottery pitfire with artist Chase Kahwinhut Earles
Friday, October 12, 7:30pm:
Lecture on Caddo pottery with Chase Kahwinhut Earles and Jeri Redcorn
Saturday, October 13:
1pm - Caddo archery
2pm - traditional food tasting
3pm - Caddo dancing
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Forensic Anthropology in Oklahoma
Here is a wonderful article and video about the work done by forensic anthropologist and OASer Angela Berg.
http://newsok.com/where-is-sandy-rea-oklahoma-state-anthropologist-helps-piece-together-mysteries-of-the-unidentified-and-missing/article/3699927
http://newsok.com/where-is-sandy-rea-oklahoma-state-anthropologist-helps-piece-together-mysteries-of-the-unidentified-and-missing/article/3699927
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Spring Dig and Exhibits - In and Out of Oklahoma
Well, I fell off the face of the earth for awhile, but now that the semester is done I am back online!
And finally, for all those interested in the omnipresence of Mayan archaeology this year, check out the online component to the 2012 Lords of Time exhibit at the Penn Museum. They've got a neat series of videos and links posted!
First and foremost, the Oklahoma Anthropological Society Spring Dig is going on right now at the Bryson Paddock site near Ponca City. It is running from May 25-June 3. Excavation hours are 8:30-4:00. A carpool is meeting each day at the Kanza Wellness Center in Newkirk at 7:00 am. At the light in Newkirk, go east, the road will curve, but keep east about two miles till you get to a intersection. There you see a large sign to the casino. The Kanza Heath Center is on the southeast corner of that intersection.
For more information on Bryson Paddock, visit:
In Oklahoma, a neat exhibit is opening on June 2 at the Sam Noble Museum on dinosaurs from China. Yes, I know quite well that archaeologists DO NOT study dinosaurs, but the museum is also hosting a free and public opening event on Friday, June 1, that will feature cultural activities provided by the Confucius Institute of the University of Oklahoma. It should be quite fun. Perhaps more pertinently, a series of Native American art objects will be on display for the first time at SNOMNH starting from May 5-September 16!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Monday, April 30 meeting
Our "May" meeting will be held on Monday, April 30 (2012) at 7PM and SNOMNH. Our guest speaker Lauren O'Shea will speak about bison mtDNA from the Southern Plains and how this genetic information may help illuminate past human foraging strategies.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
April Cleveland County OAS meeting
Monday April 2, 2012, 7pm, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
Guest speaker is Derrell Cox, M.A., who will present a talk titled
"The Value of Anthropology for Improving Human Health."
Monday, February 27, 2012
TV Shows Encouraging Destruction of Cultural Heritage
Dear friends,
I wanted to bring to your attention two television shows that are very disturbing to those of us who care about preserving our cultural heritage. The first, set to air on Spike TV, is called American Diggers, and the second, on (of all places) National Geographic. American Diggers, in particular, promotes digging up artifacts without regard for context and selling them for a profit. The show may also mislead people - although the artifacts on the show were removed from private property, remember that removing any artifact from federal land is a crime.
A good summary of the problem from my friend Holly:
"This show promotes mining the past for personal monetary gain. The artifacts only tell part of the story- where they are found, soil staining, soil chemistry, associated artifacts, pollen, seeds, etc etc can give us an entire picture of what exactly was happening at that place in that time that led to that item being there. That knowledge is gone once the site is destroyed. Even for historic items- the poor, the children, the young, they are not in the texts from the time. Their stories are preserved in the sites left by them. Archaeologists are trained to "hear" those stories by exavating properly, knowing what samples to take, and what to look for in the dirt itself. This show promotes destruction of all of that"
Please consider signing the following petitions:
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-spike-tv-from-looting-our-collective-past
http://www.change.org/petitions/national-geographic-society-wwwnationalgeographiccom-stop-airing-the-television-show-diggers
If you want to find out what archaeologists actually do, check out this article!
http://newsok.com/artifacts-uncovered-through-archaeology-fills-in-clues-of-states-history/article/3651967?custom_click=pod_headline_life
All the best,
Elsbeth
I wanted to bring to your attention two television shows that are very disturbing to those of us who care about preserving our cultural heritage. The first, set to air on Spike TV, is called American Diggers, and the second, on (of all places) National Geographic. American Diggers, in particular, promotes digging up artifacts without regard for context and selling them for a profit. The show may also mislead people - although the artifacts on the show were removed from private property, remember that removing any artifact from federal land is a crime.
A good summary of the problem from my friend Holly:
"This show promotes mining the past for personal monetary gain. The artifacts only tell part of the story- where they are found, soil staining, soil chemistry, associated artifacts, pollen, seeds, etc etc can give us an entire picture of what exactly was happening at that place in that time that led to that item being there. That knowledge is gone once the site is destroyed. Even for historic items- the poor, the children, the young, they are not in the texts from the time. Their stories are preserved in the sites left by them. Archaeologists are trained to "hear" those stories by exavating properly, knowing what samples to take, and what to look for in the dirt itself. This show promotes destruction of all of that"
Please consider signing the following petitions:
http://www.change.org/petitions/national-geographic-society-wwwnationalgeographiccom-stop-airing-the-television-show-diggers
If you want to find out what archaeologists actually do, check out this article!
http://newsok.com/artifacts-uncovered-through-archaeology-fills-in-clues-of-states-history/article/3651967?custom_click=pod_headline_life
All the best,
Elsbeth
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