December: The Spiro Story

The Cleveland County chapter of the OAS will be meeting on TUESDAY, December 3rd, at 7pm at the Sam Noble Museum.  We will be celebrating the holidays and watching The Spiro Story.  This 1950s film was produced by KOCO-TV in association with the University of Oklahoma.  It documents the archaeological excavations at the Spiro Mounds site conducted by OU with assistance from the Works Progress Administration from 1936-41.

All are welcome!  Come join us to learn more about the history of archaeology in Oklahoma.

Also, renewal letters for 2014 membership in the Oklahoma Anthropological Society have just gone out.  Watch for yours in the mail, or visit the OAS website if are not a current member and want to join.

October Updates

Once again I've fallen behind on my updates.  Lots of anthropological stuff going on in Oklahoma and around the country right now, though, so onward!

1. Masterworks of Native American Art: Selections from the Fred and Enid Brown Collection.  This great new exhibit just opened at the Sam Noble Museum.  It will be up through January 5, 2014.  These works of art reflect developments in the Native American fine arts movement from around 1960-2010.  

This exhibit is truly spectacular.  Two of the pieces are by Yatika Starr Fields - for a sample of his artwork, check out his website.  This youtube video shows the artist in action.

Also, don't forget to check out the Museum's Ethnology blog!

2. We have continued to update the Sam Noble Archaeology Blog throughout the summer with our interns entries on artifacts from Spiro: http://samnoblearchaeology.wordpress.com/.  The latest entry, though, is a little different.  It focuses on a recent donation to the Museum by Ms. Lois Bookout and the personal meaning of this donation to her family.  

3. Once again archaeology and anthropology are on the defensive following an opinion piece in USA Today.  Researchers across the county have written detailed rebuttals highlighting the significance of social science research and its impacts on global cooperation, scientific discovery, and student training.  They also strongly refute several claims in the original piece about the relative expense of this research and the proper role of the elected officials vs. trained specialists in assigning relative value to research projects.  The following responses make for interesting and enlightening reading:

     Archaeology and Our World (Sturt Manning, Cornell University)

     The Berkeley Blog (Rosemary Joyce, UC Berkeley)

     James Doyle, Brown University

     Assemblages (Adam Smith, Cornell University)

Spiro Artifacts on SNOMNH Blog

Last spring, the Archaeology Department at the Sam Noble Museum was lucky to have three undergraduate interns helping with our Spiro inventory and repackaging project.  For their final paper, the interns each wrote about five artifacts they worked with during the semester.  Some of these artifacts will be familiar to those who have read about the Spiro site, but others are virtually unknown.  This summer we will post one of our intern's artifact descriptions every week on the blog samnoblearchaeology.wordpress.com.  Check it out!

Engraved conch shell from Spiro.

Copyright Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum

of Natural History, University of Oklahoma.

African American History in Oklahoma - May 6

Come join us on Monday, May 6 to learn about Rosenwald schools in Oklahoma. Allison Archambo from the Oklahoma Historical Society has been working with avocational historians to document these forgotten buildings that represent an important period of African American history in Oklahoma.

Spring OAS Meeting and New Archaeology Blog

Are you ready for the Spring meeting of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society?  It is coming up on April 20th in Norman, with a wonderful theme: "OAS - A is for Anthropology".  Program and meeting details are available here: OAS Spring Meeting Agenda

Featured speakers include a number of OU professors and grad students: Lauren Cleeland, Susan Vehik, Patrick Livingood, Asa Randall, Holly Andrew, and Bonnie Pitblado.  Their topics range widely: parasites, gender relations, politics, climate change, and collaboration between professional and citizen archaeologists.  Talk about relevant!

Also, the Archaeology Department at the Sam Noble Museum has a new blog: SamNobleArchaeology.  Currently the blog is focused on a major project to inventory and rehouse collections from the Spiro mound site, with the help of a generous grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.  Watch for updates, especially after mid-May when our undergraduate interns have finished writing a series of entries on Spiro artifacts.

April OAS Meeting - Calf Creek

All are welcome!

Spring Break Escape at SNOMNH

Come learn more about archaeology and American Indian cultures during Spring Break Escape at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History!  We will be talking about stratigraphy and sharing artifacts from the archaeology collection on Friday, March 22, from 3-3:30.  Earlier in the day come see a flintknapping demonstration by Neil Garrison and learn about American Indian basketry from Stephanie Allen, the ethnology collection manager.  There will also be a performance by the Oklahoma Fancy Dancers and Caddo and Kiowa storytelling with Kricket Rhoades-Connywerdy.  It should be a great day.

To Bridge a Gap 2013

The 2013 To Bridge a Gap conference will be at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Norman, from March 11-14.  This annual event, hosted this year by the Delaware, is held in collaboration with the National Forest Service.   It is designed to strengthen government-to-government relationships between the Forest Service and federally recognized tribal governments with interests in area forests.

The conference is also a great opportunity for archaeologists from all walks of life to meet with tribal members and learn about all parties' concerns and common interests.

Highlights of the 2013 conference will include a reception on Monday night by the Delaware Nation and the Delaware Tribe of Indians, and a banquet on Wednesday night with the Keynote Speaker Walter Echo Hawk (Pawnee), Native American speaker, author, and attorney.

The registration fee is $90 for the whole conference, or $40 per day.

For more information, please contact the Delaware Nation Cultural Preservation Department

a four day conference and is an annual event in collaboration with the National Forest Service. It is designed to strengthen government-to-government relationships between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service and federally recognized tribal governments with interests in area forests.