Fall Frenzy

Arizona Bound?

My last post included the more "far-fetched" option 5. This may not be so far-fetched after all. I was able to get in contact with the Graduate Studies coordinator, Marsha Schweitzer at Arizona State as well as Michael Barton, professor of Anthropology (not to be confused with OSU's own geology professor with the same name). My visit was wonderful--talking with Dr. Barton and the other graduate students was very helpful. I'm definitely going to apply there in hopes to work with Dr. Barton on his prehistoric site in Spain, which is funded for the next five years.

So here we are into October already. I can't believe it's that time to get those grad applications back out again. This year I'm enrolled in the Department of Continuing Education at Ohio State. I'm taking a graduate level Magnetometry class in the department of Geological Sciences, an Anthropology course, and I'm sitting in on Latin and Greek. I'm also continuing to work 4 days a week at the Hopewell Culture NHP.

Archaeology Merit Badge Clinics at Hopewell Culture

All in all, I have been a VERY busy woman. At the park I started a program so that the local boy scouts can attend two day clinics with me to earn their Archaeology Merit Badge. This is a very difficult badge to earn for the scouts since Requirement 8 calls for an excavation under the supervision of an archaeologist. Not many people have the qualifications, time, or dig site to offer this requirement--but the real life field experience is key for the scouts.

So back in August I began working with Tom Bain who is a Scout Master with Troop 38 in Chillicothe--he truly believes in the value of having the scouts work with the National Park Service. He is my biggest supporter for the clinics and a pleasure to work with.

I then took two weeks to prepare an entire two day clinic, complete with lecture materials, a slew of activites, and a site location back in the woods of the Chief Logan Reservation Boy Scout Camp in Jackson County. The site itself is a early 20th c. rural homestead, back before the Mead paper mill took over the woods for logging. The site includes an old foundation along a dried up creek, a debris-filled well, and a trash pile where a house may have stood.

The clinic went over extrememly well and at the end of the second day, most of the scouts had completed all requirements for the merit badge.

I held the second Archaeology Merit Badge Clinic at the park on October 1 and 2. The clinic filled up within hours of the notification! With refined methods and a better idea of the historic site we have been excavating, the second clinic went over even better than the first.

My vision is for this program keep expanding. My hope is that it will continue long after I am gone and that the park service will be able to obtain a set of permenant archaeological equipment and deem the site an "Archaeolgical Demostration Area" that is sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America and the National Park Service. I'm looking into doing a summer-long program out at the camp so that I can reach as many scouts as possible. With the encouragement of my boss, Chief Ranger Rick Perkins, I will be applying for the Parks-as-Classrooms grant in order to get funding for this project. What wonderful experience for me in my first supervisory role as an archaeologist! What a wonderful experience for the Boy Scouts of America!!

With all of this work I have been doing, it looks like I may be up for a promotion soon.

Ohio Archaeology Month

I have also been organizing "Hopewell Discovery Day: An Adventure in Archeology." This event will be held on Saturday October 15th from 10am-3pm. Attending this event will be several professional flint-knappers, Archeaological displays by the Mound City Chapter of The Archaeological Society of Ohio, an Atlatl demonstration and competition, Ranger-led Mound Tours every hour by yours truly, and much more. All fees are waived and all activites are free! This even it a part of Ohio Archaeology Month, October 2005.

ONCE IN A GENERATION EVENT!!!!

Another large event happening during Ohio Archaeology Month is Octagon Moon Rise. If you haven't heard, well then mark your calendars now! October 22nd marks a celebration of the 18.6 year cycle of the moon that aligns with the great octagon and circle at the Newark Earthworks. I will be out there in uniform that day talking about the Newark twin in Chillicothe that we call High Bank Works.

Hope you can make it out to these exciting archaeological events!