SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2007
MORNING SESSION
Stone Vessel Stylistic Variation, the Burning Spring Branch Site (46Ka142)
Flora Church, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., Berlin Heights, Ohio
An assemblage of 255 stone vessels, preforms, and remnants was recovered from Late Archaic contexts at the Burning Spring Branch site in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Steatite and sandstone vessels were present; evidence suggests on-site manufacturing of the sandstone sample. A detailed analysis of the vessel forms indicated that bowls predominated; these exhibited distinctive stylistic variations in the forms of lugs. In addition, analysis revealed engraved decorative motifs on a number of both sandstone and steatite vessels. These consisted of linear elements that appear to have been largely restricted to the rim and/or appendage portions of vessels.
Late Prehistoric Ceramics at the Burning Spring Branch Site (46Ka142)
Stevan C. Pullins, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., Hurricane, West Virginia.
The Burning Spring Branch Site (46Ka142) is a multicomponent site located on the Kanawha River in Kanawha County, West Virginia. The Late Prehistoric component includes a palisaded village. This paper will focus on a preliminary description of the shell-tempered Late Prehistoric ceramics recovered from the site.
Evidence for Siouan-Speaking Groups in the Kanawha Valley: Darla Spencer, Cultural Resource Analysts, Hurricane, West Virginia
Since the first Europeans entered the Kanawha Valley over 300 years ago, historians, ethnologists, and archaeologists have struggled with the identities of the native people who had lived there. Because the villages were abandoned when the first settlers arrived in western Virginia, the ethnic/linguistic identities of the Native Americans that inhabited the Kanawha Valley were not obvious. However, several lines of evidence point to the presence of Siouan-speaking groups in the valley. This paper will present historic, linguistic, and archaeological evidence for a Late Prehistoric/Protohistoric Siouan presence in the Kanawha Valley. In addition, it will revisit early ethnohistoric accounts of Siouan occupations and migrations in the Ohio Valley and look at oral traditions of Siouan-speaking peoples today.
The Van Bibber Reynolds Site (46Ka223): Early and Late Holocene Occupations at a Stratified Site in Kanawha County, West Virginia
C. Michael Anslinger, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., Hurricane, West Virginia.
In 2000 Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc. conducted data recovery excavations at the Van Bibber Reynolds site in advance of constructions associated with the Marmet Lock Replacement Project. Excavations, which were funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington District, exposed a buried soil A horizon that marked an unconformable contact between two temporally distinct geological units. The lower unit dated to the early Holocene and contained a rich deposit of Early Archaic materials and a small quantity of Late Paleoindian artifacts. The upper unit contained a mix of late Holocene deposits, the majority of which dated to the Late Woodland period. This presentation provides an overview of site geology and the archaeological data collected from the site.
Lizard Effigy Vessels
Jim Glanville, Independent Researcher, Blacksburg, Virginia.
This paper reviews the fifteen known ceramic Mississippian vessels decorated with appliqué lizards or lizard-like strap handles and adds two newly located specimens. Fourteen of the known specimens come from burials at the Fort Ancient sites of Madisonville, Ohio, and Orchard, West Virginia (46Ms61). Fort Ancient site broken lizard effigy fragments are noted. The two newly located specimens from Smyth County, Virginia, and Stokes County, North Carolina are pictured and discussed. Three related effigy vessels from Virginia (two also newly located) are pictured and discussed. One principal conclusion is that lizard effigy vessels come from a considerably wider geographic range than previously recognized.
AFTERNOON SESSION
Miller Hill Mound (46BO18): Its Destruction and Salvage Efforts
David N. Fuerst, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky.
Late in September 2007, the Miller Hill Mound (46BO18) in Boone County was unwittingly bulldozed by its landowner for a house he is planning to build just south of Madison, West Virginia. The rock and earthen mound, which Dr. Edward V. McMichael registered for Sigfus Olafson in 1960, was 5 feet tall, 35 feet long, and 23 feet wide, and is located on a bluff between two tributaries of the Little Coal River. On October 5, 2007, Craig Ferrell, Brantley Jackson, Marvin Bunting, and the author documented the current condition of the mound and the presence of a rock feature in association with possible cremated human bone remains and chert debitage. This report briefly describes the salvage and stabilization efforts and discusses our future plan of action.
An Analysis of Historic Materials Salvaged from the Glenwood Quarters
By William D. Updike, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., Hurricane, West Virginia.
In 2006 the Humanities Department of the Marshall University Graduate College received a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council to begin a multi-disciplinary research project focused on Glenwood, an antebellum Charleston, West Virginia residence. As part of this research, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., of Hurricane, West Virginia, was contracted to analyze an assemblage of historic artifacts recovered beneath the floor of the Quarters during renovations in 1980. The following presentation provides information on the history of Glenwood, the previous archaeological investigation of the Quarters, and the results of the analysis of the artifacts recovered from the Quarters.
The Glenwood Estate: Landscape Archeology and the Development of Urbanization in Charleston
Robert F. Maslowski, Marshall University Graduate College.
Glenwood, a historic estate in the west end of Charleston, was built by the Laidleys in 1852 and was subsequently owned by the Summers and Quarrier families, some of the most prominent families of Charleston. Glenwood reflects the transition from rural to urban life, slavery to servants, and agriculture to industry in the Kanawha Valley as well as Appalachia. The Glenwood archival collections contain extensive written and visual materials on the early history of Charleston as well as family histories of some of the most prominent people in Charleston. The Marshall University Graduate College owns and maintains the house and approximately two acres of land surrounding the house. This paper uses Google Earth, early maps, deeds and aerial photography as well as the Glenwood archival material to interpret changes in land use patterns in terms of landscape archeology.
Update on Frontier Fort Project, 2007
W. Stephen McBride, McBride Preservation Services, and Kim A. McBride, Kentucky Archaeological Survey
In 2006-2007, Drs. Kim A. McBride and W. Stephen McBride continued their ongoing archaeological research of eighteenth-century frontier sites in the Greenbrier/Middle New River valleys of West Virginia. This paper provides results of work at Jarrett’s Fort in Monroe County and Warwick’s Fort in Pocahontas County. At both sites they have made progress in locating and excavating stockade sections, and have expanded their assemblage of fort period artifacts. The results at Warwick’s Fort are especially intriguing. Both sites also have prehistoric occupations. Excavations have also been conducted at a French and Indian War fort, Fort Ashby, in Mineral County, WV.
“You’re Not in West Virginia Anymore, Dorothy”: Mentoring a New Generation of Archaeologists in Cambodia
Wesley Clarke, graduate student, Southeast Asia Studies Program, Center for International Studies, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
During the nearly five-year reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (1975-1979), most categories of professional endeavor were decimated, including the small community of indigenous archaeologists. In fact, it is said that only one Cambodian archaeologist survived this period. Since 1996, the Lower Mekong Archaeological Project (LOMAP) has worked to provide practical field experience for Cambodian archaeology students on the broad padi fields of southern Cambodia. LOMAP is a joint project of the University of Hawai’i and the Royal University of Fine Arts archaeology faculty in Phnom Penh. This presentation will give a brief overview of the author’s recent experience as a volunteer mentor with LOMAP at the ancient settlement of Angkor Borei, in southern Cambodia near the border with Vietnam.
Progress at the Grave Creek Mound Archaeology Complex
Andrea Keller and Scott Speedy, Grave Creek Mound Archaeology Complex, Moundsville, West Virginia.
An up-date on progress at the Grave Creek Mound Archaeology Complex, including the construction of a new addition for housing West Virginia’s archaeological collection and other plans for the facility.