Sunday, October 28, 2007

21st Annual Highlands Archaeological Conference


The 21st Annual Highlands Archaeological Conference held on Saturday, October 27, 2007 at the Lautenburg Visitor Center, Sterling Forest State Park began with a preview tour led by Ranger Doc Bayne of the “Iron Trail” that visited the ruins of the various Sterling Iron Works that operated from about 1794 through 1923.



“The Great Algonkian Flint Mines at Coxsackie, NY, A photographic visit to one of the most important Indian localities within New York State” by IOCCNYSA member, Eric X. Dratch led off the afternoon’s formal session. Since Eric was called away on business, Ray Decker assisted by Clif Patrick presented Eric’s paper.


IOCCNYSA chapter President, Kevin Storms closed the conference with his excellent: “Drawing on the Past.”

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Update on: ANNUAL IOCCNYSAA DINNER RESERVATIONS!

Dinner reservations sent by check to Ray Decker MUST arrive before November 5th!


Call Chuck Tudor at 845-562-9395 or Sharon Assmus at 845-343-1671 for dinner reservations, if you miss the above deadline.

 

Tickets for the dinner are $38.00 each and your payment should arrive before Nov. 5, 2007 to: IOCCNYSAA 

C/o Harold R. Decker 

60 Decker Drive, RD 4 

Middletown, New York 10940


Please indicate which entree you would like: 

Chicken Piccatta Prime Rib of Beef 

Filet of Salmon with Fine Herbs Vegetarian Meal on Request 


For more information please call: Chuck Tudor at 845-562-9395 or Sharon Assmus at 845-343-1671. Lecture is free & open to the public starting at 8:45 PM 

Tom Lake's presentation at October meeting.

At our October meeting Tom Lake, Archaeologist with City/Scape: Cultural Resource Consultants, gave an very interesting briefing on his prehistoric findings at the future site of the Orange Regional Medical Center Site, off East Main Street in Middletown. They investigated the areas of the site that will be disturbed by the construction.  Finding no habitation sites, the artifacts recovered, which included 49 points, mostly date from the 4,800 to 3,700 year before present period.  The findings suggest that the site was used mostly for hunting/gathering and apparent tool repair, with indications that the people likely visited the studied site for periods of hours but not much longer.


He also enlightened as the conflicting pressures in Cultural Resource archaeology versus academic archeology and differenting priorities of archaeology versus paleontology studies.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Preliminary Prehistoric Findings at the Orange Regional Medical Center Site

At 8:30 pm, following the regular monthly IOCNYSAA meeting:

Tom Lake, Archaeologist with City/Scape: Cultural Resource Consultants will reoprt on the “Preliminary Prehistoric Findings at the Orange Regional Medical Center Site” (OPRHP 06PR04643) in the Town of Wallkill, Orange County, New York


Tom Lake is an archaeologist and has been a member of the NYSAA since 1994. He teaches anthropology at SUNY Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, including the Prehistory of the Hudson Valley.  He also works for the NYSDEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program as its Estuary Naturalist, where he conducts research, education, and edits the Hudson River Almanac, a natural history journal now in its 14th year. He received his B.A. at the State University of New York at New Paltz  and did his graduate study at the State University of New York at Albany.



The monthly the Incorporated Orange County Chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association meeting Friday evenings at 7:30 pm in the community room of the Goshen Methodist Church, 115 Main St, Goshen, NY 10924.  Please enter by the side door on Court Lane. The community room is one flight up and to your right.


Goshen United Methodist Church

(845) 291-3943

115 Main St

Goshen, NY 10924


The public is invited to attend.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

In Search of the Lenape: The Delaware Indians Past and Present.

The Incorporated Orange County Chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association cordially invites you to its annual dinner to be held at The Eagle's Nest Restaurant, 58 Eagle's Nest Road, Bloomingburg, New York on Friday November 16th, 2007 at 6:30. 

Our guest speaker will be David Oestreicher speaking on In Search of the Lenape: The Delaware Indians Past and Present. 






A lecture by David Oestreicher 

For twelve thousand years, the region that is now lower New York, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware was home to groups of Lenape (Delaware Indians) and their prehistoric forebears. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, however, after a tragic series of removals that had taken them halfway across the continent, the broken remnants of these tribes had finally come to settle in parts of Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Ontario. By the early 20th century, only a handful of elders could still speak their native language, or had any knowledge of the traditional ways. 

In this lively and engaging talk, David M. Oestreicher gives a brief overview of the prehistory of the Mid-Atlantic region, describes how the Lenape and their neighbors subsisted at the time of European contact, why they ultimately left their traditional homelands, and where they are living today. Dr. Oestreicher touches upon the major historic events that took place involving the Lenape, and relates how the Lenape language, ceremonies, religious beliefs and life ways were impacted by removal. The talk includes a slide program featuring Lenape artifacts, maps, illustrations and photographs of various life activities, including portraits of some of the most important tribal traditionalists - those who were the last repositories of their culture. The talk concludes with an account of efforts today by the Lenape and their neighbors to reclaim their ancient heritage and revive long abandoned traditions. 


Dr. David Oestreicher Independent Scholar 

David M. Oestreicher is recognized as a leading authority on the Lenape (Delaware) and related tribes, having for years conducted research among the last tribal traditionalists. He is curator of the award-winning traveling exhibition, In Search of the Lenape: The Delaware Indians, Past and Present, which the New York Times described as "an extended reverie,” capturing "the vitality and poignancy of the Lenape saga." His writings have appeared in leading scholarly journals and books, and several years ago he completed the final portion of the late Herbert C. Kraft's The Lenape/Delaware Indian Heritage: 10,000 B. C. - 2000 A. D. a tome subsequently hailed by scholars as the seminal work on the Lenape. 

Oestreicher holds a master's degree in Hebraic Studies from New York University (1985), and a master’s degree and doctorate in anthropology from Rutgers University (1991, 1995). 


NOTE:  Dr. Oestreicher’s lecture is open to the public without charge.


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DINNER RESERVATIONS SHOULD BE SENT BY CHECK TO RAY DECKER. 

Tickets for the dinner are $38.00 each and your payment should be sent before Nov. 9,2007 to: IOCCNYSAA 

C/o Harold R. Decker 

60 Decker Drive, RD 4 

Middletown, New York 10940


Please indicate which entree you would like: 

Chicken Piccatta Prime Rib of Beef 

Filet of Salmon with Fine Herbs Vegetarian Meal on Request 


For more information please call: Chuck Tudor at 845-562-9395 or Sharon Assmus at 845-343-1671. Lecture is free & open to the public starting at 8:45 PM