The 50th anniversary medallion

Dear fellow Members,
Please remember to get your 50th anniversary medallion if you haven't already.Please contact me at kstorms@hvc.rr.com to make arrangements,Thanks,Kevin
Clifpatrickphoto

Ray Decker news!

On Jan 28, 2009, at 9:04 PM, H. R. Decker wrote: operation went well, all pain gone.   Home today.  Restricted for a few days for incision to heal.  RD  

Plans for February & March meetings

Dear Chapter Members,

            Since we have so many new members we are scheduling educational programs for the February and March meetings. The February meeting will cover pre-historical phases and point identification. In March we will cover tool identification. I believe these programs are important since many new members are not familiar with these topics. These programs will help them better understand future programs and assist with artifact identification in the field.

 

For those of you who are new to the archaeology of our region this is your chance to expand you knowledge of these topics. We hope that most of you can attend these meetings.

 

            I would like to determine which members can help present February’s program in the following ways:

 

1.    Provide a type set which consists of actual points

2.    Describe each historical phase.

3.    Provide points of various types that members can hold.

4.    Discuss the difference between various points.

 

I would also like to know who can assist with the program in March in the following ways:

1. Provide various types of tools for the presentation.
2. Show how to identify various types of tools.

 

If you can help with any of these requests please let me know as soon as possible so that I can determine what resources we have for these programs.

 

Sincerely,

Dave

New York State Archaeological Association email list

NYSAA-list.  This list has been developed to replace the former listerserve that Bart had run for years.  Due to his inability to maintain the list any longer, there had been a lapse in this important communication tool for the membership.  With the establishment of this new list, we hope to re-open those lines of communications.

This list is open to members of the NYSAA and others that apply and are approved.  To  join this group you must demonstrate a strong interest in New York State Archaeology and the issues that concerns the NYSAA.

This group is provided as a free service at Yahoo! Groups, a free, easy-to-use email group service. Please take a moment to review this message.  IN addition to serving as a listserve, this service also provides a webpage where members can post and exchange images, files, and links to other sites.  Additionally the service provides chat room capabilities where multiple members can create live time discussions.  To access these additional services you will need to create a Yahoo name (or use one you may already have).  While accessing this webpage is not necessary to be a part of the e-mail list, it does provide additional tools that some of you may find useful.

To learn more about the NYSAA-list group, please visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYSAA-list

Summer Trip to American Southwest

Hello fellow chapter members. I wanted to do a little advertising for a summer trip I am running. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Join SUNY-Orange’s Global Initiative: Sustaining the Earth in a visit to the Four Corners area of the American Southwest during Summer Session I. Despite this region’s uncompromising natural environment, it has been the home to numerous Native American groups for millennia as well as a rapidly expanding contemporary population. Our trip will explore both the natural and cultural landscape to examine the nuanced relationships between people and environment

Itinerary Highlights

• Tour the spectacular archaeological sites of Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde
• Explore the historic and contemporary Acoma Pueblo
• Historic Santa Fe
• Lectures and slide shows prior to departure to provide context
• Three liberal arts credits available for students

Terms and Tour Pricing

The trip will take place June 20-27 and the cost of the tour is approximately $950, which includes RT airfare, hotels, ground transportation, some meals and sightseeing. Note: cost does not include trip insurance, personal expenses, some meals, and transportation to/from NYC airport.

Contact Information

For further information and registration forms, please contact Dr. Cory Harris at (845)-341-4464 or click on this e-mail link cory.harris@sunyorange.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Global Studies
Prof. Paul Basinski, Chair

New book by Chapter Member Ed Lenik: "MAKING PICTURES IN STONE: AMERICAN INDIAN ROCK OF THE NORTHEAST"

MAKING PICTURES IN STONE is a companion volume to Lenik's PICTURE ROCKS: NATIVE AMERICAN ROCK ART IN THE NORTHEAST WOODLANDS.  

Lenik's new volume adds coverage of  eastern Pennsylvania,  Maryland and the Washington DC area including sites on the Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers, their tributaries  and their watersheds.  New sites and objects from the New England states, Atlantic Canada, New York and New Jersey are also included.

MAKING PICTURES IN STONE is organized by type of artifact and covers portable rock art such as  decorated tools, pendants and gorgets, effigy heads and figures as well as as boulders and other non portable sites.

Lenik opens with a discussion of the Algonquian people in the Northeast who inhabited these areas when the Europeans arrived. He discusses their lifeways and belief systems as background to understanding the images they left behind.

Lenik introduces a pioneer rock art recorder, Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College from 1777 to 1795.  Stiles was the first to record rock art sites such as Dighton Rock.  George Washington is also a source of observations and comments on Native American rock art and carvings.

Chapters on culturally altered trees and landscapes in myth and legend expand the concept of rock art and address the issue of the comparative paucity of Northeastern rock art versus the wealth of Southwestern rock art in North America.

MAKING PICTURES IN STONE is well illustrated with photographs and drawings.  The reader is invited to consider the images, their locations and their significance.  

Professional archaeologists will find this volume a welcome addition to their bookshelves and everyone who always wanted to be an archaeologist will enjoy reading about sites and objects to be found in the Northeast.

Lenik is an active regional archaeologist who has investigated many historic and prehistoric sites in northern New Jersey, and southeastern New York.  A former member of the Wayne Township (NJ) Historical Commission, Lenik ran the Wayne Archaeological Lab at the Van Riper-Hopper House for many years.  He is a past president of the Archaeological Society of New Jersey and the Eastern States Archaeological Association.  Lenik is a founder and active member of the Eastern States Rock Art Research Association.

MAKING PICTURES IN STONE: AMERICAN INDIAN ROCK OF THE NORTHEAST

joins Lenik's other books which include:

IRON MINE TRAILS

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF WAYNE, NJ

INDIANS IN THE RAMAPOS

PICTURE ROCKS, NATIVE AMERICAN ROCK ART IN THE NORTHEST WOODLANDS

MAX SCHRABICH: ROCKSHELTER ARCHAEOLOGIST

A CLAY TOBACCO PIPE SAMPLER

Congratulations Ed!

THE ARCHAEOLOGIST, Vol. 1, January, 2009 Issued!

The latest issue to the “The Archaeologist” has been mailed to all members in good standing. - If you don't receive yours shortly, contact Ray or use the email link on this page to let us know.

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President's Message:

 Dear Chapter members: Priscilla and I hope you had a wonderful Holiday season and we wish you a Happy New Year. I look forward to working with the Chapter. Since December's meeting was cancelled, the program on Southwestern Petroglyphs is rescheduled for January. 

Since we have several new members who are unfamiliar with our region's pre-historic periods and point identification I hope to use our February and March meetings to address these issues. 

I will be asking members who are familiar with these topics and who have artifacts available to assist in preparing a type set. This will allow new members to examine points representing each type rather than just looking at a picture of it. Once point typology is completed, I also hope to cover other stone tools. I believe this is an important goal because our chapter is returning to the field. We are also planning the NYS Association meeting which we will host in 2010. I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting.

David Johnson, President. 

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Newsletter publisher and Treasurer Ray Decker will be undergoing back surgery January 20th and will not be in attendance at the regular meeting.  Best wishes for Ray's speedy recovery!