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TRANSCRIPT
INSIDE T HIS
ISSUE
In the News 1
Guest Speaker 2
Meeting Info &
Treasurer Note
3
Events 4
Legislative
Update Info
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Newsletter of the Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society ATLANTA ANTIQUITY
In the News
New technology, neighbors’ effects on Mvskoke society OKMULGEE, Oklahoma — During the colonial period, the introduction of new tools, weapons and ways of life by settlers in modern North America also brought changes to the indigenous people of the area. These aspects fostered curiosity and new ambition among the existing inhab-itants at an economic and cultural cost they did not fully grasp as a collective body at the time. Before occupation, the goods of Mvskoke people were pro-duced and distributed through a system controlled by hereditary chiefly elites according to ‘Households of Hegemony: Early Creek Prestige Goods, Sym-bolic Capital and Social Power.’ They also commanded large armies and worked to expand their influence geographically and politically. While this is a generally accepted summary of the pre-contact Mvskoke econ-omy and political structure, University of Georgia Archaeology Professor Dr. Victor Thompson is not fully convinced. “In one sense, we as archaeologists have sort of focused in on the platform mounds and things like that as indicators of status and of chiefly authority and it’s not that these models are wholly incorrect, I just think there’s a lot more to explore there,” he said. Thompson believes the existing model is over-simplified. “The thing is though that I don’t think you can say that there is one Mississip-pian economy,” he said. “There were economies.” While not fully discounting the existing broadly accepted inter-pretation, Thompson said the mo-tives and factors behind it need further exploration. “You had your subsistence economy where households are producing pretty much everything that they need and then they are overproducing a bit for tribute and trade and inter-action happens,” he said. “But re-ally understanding the mecha-nisms behind it, we just don’t have a handle on it.” (Image Right: Sterling Cosper/Manager) Wil-liam McIntosh (L) represents a faction of Mvskoke who were more willing to work with settlers dur-ing a pivotal period of European occupation for the tribe while Menawa (R) is a common figurehead of hardline traditionalists)
Bedrock of the Industrial Revolution, impact on culture
By Sterling Cosper; Edited from Original https://mvskokemedia.com/bedrock-of-the-industrial-revolution-impact-on-culture/
Continued on Page 4
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March Guest Speaker Steven Scurry: The Oconee War––Defending the Beloved Land:
Borderland Warfare in Georgia History 1783 – 1796
“Our land is like the flesh on our bones.” This poignant insight
was disclosed by Cussita Mico to convey the deep bond and inti-
mate identity which the Muskogee/ Creek people held for their
southern homelands. The view had particular resonance over
the rolling hills and fertile vales of the Oconee basin. Ancestral
homeland for several of the confederated tribal-towns, by the
closing decades of the 18th century, the river basin served as
the eastern borderlands and resource abundant winter
grounds for the people of the Muskogee/Creek nation. Their
successful defense of this country lasted the length of the Ameri-
can Revolution, but the conclusion of that violent conflict
brought a new sort of Georgian to their borders. We’ll bring the
war that broke out over this region into sharp focus, and delin-
eate the dramatic consequences to emerge from this prolonged
struggle in the southern borderlands.
Steven Scurry is a graduate of the University of Georgia. He
studied Anthropology at Western Carolina University before
completing his degree at U.Ga. A lifelong interest in American
Indian culture and history was initiated in learning of his own
family ties that criss-crossed the Oconee valley in Georgia’s early
years. Steven is a co-founder of Nowhere Archery, a traditional
school of archery in Athens, and is writing a book on the Oconee
War, the archive from which his lecture and presentation is
based.
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Nationwide Is On Our Side
Did you know you are covered by insurance when participating in a GAAS activity? All activities sponsored by GAAS, including the monthly meet-ings, are covered. All "digs" are covered such as Raccoon Ridge, Topper, Glass Site, Deer Run, etc. Coverage includes all accidental injuries not covered by other carriers, including unpaid deductibles, co-insurance amounts, first-dollar coverage, etc. Coverage starts when a member leaves for the GAAS event and continues until he (she) returns from the event. If there are no other carriers paying full charges there are "first dollar" benefits. Many thanks to long time member Jack Kilgore for initiating this benefit for members! —Lyn Kirkland
Our Next Meeting
April 10th
6:30pm
Fernbank Natural History Museum
767 NE Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30307
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...Continued from Page 1
Theory about the factors at play
The tribe did not fully unify through this transition period with some wishing to adapt and
assimilate to the settlers and others wishing to hold on to their traditions.
The communal way of living gave way to the introduction of the competitive concept of
European capitalism.
While internal competition and conflict with other tribes always existed, the new element
of foreign goods as well as military and political pressure put this in high gear.
“I’m interested in, one of the things I’m writing right now about is this concept of coopera-
tion and how people act collectively.
“And so that’s sort of the theme of the ‘Archaeology of Georgia’ book, it’s not just sort of a
here’s what archaeologists have found but it’s an examination of cooperation and acting
collectively over time and how these kinds of traditions have deeper roots. And yes,
there’s the other side of it, which is competition,” Thompson said.
Thompson presented a theory he had been mulling over.
“I think part of that is the way in which groups perceive change and risk and how they
deal with that collectively. To some extent there will be competing interests in a group but
then there’s also some pressure to act collectively and when that happens then that can
engender big changes.
“Exactly how that plays out with the coming of Europeans and the new commodities and
world systems that were seemingly disconnected,” he said.
He said there is evidence that these competing internal pressures, coupled with external
factors may relate to the overt disagreements that later occurred.
“One of the ethnohistorical accounts there in the 16th century, there are several accounts
of people wanting to be politically integrated or actually one group wanting to politically
integrate another group and them resisting that because they weren’t buying into whatev-
er the big idea was; whether it’s being subject to this person’s authority and things like
that.
“And particularly on the fringes of those polities, that’s where you get that sort of conflict,
these areas in between,” Thompson said.
Thompson held to his skeptical view on these working ideas. “Part of those mechanisms, we don’t understand them very well, you know of why certain conflicts develop,” he said. “I mean part of it could be due to just different longer-term his-tories of ‘I’m in this group, you’re in this group.’ ”
Read the full story at https://mvskokemedia.com/bedrock-of-the-industrial-revolution-impact-on-culture/
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“What was it like before Europeans settlers arrived here? Immerse
yourself in the world of art, music and ceremony of the Creeks and Cherokees.
Native Lands: Indians and Georgia shares the history and stories of the
state’s original inhabitants beginning with the Mississippian peoples and continuing with their descendants, the Creeks and the Cherokees.
Long before the first European settlers came to what is now called
Georgia, the Mississippian Indians developed complex societies on
these lands – complete with art, music, ceremony, agriculture, archi-tecture and trade industries. The Creeks and Cherokees left landmarks
and cultural legacies prior to their 1830s removal from the state on
the Trail of Tears. Native Lands explores Indians’ recent history and their continuing connections to Georgia through the voices of contem-
porary Creeks and Cherokees.” (atlantahistorycenter.com)
For more information and other exhibits at the Atlanta History Center, please visit www.atlantahistorycenter.com
Native Lands: Indians and Georgia
Atlanta History Center, through December 2018
EVENTS
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'Game Changer': Maya Cities Unearthed In Gua-
temala Forest Using Lasers
Edited from Original Article By: Merrit Kennedy from NPR:
All Things Considered, February 2, 2018
By raining down laser pulses on some 770 square miles of dense forest in north-ern Guatemala, archaeologists have discovered 60,000 Maya structures that make up full sprawling cities.
And the new technology provides them with an unprecedented view into how the ancient civilization worked, revealing almost industrial agricultural infrastructure and new insights into Maya warfare.
"This is a game changer," says Thomas Garrison, an archaeologist at Ithaca Col-legewho is one of the leaders of the project. It changes "the base level at which we do Maya archaeology."
The data reveals that the area was three or four times more densely populated than originally thought. "I mean, we're talking about millions of people, conserva-tively," says Garrison. "Probably more than 10 million people."
The researchers fired LiDAR technology, short for "Light Detection and Ranging," down at the dense forest from an airplane. This research was organized by the PA-CUNAM LiDAR Initiative, and Garrison says the area's size is "more than double any other survey that's been done with this technology."
"As it flies the laser pulses hundreds of thousands of times per second," Garrison adds. "And every time one of those lasers hits a point of re-sistance it stops and sends back a measurement to the plane."
Some of these pulses make it all the way down to the forest floor. The data is then used to visually strip away trees and plants, ultimately mapping only the structures that have been hidden by jungle.
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A LiDAR image from Tikal PACUNAM/Marcello Canuto & Luke Auld-Thomas
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/02/582664327/game-changer-maya-cities-unearthed-in-guatemala-forest-using-lasers
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GEM & MINERAL TREASURES FROM THE SOUTHEAST see it in THE VAULT at the Tellus Museum December 2, 2017 through December 4, 2018
Come see the newest exhibit that highlights fabulous minerals found throughout the Southeastern United States. Behold beautiful emeralds and rare hiddenite crystals from North Carolina, learn why Tennessee has stunning calcite and fluorite specimens, and discover why the agatized coral from Tampa Bay has such exquisite detail. Gem & Mineral Treasures from the Southeast will open your eyes to the wealth of minerals found close to home. For more in-formation, visit www.tellusmuseum.org.
NATIONAL ASTRONOMY DAY Saturday, April 21, 2018 1 – 11 PM
LECTURE
2 PM – Atlanta Astronomy Club member Daniel Herron will share stunning images
and stories about the August 2017 Total Solar Eclipse. Visit www.tellusmuseum.org
for more details.
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Now at Fernbank:
The Secret World Inside You On view February 10 – May 6, 2018* Crawling on your skin, swimming in your gut, and traveling through your intestines are over 100 tril-lion teeny, tiny microbes. In fact, there are more microbes in and on your body than stars in the Milky Way.
Meet your microbiome, the community of microbes that keep your immune system, digestive system and brain working properly. Using larger-than-life models, videos, interactive experiences, unique games, and immersive displays, discover what and where these microbes are, how they help us, how we sometimes disrupt them, and how we can work with them to make our lives better than ever.
The Secret World Inside You is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York
(amnh.org).
Coming Soon to Fernbank:
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Visualization of separate LiDAR layers of the forest cover and of vegetation-free ground surface of the site of El Zotz. PACUNAM/Thomas Garrison
Continued from Page 6: You can think of it as digital deforestation. LiDAR allows scientists to accom-plish years or even decades worth of mapping in a single afternoon. For exam-ple, Garrison says he was part of a team that worked for some eight years to map less than a square mile at a site called El Zotz. The plane using LiDAR took data for 67 square miles in a matter of hours. "It's very humbling," says Garrison. "For those of us that spent our lives map-ping and slogging around this area ... you just sort of have to bow before the Li-DAR and accept the fact that it's better than you are." The team surveyed 10 separate areas. It took months to process the data. As the picture became clearer, Garrison said he would sent emails to his colleagues ex-pressing surprise at the magnitude. He recalls seeing an initial image of one area in northern Guatemala. "I saw this image and I said, the whole area is covered in Maya settlement. You won't be-lieve it," he adds. "And then once we got the actual data and saw the whole scope of it. We said, 'Wow, we're going to be able to really do something with this.'" Together, they are able to weave together a picture of individual city-states and their vast support network. Read the full story at https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/02/582664327/game-changer-maya-cities-unearthed-in-guatemala-forest-using-lasers
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Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University:
February 10 - November 11, 2018
“From domesticated pets to mythic symbols of divinities, felines played an important role in ancient Egypt for thou-sands of years. The Carlos Museum will present Divine Fe-lines: Cats of Ancient Egypt, an exhibition featuring cats and lions (and even dogs and jackals) in ancient Egyptian mythology, kingship, and everyday life. Drawn from pri-vate as well as public collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Carlos Museum, the exhibition will be on
display for nine months and showcase more than 100 objects exploring wild and domestic cats and dogs, feline and canine deities, animal burial practices, and lux-ury items decorated with feline and canine features. Divine Felines examines the duality of feline nature with objects such as the large limestone sculpture of a recumbent lion (305–30 BC), a diminutive bronze sphinx of King Sheshenq (945–718 BC), a cast-bronze figurine of a cat nursing four kittens (664–30 BC), and cat-shaped wooden coffins for cat mummies (664–332 BC). Also included are images of feline deities, am-ulets, and luxury items decorated with feline features, and a small section of the exhibition looks at the role of dogs and jackals in ancient Egypt. Image: Statuette of a Cat. Egyptian. Third Intermediate Period, 1076-723 BC. Bronze. Gift of Anne Cox Chambers. 2011.31.1.
For more information, visit www.carlos.emory.edu/exhibitions
GAAS at Archaeology Day at New South!
Once again, Georgia Archaeology Month is just around the corner during May. Many exciting events will be offered throughout Georgia and planning is well underway. (More about this com-ing soon.) At this time, I would like to remind everyone to circle Saturday, May 5th on their calendars and jot down "Archaeology Day at New South" . The events at New South will run from 10 AM to 2 PM. New South Associates is conveniently located at 6150 East Ponce de Leon Avenue in Stone Mountain. More details will follow in a separate announcement. but GAAS will have a booth and we will need staff to meet and greet the public. In addition, New South will have a few dozen events, exhibits, hands-on activities, etc. and can use volunteers. If you would like to help for 2-4 hours, please contact Sara Gale at [email protected] for details. At this point, help is needed at rock art and pottery making activities.
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Don’t forget to check out our sister organization, the
Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) for archaeology news and
upcoming events nearby, plus access to the Gwinnett Archaeology Bulletin!
GARS has a full line-up of talks and activities planned, so don’t miss out!
Preserving History Through Archaeology
http://thegars.org
http://thefortdanielfoundation.org
GARS Facebook
Fort Daniel Foundation Facebook
Are you interested in receiving updates about
legislation that affects archaeology, historic
preservation and other environmental concerns? If so, subscribe
to the 2017 Legislative Weekly Update emails put out by the
Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists.
Subscribe by sending an email to
Stay in the Know and
Support Cultural Resources!
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Officers
President John Mayes (404) 217-2126 [email protected]
Vice President Ansley Abra-
ham
(404) 790-6383 [email protected]
Secretary Les Heyward (678) 613-4915 [email protected]
Treasurer Lyn Kirkland (404) 872-5124 [email protected]
Board of Directors
Dr. Jeffrey Glover (404) 413-5164 [email protected]
Jenna Pirtle (404) 433-6194 [email protected]
Connie White (404) 375-0380 [email protected]
Dominic Day (478) 973-0981 [email protected]
Marty Benton (770) 642-1222 [email protected]
Newsletter Credits
Editor: Jessica M. Moss
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Many Thanks to You All!
Hello and thank you again to everyone who came out to see my colleagues and I
work on our current project presentations! It was a joy to present for you the re-
cent research that we have all been working on! We have been discussing making
this a yearly event; what are your thoughts?
In this issue, you have some recent reports from Mvskoke, and I highly encourage
you to read the full article linked within this issue! I was only able to print a few
pages of a much more complete work, and it is worth the read! Also, due to popu-
lar interest, I left the LiDAR article from last month in for one more month, just in
case anyone missed it. This technology is really exciting!
Have a wonderful April!
~Jessica M. Moss (or just Jes) ☺