spring 2013 newsletter... · 1 newsletter volume 37 no. 1 march 2013 2013 cta spring meeting, march...

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NEWSLETTER

VOLUME 37NO. 1

MARCH 2013

2013 CTA Spring Meeting, March 22, 2013Business Meeting—Camp Mabry, Building 8, Austin, Texas

CTA Social—Camp Mabry Picnic Grounds

Registration—9:00 AM

Call to Order—9:30 AM

Announcements

Approval of Minutes, Fall 2012 Meeting

Officers’ ReportsPresident (Rachel Feit)Past President (Mary Jo Galindo )Secretary (Kristi Ulrich)Treasurer (Carole Leezer)Newsletter Editor (Mindy Bonine)

Standing Committee ReportsAuditing (Mark Denton)CTA Communications (Mindy Bonine)Contractors List (Shelly Fischbeck)Curation (Laura Nightengale)Governmental Affairs (Nesta Anderson)Multicultural Relations (Mary Jo Galindo)Nominating (Bill Martin)Public Education (David Brown)

Special Committee ReportsAcademic Archeology and CRM (Jon Lohse)Anti-looting Committee (Jeffery Hanson)History (Doug Boyd)Membership (Becky Shelton)

Agency ReportsTexas Historical Commission (Pat Mercado-

Allinger)Texas Parks and Wildlife (Michael Strutt)Texas Department of Transportation (Scott

Pletka)Texas Archeological Research Laboratory

(Jonathan Jarvis)

Old BusinessTAAM Award RecipientsZac Seldon, Student Research Grant Recipient

New BusinessChapter 26 Rules Changes2013 Budget“Giving Back” to CTA MembersGrant for The Archaeology ChannelNominating Committee

Meeting Adjourns—12:00 PM

Lunch—12:00 to 1:30 PM

Current Research Presentations—1:30 to 4:30PM

CTA Social – 5:00 PMCamp Mabry Picnic Grounds (see map on p. 3)

In this issue…

President’s Forum........................2Map to Camp Mabry.....................3Officer’s Reports...........................5Committee Reports.......................6Announcements ...........................7Minutes (Fall 2012) ......................9TAAM Reports ..............................12Proposed 2012 Budget .................17Officers and Committee Chairs.....18Join the CTA Yahoo! Group..........19Membership Form........................20

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CTA Newsletter 37(1) March 2013

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By Rachel Feit

Time certainly does fly. It seems like only yester-day that I was writing the newsletter update forthe Fall 2012 meeting. I personally have beenburied in work and it seems like most other folks Italk to are similarly busy. That is the sign of ahealthy industry and we should all be thankful forthat.

The CTA is going strong, with new corporatemembers every year, and an overall budget sur-plus for operating expenses. This means we havemore money in the bank to raise archeologicalawareness, offer research grants, or use for otherpurposes. Over the past few months the otherCTA officers and I have been discussing how wecan use this money to benefit the archeologicalcommunity and the CTA membership. One ideais to offer a professional grant to working mem-bers for extra research on a site or project thatmay not be fully funded by project sponsors. An-other idea is to increase the yearly student grant,or TAAM month grants. We welcome ideas fromthe larger membership, so come to the Springmeeting prepared to discuss ways the CTA cangive back to the archeological community.

At the spring meeting we will also discuss theTHC’s proposed Chapter 26 rules changes aswell as other news that may affect our industry. Ihope also to hear from the Government Affairscommittee about what’s doin’ at the Lege thisyear. Things seem to have been awfully quiet sofar. We will hear from the nominating committeeabout who they propose as the next CTA prez.

During the afternoon sessions we have somegreat papers lined up and are hoping to get a fewmore. Although ideally I would like the session tofocus on recent projects at eighteenth throughtwentieth century sites in Texas, we already havea few presentations that deal with other topics.One presentation I am particularly looking forwardto is Rich Weinstein, Roger Moore, Jason Barrettand Charles Frederick’s paper on 41HR796. Thisprehistoric site is located on Cypress Creek inHarris County and contains Late Prehistoric andArchaic occupations, along with a buried Paleoin-dian component and several prehistoric inter-ments of unknown age. The site was at the centerof intense controversy when the Harris CountyHistorical Commission initiated a lawsuit against

TxDOT over alleged mishandling of the site. Atthe most recent Antiquities Advisory Board meet-ing, the board voted unanimously to include it asa State Archeological Landmark. Unexcavatedportions of the site within TxDOT's ROW havesince been covered with a cement cap and arenow protected. The media circulated a lot of mis-information about this site during the controversyand I know I am eager to hear from some of theprincipal players not just about the site, but alsowhat really happened.

I have a feeling that it will ignite another discus-sion about some of the provisions the Health andSafety Code and other matters. Therefore, I amleaving this presentation for last.

Another presentation that I suspect will sparksome discussion is from Digital Antiquity. Thesefolks are based in Tempe, Arizona and will beflying in to talk to the CTA about their non-profitorganization dedicated to enhancing preservationand access to archeological information and re-search. Their presentation will be first on theagenda.

See you at Camp Mabry!

President’s Forum

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Instructions:Everyone who comes to the meeting at Camp Mabry must bring a photo ID. Tell the guard that you areattending the CTA Spring Meeting in Building 8 or that you are attending the CTA Social on the picnicgrounds. Please do not park in the small parking lot at the west entrance of Building 8, but continue onto the large parking lot to the east. Anyone who is NOT a current member and plans to attend the meet-ing or social will need to contact Kristi Miller Ulrich ([email protected]) to register. Lunch can be pur-chased on site or there are several restaurants nearby.

CTA Spring Meeting

Camp Mabry

Building 8

Austin, Texas

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ShareYour Current Research with Members of theArchaeological Community!

CTA is looking for short 10-20 minute long presentationsto be given at our Spring 2013 Meeting at Camp

Mabry.Your presentation may beeither formal or informal, with aPowerPoint presentation or

without.

The topic for this year’s paper session is historicalarchaeology in Texas. Those of you who have worked on historicalarchaeological projects recently—eighteenth to twentieth century

sites—are particularly welcome to present a paper. Of course, otherinteresting papers would be accepted if time slots are

open.

The presentations will begin at 1:30 PM right after the business meetingand lunch on March 22, 2012 in Building 8 of Camp Mabry.

To submit your presentation idea and reserve a slot, contact the CTAPresident, Rachel Feit, at [email protected], and be sure to forwardyour abstract by March 15!

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Officer’s Reports

Secretary ReportKristi Miller Ulrich

Happy Spring!! I just wanted to take a moment toremind you all that it’s time to renew your mem-bership with CTA. Memberships are on yearlybases from January to December, so your 2012membership expired on December 31, 2013. Cur-rently we have two student members, 62 profes-sional members and 23 contractors who haverenewed or recently joined CTA for the 2013 cal-endar year. You can pay online via PayPalt h r o u g h t h e C T A w e b s i t e(www.counciloftexasarcheologists.org) or by com-pleting a membership renewal form (also on ourwebsite) and mailing it with a check to Council ofTexas Archeologists c/o Kristi Ulrich, Center forArchaeological Research, The University ofTexas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, SanAntonio, TX 78249. Please review our member-ship fees, as contractor’s fees have changed forthe 2013 year.

Also, please take a moment to join the CTA_orgYahoo! Group. All notices to the CTA member-ship are posted to this email list and this is ourmain way of communicating with the CTA mem-bership. If you are not currently on this list, pleaseforward your current email address to MindyBonine at [email protected] and she willsee that you are added to the list server.

Treasurer ReportCarole Leezer

In this issue of the CTA newsletter, you will find aproposed 2013 budget. Please review and beready to discuss and vote on the proposedbudget at the Spring meeting. As of February 18,2013, our Checking account contains $7,049.86;the Money Market account contains $18,899.97;and our Scholarship Fund contains $8,763.02.

Thank you to Nancy Kenmotsu for her donationsto the Scholarship Fund!

Newsletter Editor ReportMindy Bonine

I would like to remind everyone again that thisnewsletter has an announcements section thatcan be used by anyone in the membership to getthe word out on current activities. I do not empha-size it enough in my “Calls for Articles” on theCTA Yahoo! Group, but ANY topic that might beof interest to our membership is welcome in theannouncements section of the newsletter. Thisincludes, but is not limited to, fieldschools, confer-ences, workshops, symposia, website launches,etc.

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Committee Reports

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Communications Committee and Ad hocCommittee for CTA Website UpdateMindy Bonine

Akismet is alive and kicking! I have paid the duesfor a one-year subscription for the spam blockingprogram, thanks to a generous contribution froman anonymous member. As a result, commentscan now be posted to any page on the CTA web-site. Here is how the comments work:

You can click on “Leave a Comment” at the bot-tom of any post or page, and write your com-ments after entering your name and email. Yourfirst comment will be approved by me—to makesure you are a real person. Afterwards any addi-tional comments will not need to be approvedbefore they are posted.

I will be the moderator for the comments to thewebsite, and I will strictly enforce a professionaldecorum in all responses. Fell free to disagree,but please write as if you were submitting a re-view to a professional journal. Anyone not adher-ing to these standards will get one warning, thenthey will be prohibited from posting in the future.

In short, play nice!

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THC Rules Review, Revisions & Adoptions Update

As reported in the fall 2012 issue of the CTA newsletter, the Texas Historical Commission (THC)has undertaken a systematic review of its current rules in the Texas Administrative Code (Title 13Cultural Resources, Part 2 Texas Historical Commission). Revisions to Chapter 24 (Restricted Cul-tural Resource Information) have been approved without changes to the text as published in theNovember 28, 2012 issue of the Texas Register. The March 1, 2013 issue of the Texas Register willinclude notice of adoption of revisions to both Chapter 28 (Historic Shipwrecks), and Chapter 29(Management and Care of Artifacts and Collections), without changes to the text as published inthe November 23, 2012 issue. In all three cases, no public comments were received during the 30-day comment period.

Proposed changes to Chapter 25 (Office of the State Archeologist) and Chapter 26 (Rules of Prac-tice and Procedure for the Antiquities Code of Texas) are more substantial, warranting the repealof the existing rule and replacement with the new rule. In the case of Chapter 25, the new ruleeliminates outdated terminology and procedures. It also includes necessary updates, additions, clari-fications and streamlining to better reflect the programs and procedures of the Texas HistoricalCommission’s State Archeological Program, formerly known as the Office of the State Archeolo-gist. Additionally, the Chapter 25 title will be changed to State Archeological Program.

In the case of the Chapter 26 rules, there has been a major reorganization of sections, with subsec-tions associated with historic structures being substantially amended. Updates and changes to thesections that apply to archeological resources and permits are relatively modest. Subchapter E,Memoranda of Understanding with Other State Agencies includes newly updated MOUs with theTexas Department of Transportation (Section 26.25), Texas Water Development Board (Section26.26) and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (26.27).

Both of the proposed new Chapter 25 and 26 rules were approved by the members of the TexasHistorical Commission board on January 24, 2013 for first publication. These rules will appear inthe March 1, 2013 issue of the Texas Register (http://www.sos.state.tx.us/texreg/index.shtml), trig-gering a public comment period. Written comments should be sent within 30 days of publicationto:

Mark Wolfe, Executive Director

Texas Historical Commission

P.O. Box 12276

Austin, Texas 78711-2276

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THC NEEDS SHAPEFILES

By Marie J. Archambeault

As everyone is aware by now, the THC is operating with reduced staff, which has led to a backlog of archeologicalproject areas waiting to be added to the Archeological Sites Atlas. Currently, projects submitted after June 2012have not been added to the Atlas. As a result, the THC has found it necessary to formally request shapefiles forALL archeological projects at the DRAFT stage. This request is being formalized in the new rules revisions.

What is a shapefile? A shapefile is a geographically referenced data set used to represent features, such as apoint, line, or area. For more information on shapefiles, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapefile.

PROCESS: When a DRAFT report is sent to the THC for review, please also submit shapefiles for the Atlas to thefollowing email address: [email protected]. It is preferable to combine all of the files into acompressed (zipped) file, and then attach the compressed file to the email. If you do not have a program on yourcomputer to compress files, one free option is http://www.7-zip.org/.

Shapefiles can be created and submitted in a number of ways.

The preferred method is ArcGIS shapefiles. A shapefile actually consists of multiple files. In order to import thedata correctly, please be sure to include all of the necessary files, such as files with the extensions “.dbf”, “.prj”,“.shp”, and “.shx” (other extensions will be accepted also).

We recognize that the full ESRI ArcGIS software is expensive. We have identified several alternative programswhich are free, including ArcGIS Explorer, Quantum GIS, and Google Earth. Each has advantages and disadvan-tages.

ArcGIS Explorer is a basic program that allows you to directly import your GPS data, create survey boundaries,and provides you access to background imagery for free. Your data will be exported as an “.lpk”, which then mustbe zipped to send to the THC. The program works with CSV, XLS, KML, WMS, shapefiles, and more. This programcan be downloaded onto your PC at http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/explorer or can be used online withyour PC or Mac at: http://www.arcgis.com/explorer/.

Quantum GIS is a free open source GIS system that runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, Windows and Android. http://www.qgis.org/

Google Earth uses “.kml” files and will allow you to directly import your GPS data. Please visit Google Earth tutori-als at: http://www.google.com/earth/learn/. These files will be imported into ArcGIS.

Please be sure that your draft report includes the following data, which will be used to populate the attributestable on the Atlas: Project Type, Fieldwork Date, TAC Permit, Report Author, PI, Sponsoring Agency, InvestigatingFirm, and Project Planner. An attribute template is available by request.

Please send all questions to either Marie Archambeault at [email protected] or Dan Julien at

[email protected].

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Fall 2012 Meeting Minutes

CTA Fall 2012 MeetingOctober 26, 2012

Tyler, Texas

October 26, 2012 Tyler, Texas

Registration started at 9 am. The meeting was called to orderat 9:31 am.

Announcements:

Mary Jo Galindo announced the CTA Social will begin at 8PM. No additional announcements were made.

Approval of Minutes:

The first order of business was the approval of the SpringMeeting minutes published in the Spring 2012 Newsletter.Mark Denton motioned that the minutes be approved. Themotion carried.

Officer Reports:

President (Rachel Feit): President, Rachel Feit, had nothingnew to report.

Secretary (Kristi Miller Ulrich): Secretary, Kristi Ulrich, re-minded the members that memberships are on yearly basesfrom January to December. Thus, 2012 memberships weregoing to expire on December 31, 2012. At the time of themeeting, we have 13 student members, 149 professionalmembers and 59 contractors who had renewed or recentlyjoined CTA during the 2012 year. CTA also had two profes-sionals that have extended their memberships through 2013.To renew you membership for the 2013 year, you can payonline via PayPal through the CTA website or by completing amembership renewal form (also on our website) and mailing itwith a check to:

Council of Texas Archeologistsc/o Kristi UlrichCenter for Archaeological ResearchThe University of Texas at San AntonioOne UTSA CircleSan Antonio, TX 78249.

Please review our membership fees as contractors fees willchange for the 2013 year.

In addition, there looks to be several changes in email ad-dresses and names of some of the officers in this comingyear. Please take a moment to join the CTA_org Yahoo!Group. All notices to the CTA membership are posted to thisemail list and this is our main way of communicating with theCTA membership. This will be the quickest way to be up todate on changes and upcoming events and issues. If you arenot currently on this list, please forward your current emailaddress to Mindy Bonine at [email protected] and shewill see that you are added to the list server.

Treasurer (Carole Leezer): Treasurer, Carole Leezer, re-ported that as of September 19, 2012, our checking accountcontained $8,764.55; the money market account contained$18,898.49; and our Scholarship Fund contained $8,556.31.Please be aware that Contractor Listing fees were increasing

to $125 per listing for 2013; membership dues remain thesame - $30/$15 for professional members and $25/$15 forstudents.

Newsletter Editor (Mindy Bonine): Newsletter Editor, MindyBonine, was absent from the meeting but an update was pre-sented. Mindy was going to subscribe to the Akismet program.This was to allow people to post comments on our website.Mindy was busy having a baby and plans to work to get thatall set up.

Standing Committee Reports:

Auditing (Mark Denton): Mark Denton of the Auditing Commit-tee had nothing to report. The committee had not met sincethe audit for the Spring Meeting.

Communications (Mindy Bonine): Mindy Bonine was to speakabout the CTA Communications Committee, but an updatewas given in her absence. She has been maintaining the web-site. The Buckeye Knoll Report had just been posted on theCTA website. If anyone has other reports to be posted, pleasesubmit them. It was asked to make sure the report is vetted insome way and meets professional standards.

Mark Denton asked about the Buckeye Knoll Report, andwhether we appropriate agencies were contacted becausemaps of the site location were published. Rachel said that theproperty owner was in favor of making the report available tothe public. Bill Martin stated that he didn’t think that Corp ofEngineers was needed to be involved with making the deci-sion. Rachel believes that we are ok with publishing it.

Contractors List (Shelly Fishbeck): Shelly Fiscbeck reportedfor the Contractors List. She reminded everyone that her emailaddress had changed.

Curation (Laura Nightengale): Laura Nightengale, CurationCommittee, reported that the committee had not met and hadnothing to inform the membership. She suggested that theyneeded to meet.

Governmental Affairs (Rachel Feit): Nesta Anderson was toreport for Governmental Affairs but was not present. Rachelspoke on her behalf. The legislative session is coming upsoon. She didn’t know about what is going on with THC, or ifthere are bills that may be introduced to cut funding. She saidshe was cautiously optimistic. THC, as well as other agencies,will likely be facing some cuts. Hopefully these will not be assteep as the previous session. There may be a move to rein-troduce amendments to cemetery bill coming from farm asso-ciation.

Multicultural Relations (Mary Jo Galindo): Multicultural Rela-tions was report on by Mary Jo Galindo. Mary Jo continues tobe the liaison with TAS and Native American scholarship fund.She attended a powwow in San Marcos and will attend one inAustin.

Nominating (Bill Martin): Bill Martin spoke for the NominatingCommittee. If current members were going to continue theirpositions, they only needed to vote for President Elect at thespring meeting. Bill no longer knew who was on the commit-

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tee. Kathleen Turner Pearson and Tim Perttula offered to beon committee.

Public Education (David Brown): David Brown was not presentto update on the Public Education Committee.

Special Committee Reports:

Academic Archaeology and CRM (Jon Lohse): Jon Lohse wasnot present to speak about Academic Archeology and CRM.

Anti Looting (Jeffery Hanson): Jeffery Hanson was not presentto report on the Anti-Looting Committee. He had conductedone training outreach program. An email he sent to Rachelspoke of the results of the outreach program.

History (Doug Boyd): Doug Boyd had nothing new to report forthe History Committee. He did mention that electronic folderswith old CTA business should also go to him.

Membership (Becky Shelton): Becky Shelton was not presentto report for the Membership Committee. It was noted that ournumbers are low. We encourage people to join CTA.

Agency Reports:

THC (Pat Mercado-Aliinger): Pat was not present to speak,but Mark Denton spoke on her behalf. THC was going throughrule reviews right now. Most of the rules are going to be modi-fied, and Chapter 26 is going to be completely reorganized.The architects want their stuff compiled in one area. All threeof the MOUs with TxDOT, TPWD, and Water DevelopmentBoard will be redone. The TxDOT revisions will be extensive.In the new version, the language about federal antiquitiescode and Section 106 will be removed. The current versionwill be published and then the new version will be published.Mark acknowledged that this will look confusing. Pay particu-lar attention to the TxDOT MOU changes.

In addition, TxDOT is funding a project with the THC that isgoing through a backlog of records to find eligibility status andput them on the Atlas. They need more time for Dan Julian toget that information on the Atlas. They are currently workingwith the data. Mark noted that there are probably not a lot ofeligibility calls for sites identified prior to 1983. They are look-ing for reports in digital form to be able to link them.

In regards to the Health and Safety code, there is a high prob-ability that the Farm Bureau will sponsor the changes. SteveDavis is spearheading an effort to make sure that changes arenot too involved.

Mark also spoke about the Harris County Project. Burials werefound during the project, and a lawsuit against THC was filed.THC found that there is contradictory language in the Code ofCriminal Procedures. If any human remains are found, theMedical Examiner needs to be brought in. The Health andSafety code was cited, but failed to note the professional ar-chaeologist clause. Mark stated that it turned out to be a lot ofego stuff. People from the Medical Examiner’s Office showedup to see the forensic archaeologists, and they were oldschool buddies.

Mark was asked if there could be a summary of the repeal andreplace for agencies to better understand the changes. Marknoted that there will be a version that will show what is beingadded and changed. Hopefully, it will be posted on the CTA

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website.

Mark felt that the TxDOT MOU will be impossible, and that weare just going to have to figure that one out ourselves. Prettymassive changes, but will talk to Scott about what those en-tail.

Marie Archambault spoke about shapefiles. Currently, 10% ofher time is dedicated to Atlas updates, so it is critical that youget her all the information at one time. She recommended thatyou send all the shapefiles that you can. She acknowledgedthat ArcGIS is expensive, but there are other options. There isa free version online. There are also non-ESRE programs andfree software online as well, and those can be used. There isan at-home use version for ArcGIS which is like $100. Currentbacklog is going back to April. She reiterated that they needhelp from us by submitting shapefiles. They are needed at thedraft report stage, not at the final report stage. This is becausethere may be stuff in drafts that was not put in finals. SendMarie emails if you have questions and problems, but maytake a couple weeks. She will work with you. Send the shape-files at the draft report stage and please send those to thegroup email, [email protected] when youare sending the draft to the reviewer. THC is working withTxDOT to make sure that TxDOT will get the shapefiles toTHC. Please ask the TxDOT reviewer if they would like you tosend shapefiles directly to THC or if they will do it themselves.Marie re-emphasized the free options. She mentioned that theengineers that hired you will likely have their own program andthey can make the shapefiles for you.

State Marine Archaeologist (Amy Burgdon): Marine basedCRM projects are not currently in the Atlas. That informationwill soon be incorporated. She proposed additions to the cur-rent CTA guidelines. Marine CRM is not addressed in there,and guidelines for data collection methods and additionalinformation are needed for marine sites. Marine CRM firmshere are already following standardized guidelines, but if thereis an outside or newer firm working in Texas they may notknow standards. CTA guidelines will help keep everyone onthe same page. Additions to the current guidelines would help.She suggests that maybe a subsection would suffice.

TPWD (Michael Strutt): Michael spoke about GIS information.If you are working with them, the shapefiles and draft reportsgo to them (TPWD), they will review, and will send it forwardto the THC. TPWD will insure that the data fits both parties’needs.

During the Legislative session the Graffiti Bill was introducedthat would protect historic structures and rock art. They arehoping that the bill remains in play. There is a clause in the billthat if juveniles are caught, the parents or guardians will havemajor restitution, not just cleaning up.

On the subject of third party projects, Chris Lintz says thereare a lot of gas and oil projects going on. Contact him if youknow that a project will cross TPWD property. Also contactMichael Strutt. These projects may require additional require-ments on TPWD property to finish the project. Contact himprior to the beginning of the project to be walked through therequirements. It will take a little longer to hear back fromChris, so contact TPWD too. You may hear back from TPWDa little sooner. Wildlife Enhancement Projects may have Sec-tion 106 triggers. If working on WMA, contact Chris andTPWD.

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It was reported that Logan McNatt retired. They will be adver-tising the position soon.

TxDOT (Scott Pletka): Waldo Troell spoke on behalf of ScottPletka. There were four contracts awarded this session. Inaddition, for future applications, streamlining will take burdenoff of you to prove your qualifications.

TARL (Jonathan Jarvis): Good News, bad news, and GoodsNews. The first bit of good news is that the demise at TARLhas been greatly exaggerated. The bad news, though, is thatthe rates are going up dramatically. University overhead isbeing added to the fees starting January 1, 2013. TARL willwork with some firms if needed. TARL will give a discount onsite form fees that will be applied to all sites with GIS data, notjust the larger projects. Not everyone is aware of that.

KLM and KMZ files will be accepted, but there will be somegive and take involved. These will count as GIS data. Jona-than recommended the Quantum GIS program. Also, he sug-gested downloading ESRIs ArcGIS Explorer. This allows youto see if the shapefile works. Otherwise you run risk of send-ing a useless file. Jonathan mentioned that he doesn’t have awhole lot of time, but can help to walk you through if you needhelp. A shapefile is not just one file, usually four to seven files.Please remember to send them all.

TARL has done a training session paid for by THC. It wassuggested that maybe CTA should do a training session. Toset up a training session, a facility that has an area with com-puters is necessary. Jonathan will be teaching Huddler’s class

(Continued from page 10) in the spring. He suggested to those who could to try to auditthe class.

A break was taken at 10:35 AM.

Old Business:

Akismet Activation and Public Access to the website will beactivated soon. Mindy will post archaeological reports. Pleasesend those to her.

The Spring Meeting will be held in Austin, though the locationis still to be determined.

New Business:

Five TAAM Grant Recipients were awarded this year.

The THC rules on depicting site locations on publically acces-sible records were brought up again in reference to the Buck-eye Knoll Report. It was suggested the rules should be re-viewed. Kathy Pearson asked about having a “members only”way to access those reports. Rachel said that it may be diffi-cult to deal with and Mindy may not have the time to put theeffort into keeping passwords and other information.

Mary Jo noted that if membership was up to date, managingthe list may be easier. Rachel reiterated that membershipsneeded to be renewed.

There was a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion wassecond and the meeting was adjourned at 11:02 AM.

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Texas Archeology Awareness Month Reports

REPORT TO CTA ON FLINTFEST 2012

FlintFest is an annual event held on the first weekend in October, designed to kickoff Texas ArcheologyMonth. It takes place in the Texas Panhandle at the Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument Contact Sta-tion and is jointly sponsored by the National Park Service and the Friends of Alibates support group. It wasinitiated in 2010 as a one-day event, during whichexpert and amateur flintknappers demonstratedtheir skills for the public. In 2011 it was expandedto two days, and atlatl throwing was added as aparticipatory activity. FlintFest 2012 was trimmedto one and one-half days, but the number andvariety of demonstrations and interactive activi-ties was greatly increased.

Flintknapping demonstrations were still the focusof the event, and at least four knappers were pre-sent during the entire time. Archery was added tothe atlatl throwing this year, although based onthe evaluation of the supervisory volunteer it willnot be back next year. Interactive activities in-cluded:

corn grinding, using a basin metate and two-handed manopictograph drawing with water-based markers on both paper plates and rocksbracelet making with leather thongs and large beadsa ‘dinosaur dig’, consisting of the excavation with mallet and wooden stake of small plastic dinosaurs

embedded in sun-dried soil

Two native plant demonstrations consisted of:

pounding yucca stalks to expose the fibers,which were then woven into twineexamples of the edible products made frommesquite and prickly pear

Each activity or demonstration was supervised byuniformed NPS employees from the Interpretationand Resource Divisions, assisted by volunteers whowere members of the Friends group. Including theflintknappers, 16 persons participated in this event.The audience totaled ~ 200 over the 12 hours (9–5on Saturday and 1–5 on Sunday), with adults ex-ceeding youth by 2:1. Additional support was pro-vided by a local Boy Scout troop, who assisted with

the erection of a shade shelter over the flintknapping area, and by personnel from the NPS Law Enforcement,Fire, and Maintenance Divisions.

In addition to the usual media outlet publicity, a FlintFest 2012 poster was designed by a graphics arts class

Flintknapping Demonstration

Edible Plant Demonstration

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from a local high school.

CTA grant funds were used to:

purchase supplies for the various activitiesreplace supplies and repair equipment after theeventobtain a limited amount of Alibates flintprovide a light lunch on Saturday for the uni-formed staff and the volunteersprovide water for the visitorspublicity

Evaluations by uniformed NPS staff and Friends volun-teers were positive, offering thoughtful criticisms andvaluable suggestions that will be incorporated intothe planning for FlintFest 2013.

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Atlatl Throwing and Archery

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Editor’s Note: Another TAAM Grant was given to the El Paso Museum of Archaeology.Above is a copy of the poster they created for their TAAM event last October.

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18th Annual Interpretive Fair Weekend at Hueco Tanks State Park

Over 800 people attended Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site’s 18th Annual InterpretiveFair Weekend, held on October 20 and 21, 2012. The fair promotes awareness of archeology,cultural history, and stewardship at Hueco Tanks and throughout Texas. This year’s fairhosted the Mescalero Apache Dance of the Mountain Gods (or Gahe) Ceremony, in additionto many other attractions.

Boy Scout Troop 137 opened the fair on Saturday with aflag ceremony. Then, Irma Escontrias-Sanchez, grand-daughter of ranchers Silverio and Pilar Escontrias, gave apresentation on her family’s history at Hueco Tanks. Visi-tors were then treated to performances by FolkloricoCuauhtli and Danza St. Pius Matachines X. The GreatAmerican Indian Dancers shared dances from variousPlains Indian tribes, and the Mescalero Prevention Pro-gram Youth Dancers performed and held social dancesSunday afternoon.

The Gahe ceremony took place Saturday after sunset. With roots in Mescalero Apache leg-end, it is still practiced today as part of the Mescalero Apache coming of age ceremony for

young women and for other special occasions. HuecoTanks has been fortunate to host the ceremony everyfourth year since 2003 as part of the Interpretive Fair.

There were 13 volunteer or staff-led tours over the two-day event, including birding, hiking, rare plant, and picto-graph tours.

Between tours and performances, families tried atl-atlthrowing at the Mescalero Apache Tribal Historic Preser-

Magoffin Home Adobe

Gahe Dancers

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vation Office’s booth. Visitors also learned about archeo-logical techniques, conservation and flintknapping at abooth with Dr. David Carmichael and the University ofTexas at El Paso Anthropology Club. Other booths hadhands-on activities ranging from insect identification andtracking to adobe construction and water conservation.

Hueco Tanks staff would like to thank the Council ofTexas Archeologists for their generous grant, the TexasWildlife Association Foundation for their partnership, andour many volunteers for making this event possible.

The Interpretive Fair Weekend is a family-oriented eventheld annually on the third weekend in October, duringTexas Archeology Month. The fair is free to the public.

Mascalero Apache Social Dances

Hands-on UTEP Archeology Techniques

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Proposed 2013 Budget

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Committees

Academic Archeology and CRMJon [email protected]

Anti-lootingJeff [email protected]

Auditing *Mark [email protected]

Communications *Mindy [email protected]

Contractor's List *Shelly [email protected]

Curation *Laura [email protected]

Governmental Affairs *Nesta [email protected]

HistoryDoug [email protected]

MembershipBecky [email protected]

Multicultural Relations *Mary Jo [email protected]

Nominating *Bill [email protected]

Public Education *David O. [email protected]

Publications WebpageScott [email protected]

Survey StandardsMarianne [email protected]

*Indicates a Standing Committee

CTA Officers and Committee Chairs

Officers (Executive Committee)

PresidentRachel [email protected]

SecretaryKristi Miller [email protected]

TreasurerCarole [email protected]

Newsletter EditorMindy [email protected]

Please send any corrections to the NewsletterEditor.

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Joining the CTA_org Yahoo! Group is easy. Just choose one of the three ways to join outlined below.

Join the CTA Yahoo! Group

Search for CTA_org in Yahoo! Groups, and request to join. Thegroup administrator receives a message asking for approval,which they will grant if you are a CTA member. You will thenreceives notice that you have been approved. This method en-

ables group members to access the webpage for CTA_org, look at thecalendar, change their settings, review old messages, etc., as well assend and receive messages. It does require a Yahoo! ID, but is the easiestway to join.

1.

E-mail the group administrator at [email protected] ask to join. They will then send you an invitation to jointhe group, which side-steps the approval process and youcan join automatically. This method also enables group

members to access the webpage for CTA_org, look at the calendar,change their settings, review old messages, etc., as well as send andreceive messages. This method requires a Yahoo! ID, but is also a veryconvenient way to join.

2.

For those that absolutely DO NOT want to create a Yahoo! ID, there isone more way to join. This method involves the group administratoradding the person to the group manually. In this case the requestor willreceive an e-mail welcoming them to the group, and provides e-mail

addresses to post messages and to unsubscribe. If you choose this method, youcan only post messages via the e-mail address and receive copies of messagessent to the group. You will not be able to change their settings (such as request-ing a daily digest of messages), nor will you be able to access the webpage forthe group. This method of joining can only be used to send and receive mes-sages, nothing else. If this method is your choice, e-mail [email protected] more details.

3.

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Address correction only (see below)

I wish to join CTA.

I wish to join or renew my membership in CTA.

Company/Contractor to be listed $125.00

(Company listing also requires one of the following professional categories.)

Professional (annual income more than $20,000 per year) 30.00

Professional (annual income less than $20,000 per year) 15.00

Student (annual income more than $20,000 per year) 25.00

Student (annual income less than $20,000 per year) 15.00

Contractor listing late fee (assessed after Spring Meeting) $16.00

Donation to _____________________________________ $_____

Total amount remitted to CTA $

Automatically add my email to the CTA_org Yahoo! Groups Listserve.

For additional information or questions, please contact the following:

[email protected]@counciloftexasarcheologists.orgpostmaster@counciloftexasarcheologists.org

Membership is based on the calendar year Jan-Dec.

Council of TexasArcheologists

2013 Membership andRenewal Form

Return to:

Council of Texas Archeologistsc/o Kristi UlrichOne UTSA CircleCenter for Archaeological Research at UTSASan Antonio, TX 78249-0658

Name (please print):

Company/Institution:

Address:

City/State/Zip:

Phone: FAX:

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spring 2013 newsletter... · 1 newsletter volume 37 no. 1 march 2013 2013 cta spring meeting, march...

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