OKPAN QUARTERLY
Volume 2 (Issue 1)
Fall 2019
3 Letter from the Director
8 Oklahoma Archaeology Month Events Calendar
Your guide to all that's going on in Oklahoma in the month of October.
12 Community Spotlight: Oklahoma Archaeologists'
26 OKPAN Faces
Ongoing series highlighting OKPAN staff, volunteers, interns and advisory board members
25 Oklahoma Anthropological Society
4 Oklahoma Archaeology Month
24 Fall Events Calendar
Ongoing series highlighting OKPAN staff, volunteers, interns and advisory board members.
(Cover photo courtesy of Travis Caperton)
Oklahoma archaeologists were busy this past summer! See what they were up to and how you might get involved.
9 Update: Flooding at Spiro Mounds
The latest events and news from OAS.
Dennis Peterson speaks to the situation at Spiro following spring floods.
IN THIS ISSUE
Summer Projects
A letter introducing the fall issue from our executive director, Dr. Bonnie Pitblado.
Our fall events calendar for all things archaeology-related in Oklahoma.
October is Oklahoma Archaeology Month. See this years OAM poster!
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(Spring Wildflowers at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Elise Smith, CC BY 2.0) 6
Bonnie Pitblado OKPAN Executive Director, Robert E. and Virginia Bell Professor of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Oklahoma
Dear OQ Readers, This issue of OKPAN Quarterly (OQ) arrives on your screen as Oklahoma Archaeology Month (OAM) unfolds. I hope you’ve had occasion to participate in an OAM event or two and that you’ll hit more of them before October fades into November. If you don’t attend a formal OAM activity, not to worry! Oklahoma’s tribal nations, museums, historical societies, universities and others are always cooking up fun ways to involve the public in the quest to understand the past. OKPAN will keep you posted on these through OQ and our Facebook page. With just over a year of OQ publication under our belts, our editorial team has decided that to fully develop the sorts of meaningful stories we want to deliver to our readers, we need longer lead times. For the moment, at least, we will therefore publish OQ twice per year, in the fall and spring. This will allow our writers to propose stories, research them, travel in person to gather information and meet the people we profile, snap customized photographs, and ultimately craft even higher-quality articles for you. That said, we are not changing our name, because we foresee a time that we continue delivering content to you, well, quarterly! For now, please enjoy learning about what Oklahoma archaeologists did this summer, the busy season for most archaeologists, including yours truly (for more on my summer exploits, please read the piece by Amber Vinson, who participated in my “OU in Colorado” field school and now works for OKPAN. If you are interested in learning more about what Amber, myself, and our OU crew did, you can read the posts on our Facebook page, “OU Archaeology in Colorado” While many Oklahoma-based archaeologists work in-state—including me, some of the time—you will see that others work throughout the world. All of us do our best archaeology when our work is informed not just by research “next door,” but by information we gather from around the world.
Dr. Bonnie Pitblado
Letter from OKPAN'S Executive Director
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Oklahoma
Month
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Archaeology
October 2019
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2019 Proclamation from Governor Kevin Stitt, declaring October Oklahoma Archaeology Month.
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t’s Archaeology Month in Oklahoma! Our state joins forty-two others in designating a specific month each year to celebrate our land’s unique cultural heritage, as well as our responsibility to preserve it for future generations. This annual celebration, which spans the month and extends from Lawton to Bartlesvile and Kingfisher to Durant, originally began as an archaeology week at the State Fair in the early 1990s. At the time the state fair was one of the largest in the nation and drew crowds by the thousands. As attendance and awareness grew, Oklahoma eventually came to adopt the month of October as its official archaeology month. Today a number of people and organizations play a part in making Oklahoma Archaeology Month a success each year. From tribal nations to museums, universities, libraries, and schools, the events seek to represent the entire archaeological community and raise awareness about the multiple voices, perspectives and contributions to the field. This year we have a number of events spread across the state and throughout the month of October. From a Chuck Wagon Gathering and Dinner at the Chisholm Trail Museum to an Archaeology Day at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, to a celebration of Archaeology Month at Spiro Mounds, there is something for everyone! A long-standing tradition and the main tool used for raising awareness about archaeology month is the crafting of a poster representative of each state’s unique archaeology and relationship to the past. These posters are circulated throughout the state, displayed in places ranging from coffee shops and daycares to university libraries and offices of government. The posters are also entered into a competition sponsored by the Society for American Archaeology each spring and voted upon by all who attend the annual conference. This year’s Oklahoma Archaeology Month poster features a photograph of Caddo Nation potter, Chase Chase Kahwinhut Earles, firing his pottery in a traditional pit-fire. The photo was taken by the talented photographer, Travis Caperton, and captures Earles in the midst of the firing process. As home to thirty-nine resident tribes, Oklahoma has no shortage of Native artists. Whether potters, painters, storytellers, poets or writers, Oklahoma is uniquely privileged in having a diversity of perspectives, culture and talent. This year’s poster is a celebration of that fact. Chase Earles’ work bridges generations, honoring and paying homage to traditional ways while simultaneously being dynamic and embracing new interpretations of his art and its history. It is work that actively informs and is in turn informed by, archaeology. Oklahoma archaeology is not simply a re-telling or a piecing together of a long-ago past. Rather it is a wealth of perspectives and stories, most of which are still being told and lived today.
For more information on Oklahoma Archaeology Month as well as a complete list of events, please visit, www.okpan.org
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graph of Caddo Nation potter, Chase Kahwinhut Earles, firing his pottery in a traditional pit-fire. The photo was taken by the talented photographer, Travis Caperton, and captures Earles in the midst of the firing process. As home to thirty-nine resident tribes, Oklahoma has no shortage of Native artists. Whether potters, painters, storytellers, poets or writers, Oklahoma is uniquely privileged in having a diversity of perspectives, culture and talent. This year’s poster is a celebration of that fact. Chase Earles’s work bridges generations, honoring and paying homage to traditional ways, while simultaneously being dynamic and embracing new interpretations of his art and its history. It is work that actively informs and is in turn informed by, archaeology. Oklahoma archaeology is not simply a re-telling or a piecing together of a long-ago past. Rather it is a wealth of perspectives and stories, many of which are still being told and lived today.
Previous page: 2019 Oklahoma Archaeology Month poster. Right: 2019 OAM bookmark. Photos courtesy of Travis Caperton.
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OKLAHOMA ARCHAEOLOGY MONTH CALENDAR
For a complete list of events please visit our webpage at okpan.org
October 1 Our Adventure into Archaeological Photogrammetry October 4 Medieval Life and Monsters in the Margins of the Luttrell Psalter October 4-5 Fall Traders Encampment at Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve October 4-6 Antique Agricultural Festival October 5 Chuck Wagon Gathering & Dinner October 8 Government Job Panel - Career Options for Students in the Field. October 8 FAB Archaeology - Exploring 3D technology October 12 Archaeology Day at the Sam Noble Museum October 12 A Day of Archaeology at the Museum of the Great Plains October 13 Blacksmithing Fundamentals for the Historical Archaeologist October 19 Archaeology Month at Spiro Mounds October 19 Archaeology Day at Choctaw Cultural Center October 24 Archaeological Institute of America Presentation October 30 "Sacred Cities of the Roman Empire: Pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem" public lecture and discussion at OU
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By Dennis Peterson
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Spiro Mounds
Flooding at
Update:
hen the Arkansas River started to flood in late May, the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center underwent an emergency mandatory evacuation. On May 24th, with the generous help of over thirty people from Fort Coffee, the Fort Coffee Volunteer Fire Department as well as help from Fort Smith, Russellville and staff of the Oklahoma Historical Society, artifacts and other materials were completely removed from danger and placed in storage. This was lucky because although the Arkansas River floodwaters got to within fifty feet of the Center, they did not enter the Center by the crest of May 29th. The Center remained empty while cleaning started and plans were made to return the items June 10th. That meant that when the Fort Coffee area experienced a very hard rain and flash flood on June 6th, the building and grounds were damaged by rushing waters entering, but the artifacts were safe. Clean-up of the building was quickly completed by Phoenix Restoration in Tulsa. Meanwhile the Center is waiting to be restored and will be closed to the public until rebuilding is complete. The current projection of reopening is in this month if rebuilding progresses as hoped. October is Archaeology Month in Oklahoma, and Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center will celebrate on International Archaeology Day, Saturday, October 19, 2019, with lecture, guided walk and many other activities. Oklahoma Archaeology Month is sponsored and promoted by the Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network, the Oklahoma Archeological Survey and the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office and includes many more events throughout Oklahoma during the month of October. Lectures about the prehistory and history of this region will start at 11 a.m. There also will be a guided tour of the site at 2 p.m. led by manager Dennis Peterson. Several expert flintknappers, or stone tool makers, will be on hand to show off their skills from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. An archaeologist will be available to identify artifact collections for visitors during that same time. Educational games and activities will be available throughout the day. Cost is just regular admission: $7 adults, $5 seniors, and $4 children, cash or check only please. OHS/SMDA/Military are free with card. Due to flood damage in May and June, construction at the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center may not be complete. If the construction is still in progress, there will be no admission cost, though donations are greatly appreciated. Most activities will take place outdoors, including the guided tour which will occur regardless of weather conditions. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is the only prehistoric American Indian archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public and is the perfect place to celebrate Archaeology Month. For more information on Spiro Mounds Archaeologological Center, please contact Dennis Peterson at 918-962-2062 or spiro@okhistory.org. The center is located three miles east of Spiro on Highway 9/271 and four miles north on Lock and Dam Road.
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(Background photo courtesy of Scott Hammerstedt)
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north on Lock and Dam Road. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.
Dennis Peterson is the Director of Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center.
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Above: Flooding at Spiro in summer of 2019. Bottom: Photo from Autumn Equinox public walk.
Oklahoma Archaeologists'
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W hether they work in the field, a museum, classroom, or even in front of a computer, Oklahoma archaeologists are a busy crew! From Mexico to Jordan, to Montana, to right here in Oklahoma, they traversed the globe and were kind enough to offer a glimpse into the work and research they embarked upon over this past summer. Here are some of their stories.
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT:
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Danielle Macdonald
University of Tulsa
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Below: Excavations at Epipalaeolithic Site of Kharaneh IV. Background image: Camel visitors at the site of Kharaneh IV.
ver the summer of 2019, Dr. Danielle Macdonald returned to excavate at the Epipalaeolithic site of Kharaneh IV, in the eastern desert of Jordan. This was the eighth season of excavation at the site as part of the ongoing ‘Epipalaeolithic Foragers in Azraq Project’. Twenty-thousand years ago Kharaneh IV was a hunter-gatherer aggregation site, a special place on the landscape where people from across the region congregated. The area was a lush wetland when the site was occupied, and there is evidence of gazelle, aurochs, wild boar, and other faunal species that are no longer present in the region. Kharaneh IV has yielded the earliest evidence for houses in Jordan, in the form of brush huts, and this summer excavations were targeted towards the areas outside of the architecture spaces to understand the diversity of activities that took place both inside and outside of the houses. Next summer Dr. Macdonald will return to Jordan to continue analysis of the stone tool assemblage found at Kharaneh IV with the goal of understanding the lives of the hunter-gatherers who lived at the site. For more information about the project, please check out www.kharaneh.com.
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Above: Dr. Richard Drass talking about the Longest Site and Red River Flooding. Left:A family of Bigfoot spotted in Kansas.
University of Oklahoma & the Oklahoma Archeological Survey
r. Brandi Bethke and Dr. Sarah Trabert made several trips to ancestral Wichita archaeological sites in Oklahoma and Kansas this summer. This work is part of their new project aimed at mapping ancestral Wichita settlement and land use over time as well as incorporating ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and archaeological data to understand the nature of Wichita adaptation, change, and persistence. They visited with landowners across both states, surveyed sites on Lake Ponca (OK) and the Verdigris River (Kansas), experimented with some new GPS receivers, and tried to avoid flooded areas (and snakes!). Meeting new people and taking in the natural and anthropogenic landscapes helped solidify their overall research goals and they plan to continue surveying and mapping throughout the fall, spring, and into next summer.
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Sarah Trabert & Brandi Bethke
University of Oklahoma
n June, Sarah Luthman returned to Wilkinson County, Mississippi to participate in the Smith Creek Archaeological Project, led by Dr. Meg Kassabaum from the University of Pennsylvania. This summer, the project was moved from the Smith Creek mound site to Lessley Mounds to better understand what life was like during the Coles Creek time period (1050 to 800 CE). There, students from around the country assisted in digging three areas of the mound to get a sense of its construction sequence. During the excavation, they also ran several soil samples through the flotation tank and water screens to recover evidence for prehistoric diets. The artifacts from these samples will help graduate student Anna Graham from the University of North Carolina write her dissertation on food use and the transition to maize agriculture in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. While excavations were progressing, two undergraduates constructed a new exhibit about Native American mounds in the Wilkinson County Museum, which opened on June 29th with public archaeology activities and live music. For more information on these ongoing projects in the Lower Mississippi River Valley, click here.
Sarah Luthman
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A covered excavation unit at the base of Lessley Mound in Wilkinson County, Mississippi.
Students uncovering and mapping bison bones at the Late Paleoindian age Ravenscroft bison kill.
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he summer of 2019 saw continued investigation at the Late Paleoindian age Bull Creek camp and Ravenscroft bison kill. Both sites are in the Oklahoma panhandle. Investigations under the direction of Dr. Leland Bement (Oklahoma Archeological Survey) with assistance from OU MA student Dakota Larrick, recently graduated OU MA Charles Rainville, and returning Northern Arizona University undergraduate Natalie Patton, continued documenting a lithic reduction locus in the summer occupation level of the Bull Creek camp. This area is dominated by the reduction of large Dakota quartzite bifacial cores, possibly to the eventual completion of projectile points. Excavation also continued in the bison bonebed at the Ravenscroft site where bison had been trapped in a dead-end arroyo, slain, and butchered. The crew of fourteen included students from around the United States. All experienced the volatile Oklahoma summer weather, learned something about Plains archaeology, and had a great time exploring the Oklahoma panhandle. Visits to other areas included a trip to Black Mesa to climb mesas, visit a dinosaur dig, and view rock art sites. Another field trip visited the Clovis and Folsom age bison kills at Cooper, Badger Hole, and Jake Bluff.
Oklahoma Archeological Survey
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Lee Bement
Joey Williams
Caladinho site near Redondo, Portugal.
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University of Central Oklahoma
r. Joey Williams helped to direct two archaeological projects in Redondo, Portugal this summer. The first was the excavation of a large Roman villa called Santa Susana. This season the team uncovered evidence of a workshop producing mosaic tiles, which were used to create the decorative floors in other parts of the site. Geophysical survey around the villa site also revealed numerous other structures that remain buried, including what they interpreted as a mausoleum, an underground aqueduct, and a large rural shrine. The second team investigated the remaining parts of a watchtower also near Redondo. This site, called Caladinho, appears to be part of the colonization, pacification, and settlement of the region by the Romans in the 1st century BCE. This summer saw the completion of a good deal of the analysis of materials excavated in previous seasons, including roughly 4,000 potsherds recovered from structures outside the tower. Together with other research projects undertaken under the auspices of Redondo's city hall, the Santa Susana and Caladinho projects involved over a hundred fieldschool students in the 2019 season.
Matt Pailes
n the summer of 2019, Assistant Professor Matt Pailes and three OU graduate students: Andrew Krug, Dakota Larrick, and Robin Singleton, participated in a binational archaeological investigation of the Nuri Valley, Sonora, Mexico. They were joined by six Mexican archaeologists affiliated with the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e História, Sonora. This season of work was the third funded by the National Science Foundation to investigate communities of the Sonoran Sierra Madre. The project’s goals are to investigate the unique trajectory of communities in eastern Sonora. In the surrounding areas of Northwest Mexico and the US Southwest, most populations went through major periods of political instability with large swings in population in the years between AD 1000 and AD 1500. The Sonoran Sierra Madre seems to be one of the few places in this huge territory that did not experience such large-scale changes. The team suspects that the reasons for this area’s relative stability included diverse factors, some environmental and some social. One critical attribute of this region was that most communities appear to have been autonomous with few economic or political connections to their neighbors. This autonomy prevented local calamities from rippling through the entire region. However, being completely independent also means you have few allies to call on in times of stress. The project’s principal goal is to map out exactly how connected communities were, so that they can eventually compare these patterns to places with very different trajectories. Put another way, team members are seeking evidence of high spatial diversity between different river valleys in Sonora. Thus far, they have not been disappointed. In previous seasons, they noted very different ceramic traditions in the valleys where they conducted research. They also infer high variation in the number of different trade connections between neighboring communities. This evidence is provided by the rare artifacts that came from known places including painted ceramics and rare raw materials like obsidian and turquoise. This season in the Nuri Valley the team found a community that seemed to avoid any sort of outside connection. There were almost no painted ceramics or rare materials of any kind. In fact, the local residents seemed to be doing their best to avoid any statements of affiliation to larger networks. These patterns may make the artifacts seem rather monotonous, but on a larger scale it is fascinating, especially since this community was on the frontier between societies with Mesoamerican (central Mexico) affiliations and those affiliated with the less socially complex groups to the north. Future work will focus on further evaluating artifacts from the last three seasons for evidence of being exchanged between valleys. This will help more precisely estimate the amount of regional interaction. Pailes and the rest of the project are very grateful to all the communities that have hosted us over the last three years.
rather monotonous, but on a larger scale it is fascinating, especially since this community was on the frontier between societies with Mesoamerican (central Mexico) affiliations and those affiliated with the less socially complex groups to the north. Future work will focus on further evaluating artifacts from the last three seasons for evidence that they were exchanged among valleys. This will help more precisely estimate the amount of regional interaction. Pailes and the rest of the project are very grateful to all the communities that have hosted us over the last three years.
Crew at the site of El Centinela in the Nuri Valley.
his summer, Dr. Amy Clark participated in the excavation of a Clovis-age mammoth kill and camp site in Douglas, Wyoming. The La Prele Mammoth Site, directed by Drs. Todd Surovell and Madeline Mackie from the University of Wyoming and Dr. Matt O’Brien from Cal State Chico, is now in its 5th year of excavation and has yielded one Clovis point, numerous stone tools, as well as mammoth and bison remains. Dr. Clark is particularly interested in the site for its exceptional spatial patterning, which includes multiple hearth-centered activity areas, one heavily stained with ochre, adjacent to the mammoth kill. Differences in the sourcing of lithic raw materials suggest that two or more groups may have gathered at the site. This spatial patterning, along with a bone needle and bone bead uncovered in 2016, is reminiscent of Upper Paleolithic sites Dr. Clark has excavated in France. She and Dr. Surovell plan to compare the spatial patterning of numerous hunter-gatherer sites worldwide to understand how spatial organization changed over the course of the human experience.
University of Oklahoma & Harvard University
Amy Clark
Excavation of Clovis-age mammoth kill near Douglas, Wyoming.
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View from Project Archaeology field trip to Madison Buffalo Jump, Montana.
Allison Douglas
he word “fieldwork” tends to make us think of the process of traveling to an archaeological site to do some sort of excavation or analysis – but, archaeology is anthropology, and other forms of anthropological fieldwork can look quite different. This summer, Allison Douglas conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Bozeman, Montana for her dissertation research. Many OKPAN Quarterly readers will be familiar with Project Archaeology and its connection to OKPAN. Project Archaeology is an organization that produces K-12 curricula that teach students about principles of archaeology and the ways they apply more broadly to understanding the world. Douglas is interested in Project Archaeology for its explicit application of anthropological concepts to social studies and seeks to understand how this compares to a standard public school curriculum. In June, she conducted participant observation at the Project Archaeology Leadership Academy – a multi-day workshop that trains instructors from all over the country to lead Project Archaeology professional development workshops in their home communities. Her fieldwork enabled her to see an important step in the process of getting these curricula, and the anthropological concepts they include, to K-12 students. Most of the workshop involved classroom instruction about the curriculum, but participants also took field trips to the Madison Buffalo Jump site and the Museum of the Rockies to put it all into practice. In addition to this being a great research opportunity, Douglas enjoyed getting to know some fantastic people, including the brains behind Project Archaeology and her fellow workshop attendees. Douglas looks forward to continuing to work with them and cannot wait until her next visit to beautiful Bozeman!
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A chipped stone knife donated to the ONHPO by a family in Missouri.
Delaney Cooley
his summer, OKPAN debuted a new initiative that promotes collaboration between students and tribal nations through internship opportunities. An internship pairs engaged students with tribal historic preservation offices providing invaluable experience and help for both parties. University of Oklahoma Ph.D. student Delaney Cooley was the first to participate, as she interned for the Osage Nation Historic Preservation Office (ONHPO). The office promotes the preservation of Osage culture and history through collaborating with federal, state, and local agencies on undertakings that require tribal consultation. The office also pursues their own research reconciling archaeological data with oral traditions, linguistics, and historic evidence and organizes annual visits to places and sites associated with Osage people in the past and present. As part of the internship, Cooley organized and catalogued collections recently donated to the ONHPO from private citizens, which included artifacts from Oklahoma and Missouri. The artifacts included projectile points and ceramics of all ages as well as historic artifacts. For more information about the ONHPO and their history, please click here.
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Amber Vinson (right) excavates a test unit near Lake City, Colorado, with colleague, Rebekah Link.
Amber Vinson
his summer, University of Oklahoma student Amber Vinson attended OU Professor, Dr. Bonnie Pitblado’s 2019 OU Field School in Lake City, Colorado. The field school introduced students to key elements of archaeological work, including mapping with compass and GPS; surveying and recording sites; identifying artifacts, features, and sites; conducting excavation; and analyzing artifacts and notes in the lab after their field work is complete. Their research covered over 10,000 years of history but focused on the excavation of a 10,000 year old Paleoindian site. As a participant in the field school, Vinson spent six weeks hiking, exploring, and learning about the land and archaeology in the Gunnison Basin. While the summer held many opportunities, Vinson’s favorite memory was hiking to archaeological sites at the top of the Calf Creek Plateau (elevation topped out about 12,600 ft) with Dr. Pitblado and some of her fellow students. The trail remained partially covered in snow, and the students faced the challenge of hiking through snow drifts up to their knees with wet socks! Dr. Pitblado and her students also helped the town of Lake City prepare for a flood that threatened the town. Their volunteer work included evacuating thousands of objects from the Hinsdale County Museum! As a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, Vinson now feels more than prepared to tackle her coursework as a OU anthropology major.
(Note: To see complete calendar, please scroll down)
Archaeology Trowel, HeritageDaily, CC BY-SA 3.0
FALL EVENTS CALENDAR
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(Photo courtesy of Gerald Franklin) 24
NOVEMBER 15
NOVEMBER 16
NOVERMBER 1
Jewelry Beadwork Class Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, 10:30 AM - 4:30 PM
NOVEMBER 2
NOVEMBER 2 & 3
LaDonnna Harris: Indian 101 Film Screening and Discussion Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Preserving Your Family Heirlooms Workshop Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, 10:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Battle of Honey Springs Reenactments Honey Springs Battlefield and Visitor Center, Checotah
Battle of Honey Springs Education Day Honey Springs Battlefield and Visitor Center, Checotah, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Adults Only Night at the Museum Sam Noble Museum, Norman, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
DECEMBER 7
Dia de Los Muertos Fred Jones Museum of Art, Norman, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Renewing the American Spirit: The Art of the Great Depression Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Super Saturday Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, Norman, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Deck the Halls! Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Need a little more culture in your life?
THE OKLAHOMA ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY NEWS AND EVENTS
On September 21st, OAS spent the day at the Wichita Tribal History Center's, Archaeology Day festival. Society members enjoyed the opportunity to speak with tribal members and explore the tribe's fantastic museum. To become a member, visit the OAS website here. Click here to learn more about the Wichita Tribal History Center.
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oin the Oklahoma Anthropological Society and attend wonderful community events like this one!
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OKPAN FACES
Veronica Mraz has her Ph.D. in anthropology (focusing on archaeology) from the University of Tulsa. Her main research topics are experimental archaeology with an emphasis on lithic technology and the Great Plains. In addition, she is also interested in the study of paleoenvironmental reconstruction and medieval archaeology. Veronica received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa for anthropology focusing in archaeology. While at Iowa, Veronica participated in an ongoing research program involving the Scott County Pueblo in western Kansas. Veronica received her master’s degree at the University of Tulsa, where she examined the transition between the Plains Woodland and Plains Village periods in the Southern Plains, specifically in the region of north central/eastern Oklahoma. Veronica’s dissertation work focused on understanding and quantifying the effects of thermal alteration on chert in-relation to the flintknapping process and how archaeologists can identify heat treated materials in the archaeological record.
Meet the rest of OKPAN's advisory board! Continued from our last issue, let us introduce you to the talented crew that helps inform the work we do at OKPAN.
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veronica Mraz
Charons Garden Wilderness #2, Larry Smith, CC BY 2.0
Sharon Mcallister
Ray has been a member of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society for 12 years, and is currently the president of the organization. Recently retired, his working life was spent as a contract technical illustrator, first for the U.S. Postal Service in Norman, OK, then for the U.S. Air Force at Tinker Air Force Base. In 1982, Ray earned a Bachelor of Science degree in geography from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK. His interests include exploring other cultures, history, travel, and the outdoors. To learn more about Ray (and his wife, Sharon), check out their Community Spotlight interview, "Stories Worth Telling," in the Summer 2019 issue of OKPAN Quarterly by clicking here.
Sharon is an avocational archaeologist who lives in Oklahoma. Curiosity fuels her life-long interest in learning about other cultures and discovering how geography has shaped cultural practices. Sharon, a retired software developer, enjoys creative, collaborative work and mentors others through her roles as an avocational archaeologist and a community gardener. She has volunteered at numerous field excavations and surveys and supports professional archaeologists within Oklahoma by doing lab work. She serves on OKPAN's Advisory Board and has been an active member of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society for over a decade.
Ray Mcallister
Michelle C. Horn is an archaeologist in the Operations Division of the Tulsa District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). As an archaeologist in the Tulsa District, Ms. Horn works to ensure agency compliance with federal environmental and historic preservation laws for projects throughout the district. An important aspect of her work involves building relationships and forming partnerships through ongoing coordination and consultation with multiple tribal nations as well as state and federal agencies. Ms. Horn has supported district compliance across all USACE mission areas, including planning, operations, regulatory, and military programs. In addition to her work with USACE, Ms. Horn is a highly engaged mother and lives with her husband and children in Tulsa.
Danielle macdonald
Danielle Macdonald is a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tulsa. She co-directs the Kharaneh IV excavation project in Jordan, where she explores hunter-gatherer aggregation during the Terminal Pleistocene through material culture. Other research interests include method development for lithic microwear analysis and the application of 3D microscopy to archaeological research. Ongoing research includes the application of confocal microscopy and focus variation microscopy to characterize surface texture and distinguish wear from different contact materials on stone tool surfaces.
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Michelle Horn
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Chris & Amy Cojeen
Chase Kahwinhut Earles
Born in Oklahoma, Chase crafts his Caddo tribe's traditional pottery to help educate and carry on their unique culture. It is important to Chase to keep as close to the old ways as possible when making his new contemporary pieces in order to show everyone how beautiful the Caddo artistic ceramic legacy was and still is. Chase hopes to bring this almost lost and forgotten pottery back to the forefront where it once was in pre- and post-Columbian times. He also feels strongly that his tribe’s representation and communication through the design and creation of pottery would have evolved over time with the introduction of new situations and environments. For that reason, Chase also strives to present a new ceramic and sculptural interpretation based on his own experiences and as his own artist and ambassador to his Caddo tribe. Chase and his pottery are featured on the 2019 Oklahoma Archaeology Month poster.
Chris attended Michigan State and Western Michigan Universities and has been a consultant in Oklahoma since 1982. His field work has extended from coast to coast, including Alaska and Hawaii. Current interests and excavations explore Archaic period sites and the origins of horticulture in eastern Oklahoma. Amy graduated from the University of Oklahoma and her field work has ranged across Oklahoma with a focus on western Oklahoma and particularly Roger Mills and Ellis counties.
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We at OKPAN would like to extend our deepest thanks to all who helped with organizing and hosting events for this year's archaeology month. We also thank those who helped create our amazing archaeology month poster: Chase Kahwinhut Earles, Travis Caperton, Denise Canon, the Oklahoma Archeological Survey, and the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office. Thank you from all of us at OKPAN!
The Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network's Mission Statement: Bridging communities with a passion for the past through public education and outreach, research and teaching partnerships, and professional development opportunities.
~ Letters to the editor may be sent to ~ okpanquarterly@gmail.com
OKPAN Quarterly Staff: Kate Newton - Editor-in-Chief Delaney Cooley - Assistant Editor
