You can learn more about the excavations and see additional photographs at the Colonial Williamsburg Archaeology Facebook page.

Also, we are pleased to announce that Poplar Forest has launched a social media campaign: you can now read their new blog, become a fan of their Facebook Page, and follow them on Twitter!

This Week’s Links

The SHA lost one of our finest leaders: Roderick Sprague passed away this week. Dr. Sprague served as president of our society for two terms, in addition to winning the J.C. Harrington Medial in 1996 and the Carol Ruppe Service Award in 2004.

Paul Mullins, on his blog Archaeology and Material Culture, discusses the archaeology and politics of Ruin Porn.

The South Central Historical Archaeology Conference has a call for papers out for their conference at the University of South Alabama.

Bernard Means writes up a review of the THATCamp in Computational Archaeology that was held a few weeks ago at the University of Virginia.

Craig Lukezic writes a post about the search for Delaware’s 17th Century Fort Casimir.

Read this piece by George Miller and Robert Hunter at chipstone.org: “How Creamware Got the Blues: The Origins of China Glaze and Pearlware”

Archaeologists at William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research have found Civil War encampments on the college’s property.

Do you have any links that you’d like us to share? Please send them are way by posting them on our Facebook wall or mentioning @SHA_Org in a tweet!

Some Links

Excavations are underway at William and Mary in search of the Bray School.

A courthouse in Stafford, Virginia has been located.

The Maryland Archaeological Conservation (MAC) Laboratory at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum announces the Gloria S. King Research Fellowship in Archaeology.

A blog post by the Northeast Museum Service Center about Scratch Blue Ceramic decoration.

A blog update from Fort St. Joseph in Niles, Michigan.

This week’s photo comes from a field project at Gore Place in Waltham, Massachusetts, the National Historic Landmark estate of Massachusetts Governor Christopher Gore. The project is run by the Fiske Center at UMass Boston as a field school, in partnership with the Gore Place Society. Currently, archaeologists and students are working on the grounds surrounding Gore’s standing 1806 mansion. Previous excavations have uncovered a 19th-century greenhouse, and this summer’s excavations will continue examining that area. The project is co-directed by Drs. David Landon and Christa Beranek, and you can follow their progress at their blog or on their Facebook page!

As always, this photo will be featured on our own Facebook Page as our banner image for the week!

Headlines

A look at the archaeological work at New Philadelphia, and the movement towards being a National Park Historic Site.

Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary are working together to examine an early black school in Williamsburg, VA.

Conferences

The 2012 Joint Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology/ustralasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology Conference call for papers deadline is June 30th.

The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival is looking for entries for their May 2013 event.

The Blogosphere

Don’t forget to sign up for Day of Archaeology, which will be on June 29th! A great opportunity to showcase your work, and engage the public about our discipline.

Bernard Means of Virginia Commonwealth University takes his 3D scanner into the field at George Washington’s Family Farm. Read more from the same excavations by VCU undergrad Ashley McCuistion. Read from her perspective as a field school student!

Jamie Brandon has posted a wonderful series of photos on Flickr of the 2012 Arkansas Archaeological Society Dig in Historic Washington, Arkansas.

Read a wonderful post by John Lowe about a Juneteenth find….on Juneteenth.

Excavations in the Alley have begun in Philadelphia! See what they’ve found.

Headlines

The First Colony Foundation has new historical evidence that may point to the location of Walter Raleigh’s lost colony.

Archaeologists are digging at the site of 18th century Fort Richmond.

Archaeologists at Monticello have discovered two possible slave quarter sites.

Call for Papers, Manuscripts

The Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage is looking for submissions.

The Computer Applications in Archaeology (CAA) North America Chapter is hosting an Archaeology THATCamp on Friday, August 10, 2012, and are looking for participants for the digitally-oriented “un” conference.

The Society for Historical Archaeology (that’s us!) has officially opened the Call for Papers for SHA 2013 in Leicester, England.

Publications

The first issue of The Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage is now out.

New on Facebook and Twitter

tDAR, the Digital Archaeological Record, is now on Twitter.

The Arkansas Archaeological Society is now on Facebook.

The Blogosphere

The Fairfield Foundation discusses their recent flood in the lab, and asks for contributions to protect their archaeological resources and public programming during this disaster.

There’s a new blog in town: check out “Archaeology on the Alley”, a look at excavations being carried out in Philadelphia.

Read about the reanalysis of a religious medal found at the Santa Barbara Presidio by the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation Blog.

The Archaeology Dude discusses recent discovery of the Snowdun Vulcan Iron and Machine Works in Pennsylvania.

Headlines

Archaeologists and community in Ireland working together to map and preserve graveyards.

Archaeologists Jim Gibb and Scott Lawrence are looking for 1662 chapel in Newtone Neck, Maryland.

In Middletown, CT, archaeologists are uncovering an influential African American community from the late 19th century.

Resources

The Digital Scholars Lab at University of Richmond has released Visualizing Emancipation, a new resource for mapping documents relating to emancipation during the Civil War.

World Archaeology has released their most recent issue discussing the archaeology of Sport.

Fort St. Joseph has announced their Summer lecture series.

The College of William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburg are offering a Field School in the Methods of Vernacular Architectural History.

The Blogs!

Scott Tucker discusses his preliminary research in the St. Mary’s River at Historic St. Mary’s City.

In two posts, Random Acts of Science discusses pacing and map drawing.

At Dirt, I look at Visualizing Emancipation as an important research tool.

One of our first posts was by Carol McDavid, whose Current Topics essay examined an often forgotten part of publicly engaged archaeology: what happens when the project is over? 

Our Technology Week included three essays discussing different technological applications for historical archaeology: Rob Church looked at AUV camera capabilities for underwater archaeology, Angela Jaillet-Wentling asked questions about LiDAR applications, and Bernard Means discussed the applications of 3D scanning.

Quentin Lewis and Paul Mullins both wrote posts discussing the importance of contemporary archaeology in historical archaeology.

Valerie Hall took us on a trip through the SHA Conference’s Public Archaeology Day with her family, discussing the many opportunities available for the public during our annual conference.

Lastly, the publications committee offered a free pdf in their preview of last quarter’s Historical Archaeology, which examined the archaeologies of poverty.

Thanks again for reading and sharing our posts! We hope you take the time subscribe, comment, and follow along on Facebook and Twitter.

Also, we are now featuring our Photos of the Week on our Facebook Page as the banner image, and they will also be included in a Photos of the Week Photo Album. Please visit and “like” the photos you like the best!

Headlines

Excavations are being conducted in Manhattan to mitigate a utility project.

Call for Papers

The inaugural Southeastern Conference on Historic Sites Archaeology has a call for papers, due June 29th. The Conference itself is from August 24 and 25, 2012 in Charleston, South Carolina.

Registration is open for the Underground Railroad Conference, being held in St. Augustine, Florida from June 20-24.

Resources

Book: The Oxford Handbook of Public Archaeology, edited by Robin Skeates, Carol McDavid, and John Carman, is now available.

Journal: The Journal of Field Archaeology is Maney Publishing’s Journal of the Month, providing the past three years of journals for free download.

Blogs

A poster from Fort St. Joseph discussing the production of lead shot.

I talk about the applications of PInterest for digital cultural heritage at my blog, Dirt.

Matt Reeves, who wrote about his metal detecting workshop for us last week, also discusses their finds at the Montpelier blog.

Mount Vernon’s Mystery Midden has some wonderful photographs of the zooarchaeological material, and discusses the importance of the assemblage.

The folks at FPAN’s The Dirt on Public Archaeology highlighted a number of archaeological sites for Florida Archaeology Month.

John Roby discusses the recent letting go of SpikeTV’s American Digger host Ric Savage from his column in American Digger Magazine.

Headlines

Archaeologists in Amsterdam have discovered 18th century bone telescopes.

A proposal in Kentucky that would have allowed metal detecting in state parks has hit a roadblock in the legislature.

A man in Virginia received a 366 day sentence for metal detecting on the Petersburg National Battlefield.

Archaeologists have used chemical analysis  to reconstruct the diet of Nelson’s Navy.

Excavations are underway at the Harrington Graded School on St. Simon’s Island.

On the Blogs

An interview by Minelab with Montpelier’s Metal Detector Technician, Lance Crosby. Read more about Montpelier and Minelab’s collaboration in this week’s Current Topics Post.

Katy Meyers takes a look at the chemical analysis conducted on Nelson’s Navy at Bones Don’t Lie.

Digs and Docs suggests that we should value public outreach more in academic circles.

A good conversation about teaching in the classroom and student response to American Diggers at Archaeology, Museums, and Outreach.

Headlines

The AIA has issued their official response regarding television shows Diggers and American Diggers.

Archaeologists from the University of Bristol have unearthed a slave burial ground in the South Atlantic Island of St. Helena.

University of North Florida Archaeologists are searching for a Spanish Mission on St. Simons Island.

Lynne Goldstein, director of the Michigan State University Campus Archaeology Program, gives a radio interview about their summer excavations.

Call for Papers

Well, there’s us!

Resources

Natural Resources Conservation Service offers a flow chart guide to soil texture.

Scholarships

The Society for Archaeological Sciences offers a Student Research International Travel Award.

The Blogs

Jamie Brandon at Farther Along announces the Arkansas Archaeological Society summer excavations in Washington, Arkansas.

John Roby shares his takeaways from Amber Grafft-Weiss’s blog post about PB&J and public archaeology.

Image used with permission from Sheli Smith at the PAST Foundation.

SpikeTV and National Geographic Coverage

This week, there were not many news headlines, but the blogs were full information regarding the recent television shows being broadcast by National Geographic and SpikeTV. As you probably know, the SHA has written two blog posts and two letters to Spike TV and National Geographic. You can read the SHA’s official letters here and here.

Two Facebook Groups have also been started in opposition to the SpikeTV and National Geographic Show, and have been cataloguing the various responses from archaeologists and archaeological organizations. They also include a number of discussions between metal detector enthusiasts and archaeologists. This is the best place to get up-to-date information on the topics.

Bloggers have also had some opinions about the importance of context and the dangers of looting:

FPAN’s Shovel Bytes argues that you can’t put a price on context.

Anthroprobably states that “America’s Heritage is Not for Sale”.

John Roby at Digs and Docs also weighs in on the ethics of profiting on heritage.

Elsewhere in the world of historical archaeology:

Believe it or not, other things have been happening in historical archaeology this week:

FPAN’s recent public workshop about archaeological advocacy received some news coverage this week.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service has a useful chart for determining soil texture by feel.

March is Archaeology Month in Arkansas! Here’s a list of the activities. Please, if it’s Archaeology Month in your state, share with us!

Mt. Vernon has a question for the public about their mystery nails: do you know why they’re coated? Help them out at their blog!

The Recent National Preservation Institute is offering a series of seminars in Historic Preservation and Cultural Resource Management (pdf).

 [Photo used with permission from Mick Morrison]