The E-Newsletter of the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, Vol. III, December 31, 2009

This periodic newsletter is designed to communicate with the friends of and volunteers associated with the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation (LAF) and to introduce the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation (LAF) to those persons in the Greater Loudoun County community interested in local archaeology and to keep that community knowledgeable about and updated on the programs and activities of the Foundation and the cultural and historic resources of Loudoun County.

On behalf of the Board of Directors and Officers of the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, we want to use this 2009 issue of the Foundation’s E-Newsletter to wish all of our volunteers, supporters, and friends our continued appreciation for your hard work and many contributions — in money, time, goods, and services — that have made the Foundation’s public archaeology program so widely successful, both in terms of public recognition and support and substantive accomplishment. We also want to extend to each of you our best wishes for a happy holiday season and a successful new year.

What a great year 2009 was for the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation!

First of all, the LAF was recognized by the Dominion Foundation of Virginia with a $2,500 grant for our efforts in promoting historical conservation and protection in Loudoun County though our outstanding community public education and outreach programs.

This grant enabled the LAF to give our first-ever college level student stipend award of $1,000 to Katy Catlin of Ashburn (and our own Foundation supporter) who is attending the graduate school of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts. Katy also completed the Historic Preservation Certificate program at the Loudoun Campus of the Northern Virginia Community College, thus making her our first triple threat on the historic preservation front.

In another first, LAF (in cooperation with the Loudoun County Parks and Recreation Department) held its initial Archaeological Field Camp Program at the Claude Moore Historic Park in Sterling, Virginia from July 27 -31, 2009. This program was all hands-on work with artifacts and walks around the park to look at how people used the land in the past. Twenty children worked with historic and prehistoric archaeology in a fun way with all kinds of artifacts, hands-on activities, and games. They kept an Archaeology Journal of all activities. The children had fun drawing what they had seen, and writing creative artifact stories. They investigated stone tool making with an archaeologist. The children had fun with the atlatl, they made pottery, and played archaeology games, gameboards, activity sheets, pottery, puzzles. The children took daily archaeology discovery walks, studied skeletons to learn about people; and studied foodways. They washed artifacts and classified seeds, food, and charcoal. Everyone had a lot of fun, children and adults alike. As in the past, LAF has conducted a very extensive community public education and outreach program. However, this year we were particularly honored twice by the attendance of William ”Jack” Hanricky, the nationally renowned expert on the typology and nomenclature of North American Eastern Woodland Indian stone tools. We were particularly pleased when Jack praised our efforts as should being the future course of archaeology in America.

The 2009 schedule of events included:

Purcellville Preservation Association’s Heritage Day 2009 (May 26) Celebration, where over a 1,000 children and adults saw artifacts that archaeologists have found at Prehistoric and Civil War sites and were presented with several hands-on archaeological activities for children.

Claude Moore Historic Park’s Old-Fashioned Fourth of July Celebration, where over 2,000 children and adults stopped by to view the LAF’s passive and interactive archaeological exhibits  

37^th Annual Lucketts Community Fair (August 22-23, 2009), where, despite two days of rain and mud, over 1,100 children and adults visited the LAF’s archaeological exhibits.

Lucketts Community Center First Lecture Series (September 4, 2009) where over 30 adults and children heard about the importance of archaeology and historic documents in helping to preserve our cultural heritage.

66^th Annual Waterford Homes Tour and Crafts Fair, where over a three day period (October 2- 4, 2009) where nearly 1,200 children and adults visited LAF archaeological exhibits.

In addition, the LAF made a number of presentations to and presented exhibits at (ranging from one day to several weeks) a number of Loudoun County public elementary schools, home school groups, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, and various other community-based organizations.

All-in-all, we estimate during 2009 that LAF  reached out directly to more than 7,500 children and adults in the greater Loudoun Community  and indirectly to even more of their absent families and friends.   

In 2010, we are planning an even more ambitious archaeological investigations program as we have received permission to conduct archaeological investigations at two prehistoric sites in Loudoun County. In addition, I will be conducting my three (3) individual semester courses on Prehistoric Archaeology of Northern Virginia (Winter 2010), Archaeological Field Methods (Summer 2010), and Historic Archaeology (Fall 2010) at the Loudoun Campus of the Northern Virginia Community College. Most of you reading this missive will have attended one or more of those courses; I urge you to encourage your friends and neighbors to enroll for and attend those courses.

As a non-profit, charitable organizational, LAF has virtually no administration or other overhead expenses, 100% per of all our donated income (except for local, state, and federal fees and taxes) goes towards supporting our community public education and outreach programs. This year the Verizon Corporation has offered us a partnership arrangement whereby friends and supporters of the LAF who purchase new telephone, internet, television, and their other services from Verizon may request that Verizon donate a portion of those initial charges to the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation. I urge that you go to the Support Us section of the LAF website and review the Verizon flyer to see if there are any services there of interest to you.                                                                                                                        

 David T. Clark, PhD

Executive Director/Principle Investigator