The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation Blog http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog bringing the past to life in Northern Virginia since 2007 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:19:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 Ancient Loudoun Archaeology http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2010/01/04/ancient-loudoun-archaeology/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2010/01/04/ancient-loudoun-archaeology/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:19:47 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=709 Prehistoric Archaeology

Northern Virginia Community College, Loudoun Campus

Spring 2010 / History 193

Ancient Loudoun Archaeology

Celebrate Loudoun County’s 250 Founding Anniversary, and discover Loudoun’s (Northern Virginia’s) prehistoric Native American Past, by taking Dr. David T. Clark, Prehistoric Archaeology class, at the Northern Virginia Community College, Loudoun Campus. Explore how professional archaeologists discover Loudoun’s rich archaeological heritage. Participate in walking surveys and test excavations at numerous sites across the county. Learn some of the exciting stories archaeology tells about “your” local past. Who were the first Americans? How long have they lived in our area? What evidence did they leave behind? How were native people living when Europeans first arrived? These are just a few commonly asked questions about prehistoric people in Northern Virginia. This class will answer these questions and more using the most recent archaeological evidence of local human history form earliest to “European Contact” times. To understand the evidence we will study the most common artifacts left by prehistoric people, look at archaeological reports, and use a variety of visual media. Guest speakers will discuss important archaeological topics related to the class. Concepts and technology will be applied during two site visits; Meadowcroft Rockshelter, the oldest site in the Eastern US, and The Smithsonian’s “Written in Bone” exhibit, and to explore state of the arts of forensic archaeology.

NVCC and the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation

(Apply on-line at www.nvcc.edu  (log-on: Admissions)

Instructor: David T. Clark, Ph.D.

Class number: History 193, Room: Signal Hill/LSH-0325

Thursdays: 7:00-9:45PM, Starting: 1/11/2010 - 5/10/2010

]]> http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2010/01/04/ancient-loudoun-archaeology/feed/ The E-Newsletter of the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, Vol. III, December 31, 2009 http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2010/01/04/the-e-newsletter-of-the-loudoun-archaeological-foundation-vol-iii-december-31-2009/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2010/01/04/the-e-newsletter-of-the-loudoun-archaeological-foundation-vol-iii-december-31-2009/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:10:35 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=700

                                           David T. Clark, PhD             Kathryn A. Miller              Joy E. Stanton           Thomas R. Hyland    

                                           Executive Director/               Board of Directors        Mgr. Communications   Secretary/Treasurer

                                           Principal Investigator                                                      Webpage/Admin         Board of Directors

                                           Chair, Board of Directors                                                Board of Directors

 

 

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  

37th 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.

66th 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

 

]]> http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2010/01/04/the-e-newsletter-of-the-loudoun-archaeological-foundation-vol-iii-december-31-2009/feed/ Support Us http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/12/30/support-us/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/12/30/support-us/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:30:42 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=691

The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt, non-profit group. We therefore must rely on a combination of gifts, grants, and donations of money, goods, and services to fund our programs of archaeological research, preservation/conservation, and public education. We welcome donations of any amount! Please click the button below to donate via PayPal.

List of Sponsors

You may also donate needed goods and services to the Foundation. We accept donations of tools and other goods for our public archaeology efforts, and we always welcome volunteers! We also occasionally offer an item for auction on EBay, and we accept donations of such items. If you are interested in donating goods to the Foundation or becoming a volunteer, please contact us by email or by one of these methods. Please note that we do NOT accept donations of locally-excavated artifacts.

To review items the Foundation has available for auction and to offer a bid, please visit The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation’s Great Little Auction.

Another easy way to financially support the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation is through your purchase of such Verizon residential products as new telephone, internet, and television services.

For additional details about this important new fundraising program and details about donations to the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation please click Support Us. Please call Verizon at 1-888-695-5299, say yes to the prompt, and type in our code 13571. Verizon will then make a donation to LAF. Thank You.

 

 

 

]]> http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/12/30/support-us/feed/ Verizon Corporation Partnerships With LAF http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/12/30/verizon-corporation-partnerships-with-laf/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/12/30/verizon-corporation-partnerships-with-laf/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:01:04 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=682 As a federally (IRS) recognized non-profit, charitable organizational, LAF has virtually no administration or other overhead expenses, 100% per of all our donated income (except for mandatory 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 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 webpage and review the material and Verizon flyer to see if there are any services there that would be of interest to you.                                                                                                                                  

 

]]> http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/12/30/verizon-corporation-partnerships-with-laf/feed/ Waterford Fair http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/10/07/waterford-fair/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/10/07/waterford-fair/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:02:51 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=677 The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, Inc. (LAF) exhibited at the 66th Annual Waterford Homes Tour and Crafts Fair on October 3 to 5, 2009. Over 2700 individuals (Friday 740, Saturday 820, and Sunday 1160) visited our tables to view and interact with exhibits, and to discuss historic preservation and archaeological subjects. More than half of our visitors were pre-school and elementary school-aged children, many of whom have attended Dr. Clarks programs at Waterford Elementary School or elsewhere in Loudoun County.

We were again surprised and honored by the presence of William Jack Hranicky, nationally renowned for his archaeological work on typology and nomenclature of North American Eastern Woodland Indian stone tools and technology and author of numerous books on this subject. During our conversation, Jack generously praised the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, Inc. for its grass roots efforts in bringing archaeological public outreach to the community. He commented that those efforts should be a future course of archaeology. He was impressed by the broad range of Foundation hands on exhibits to engage the public.

]]> http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/10/07/waterford-fair/feed/ Waterford Homes Tour & Crafts Exhibit Returns For Its 66th Year http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/10/01/waterford-homes-tour-crafts-exhibit-returns-for-its-66th-year/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/10/01/waterford-homes-tour-crafts-exhibit-returns-for-its-66th-year/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:13:41 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=665 The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, Inc. will be at the Waterford Homes Tour & Crafts Exhibit on October 2-4, 2009, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., please join us. The LAF will be at the archaeology exhibit, so please stop by and find out what we are doing. We look forward to seeing you there. The Waterford Fair is the oldest juried crafts fair in Virginia and winner of the 2007 Loudoun Convention & Visitors Association Best Event of the Year. In addition to historic homes open for tour, 155 juried heritage craftspeople provide hands-on demonstrations, entertainers provide continuous traditional music and dance, Colonial and Civil War-era militia encamp and demonstrate, and there are children’s activities throughout the weekend.

For more information please check the Waterford website:

http://www.waterfordva-wca.org/index.shtml

]]> http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/10/01/waterford-homes-tour-crafts-exhibit-returns-for-its-66th-year/feed/ Lucketts Community Center First Friday Lecture Series http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/30/lucketts-community-center-first-friday-lecture-series/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/30/lucketts-community-center-first-friday-lecture-series/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:03:45 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=657 Learn about local history and other engaging topics at the Lucketts Community Center First Friday Lecture Series. The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, Inc. and Dr. David T. Clark will be participating in the in the Lucketts Community Centers, First Friday Lecture Series, on Friday the fourth of September at 7:30pm. Dr. David T. Clark will be lecturing on Archeology and Historic Documents.

For more information please contact the Lucketts Community Center at:
42361 Lucketts Road. 
Leesburg, VA. 20176
703-771-5281.

]]> http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/30/lucketts-community-center-first-friday-lecture-series/feed/ A LAF Success Story http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/30/a-laf-success-story/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/30/a-laf-success-story/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:29:55 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=649 When I founded the Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, Inc. (LAF) in January of 2007, I had a number of specific goals in mind, among which were:

 

1.      Conducting year round archaeological research/investigations as a means of educating the public regarding local cultural resources.

2.      Expanding the current list/inventory of . . . archaeological sites in Loudoun County.  

3.      Tailoring [our] archaeological education programs to the “whole community” (all ages, sectors in the community): from the public/private school systems to senior groups.

4.      Acquiring, if appropriate, various certain endangered historic/prehistoric structures/properties in Loudoun County for archaeological education/preservation purposes.

5.      Working cooperatively with Virginia state and local government historic preservation agencies and local business and preservation groups.

 

These goals were based on my concerns over the negative impact of current fast-paced urban development on heritage resources and a rapidly growing community’s unfamiliarity with its rich, diverse culture history. I believed then, as I do now, that community-service (free) archaeological research/educational programs were the key to the LAF’s mission and that its primary purpose was to first promote the community’s appreciation and understanding of its historic/prehistoric heritage while raising awareness of its endangerment. Needless to say, I am pleased that we have already achieved most of these goals in just over two years.

 

However, there was another unstated goal that I also hoped to achieve:  that through LAF’s public education efforts, we could encourage (and assist) some students participating in our programs to pursue archaeology and preservation as a career choice.

 

The recent decision by Katy Catlin to pursue graduate work in archaeology after nearly three years of participating in LAF’s archaeological public education programs and the associated academic programs at the Loudoun Campus of the Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), represents the fruition of that previously unstated, but important, goal. And I am so pleased that we were able to assist her with a small, but helpful, stipend as our first LAF Scholarship Award. I hope that other LAF and NVCC students will make similar choices and LAF might provide future financial assistance.

 

                                                                                                            David T. Clark, PhD.

                                                                                                        Executive Director, LAF

]]> http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/30/a-laf-success-story/feed/ LAF Presents Archaeological Exhibits at the 37th Annual Lucketts Fair http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/28/laf-presents-archaeological-exhibits-at-the-37th-annual-lucketts-fair/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/28/laf-presents-archaeological-exhibits-at-the-37th-annual-lucketts-fair/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:57:48 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=616 The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation, Inc. (LAF) had the pleasure of participating in the 37th Annual Lucketts Fair in Lucketts, Virginia on August 22 -23, 2009 (Saturday and Sunday). Although Saturday was marred by mud and humidity left from Friday rainfalls and another rainfall on Saturday afternoon, 1,102 individuals visited our exhibit booth and participated in a number of interactive and passive exhibits. Approximately two-thirds of our visitors were pre-school and elementary school-aged children.

We were particularly honored by the presence of one entirely unexpected but most welcome visitor: William “Jack” Hranicky. Jack Hranicky is nationally-renowned for his work on the typology and nomenclature of North American Eastern-Woodland Indian projectile points and author of numerous books on this interesting subject (all students of Dr. Clarks class in “Northern Virginia Prehistoric Archaeology” are intimately familiar with Jack Hranicky books as they are major resources for student-projects identifying prehistoric artifacts from local collections).

Thanks also to Larry Baker who took some time off from celebrating his 16th wedding anniversary on Saturday and Sunday to assist in presenting our exhibits and special thanks to Larrys lovely wife for sharing her special occasion with us.

]]> http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/28/laf-presents-archaeological-exhibits-at-the-37th-annual-lucketts-fair/feed/ The Loudoun Archaeological Foundationat will be at the annual Lucketts Fair celebration on August 22-23 http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/19/the-loudoun-archaeological-foundationat-will-be-at-the-annual-lucketts-fair-celebration-on-august-22-23/ http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/2009/08/19/the-loudoun-archaeological-foundationat-will-be-at-the-annual-lucketts-fair-celebration-on-august-22-23/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:41:07 +0000 joy http://loudounarchaeology.org/blog/?p=606 The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation will conduct a public archaeology program at the annual Lucketts Fair celebration on August 22-23. It will be a fun, exciting, and educational event for all ages. This program will introduce ancient technology of Native Americans and how archaeologists discover secrets about ancient people. There will be artifacts that archaeologists have found at Prehistoric and Civil War sites. There will be several hands on activities for children and adults. Please check The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation’s website and The Loudoun Archaeological Foundation’s Facebook page for future activities for children this summer. Thank you.

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