Chris Fennell has scheduled to present invited talks on developments in African diaspora archaeology, the New Philadelphia archaeology project, and the Edgefield pottery communities archaeology project in June, 2012 at the National University of Taiwan and Academica Sinica in Taipei and in August at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape. Here’s hoping for clear skies.
Category: Archaeology in the News
Lisa Lucero, professor of anthropology, was appointed to the American Anthropological Association’s new Task Force on Climate Change. The task force was created to bring anthropology’s contributions to issues of environmental concern into the spotlight. Lucero will promote and develop anthropological contributions to climate change-related issues with eight other members of the task force.
Thanks to the South Carolina Humanities Council and National Endowment for the Humanities for grant support for two projects on Edgefield ceramics and archaeology. Congratulations to the Edgefield County Historical Society, as the sponsoring organization for these projects, and to George Calfas as Project Director and author of the grant proposals.
The first project consisted of a five-part speaker series convened in South Carolina in the Summer of 2011, entitled “Pottersville: 200 Years of Pottery Production in the Edgefield District.”
The second project is entitled “Pottersville: Home of Alkaline Glazed Stoneware,” and has the following description on the S.C. Humanities Council web site: “create a short documentary film of 8 to 10 minutes showcasing the alkaline-glazed stoneware tradition that is so important in Edgefield County. This film will be presented at the Joanne T. Rainsford Discovery Center in Edgefield, the McKissick Museum in Columbia, at regional historical society meetings, as well as on several websites, including SCETV’s KnowItAll.org, which reaches K-12 classrooms across the state” (http://schumanities.org/home).
Over the past few months Mr. Calfas and his colleagues have been working with Storyline Media to edit film footage with the goal of sharing the rich history of the pottery communities of Edgefield, the accomplishments of African-American and European-American artisans in those industries, and to document the 2011 Archaeological Fieldschool at Pottersville. The final product is a concise, 15 minute documentary now available online. In the coming month a DVD version will be added to the Anthropology department video library. If you would like a copy please let Mr. Calfas know, and please pass along this information to others who may be interested. Additional information about this multi-year, collaborative research and education project is also available online.
by Traci Watson on 12 December 2011
Science Now: Up to the Minute News from Science
Stand upright, cool off. That’s long been touted as one of the benefits of our ancestors becoming bipedal in a hot and sunny world. But now researchers have poured cold water on the idea. A team examined how our ancient relatives, who were most likely covered with a thick pelt of hair, would fare while walking briskly in a sizzling place like the African savanna. The body dimensions used in the model—30 kg for females, 55 kg for males—were based on a group of early human ancestors, or hominins, such as Australopithicus afarensis, the species that includes the famous Ethiopian fossil “Lucy.” The models showed that a 30-minute trek put hairy hominins at risk of heat stroke whether they were four-legged or erect , according paper published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Read more here: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/12/scienceshot-standing-tall-to-beat.html
By Adam Ruben
November 25, 2011
AAAS
Thanksgiving is a time when we’re forced to verbalize what we’re thankful for. Not that we’re ungrateful in general, but we usually don’t sit around the dinner table taking turns expressing gratitude while our food gets cold.
At Thanksgiving, we identify the usual culprits. We’re thankful for family, we’re thankful for friends, we’re thankful for the food itself. We’re thankful that Farting Cousin Barry’s flight was delayed. But do we ever stop and express our appreciation for science?
let’s do it now.
• We are thankful to the funding agencies that support our research. Without them, we’d be at home experimenting on our cats.
• We are thankful for coffee. So, so thankful.
• We are thankful for that one colleague who knows statistics. There’s always one.
Read more things that scientists can be thankful for here:
Credit: Hal Mayforth
Steven Pinker: the optimistic voice of science
In his landmark new book, the Harvard professor argues we are much less violent than our ancestors. It could lead to much academic bloodletting.
Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2011/sep/18/observer-profile-steven-pinker
From May through June, anthropology graduate student George Calfas led a team of undergraduate students, including five LAS students. Working in muggy, 100-degree weather, they uncovered the industrial-scale kiln used to make pottery at Pottersville, about a mile from Edgefield, S.C.
Read more here: http://www.las.illinois.edu/news/2011/potter/?utm_source=streamsend&utm_medium=email&utm_content=14649323&utm_campaign=LAS%20News%20Online
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-to-Save-the-Taj-Mahal.html#ixzz1YUqWWEBvhttp://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-to-Save-the-Taj-Mahal.html?c=y&page=4
The Taj backs up against the once-vibrant Yamuna River, now often dried to the point where locals can walk in the riverbed.
Chris Fennell presented a keynote talk, entitled “Archaeology and African Diaspora Legacies in the Americas,” at the XVI Congress of the Brazilian Archaeological Society and the XVI Worldwide Congress of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, on September 9, 2011, at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in Florianopolis, Brazil. He is scheduled to present another invited lecture, entitled “African Diaspora Archaeology and Interdisciplinary Challenges,” on October 13, 2011, to the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China. Best wishes for clear skies.
Edgefield, SC: The Turning Point for Pottery in North America
By Doug Peterson, LAS News Bureau
Dave the Potter was openly breaking state law when he inscribed his name, along with poetry and Bible verses, in the pottery he created in South Carolina. That’s because it was illegal in the early 19th century for a slave like Dave to read or write, let alone propagate simple inscribed rhymes such as: “I wonder where is all my relation / Friendship to all — and, every nation.” Today, pottery created by Dave the Potter can be found in museums across the world, including the Smithsonian. University of Illinois anthropologists have now gone back to the source of this amazing craftsmanship, unearthing the Pottersville kiln where it is believed that Dave became a master potter. This kiln was also the first to use alkaline glazing in North America—a major breakthrough in pottery. From May through June, anthropology graduate student George Calfas led a team of undergraduate students, including five LAS students. Working in muggy, 100-degree weather, they uncovered the industrial-scale kiln used to make pottery at Pottersville, about a mile from Edgefield, S.C. [Follow link above for full article]
