Category Archives: Seminars

Archaeology – A Journey of Discovery from Ancient Origins to Recent Past

Join Sacramento Archeological Society at Maidu Museum and Historical Site on Saturday, October 21, 2017 from 1:00 to 4:00 for presentations on
• Human Origins in South Africa – “Pinnacle Point” by Allan Keown, Renaissance Society at CSUS, Membership Chair and “Pleistocene Coast South Africa – A Special Environment for the Evolution of our unique species” video presentation by Curtis Marean, PhD, Professor, Anthropology, Arizona State University
• “Varsche River 003 (South Africa): recent investigations into behavioral variation during the Middle Stone Age and implication for modern human origins” by Teresa Steele, PhD, Professor, University of California Davis
• Emigrant Trails – “Archaeology of Emigrant Trail Routes”, by John Winner, current Past National President of Oregon-California Trails Association

Maidu Museum & Historical Site
1970 Johnson Ranch Drive, Roseville, California 95661
Questions? Please contact Jan Johansen at janjohansen@sbcglobal.net
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Eclectic Archeological Exchange – Australian Aboriginal Dream Time Rock Art and Early Homo Sapiens

Eclectic Archeological Exchange
“Aboriginal Dream Time Rock Art and Australian Early Homo Sapiens (Mungo Lady and Man)”
Saturday, June 10, 2017
12:00 p.m.
SAS avocational members, Tom and Jan Johansen visited Australia in November 2016. They focused on rock art and early Homo Sapiens in Australia. On June 10th they will share photos and stories from their exploration. The rock art sites visited included: Split Rock near Cooktown, Ubirr in Kakadu near Darwin, Anbangbang, Burrunggui and Nanguluwurin in Kakadu, Uluru near Alice Springs, Bunjil, Billimina and Manja near Grampians, and Ku-ring-gai near Sydney.
The main early Home Sapien archaeological site visited was Mungo Lake. At this site Mungo Lady (dated to 40,000 BP) and Mungo Man (dated to 34,000 BP) were excavated.
Please RSVP by June 1 to Carolyn  at sabrina53@earthlink.net.

Eclectic Exchange

Eclectic Archeological Exchange
Saturday, March 4, 2017
12:00 p.m.

Have you ever wondered how artifacts were dated? Paul K. Davis will shed light on current techniques and practices. He will provide a brief survey and comparison of many dating methods from radioactive to tree rings etc., with a chart comparing their applicability to different materials and age ranges.

In addition Gerrit Fenenga will review Oregon “Older than Clovis” Archaeology as revealed in the SAS 2016 Oregon Tour.
Program
12:00 pm Meet and greet followed by lunch catered by Carolyn McGregor
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Paul K. Davis, “Age Measurement Techniques”
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm Gerrit Fenenga, “Oregon ‘Older than Clovis’ Archaeology”

RSVP to Carolyn  at sabrina53@earthlink.net.

Annual Scholar Symposium

Annual Scholar Symposium
By
Scholarship Recipients
Sunday, January 15, 2017
12:30 – 5:00 p.m.
at
Yolo County Library, Arthur F. Turner Branch
1212 Merkley Avenue,
West Sacramento, CA 95691

University of California Scholars will be presenting on their involvement in recent archaeological research.
Roshanne Shirley Bakhtiary – University of California, Davis graduate student. “Stable Isotope Evidence of Seasonal Shellfish Harvesting and Consumption in Prehistoric Central CA”. The summer of 2016 she directed a field school where an inland midden deposit in Santa Clara County (CA-SCL-330) was excavated. She used the scholarship award to conduct stable oxygen isotopic analyses of ancient shellfish collected from the site.
Amanda Dobrov – University of California, Berkeley student. “Roman Amphoras of North Africa: Markers of A Pan-Mediterranean Economy”. The summer of 2016 she was part of a team at the American Academy in Rome in connection with the Palatine East Pottery Project, (PEPP).
Sarah A. Hall – California State University, Chico graduate student. “Re-examining Stature Estimation Methods in a US Historic Cemetery: Skeletal Analysis of Remains at Valley Medical Center.” The summer of 2016 she studied adult skeletons from the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Cemetery (SCVMCC) collection, housed at California State University, Chico.
Anna Khrustaleva – University of California Santa Barbara student. “Excavation in Lower Illinois River Valley: Investigations at the Audrey-North Site”. During the summer of 2016 she attended a six week excavation project under the direction of Dr. Grey Wilson, UCSB on Audrey-North Site, a lower Illinois Mississippian River Valley occupation site.
Jason Miszaniec – University of California, Davis, graduate student. “Exploratory Testing and Mapping of a Large Prehistoric Village, Shaktoolik , Alaska”.  During a two week field season in 2016 he collected organic samples for radiocarbon dating from the Difchahak (NOB-005) site at Shaktoolik, Norton Sound, Alaska. The funds that he received from Sacramento Archeological Society, Inc. were applied to the cost of radiocarbon dating of samples.
Jewell Cora Soriano – University of California Berkeley student. “After Reform: A Study of Land-Use Pattern Following Rapid Social Change in the Bolivian Altiplano”. The summer of 2016 she worked on an archaeological project in Bolivia. The Taraco Archaeological Project has been excavating the area since 1992 and during the 2016 summer began a targeted mapping project of key archaeological sites on the Taraco Peninsula.

Annual Meeting Featuring Neandertal Research and Carbonized Wood Identification

Sacramento Archeological Society, Inc.’s Annual Meeting

Featuring

“Current Neandertal Research and Identification of Carbonized Wood Remains”

By University of California Scholars

Saturday, December 3, 2016

12:00 – 6:00 p.m.

 

At our annual meeting we are pleased to have four University of California Scholars who received SAS scholarships present their research, field work, and training. Naomi Martisius, Susan E. Lagle and Samantha Dunham have been studying Neandertals in Europe. Each will speak on their research and experiences. Mallory Melton is analyzing the La Blanca wood assemblage.  She will speak on her training in taxonomic identification of carbonized wood remains that she received at the Boston University’s Wood Identification Workshop.

Paleo-Indians in California

Saturday, October 15, 2016

10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Hosted by Maidu Museum & Historical Site

1970 Johnson Ranch Drive, Roseville, CA 95661

Archaeologists present viewpoints on Paleo-Indians (the first people who entered and inhabited the Americans) with a focus on recent research, important sites and artifacts in California.

Program

10:00 a.m. Tour of Maidu Rock Art – Dan Foster

11:00 a.m. – Paleo-Indian Introduction – John Foster, “SAS Texas & Oregon Tour Insights.

11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Lunch break (Bring you own lunch or get lunch in the area an enjoy museum)

1:00 to 1:45 p.m. – Gerrit Fenenga, “Witt Site–Tulare Lake”

1:45 to 2:30 p.m. – Rick Fitzgerald, “Paleo-Coastal Tradition: Real or Imagined 30 years later”

2:30 to 2:45 p.m. – Break

2:45 to 3:30 p.m. – Greg White, “Borax Lake & Northern Sites”

3:30 to 4:00 p.m. – Closing

Open to the Public –Donations welcome

For more information contact Ruth McElhinney at 916-396-4945

 

Eclectic Archaeological Exchange: Mysteries of Ancient Orkey and Great Britain on June 19, 2016

Eclectic Archeological Exchange

June 19, 2016, Sunday

1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

In August, 2015 several members of Sacramento Archeological Society, Inc. joined members of the Council for British Archaeology for an archaeological tour of the Scottish Orkney.  Orkney has world famous Neolithic villages of Skara Brae and Ness of Brodgar which is currently being excavated, Maeshowe chambered tomb and amazing henge monuments of Brodgar and Stennes – all part of our World Heritage Site.  After the Orkney tour the travelers continued to visit archeological sites in Scotland, England and Ireland.

Program:

Jan Johansen, SAS Board Member will share Orkney photos and stories in the presentation “Mysteries of Ancient Orkney”.

Paul K. Davis, SAS Board Member will present “Archeological Sites in Great Britain”, tidbits from his visit to other archeological/anthropological sites in the Great Britain following the Orkney tour.

An informal discussion will follow including comments from additional Orkney tour participants: Jeremy Johansen, Tom Johansen, Ruth McElhinney, and Knuti VanHoven.

 

 

Our Neandertal Heritage on April 24, 2016

Our Neandertal Heritage

By

Teresa Steele, PhD Anthropology at University of California, Davis

and Tim Weaver, PhD Anthropology at University of California, Davis

 

Sunday, April 24, 2016

2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

at

Yolo County Library, Arthur F. Turner Branch

1212 Merkley Avenue,

West Sacramento, CA 95691

 

Agenda

2:00 Teresa Steele, PhD, “Varsche Rivier 003 (South Africa): recent investigations into behavioral variation during the Middle Stone Age and implication for modern human origins”

3:00 Tim Weaver, PhD, “The Role of History and Chance in Human Evolution”

 

Teresa Steele, PhD Anthropology UCD – work on the later phases of human evolution – the emergence of the earliest people who were behaviorally and anatomically modern. In particular, why these fully modern humans spread out of Africa about 50,000 years ago and were able to replace the Neandertals in Europe.

Tim Weaver PhD Anthropology UCD – work on human evolution, with a focus on the emergence, evolution, and disappearance of Neandertals, and the related question of the origins of humans who were anatomically and behaviorally modern and especially the recent finds in South Africa

Scholar Symposium on 1/17/2016

Annual Scholar Symposium

By

Scholarship Recipients

Sunday, January 17, 2016

1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

at

Yolo County Library, Arthur F. Turner Branch

1212 Merkley Avenue,

West Sacramento, CA 95691

 

Agenda

1:00 Allison Blair – “Imprisoned in Ireland”

1:40 Leah Hansard – “The Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project 2015 Field Season”

2:20 Rachel Davies – “Rimrock Draw Rockshelter in Oregon – Older than Clovis Excavation”

3:00 Break

3:10 Derek A. Boyd – ““Anthropology Abroad: Osteological Investigations of Two Historic Cemeteries Housed at the Museum of London, Centre for Human Bioarchaeology”

3:50 Julia Prince-Buitenhuys – “Insights into Dietary Ethnogenesis at the Santa Clara County Medical Center Potter’s Field”

4:30 Wrap up and prep for a 5:00 close of facility

  • Allison Blair is a senior at University of Nevada, Reno majoring in Anthropology and English.  Her career goal is to become a National Park Ranger.  To expand her experience she attended the Spike Island Field School in Cobh, Ireland during the 2015 summer.  The island housed a prison from the 1800’s.  The school continued to search for missing convict burial grounds excavate of a walled cemetery and the site of the Wooden Prison, a temporary prison building.  This project was intended to provide insights into Ireland’s prison system.
  • Derek A. Boyd is a graduate student at California State University, Chico majoring in Anthropology. During the summer of 2015 Derek spent a month in London collecting data for his master’s theses. He analyzed patterns of trauma on human skeletal remains from two socio-economically disparate post-Medieval communities. At the Royal College of Surgeons in London he searched through historical documentation of pathology reports, patient records, and other miscellaneous items to gain an understanding of how trauma was treated in the post-Medieval period. In this presentation he plans to share with the Sacramento Archaeological Society his experiences as an independent researcher in London, as well as the preliminary results of his Master’s thesis research.
  • Rachel Davies graduated from California State University Sacramento.  Her interest is in great basin Zooarchaeology.  During 2015 summer she participated in the Rimrock Draw Rockshelter field school.  Excavations from this site have produced findings that suggest Western North America may have been occupied by pre-Clovis people as early as 16,000 B.P. This last summer excavation began in the 7,600 old Mazama volcanic ash layer and worked down.  We will be excited to hear of the findings.

 

  • Leah Hansard completed a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Classics at the University of California, Davis in the spring of 2015 and is now a first year graduate student in Art History at the University of Texas, Austin.  She would like to become a curator of classical art and archaeology and lead excavations in the Mediterranean.  As a second year participant at the Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project in Italy, she worked as a Trench Master-in-Training and deepen her archaeological skills.  We will be interested to hear about the excavation.

 

  • Julia Prince-Buitenhuys is a graduate student at California State University Chico majoring in anthropology.   She was studying the migration and acculturation that occurred in Santa Clara Valley between 1870 and 1935 by performing stable isotope analysis on a sample population from the Santa Clara County Valley Medical Center Potter’s Field.  This analysis provides insights into dietary practices and the general immigration status of those interred at the cemetery.  We are very interested to hear her assessment of the ethnogenesis process for this region in this period of time.

Annual Meeting – Cory Wilkins “The Archaeological Conservancy” on 12/5/2015

Sacramento Archeological Society, Inc.’s

 Annual Meeting

Featuring

“The Archaeological Conservancy in CA”

By

Cory Wilkins

Western Regional Director

The Archaeological Conservancy

Saturday, December 5, 2015

2:00 – 6:00 p.m.

At our annual meeting we are pleased to have Cory Wilkins, Western Regional Director of The Archaeological Conservancy (TAC) speak on

(1)   General descriptions of all properties TAC currently owns in California and Nevada

(2)   A detailed discussion of TAC’s most recent purchase, the Siemer Preserve on the edge of Big Valley and near Bieber, announced in TAC’s attached Fall 2015 American Archaeology magazine at pages 48-9 by Deanna Commons.

(3)   Other properties in California and Nevada that TAC is currently considering purchasing.

The agenda for the event is as follows:

2:00 – Social hour.

3:00 – SAS Annual Meeting

3:30 – Presentation

4:30 – Dinner, socializing, and raffle

 

PLEASE provide your RSVP by December 1 to Carolyn at  sabrina53@earthlink.net.