Our next meeting is September 2, 2026
(scroll down to view past meeting topics)
Regular meetings: We normally meet on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. in Arey Hall at the Bridgewater Municipal Building, which is located at 201 Green Street, Bridgewater. The evening consists of a speaker or other program of interest followed by a short business meeting.
Meetings are free and open to the public.
Directions:
View a map here. To get to Arey Hall, take exit 240 off Interstate 81. Take route 257 west into Bridgewater. Turn right at stoplight onto Main Street (route 42 north). Take next (immediate) left onto Green Street. Go one block and turn right onto North Grove Street. Turn left into parking lot. Arey Hall is the bottom level of the three-story brick building.
We hope to see you there!
PAST EVENTS
Massanutten Chapter meeting programs
June 3, 2026
Speakers: Alison Bell and Keven Rice
Everything We Thought We Knew: How Artifact Analysis and Allied Research are Challenging Received Wisdom about Life in a Nineteenth-Century Iron-Making Community
In this presentation we share our ongoing research on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artifact collections that W&L field schools excavated (ca. 1991-2004) at domestic and industrial sites in the Longdale Iron-Making area of Alleghany County, George Washington and Jefferson National Forest. Rich and varied sources including oral histories and archival research complement archaeological analysis in creating a picture of life in Longdale that differs in many ways from “received wisdom” about turn-of-the-twentieth-century mining communities. There’s clear evidence, for example that – unlike many well-known (indeed infamous) mining companies in West Virginia and beyond – Longdale workers were paid in cash rather than scrip, and that they and their families had appreciable consumer choice and physical mobility. We’re beginning to see Longdale as an example of a company town where industry could succeed without keeping laborers under its heel.
Alison Bell is Professor of Anthropology at Washington and Lee University. She teaches courses such as Collective Memory, the Anthropology of Death, the Anthropology of American History, and Introduction to Anthropology. She specializes in historical archaeology and has enjoyed work with materials from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.
Keven Rice is an Alleghany County native and retired business and finance professional with a life-long passion for history and archaeology. His core focus is on the iron industry of the Alleghany Highlands region and, in particular, the Longdale Iron Company complex for which he possesses extensive “boots on the ground” knowledge of the mining, manufacturing, and residential sites contained therein.
May 6, 2026
Speaker: Dr. Clarence R. Geier, Professor Emeritus, JMU
Dr. Geier will present his new book, Stokesville, Augusta County, Virginia: Company Town and End-of-Track for the Chesapeake Western Railway. His talk will introduce Stokesville as an early 20th century boom town, now forgotten because of the catastrophic 1949 flood. The archaeology of large industrial complexes like Stokesville — where railroading, timbering, tanbarking, and even coal mining, left their mark on the land today — requires different methodologies and to adequately tell their stories. Bringing together primary historical research, oral history, archaeological survey, and forest ecology, Stokesville is an example of how to resurrect the lost towns of western Virginia’s extractive economy that ultimately led to the creation of public lands.
April 1, 2026
“A Different Kind of Experiment: Archaeological Studies of the Monacan Indian Living History Exhibit at Natural Bridge State Park”, Dr. Carole Nash
March 6, 2026
Topic — Monumental Native American Earthworks of Southern Ohio, Part II: Serpent Mound
Carole Nash and Cindy Schroer
Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio, is one of the most iconographic Native American sites in the Eastern United States. It is a National Historic Landmark that draws visitors from all over the world to a small community in rural southern Ohio. An effigy earthwork, its size (1350’ long, and up to 9’ high in places) and its precise configuration as a serpent’s body have generated speculation about its cultural associations and meaning. Archaeologists have documented and studied it since the mid-19th century, and geologists have determined that it was constructed on a remnant meteorite impact crater. This presentation reviews the various archaeological interpretations of Serpent Mound, including recent collaborative work with Indigenous scholars that fully aligns it with the Fort Ancient culture and Siouan traditions of the creation of life.
January 7, 2026
Archaeology Human Remains Detection Dogs: Another Tool in the Toolbox
This presentation describes how human detection-trained dogs can assist archaeologists and historians using non-invasive methods to locate lost burials. Unmarked graves are important to telling the whole story of a site or community, and the dogs bring a new dimension to this work.
Speaker: Kathleen Connor DVM
I have been a search and rescue dog handler for over 25 years. With local, regional, national and international deployments. My current working partner is Seamus, an eight year old Labrador. We’ve been training for and working as an AHRD dog team for six years and have helped archaeologists at Fort Niagra, NY, Fort Necessity, PA, Haines, AK and Richmond Hills, GA. A lot of our work has been locally for Civil War battlefields in Richmond VA. I am also training up Seamus’s replacement, Keegan, a two year old Labrador.
November 5, 2025
Topic: Ancient Sardis (Turkiye): rework, repurpose, recycle
Speaker: Sheila Nightingale
No longer large enough to be considered a proper town, the modern village of Sart in western Turkiyë is a collection of modest homes, small shops, vineyards, and olive orchards. But beneath and surrounding the village are the remains of ancient Sardis—the vast capital city of the Lydian empire (7th century BC), and variously vassal, adversary, and ally to subsequent powers. The archaeological record of the city itself spans over 3500 years. Through this time—across leaders and allegiances—existing structures, objects, landscapes, and deities were converted, recycled, or renewed to fit the purposes of new regimes and cultures. In this talk, we will visit the monumental tombs of Bin Tepe (“Thousand Mounds”), the Greek Temple of Artemis, early Christian churches, and other public and private spaces around the city to consider how the record of “the past” is incorporated into “the present.” Finally, we will address some of the challenges of modern archaeological research in the face of looting and the illegal antiquities trade, itself a form of reworking the past.
Sheila is a chapter member and PhD Candidate in Archaeology (Anthropology) at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, and an adjunct lecturer of Anthropology at Hostos Community College (CUNY) in the Bronx.
October 1, 2025
Topic: The 1870 Flood in the Shenandoah Valley
Speaker: Paula Green
The historic 1870 flood left a trail of damage and loss throughout Shenandoah Valley. Join historian Paula Green to learn more about the way the flood shaped communities here and throughout Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. Green will use historic depictions and primary source accounts to examine the flood along the Shenandoah River with extra attention devoted to the flood in Rockingham & Page County. Additionally, this talk will pull in the archaeological work that the ASV’s Massanutten Chapter completed at White House Farm in Page County between 2012-2015, along with highlighting the importance of locating the flood level in the archaeological record.
Paula Green is the author of “The Great Virginia Flood of 1870.” She has degrees in Anthropology and Public History from James Madison University (BS 2003, MA 2015) and is currently working on her PhD in History at George Mason University.
September 3, 2025
Transfer-Printed Wares: Intriguing Views on Ceramics and How They are Beneficial to Archaeologists
Our Speaker: Heather Cline
Transferwares are one of the most common historical ceramics found on archaeological sites in America. Transferring images onto ceramics began during the mid 18th century in England, escalating in popularity during the 1820s and 1830s. The documented changes, patterns, and makers of this ceramic type provide archaeologists with an excellent timeline for site dating. The creation of a searchable database by the Transferware Collectors Club (TCC) in the early 2000s has helped further the usefulness of transferwares to the archaeological community. A new feature using AI technology, developed in conjunction with the University of Michigan, will debut soon and will assist in the identification of patterns from ceramic fragments only, an important development for the archaeological community.
Our Speaker: Heather Cline has degrees in Anthropology and Public History from the College of William and Mary (BA) and Armstrong Atlantic State University (MA). She has many years of experience as a field and laboratory archaeologist, serving as Lead Curator of the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex, which is home to the state of West Virginia’s archaeological artifact collections. During her 18-year career in the field of archaeology, Heather acquired a strong interest in historic period ceramics, especially those from the colonial era. After years of cataloging sherds and artifacts of all types, Heather returned to the Shenandoah Valley, becoming Head of the Ceramics Department at Jeffrey S. Evans and Associates, a catalogued auction house in Mt. Crawford. Here she researches and writes about all types of ceramics ranging from Chinese Export Porcelain to Staffordshire to American Art Pottery. She also currently serves as Secretary of the Transferware Collectors Club.
August 6, 2025
Monumental Native American Earthworks of Southern Ohio
Presenters: Dr. Carole Nash and Cindy Schroer
Join us to hear about a recent trip to southeastern Ohio and learn about the archaeologically identified Hopewell Culture. Its members built extensive earthworks in the Scioto River Valley, where the National Park Service and state park system have worked with contemporary Native American Tribes to protect and tell the story of these places. A separate trip to Serpent Mound, associated with the Adena and Fort Ancient cultures, also provides an opportunity to discuss the creation of landscape-scale sculptures.
June 4, 2025
Two Summers in Ancient Greece
Presented by Chapter Member and Certification Program Student, Robert Oliver
In June we learned about several archaeological sites visited by Robert over two summers spent in Greece. These sites and their museums span the Bronze Age of Myceanean Greece through Hellenistic times after the death of Alexander the Great. We will travel to the Acropolis in Athens, visit the oracle and cave of the muses in Delphi, the mountain fortress at Corinth, the palace of “Agamemnon” at Myceanea, the race track at Olympia, the sacred island of Delos, the royal tombs of Alexander’s ill-fated father and son, and more!
Robert Oliver has taught computer science at Blue Ridge Community College for over twenty years. When he’s not in front of a computer, he is either reading about ancient history or traveling to archaeological sites and museums across the Mediterranean.
May 7, 2025
Striking simplicity: what non-specialized lithic technologies can teach us about early modern human behavior
Speaker: Sheila Nightingale, PhD Candidate in Archaeology (Anthropology) at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, and an adjunct lecturer of Anthropology at Hostos Community College (CUNY) in the Bronx.
The Middle Stone Age (MSA; ~300-40kya) is the period in which our species, Homo sapiens, both emerged and proliferated within Africa, developing specialized stone tool technologies in parts of the continent. As the oldest and most durable evidence of human behavior, stone tools document our ancestors’ adaptations to the environment and resource availability, their social networks, and the transmission of knowledge. The archaeological record of the late MSA in Malawi (Central-East Africa), however, stands in contrast to the specialized industries of northern and southern Africa, as a generalized tradition of simple toolstone reduction with few formalized “tools.” Despite this apparent lack of technological complexity, MSA artifact assemblages from northern Malawi reveal behavioral sophistication that underlies a flexible foraging strategy among highly capable toolmakers, thus providing essential data toward an understanding of modern human behavioral variability.
Sheila Nightingale’s dissertation research focuses on Middle Stone Age stone tool technology in northern Malawi. Sheila earned a B.A. in Anthropology and Archaeological Studies from Yale University. She has previously conducted fieldwork at Paleolithic sites in the UK, the Republic of Georgia, and Kenya, and worked both in the field and the administrative/editorial office of the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis (Turkey) project of the Harvard Art Museums.
April 2, 2025
Topic: Crossroads: Archaeology, Natural History, and the South River Watershed
Dr. Carole Nash, JMU and Mountain Valley Archaeology
March 5, 2025
Dr. Carole Nash, JMU and Mountain Valley Archaeology
The Roots of Coalescence: Emerging Middle Woodland Exchange Networks in Western Virginia
The visibility of Late Woodland communities of coalescence reflecting population movements into Western Virginia belies the roots of earlier, sustained interaction, expressed through Middle Woodland exchange networks and manifest in material culture and mortuary practices. A millennium prior to the appearance of nucleated and, later, palisaded villages that are interpreted as indicators of multicultural settlements, exchange networks encompassing much of the Chesapeake watershed and adjacent regions were already activated. This evidence, along with the geographic distribution of the Middle Woodland stone burial mound tradition,supports coalescence as an extended process of crossing cultural boundaries in a region of isolated proximity.
November 6, 2024
Prehistoric Roots of an Interstate System
Aaron Cross, retired cultural geologist
Each year, Interstate 81 carries more than four million trucks, hauling nearly a hundred million tons of cargo, while over eleven million passenger cars jockey for room in the fast lane. Interstate 81 was built cheek-by-jowl with its predecessor, US Route 11, and these two roads travel almost four hundred miles together, rarely diverging more than a few thousand feet. US 11, by-and-large, was built atop the Valley Turnpike, which evolved from the Great Wagon Road, a corridor for eighteenth-century westward migration that, for the most part, followed an ancient Indian footpath. In essence, this is an Interstate on an Indian trail.
And that Indian trail followed a particular kind of limestone. For a distance of more than a hundred miles, it closely follows a very narrow band of a particular type of limestone. The entire Shenandoah Valley is floored with limestone: so why would these people follow this one particular type? And how could they make such geological distinctions? And furthermore, since most of the bedrock in the Valley is covered with soil, how did they stay on track?
October 2024
No meeting was held in October because many members were attending the ASV state meeting that week in Williamsburg.
September 4, 2024
Chapter Social Gathering
For the September 4, 2024 meeting, there will be no formal presentation but we will be having a SOCIAL GATHERING to get to know each other better.
August 7, 2024
Native American Ceramics of the Shenandoah Valley, Part II: The Commitment to Clay
Carole Nash, PhD, RPA
James Madison University, School of Integrated Sciences
This follow-up presentation focused on the skills of Native potters of the Middle and Late Woodland cultural period.
June 5, 2024 7pm
“Native American Ceramics of the Shenandoah Valley”
Speaker: Carole Nash, PhD, RPA with James Madison University and Mountain Valley Archaeology
May 1, 2024
The Analysis of Bone Tools Recovered from the Crab Orchard Site (44TZ0001), Tazewell County, Virginia: A Late Woodland Village on the Frontier
Dr. Michael B. Barber, Longwood University Institute of Archaeology
The Crab Orchard bone tool assemblage is similar to other Late Woodland villages in southwestern Virginia. Dominated by bone awls, beamers, and antler tools, the assemblage mirrors the recovered tools from Trigg, Shannon, Hall, Graham-White, Sawyer, RAAP #2, and Stroubles Creek. The major anomaly is the barrel bead fashioned from deer metapodials which are common on Fort Ancient sites to the west. Holland (1970) described the cultures of southwestern Virginia as a crossroads of numerous regional influences. Within a holistic view of various elements of culture, the Crab Orchard site is evaluated as an indigenous site with many borrowed traits from Fort Ancient and east Tennessee producing a unique cultural amalgam on the Virginia frontier.
April 3, 2024
“The Resilience of Virginia’s First Peoples: Today’s Tribes and Nations Moving Forward”
Carole Nash, PhD, RPA
James Madison University, School of Integrated Sciences
March 6, 2024
“44AU0719, The Mt. Sidney Pottery c.1825-1884”
Cindy Schroer, MCASV
An archival journey documenting the Mt. Sidney Pottery and looking at the lives of the men who identified themselves as potters.
February 7, 2024
“Reclaiming the Story: Insights from the Written and Oral Histories of the Valley’s Indigenous Communities”
Carole Nash, PhD, RPA
James Madison University, School of Integrated Sciences
Bringing together archaeology, written history, and oral history traditions, this presentation opens a discussion of the First Peoples of the Valley from the 17th-20th centuries.
January 3, 2024
Wood-Fired: Impacts of Wildfire on Archaeological Sites in the Virginia Uplands
Speaker: Carole Nash, PhD, RPA, James Madison University
The increased frequency of wildfires in our region requires us to re-think our approaches to protecting cultural heritage. Fueled by severe drought, 25,000 acres burned in ground and crown fires in the Virginia uplands during the 2023 fall fire season. Documented and undocumented archaeological sites were impacted. This presentation looks at the way in which wildfire damages archaeological sites and artifacts, how wildfire changes archaeological research, and how we can better assess vulnerable areas.
November 1, 2023
Archaeological Perspectives and Recent Research from Monticello
Crystal O’Connor, Field Research Manager at Monticello
Crystal joined us virtually and provided an overview of Monticello’s archaeological history, research goals, and contributions to how the site is interpreted. We learned about current research at Site 30, a domestic site occupied by enslaved field laborers in the last quarter of the 18th century. She shared how archaeological field and lab work are contributing to our understanding of how the daily lives of the enslaved community at Monticello were affected by Jefferson’s plantation management strategies and larger historical forces at work. This talk summarized early research questions after two seasons of fieldwork.
October 4, 2023
Archeology in the Alleghenies: Re-thinking the Gathright Dam Project
Dr. Carole Nash, School of Integrated Sciences, James Madison University
Abstract: Over 40 years ago, James Madison University faculty and students trekked into Bath County and set up a camp that supported large-scale archaeological survey and excavation in the Jackson River Valley. This work was done in tandem with the construction of the Gathright Dam and creation of Lake Moomaw by the Army Corps of Engineers, which triggered federal cultural resources review. Over 400 archaeological sites were recorded prior to the flooding of the Jackson River, including hunter-gather campsites, Indigenous agricultural villages, 18th century log cabins, and 19th century mill sites and homesteads. This presentation both reviews the findings and suggests new ways of thinking about them, based on changes in archaeological practice and the larger knowledge base that has developed since the early 1980s.
September 6, 2023
Cataloging the History of Logboat Development in the Mid-Atlantic
Bob Hayes, Maritime Chapter, ASV
Log-built boats are a significant part of the rich maritime history of the Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries, and the natural inland waterways of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. The Maritime Heritage Chapter of the Archeological Society of Virginia has embarked on an ambitious project to create a registry of the single-log dugout canoes and multi-log hulled boats of the Mid-Atlantic region. The goal of the registry is to provide a searchable database of historical information and technical data (i.e., dimensional measurements, wood type, construction/preservation methods, etc.) to allow for comparative studies on how these vessels evolved over time. To date, over 160 logboats have been catalogued.
June 7, 2023
The Kittiwan Button Collection
The May meeting of the Massanutten Chapter took place on Wednesday, June 7, at 7 p.m., at Mountain Valley Archaeology, 755 South Main Street, Mount Crawford.
The Program was given by Janice Biller, Kay Veith, Cindy Schroer and Carole Nash of the Massanutten Chapter. The program, “The Kittiewan Button Collection,” focused on the recent work to catalog the collection and the lessons we learned along the way.
May 3, 2023
Speaker: Morgan McKinney
Topic: “What Remains: An Archaeological and Documentary Analysis of a Displaced Hazel Mountain Community, Shenandoah National Park.”
The May meeting of the Massanutten Chapter was held on Wednesday, May 3, 7 p.m., at Mountain Valley Archaeology, 755 South Main Street (Route 11), Mount Crawford. The program was presented by JMU Anthropology and Geography student Morgan McKinney on her research project: “What Remains: An Archaeological and Documentary Analysis of a Displaced Hazel Mountain Community, Shenandoah National Park.”
Abstract:
Prior to displacement for the creation of the Shenandoah National Park, the people who settled on the eastern side of Hazel Mountain were close-knit, self-sufficient families portrayed negatively by media stereotypes. Archaeological survey and documentary research on three families and homesteads confirms media misrepresentation. Documentary research established a pre-displacement familial connectedness of at least a century to the geographic area within 10 miles of Hazel Mountain. Fieldwork recovered evidence of period technology and foundations of sizeable structures; however, archaeological survey methods proved limited in their ability to identify cultural features described in the records, as the full complement of agricultural and landscape features is nearly invisible today, after only eighty years. Archaeologists researching the Shenandoah displacement must commit to excavation and intensive historical research to understand what remains of these sites.
April 5, 2023
Speaker: Bob Jolley, Regional Archaeologist with the Northern Regional Preservatin Office, Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Topic: An Overview of the NRPO-DHR Archaeological Survey Program
When DHR established regional preservation offices in the 1990s, one of the primary missions was to promote and conduct cultural resource surveys. Proactive survey increases the chance that a site may be protected and if the site is destroyed, the survey record may be the only information obtained for the site. This presentation emphasizes the importance of survey as a management tool for local governments, property owners and cultural resource managers. NRPO survey strategy has focused on 1) sites of importance to the community, 2) threatened sites 3) archaeologically underrepresented areas, 4) site stewardship surveys and 5) surveys that support National Register listings. Thus far, over 1350 sites have been surveyed by employing these strategies.
March 1, 2023
Speaker: Brendan Burke, Virginia State Underwater Archaeologist
Topic: “Virginia’s Underwater Archaeology: Submerged History Throughout the Commonwealth.”
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources Underwater Archaeology Program is tasked with the protection and inventory of submerged archaeological sites throughout all of the state-owned bottomlands. The program also frequently assists citizens of the Commonwealth with heritage management regarding maritime artifacts and sites. This presentation will cover the program’s activities and duties throughout the state, from Assateague to the Alleghenies.
February 4, 2023
Resilient Ancestors along the Nottoway River: The Millie Woodson Turner Site
Presentation by Laura Galke, Chief Curator, Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Centuries of indigenous stewardship characterize the Millie Woodson-Turner Nottoway reservation allotment and home site. William & Mary’s American Indian Resource Center (AIRC) conducted archaeological investigations at the site in consultation with the landowner, and partnering with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR), and with participation from the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia. Archaeological investigations demonstrate how the Nottoway managed opportunities and stress in a society in which their legal status, identity and way of life was defined as aberrant by non-indigenous authorities. Laboratory analysis revealed three distinct domestic occupations: one from c. 1660-1759, one dating from about 1774 to the 1810s, and a sustained habitation from the 1870s to c. 1950. These families left material clues reflecting not only the social and political history they experienced, but the improvisations that sustained their families and environmental stewardship throughout their occupation. This site enriches our appreciation of people that have historically been silenced.
January 4, 2022
Topic: Significant Archaeological Discoveries of 2022
Speaker: Dr. Carole Nash, JMU
The presentation focused on work from around the globe that is expanding our understanding of past cultures.
November 2, 2022
Topic: Archaeological Laws and Ethics
Speaker: Dr. Carole Nash, JMU
July 6, 2022
Learning from Artifact Collections: Stories from Artifacts
We looked at artifact collections from the South River/Shenandoah South Fork to better understand the cultures of the First Peoples who made them. Discussion focused on identifying rock types as indicatiors of the origin of the artifacts, spearpoint/arrowhead styles as indicators of the age of the artifacts, and cultural connections between Valley communities of the past.
June 1, 2022
Speaker: Dr. Carole Nash, James Madison University
Spearpoints and Arrowheads: Technology and Time in the Study of Native American Artifacts
May 4, 2022
Speaker: Dr. Scott Suter, Professor, English and American Studies, Bridgewater College
The Importance of Making Progress: Interpreting Emanuel Suter’s Work
April 6, 2022
Speaker: Dr. Carole Nash, James Madison University
“The Valleys feed numerous herds of Deer and Elks larger then Oxen”
The Pre-colonial Interior-Coastal Deerskin Trade
March 2, 2022
Speaker: Dr. Carole Nash, James Madison University
Topic: 19th Century Harrisonburg: The View from the Hardesty-Higgins House
Carole reviewed the history of this downtown landmark and the dig there that involved several ASV members and JMU students.
February 12, 2022
Field trip to Morris Pottery Kiln with guest expert: Christopher Espenshade
We marked another milestone in our long relationship with the Morris Pottery Kiln (site 44RM0430), one of the only remaining kilns from the 19th century Valley stoneware tradition. Located in western Rockingham County near Lilly, the site is owned by the Archeological Society of Virginia, and our chapter has been its caretaker for almost 40 years.
Archaeologist and pottery/kiln specialist Christopher Espenshade, visited the kiln with us to assess its condition and make recommendations for its study and conservation.
His visit was funded by a grant from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources’ Threatened Sites Fund, and State Archaeologist Elizabeth Moore also joined us for the day.
January 12, 2022
Speaker: Dr. Carole Nash, JMU School of Integrated Sciences
TOPIC: Climate Change Impacts to Mountain Heritage Resources: Case Studies from the Virginia Blue Ridge
November 4, 2021
We encouraged our members to attend a Rocktown History event:
“Old House, New History” with Dr. Carole Nash from JMU
In recent years, evidence from archaeological investigation changed the story of what has been known for decades as the Thomas Harrison House. How do we discover more of the building’s origin story? How do the associated buildings add to that narrative? What is the vision for this downtown landmark? Dr. Carole Nash, whose research team uncovered the surprising evidence, will discuss the house, the work, and what it means for the community. Join the conversation, either in-person (limited ticketed seating) or via Zoom webinar.
Sept 1, 2021
Back to the Dry River: Evaluating the Morris Pottery Kiln
Description: Since the mid-1980s, the Massanutten Chapter of the ASV has been the caretaker of the only known standing kiln from the Valley’s 19th century folk pottery industry, the Morris Pottery Kiln on the Dry River in western Rockingham County. This site, 44RM0430, has been a focus of chapter activities, including survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, archival research, site maintenance, and fundraising to build a protective shelter. Despite our best efforts, the structure has experienced wind erosion, destabilizing the protective layer of cobbles that have been thrown up on the structure for a century.
Also, an early exploration (non-ASV) that removed a portion of kiln has resulted in sagging and cracking. This fall, with funding from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources Threatened Sites program, we are initiating an evaluation of the kiln by Christopher Espenshade, New South Associates, who is an expert in kiln archaeology. He will assess its condition, identify significant, intact portions, and develop a stabilization plan. This presentation reviews what we know about the kiln, what we hope to learn from the upcoming study, and why sites like the Morris Pottery Kiln are important.
August 4, 2021
Speaker: Dr. Carole Nash, Associate Professor, School of Integrated Sciences, JMU
Title: Indigenous Map Making: Lessons for Archaeologists
Description: Known historical maps created by Indigenous peoples are rare. In part, this is due to the lack of preservation of the materials on which maps were made: animal hides, wood, bark, woven mats. More significant is the fact that non-Indigenous colonial powers did not recognize Indigenous maps as authoritative and did not archive them and they would other legal documents. Yet, Indigenous oral traditions are filled with rich descriptions of places and their relationship to each other, and when coupled with surviving Indigenous maps, show regions rich with meaning. This presentation looks at Indigenous map making and what it can teach archaeologists about reading the landscope.
June 2, 2021
Speaker: Dr. Carole Nash, Associate Professor, School of Integrated Sciences, JMU
Topic: Non-Invasive Approaches to the Study of the Western Virginia Accretional Burial Mound Tradition
Dr. Carole Nash and four JMU Geographic Science students worked on this project, which is described below:
Shenandoah Valley historian, Samuel Kercheval, wrote in 1833 of “melancholy regret” over the destruction of burial mounds by Euroamerican settlers in the Virginia uplands. Since that time, archaeologists have attempted to document the surviving portions of these sites, which are sacred features of the Monacan and Manahoac peoples. This presentation demonstrates the role of remote sensing technologies, coupled with a close reading of archaeological studies, as a method for evaluating original mound size, current condition of the sites, and setting relative to natural features. The findings support the efficacy of non-invasive approaches for collaborative projects on ancestral spaces.
May 5, 2021
Speaker: Laura J. Galke, Chief Curator, Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Plastered and Sealed: Wine Consumption and Bottle Seals among Virginia’s Gentry
Identity was created and performed through sociable drinking, a popular license among Virginia’s ‘newly-elite’ families. Personalized wine bottle seals amplified messages of privilege in a private, home setting. Custom-made seals manifested identity, class, and gender, allowing planters a material way to demonstrate refinement, pedigree, and taste. The aspiration for individualized or family seals expanded at a time when demand for tavern-, inn-, and coffee house-seals diminished. Refined, domestic entertaining countered popular European beliefs which maintained that colonists were rustic. Hundreds of seals curated at the Department of Historic Resources inform this analysis that, together with the Culture Embossed website, provide comparative data for thoughtful analysts throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region.
April 7, 2021
Speaker: Dr. Mike Barber, Longwood Institute of Archaeology
A Preliminary Report on the Excavations at 17th Century Eyreville, Northampton County, Virginia: Hovel, House, Home
The Eyreville Site (44NH0507), in Northampton County, is located on the grounds of a bayside plantation house built in late 18th or early 19th century. The site to be tested lies within the lawn to the west of the main plantation house. The landowner, during tree stump removal, recovered numerous artifacts dating to the 17th century, which included rose head nails, bricks, blue and grey stoneware, tin-glazed ware, gin and wine bottle fragments, and numerous tobacco pipe stems. Of note were Dutch yellow bricks and elaborately decorated Dutch pipes in addition to domestic and English pipes. Documentary research points to the earliest occupation associated with John Howe in 1636/1637. The site later became the home of Col. William Kendall. During the 2017-2019 archaeological field schools, numerous subsurface features were identified including an 18th century brick foundation, a buried hearth, a well, many oyster filled features, and a brick walkway, to name a few. Excavations will continue at pandemic’s end with an emphasis on diachronic changes in both architecture and material culture at Eyreville, with a larger regional focus of that evolution as a backdrop.
January 13, 2021
Archeology: Science and Creativity
To kick off 2021 Dr. Carole Nash gave a virtual presentation on the topic: “Archeology: Science and Creativity.”
September 5, 2022
A Special Online Saturday evening meeting was held on September 5th.
Due to the pandemic, this was our first meeting since March.
Our program was a presentation by Dr. Carole Nash, “Native American Communities of the Shenandoah Valley: Constructing a Complex History.” You can download a background document (PDF) Carole has prepared here.
October 7, 2020
Death of the Cemetery: An Assessment of Historic Family Plots in Augusta County, Virginia
Rachel Sites, Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia
November 4, 2020
The process of preserving memory and event: Recognizing and protecting historic African American Cemeteries
Tom Klatka, Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources, Western Regional Office
The burial places for the enslaved and segregated communities of African Americans have been traditionally underrepresented or undocumented and in local, state and national planning documents. This is beginning to change. Last year, a bill introduced in Congress will help with information, technical support and grants to identify and restore African American cemeteries across the nation. In Virginia, the documentation of both historic and more recent African-American cemeteries has increased with the recent passage of legislation enabling the disbursement of state funds for the maintenance of historic African American cemeteries.
During this presentation, we discussed the mechanics of the recent legislation in Virginia, and looked at its immediate results. The benefits are readily apparent and they continue to grow quickly, but some inherent challenges persist. Concerning the challenges, we discussed survey and documentation methodologies, and addressed the interplay of the archaeological and documentary records in attempting to answer the question, “How many people were buried in this cemetery?”.
February 5, 2020
Regular monthly meeting was held at 7:00 p.m. in Arey Hall, at the Bridgewater Municipal Building. Our program for the February meeting was presented by Dr. Carole Nash, James Madison University, entitled “Gone is Gone: Lessons from a Downtown Demolition.” This presentation provides an overview of the 1991 demolition of buildings and archaeological sites for the construction of the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Judicial Complex. Members of the Massanutten Chapter of the ASV photographed the buildings prior to demolition and monitored their removal.
March 4, 2020
Painted, Molded, Printed, Sponged: Ceramics from Two Communities at One Site
Alison Bell and Donald Gaylord, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Washington and Lee University
In 1793, trustees of Liberty Hall Academy – the forerunner of Washington and Lee University (W&L) – built a steward’s house for student dining near the main academic structure. When the latter burned in 1803, the institution moved to its current location. The former campus became a plantation, and the steward’s house was repurposed as a quarter for enslaved people (c. 1803-1860s). W&L archaeologists excavated the site in the 1970s. This paper reports on current reanalysis of the ceramic assemblage, focused on distinguishing vessels used by the steward’s family and students before 1803 from those used by enslaved people afterwards. In addition to diagnostic decorative techniques, motifs, and palettes, the authors also consider site formation processes and possibilities of curation and re-use during the nineteenth century. This analysis addresses the hypothesis that ceramics associated with members of the enslaved population supported commensality and mutual support through exchange.