Archeological Society of Virginia

ASV welcomes Thane Harpole of the Fairfield Foundation to the post of Quarterly Bulletin Editor. Articles for consideration for publication should be sent to:

Thane Harpole
Fairfield Foundation
P.O. Box 157
White Marsh, VA 23183
(804) 815-4467

2014: Looking Ahead

Recently AMC Network filmed a segment of their upcoming TV series "TURN", at Kittiewan Plantation. The grounds and structures of Kittiewan were converted into sets to depict actions during the Revolutionary War time period. The series premieres Spring, 2014 on the AMC Network. Be sure to watch and see the 18th century come alive at Kittiewan. Come visit us. We are open the second Saturday of each month, March through December, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. We are at 12104 Weyanoke Rd., Charles City County, Va. Just off Rt. 5 Approximately 4 miles east of the courthouse.

2014: Looking Ahead

2014 promises to be a very interesting year in VA Archaeology. There will be a new administration in the State Capitol and a new SHPO. Kathleen Kilpatrick has resigned effective 12/31/2013 and Governor McAuliffe will be appointing a new SHPO. DHR has undergone reorganizational changes, but the main news for those of on the trowel end of archaeology is that at long last the new archaeology database (V-CRIS) is up and running. It is light-years ahead of the much and justly maligned DSS. The ease of use is phenomenally better. For years as head of the Survey Committee, all I could do was exhort people to go forth and survey, but the stumbling block was getting data from surveyors into the system. True, some managed it, but it was not well liked by an even larger number.

Now is the time to re-think the entire ASV approach to survey. I will be proposing at the January ASV Board Meeting a program of Directed Survey. This program will have to be approved by the Board, of course. In large measure due to changes in agricultural practices with no-till farming, the once vast areas of open, plowed and disked fields are possibly available maybe once a year, if that. The low-hanging fruit is gone.

In combination with some personal research interests I have been working on sporadically for the last 30 years, it occurred to me (better late than never) that ASV was in the ideal position to carry forward with a similar type of program. For instance, I have a map of the state with the counties and watercourses. I have been coloring an entire county where a pottery type occurs, purely as presence/absence. When one looks at the state map, there are gaps. For example, Keyser pottery has a large gap from the southernmost county in which it appears and the next set of counties to the north. Is that real or is that more than likely an artifact of survey? What a Directed Research Segment of the ASV Survey Committee could do is to find Keyser pottery in the gap counties. Iron furnaces are another area where tremendous gains could be made quickly. Tom Brady collected samples from the 100 or so charcoal blast furnaces and due to a misapprehension of the value they have by the entity that received them in his will, about 75% were thrown out. The locations are all known and can be visited with samples to fill two quart ziploc bags taken as a chapter project. Civil War earthworks are another area that needs attention. With computerization of Henrico County Civil War maps and transposing their locations onto USGS Quads, I was able to establish that about 10% survived, which was the figure that most Civil War folks had guessed. This can be done for everywhere that has them in the state. Obviously as they are threatened sites from development and looting, the locations are sensitive, but working with DHR, these issues can be managed.

And these are only my pet survey projects. Anyone can work one of these things up and get a Chapter involved with it. For those who do not wish to collect tick and chigger samples, sweat copiously or otherwise experience the great out of doors, there are as many if not more indoor projects that can be done from the comfort of your own computer via the internet. For instance, the Mutual Assurance Society records have been computerized, but only with aggregate values for the buildings. One Chapter volunteer went in and for each mill site, got the individual values of all of the buildings that were insured. As there are over 650 different building types listed, one can see the value and the information potential of this one source. Industrial Census Tabulations starting in 1850 are another virtually untapped resource that desperately need to be tabulated. I happen to be a farm equipment fanatic (from which the word fan is derived;). There is an enormous amount of published information that can be neatly tabulated so that archaeologists can use it. Let's face it, when 50 years ago is 1963, what is before that is now a wide open field back to 1865 where most VA intellectual work seems to have stopped apart from a few of us iconoclasts and just plain ornery folks who think there's value in information from after the Civil War.

So put on your thinking caps and let's see what we can all get going for 2014.

Lyle Browning

DHR DSS REPLACEMENT WITH V-CRIS

Updates and Info on the Transition

The DHR computerized system has been replaced with a far more advanced and much easier to use and far better interface called V-CRIS. This one will work on all platforms and systems which is worth the cost of admission itself.

The development and testing has been fast paced and the improvements are many and worthwhile. Not all suggested improvements were incorporated, but the important thing is that THIS TIME, the architecture of the program is such that changes can be made without major re-writes (costing mega-bucks).

Searches are much easier to perform and can be made across categories. The major change, in my view is that a satellite view of the area where one wishes to record the site will be visible and that a polygon tool will allow the recorder to place the shape far better than using the USGS Quad Sheets which had been the standard.

The system is now operational but with minor tweaks to be performed. The contract called for no net loss of capability and it is easy to see that the new system is vastly superior to the old one. The other bit of good news is that ASV and certain other categories of users will not be charged to enter data and that certification graduates have other inducements.

For info on training dates and other vital information, please start at V-CRIS Information and work through the successive pages.

The ASV is on Facebook for both ASV and Kittiewan Plantation.

The ASV Board voted to start a Facebook presence to bring immediate news to the ASV membership which has been done. The Facebook page will bring information in as near as possible real-time to the membership. The Facebook page will be for informational purposes rather than as a general discussion page with more in-depth and longer shelf-life information to remain on the ASV website.

ASV Survey Insurance Application Template

Standardized form for insurance for ASV projects using non-ASV members.

ASV members will undertake survey efforts on parcels of land. For ASV approval and more importantly ASV insurance coverage for potential liability coverage for non-ASV members, a template has been created and approved by the ASV Board. With the addition of an explanation sheet, the template was approved at the July 13-14, 2013 ASV Board Meeting.

This checklist is designed to put any and all applications for ASV coverage on the same footing by providing a single uniform standard that will provide basic information for every project ASV undertakes. It will also be the basis for a research design for the project.

The form is an Excel spreadsheet that can be filled out in less than 20 minutes. It has basic information as to the "who-what-where-when-why" types of questions in a two-column layout.

Accompanying it is an explanation of terms in a Word document. This form will be the basis for future ASV approved projects statewide. As always, if there are questions, please contact us for clarification. Both are to be found on the field school page on this website.

DHR Threatened Sites Proposals

DHR is interested in receiving Threatened Sites proposals for the 2013-2014 fiscal year (July 1, 2013-June 30, 2014). We anticipate a budget of $50,000 available for this year. We are looking for significant sites threatened with damage or loss for which no funding is available or no permits are in place requiring mitigation. Because of the limited amount of funding available requests often come in projecting a cost of less than $5,000.

Often the money serves as seed money encouraging other entities to pitch in additional funding. Rarer sites such as Paleoindian and historic 17th century sites, and those filling in gaps in our data base such as Archaic sites may receive more attention than other sites about which we may have extensive data. Proposals are evaluated by a committee comprised of representatives from COVA, ASV, and DHR.

A proposal form may be obtained by going to the DHR website. We do not expect lengthy proposals but do expect you to stress the significance of the site and the threat it faces and what course of action you recommend. Note at the bottom of the form that the person or entity that submits a proposal may not necessarily be the ones awarded the funding. The state encourages the involvement of SWAM vendors and all who receive funding must be EVA registered. We encourage submissions as needs dictate but are now looking for proposals to be received in the regional offices by May 1, 2013.

If you have questions please contact regional office archaeologists or the State Archaeologist, Mike Barber.

If you have corrections, suggestions, problems, or comments about this site, or if you have any photos of ASV activities, excavations, etc., that could be used on the site, please contact Lyle Browning. Photos will be scanned and returned to you as soon as possible

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