News

Fall OAC Meeting October 4, 2024

Spring Ohio Archaeological Council Members Meeting

When: Friday, May 2, 2025, 9 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Where: Cardinal Room, Ohio History Connection and online via Zoom

The Membership Meeting is for current OAC members only, a separate Zoom link is available for those who cannot attend in person for the morning and afternoon sessions. For questions or more information please reach out to Chris Kraska at chriskraska@gmail.com. 

Below is the preliminary schedule for the day. 

Zoom links for members who cannot attend in-person will be sent out at a later date.

9:00 am 

Welcome remarks.

9:10 am          

Keep It Wet:  Innovations in Artifact Conservation

By No Signal

Our student team has developed a capacitive sensor to measure the moisture levels in marine artifacts and automatically pump in water if the reading is below a certain level.  They have added the ability to have a screen that will show the readings.  They are currently working on a way to adjust settings on the fly.  The data is transmitted to an automation system that will record the data.

9:30 am         

Reexploring Pickaway County’s Snake Den Mounds Complex

By Al Tonetti, Heartland Earthworks Conservancy, and Jarrod Burks, Heartland Earthworks Conservancy and Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc.

The first archaeological investigation at the Snake Den Mounds occurred in 1897 when, under direction of soon to be Curator of Archaeology Clarence Loveberry, the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) partially excavated four of the five mounds (Warren King Moorehead, Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 7: 113-123, 1898). It was not until 2007, 110 years later, that modern archaeological investigations using best practices in the form of geophysics was used to reexplore the site and further examine the landform on which these and other archaeological structures and features occur, now including a surrounding ditch and embankment, earthworks in the shape of a squircle and a rectangle, post circles, and lines and clusters of pit features. This presentation summarizes the results of these investigations emphasizing the use of best practices in archaeology and the preservation of the site by the Snake Den Mounds Preservation Society with its focus on public education and research.

10:00 am

Government Affairs and Ohio Archaeology

By Al Tonetti, Ohio Archaeological Council Trustee and Government Committee Affairs Chair

In keeping with the purposes of the OAC’s Articles of Incorporation (1975), which, in part, state that the OAC is to “provide consultation, aid and advice to any and all citizens and state and federal agencies,” the OAC’s Government Affairs Committee works to “develop and advance the OAC’s legislative priorities, consults with government agencies, interested parties, and the public regarding the effects of government policies, regulations, actions, and projects on Ohio archaeology and archaeological resources, and provides leadership regarding the role of archaeology and archaeologists in civic affairs.” We do this in a number of ways, to be explained. The Trump Administration now poses many obstacles and threats to Ohio archaeology as we have come to know it. These will be summarized, as will some of the matters we are working on. We conclude with a discussion about our legislative priorities and what you can do to support Ohio archaeology and the OAC.

10:30 am

Kasten: A Newly Recorded Clovis Component in Northcentral Ohio

By Brian G. Redmond, Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Kasten is a multicomponent site in Erie County, Ohio that possesses a Late Pleistocene, Clovis lithic assemblage. The surface-collected artifacts include two Clovis fluted points and several endscrapers made from cherts derived primarily from eastern Ohio. Analyses of the lithic assemblage and local landscape indicate that the Kasten site is a small logistical component that was occupied by a small number of Clovis people for the purposes of resource procurement. Based on the microwear evidence, this resource may have been terrestrial animal prey, but, given that the site is adjacent to significant topographic depressions, the desired resource could also have been aquatic plants and animals.

11:00 am

Exploring Paleoindian Use of Glacial Water Features in Ohio During the Pleistocene/Holocene Transition.

By David Lamp and Joseph Gingerich, Ohio University

Despite high fluted points counts and a growing number of Early Paleoindian sites in Ohio, settlement and subsistence strategies for these groups are poorly understood. The abundance of glacial lakes and wetlands in Ohio ca. 13,000 years ago, along with their high productivity, should have been attractive to highly mobile foragers. The results of a formal test of this hypothesized attraction are discussed. The presentation concludes with a brief look at ongoing and upcoming research at Ohio University.

11:30 am

Lunch

1:00 pm

The State Historic Preservation Office Online Mapping System

By Kyle Smith, GIS Manager, State Historic Preservation Office 

The State Historic Preservation Office has introduced a new Online Mapping System designed to assist preservation consultants, government agencies, local governments, academic researchers, and preservation-focused nonprofits. This platform allows users to easily view, export, and print maps of archaeological and historic resources. In this presentation, Kyle Smith will provide a quick overview of the site’s features and the data most relevant to archaeological research.

1:45 pm

OAC Business Meeting

2:45 pm

Adjourn