On May 19th and 20th, 2006, A Hopewell Symposium was held at the Midwest Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio thanks to the Archaeological Society of Ohio (ASO).
The President of the Mound City Chapter, John "Barney" Barnhart, had asked me earlier in the year if I would represent Hopewell Culture NHP and come with a display. I, of course, cannot turn down such invitations, though as the dates approached, I was looking less and less forward to attending the event as more and more projects piled on at work for the busy upcoming field season. Friday May 19th arrived and I grudgingly drove my car back to Columbus and to the hotel. I was relieved to see Barney, who helped me lug all the stuff from my car and take it to a conference room in the basement. Many seemed casually surprised that a Ranger was there in uniform.
I set up my display and started fielding questions. Before long, it was time for the first talk by one of my former advisors at Ohio State, Bill Dancey. I went in a bit early to find Dancey so I could say hello. He spotted me and called out to me. I spun around and saw him standing there in his cool new suit with matching hat next to a taller gentleman. Dancey introduced me to Michael Wiant, the taller gentleman, who also happens to be the director of the Dickson Mounds Museum. My eyes lit up immediately as I launched into how much I adore the Museum and how I had just visited in March. It was very cool to meet him.
I sat near the front and listened to Dancey talk about two of the more predominant Hopewell settlement sites: Overly and Strait. I appreciated Dr. Robert Morris' talk on the Manuring Mound Site in eastern Clark County, Ohio. He struck quite a chord with me since his background is in Geology, including carbonate geology and paleontology. His connection of the Cleona sponge to the Bahamas was very interesting.
I left that evening feeling rather encouraged by the group of people who turned out, by those who I met and talked to at my table. I also left that evening feeling rather intrigued by an apparent member within the upper echelons of ASO....
Day 2: Saturday May 20th, I woke up, ran a marathon, showered, dressed in my GI skirt and headed to round two of the symposium. When I arrived, Barney and Jeb (another Mound City chapter member) were watching over my table. I also noticed my early archaeology mentor, Martha Otto, was set up right next to me with a display of Hopewell artifacts from the Ohio Historical Society. It was good to see her and catch up, though I'm disappointed at the way things have been going in regards to the archaeological resources OHS protects. Dr. Paul Pacheco was also roaming around with his field school students from SUNY Geneseo, who had come with archaeology posters to go with the one Mark Lynott graciously let me borrow for this event.
A little while later, the man who had caught my eye earlier, approached my table with his camera, asking if he could take a picture of me and my display. I obliged and pushed for his email address to be put on the Park's list for our Summer Lecture Series in Archaeology. I noted his name and realized he was a speaker. His talk was coming up so I decided to listen in.
John C. Rummel's talk was on the North Benton Mound in Mahoning County. I'm glad I went to this because it happened to be one of the more interesting one's of the symposium due to the nature of the white stone bird effigy and complex burial associated with it. The most interesting point of the talk was the fact that crushed human skulls were found plus abrasion marks on stones that contained skull fragments. Interestingly, the crushed skull fragments were at the feet of the burials. The question is, was this deliberate human sacrifice by the Hopewell for those who had died? If so, it would be the first one that I know of! Plus, what is with the nature of that bird effigy? Were there others like it?? These are all things I would like to know.
Next up was Dr. Richard Gramly's lecture on tobacco. If you want to know what I really thought of this, just ask Dr. DeeAnn Wymer for her views on the subject of the Ohio Hopewell as Tobacco Drugs Lords. I will say that Gramly's lecture was good in the respect that I learned a lot about the Iroquois as he made ethnographic connections to the Hopewell. Too bad he doesn't have any evidence though to support his Drug Lord theory.
After the day's lectures, I ran home to change into a blouse and suit so that I could partake in the evening dinner more comfortably. I sat at a table with an old friend from Honduras, Mike Carter, and several other older, male, archaeology enthusiasts. I passed the time talking about my appointment to the University of Kansas and my upcoming paleo geoarchaeology work there, as well as anecdotes from the park, and a brief explanation of magnetometry.
After the keynote speaker, Dr. Barbara Harkness, who talked about the Squier and Davis collection in the British Museum, the evening was over. I made my rounds to say my goodbyes and ran back into Barney. Barney, in his typical Barney fashion, said that I needed to talk to "Chris" about getting a copy of the video-recorded symposium. I didn't know who Chris was, so I reluctantly agreed. After all, I was pooped! Little did I know that Chris was John C. Rummel. Okay, cool, I thought. I remembered I had his email already down on my Park list, so I promised an email Monday morning so I could get a copy of the symposium.
I headed out and left the symposium feeling really great about the opportunity to have been there. It was a good exercise in networking and I feel that I really reached the park out to several people since at least 5 showed up in Chillicothe in the days following the symposium. It was fantastic talking with old friends and professors and even better for meeting others who have already helped me significantly with their resources and wealth of knowledge on the Hopewell Culture. Other good things I'm sure will come from this symposium as well.... But only time will tell.
What do a Russian Revolutionary, a quiet assistant professor of geology at Ohio State, and a Nobel Laureate have to do with this geoarchaeologist's weekend?
Northwestern University. Matt was at a crossroads near the end of his undergraduate career in 2002. He could either pursue graduate school in geology at the University of Cincinnati or head to The Ohio State University. Dr. Matthew R. Saltzman from OSU decided that he really wanted Matt in our program, and offered him sums of money, thus sealing Matt's decision... thus sealing our meeting in Larry Krissek's Sed/Strat course, thus sealing our friendship in Bill Ausich's Carbonate Sedimentology class. Last summer, Matt received word that he got the job as a NYC Teaching Fellow and off he went to begin his career as a 10th grade science teacher. This is how he, along with several of my other friends, made their way up to the big city.
