The Archaeological Conservancy 2014 Annual Report 1717 Girard Blvd. NE Albuquerque, NM 87106 Board of Directors Regional Offices and Directors Gordon Wilson, New Mexico, Chairman Jim Walker, Southwest Regional Director Cecil F. Antone, Arizona 1717 Girard Blvd. NE Carol Condie, New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87106 Janet Creighton, Washington (505) 266-1540 Jerry Golden, Colorado, Treasurer W. James Judge, Colorado Paul Gardner, Midwest Regional Director Jay T. Last, California 3620 North High Street, Suite 307 William Lipe, Idaho Columbus, OH 43214 Leslie Masson, Massachusetts (614) 267-1100 Mark Michel, New Mexico, (ex officio) Dorinda Oliver, New York Andy Stout, Eastern Regional Director Rosamond Stanton, Montana 8 East 2nd Street, Suite 101 Frederick, MD 21701 Officers (301) 682-6359 Mark Michel, President Jessica Crawford, Southeast Regional Director James B. Walker, Senior Vice-President and Secretary 315 Locust Street Paul Gardner, Vice-President P.O. Box 270 Tione Joseph, Chief Financial Officer Marks, MS 38646 (662) 326-6465 Conservancy Staff Cory Wilkins, Western Regional Director rd Mark Michel, President and CEO 620 3 Street, Suite 300 Tione Joseph, Business Manager Lincoln, CA 95648 Lorna Wolf, Membership Director (530) 592-9797 Sarah Shuler, Special Projects Director American Archaeology Magazine Michael Bawaya, Editor Tamara Stewart, Assistant Editor Vicki Marie Singer, Art Director 2 1717 Girard Blvd. NE Albuquerque, NM 87106 December 31, 2014 Letter from the President Since 1980, The Archaeological Conservancy has acquired more than 485 endangered archaeological sites across the country. 2014 was a great year for the Conservancy, as we continued our mission to preserve significant sites across the United States. This year, the Conservancy continued our commitment to educating the public about the importance of archaeological sites. The preserves we protect are available to the public for guided tours, to descendants of the American Indians who once inhabited the sites, and to archaeologists and other qualified researchers for study. In addition to this, we host lectures around the country for our members and the general public. Major funding for the Conservancy comes from our members, as well as from corporations, foundations, and special individual contributions. Income from our permanent Endowment Fund supplements regular fundraising. Often we raise money locally to purchase sites in a particular community. In emergency situations, we borrow from our revolving Preservation Fund. The Conservancy’s quarterly magazine, American Archaeology, is the only popular magazine devoted to presenting the rich diversity of archaeology in the Americas. The magazine helps readers appreciate and understand the archaeological wonders available to them, and to raise awareness of the destruction of our cultural heritage. The ancient people of North America left virtually no written records of their cultures. Clues that might someday solve the mysteries of prehistoric America are still missing, and when a ruin is destroyed by looters, or leveled for a shopping center, precious information is lost. By permanently preserving endangered ruins, we are ensuring they will be here for future generations to study and enjoy. We look forward to making 2015 our best yet. Sincerely, Mark Michel President 3 4 2014 ACQUISITIONS Since its beginning in 1980, the Conservancy has acquired more than 485 endangered sites in 44 states across America. These preserves range in size from less than an acre to more than 1,500 acres. They include the earliest habitation sites in North America, a 19th-century frontier army post, and nearly every major cultural period in between. In 2014, the Conservancy rescued the following endangered sites: Junction Group (Ohio) in this region as the Post Puebloan period, which ended On March 18, 2014 the Conservancy attended a public when the first Euro-Americans arrived in Kanab in 1776. auction in Chillicothe, OH and acquired the Junction Group Over the course of three years, the archaeological teams earthworks site. After having learned that the land would be excavated more than 60 major pithouse and storage features available for sale just 20 days prior to the auction, the and hundreds of small hearths, refuse deposits, and pits. Conservancy joined forces with several conservation organizations in the area in an attempt to preserve not just Potter Mound (Arkansas) the site itself, but the Potter Mound is located on the Little River in the surrounding woodlands northeast portion of the state. This area is dense with as well. The portion of mound sites, most of which date to the Parkin Phase the farmland we acquired (approximately A.D. 1350 to 1560) of the Mississippian is a 90 acre field period. This phase takes its name from Parkin, the largest encompassing the site of this type and an Arkansas State Archaeological Park earthworks. that the Conservancy played a major role in preserving. The earthwork Parkin is believed to have been the capital of the complex is approximately province of Casqui, 2,000 years old and has which was described by been the subject of intermittent archaeological research since Hernando de Soto when 1848. Our involvement with the site started in 1980 when he explored the area in the preservation of Hopewell Culture ceremonial centers the mid-16th century. became a central focus of our activities east of the The people of the Parkin Mississippi. The site has been in the hands of private Phase practiced large- owners, and this public auction was the first opportunity for scale corn agriculture the site to be transferred to an organization with a plan for and lived in villages consisting of two or three mounds that long term preservation. were located on rivers. The rivers provided defense on one side of their settlements, and they built palisades with moats Jackson Flat (Utah) for protection on the other three sides. Security was a major Jackson Flat Reservoir was constructed to store irrigation concern because tensions among competing groups resulted water for Kane County Water Conservancy users. Before the in endemic warfare. reservoir was built, archaeologists from HRA Inc. and other Potter Mound is named for the family that used to have a organizations excavated 10 prehistoric sites in the house on it. The entire site is about eight acres and aerial construction area, some of which were occupied by a group photographs show dark depressions in the soil around the of the Anasazi called the Virgin Branch. The portions of the site where the palisade and moat may have been located. In sites that were under the dam footprint and below the water 1974, when the Potter house was on the mound, the area line were completely excavated. between the two mounds was farmed, and deep plowing The Archaeological exposed at least 30 prehistoric burials. The burials are no Conservancy worked longer being disturbed and the house has since been with the Kane County removed. Pieces of metal, brick and an occasional marble Water Conservancy, the are the only traces of the house that remain, and they are Army Corps of mixed with much older sherds of Mississippian pottery, with Engineers, the State of their characteristic shell tempering. Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Koon’s Landing (North Carolina) Administration, and the For decades the exact location of Catechna, an 18th- Kaibab Band of Paiutes century Tuscarora settlement, eluded historians and scholars to protect two of the sites located above the reservoir’s who relied on historical documents to find the site. water line. These sites will become permanent archaeological Conflicting information and differing interpretations of preserves owned by The Archaeological Conservancy. historical maps had led them to conclude the site could be in The Conservancy’s sites have not been investigated, but entirely different locations. it’s assumed that in some way they resemble the excavated In the mid 1990s John E. Byrd and Charles L. Heath of sites. These were camps and villages that dated from the East Carolina University conducted a survey of the Archaic period about 6,000 years ago through what’s known 5 Tuscarora homeland in the Contentnea Creek drainage of now be preserved so that one day the Sally Warren Mounds North Carolina’s Inner Coastal Plain. As part of this project can reveal their secrets. they excavated a site called Koon’s Landing, which yielded a variety of cultural material including a Guilford projectile Wells Petroglyphs Addition (New Mexico) point and other lithic items, fire-cracked rock, and charcoal. The addition is a 25-acre tract adjacent to the Wells Byrd and Heath also found Cashie-phase pottery sherds. Petroglyph Preserve. The preserve was established in 2000 Archaeologists define the Cashie phase as the Tuscaroran when artist Katherine Wells donated 148 acres of her occupation of the Inner Coastal Plain of North Carolina property situated on the escarpment of Mesa Prieta, a 12 during the Late Woodland and Contact periods. These mile long basalt formation north of Española located discoveries led them to surmise Koon’s Landing could be between the Chama and Rio Grande rivers. The slopes of part of Catechna. the mesa contain basalt boulders covered with tens of thousands of petroglyphs. The glyphs have been stylistically Bird Hammock (Florida) dated to the Archaic, Pueblo and Historic periods, probably The Conservancy recently acquired the first of three spanning a period of time from 5500 B.C. to the present. tracts of an important site near the city of Tallahassee, in Images range from circles, spirals, stars, geometric patterns, northwest Florida. The Bird Hammock site is a multi- human and animal prints, to dancers, shamans, hunters, and component site consisting of two flute players. The preserve contains over 9,000 recorded burial mounds and two circular images. The 25-acre addition has been partially surveyed and or ring-shaped middens no-doubt contains hundreds if not thousands of additional consisting primarily of plant and images.