"Drawing in Color Classes" in October 2010

On Wednesdays in October 2010, well known artist, Albert White will be providing "Drawing in Color" classes at SRAC. Children (ages 12 - 16) classes will be held on Wednesday evenings - October, 6, 13, 20, 27- 4:30 - 5:30pm. Adult Classes will be held on Wednesday evenings - October, 6, 13, 20, 27- 6 - 7pm. Fees are just $10 per class (add $5 for supplies pack if needed.)

Albert White, a Mohawk Indian, has been following the traditions of recordings and sharing the history of his people all of his life. Born in
Binghamton he attended San Francisco Art Institute and graduated with honors from the Maryland Institute of Art. In 1975 he joined the American Indian Movement. Through this involvement he has seen and preserved, in paintings and memories, the struggles resulting in the resurgence of Indian pride and prominence.

His artwork has been shown in venues across the country and is in permanent collections of major institutions. He has served as an exhibitor, lecturer and a teacher in many prestigious locations including Harvard University and the Iroquois Indian Museum. Albert White has several of his original prints and drawings on exhibit and for sale at the SRAC gift shop, and will be selling his artwork at the upcoming SRAC "DrumBeats" event on October 2nd, 2010.

Interested parties should contact SRAC at 607-565-7960 or email info@sracenter.org to reserve your place today. SRAC is located at 345 Broad Street, Waverly, NY and is open from 1-5 pm Tuesdays through Fridays and 11am to 4pm every Saturday.

This Saturday- The Newton Mammoth

On Saturday, September 4th, from 2-3pm, Dave Kohler, past President of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology and a Regional Conservation Archeologist with Carnegie Museum will present his report of that Newton Mammoth in Asylum Township, Bradford County, PA that is represented in SRAC's woolly mammoth exhibit. The two-season excavation took place in 1983, and the Andaste Chapter of PA Archaeology volunteered hundreds of hours to make it what many claim to be the most important excavation in Pennsylvania history. Dave will share his own personal slides and share his perspectives of the two summers spent excavating the mammoth who lived approximately 14,250 years ago.

This presentation is sponsored by the Andaste Chapter of PA Archaeology and is free to attend.

You Can Rent the SRAC Lecture Hall

I wanted to send out a quick posting to announce that SRAC now is allowing the lecture hall space to be rented out by individuals for private gatherings or organizations needing a space for meetings or informational gatherings. We have 80 seats in a lecture style setup usually that can also be changed out to chairs with tables or in any floor layout you prefer. Catering is also available. Stop in or call me today at 607-727-3111 to learn more.

We of course will give special deals to any of our membership - but the regular fees are shown below and the agreement form can be downloaded here.

Thanks in advance for supporting SRAC and forwarding this information to anyone who might be interested in this new opportunity at SRAC.

"Stories From the Natural World" - by Ed Nizalowski,

When: Tue, September 7, 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Where: SRAC - 345 Broad Street Waverly, NY

*Stories From the Natural World*, by Ed Nizalowski, Newark Valley Historical Society The Southern Tier prior to the Revolutionary War was the realm of Native Americans who took the bounty of the land, soil and forest in ways that had been developed and sustained for centuries. Although native tribes had altered the environment to suit special needs, the white settlers who streamed in after the Revolution entered a cornucopia of animal life and plant life all sustained by a forest that offered some of the finest building material in the world.

Nizalowski will present how the past 200+ years the transformation that has taken place in the natural world of the Southern Tier has been remarkable to say the least. Those interested in wildlife can read the first reports of animals making their reappearance in Tioga County including the white tail deer, beaver, bear, coyote and bald eagle. Three possible sightings of the eastern mountain lion are sure to be intriguing. Forest history includes accounts of the chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, wide spread tree plantings in the first quarter of the century and the development of state forests in the 1930's. Ed has been involved with the Newark Valley Historical Society for over 30 years and has developed a special interest in ethnic, immigrant and minority groups along with both agricultural and environmental history.

Doors open at 6pm. Admission is $5 for adults , $4 for SRAC members and students.

The Woolly Mammoth Discussion Continues - September 4th

Even though many of you have visited the woolly mammoth panoramic exhibit at SRAC, I wanted to call attention to the landscapes where our SRAC woolly mammoth meanders to the Chemung River for a drink. A closer look will reveal pastures of grasses and small shrubs and few trees that preceded any forests that later would cover our region. This information was given to our muralist, Peter Quilles, as he began to make our exhibit murals, as was the fact that the height at the shoulders of mammoths reached between 12 - 14 feet; making the mere size of these great beasts a consideration of just what kind of landscape they could navigate through. In fact, as I talk with visitor's to the exhibit, I often still make that point.

As a result, I found it interesting that a recent study by Durham University scientists claims that dwindling green pastures, not hunting, nor comets may have killed off the mammoth. According to ScienceDaily.com, "It shows that, over a huge part of the Earth's surface, there was a massive decline in the productivity and extent of grasslands due to climatic warming and the spread of forests. These habitat changes made grazing much more difficult for large mammals and dramatically reduced the amount of food available for them."

On Saturday, September 4th, from 2-3pm, Dave Kohler, past President of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology and a Regional Conservation Archeologist with Carnegie Museum will present his report of that Newton Mammoth in Asylum Township, Bradford County, PA that is represented in SRAC's woolly mammoth exhibit. The two-season excavation took place in 1983, and the Andaste Chapter of PA Archaeology volunteered hundreds of hours to make it what many claim to be the most important excavation in Pennsylvania history. Dave will share his own personal slides and share his perspectives of the two summers spent excavating the mammoth who lived approximately 14,250 years ago.

This presentation is sponsored by the Andaste Chapter of PA Archaeology and is free to attend.

NYS MACE to be on Display!

For SRAC Members Only...

For any of you that have been a member at SRAC over the years - you already know that we are the hardest working organization when it comes to providing rewards for our proud membership card olders. Another example of this will be at the 2010, 7th Annual SRAC DrumBeats to be held on October 2nd. The event opens for the public at 1pm, but members are invited to the annual membership luncheon meeting where we will give you access to see the only Mississippian Mace known to be found in New York State. This is the same mace that was in the lead article of the recent SRAC Journal that all members have received in the past week; and it may just be a key to unlocking more information about the origins of the great Susquehannocks that once ruled our region.

Other states such as Illinois and Missouri have museums with maces (that truthfully aren't as nice as this!) in their inventory, but they have informed me that that they are so rare and delicate that they are locked away and are seldomly available for public view. That is why we spoke with the owner of the mace and he has agreed to get it out of a safe at an undisclosed location just for our meeting between 11:30am and 1 and then it will again go back into a safe again. As you can see...this will most likely be a once in a lifetime opportunity for our members - and we wanted to make sure that you were aware of how significant the piece is and that you may never have the opportunity to see it again.

Not a Current SRAC Member?

Because of the special access we are offering - if you received a letter in the last SRAC Journal stating that your membership has run out, you must renew it before the meeting, or plan to do so at that time or I am sorry to say - you will not be allowed access to the membership meeting. If you are not currently a member of SRAC or need to reup your membership - you can do so today by clicking here.

I am so amazed at all of the accomplishments we have achieved each and every year, and we could not have done any of it without your support. I hope that you realize how much we value your membership and I hope that you can attend this very special event that we have planned for you this year.

SRAC DrumBeats Event Schedule

11:30 – 1:00pm : Exclusive Annual Membership Meeting & Luncheon
1:00: Doors Open to the Public
1:30 – 2:30: DeeAnne Wymer, PhD, Bloomsburg Univ., “The Ohio Mastodon” as covered by National Geographic and Discovery Channel
3:00 – 4:00: Buffalo Creek Seneca Dancers: music, songs, culture, regalia, and friendship!
5:00: Doors Close

Admission to this event is free!

Death Of The Owasco AND PROTO-SUSQUEHANNOCKS

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I wanted to share an article by Jon Hart of the NYS Museum published in 2003. This article came up in a conversation today and I thought it timely to post here. It seems to me that this article from nearly a decade ago is still very valuable in many current discussions that are are being thrown around today with another term: "Proto-Susquehannock." With obvious lack of "real" meaning, the "Owasco" term is per Hart is "nothing more than a subjectively defined unit based on the thoughts of Ritchie and his predecessor, Arthur C. Parker."(early state archaeologists of NY....) I would argue strongly that the same stands true for the term "Proto-Susquehannock" and the subjective use by an earlier state archaeologist of PA - Barry Kent, and that it is time to re-sequence the dating for the Susquehannock to include the evidence from Athens, PA and the surrounding region where this subjective categorization has caused confusion for decades...

This is what Barry Kent stated in 1984: "One of the most complete sequences of trade materials for the eastern United States is that established by Wray and Schoff (1953, and Ray 1973) for the Seneca sites of Western New York. A certain amount of refinement of this sequence and it's dating is clearly possible. However, this basic chronological ordering is still widely accepted. By comparing the trade goods of the next period, (Shultz stage) of the Susquehannock cultural; development with those of the Seneca sequence. Witthoft(1959: 67) postulated a date of about 1575 for the beginning of the of the Shultz stage. More recent investigations have suggested only minor changes in this dating. The Shultz stage occurs almost exclusively in the lower Susquehanna Valley, and specifically at the Shultz site south of Washington Boro in Lancaster County." (Kent 1984:34)...But the truth is that extending the sequencing process into PA just doesn't add up...

Take for instance the artifacts that were found in Athens (Proto-Susquehannock by Kent's standards) as compared THE Susquehannock site in Washington Boro, PA (Susquehannock by Kent's standards) ? Can we REALLY differentiate and call one different from the other?


And aren't copper spirals and bone combs classic SUSQUEHANNOCK items?

The lead article of the SRAC Journal in May 2009 covered much more of the Murray Garden site and the artifacts found there (just click the image below to enlarge or click here to go to all of SRAC's Journals ):

Also - this video below begins with me discussing quotes from journals from the Sullivan/Clinton Campaign of the soldiers digging up many Native American burials and taking the "trinkets" found therein - luckily as the video continues, you see that they didn't find them all - in fact the pipe shown here is a very popular artifact in Harrisburg with few realizing that it was found in Athens, PA....

Let's face it folks - it's time for the "Death of the ProtoSusquehannock" - I'd love to hear your comments - just click the comments link below to add to this discussion!

You can also read the Jon Hart's article "Death of the Owasco" below:

http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/staffpubs/docs/14343.pdf