The dates and location for the 2012 Lake Superior Basin Workshop have been announced.  It will be held Friday March 16th and Saturday March 17th at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.  The workshop is free and open to the public.

I hope at this point we have the email notification glitch corrected.  No one who subscribed to the blog was being notified of new entries.  You might want to scroll down the page to check out the entries you’ve missed.

After languishing for centuries in obscurity, the archaeological ruins ofPetra have become much better known in recent years, thanks to popularization by the movies, UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, and (relatively) favorable political conditions in Jordan. Nevertheless, the Nabataean people, who were responsible for building the spectacular monuments we see today at Petra, remain under-examined and little understood, although their remarkable civilization flourished in the Near East for over four hundred years.  This lecture will provide an introduction to this enduring legacy at Petra, while also setting the enigmatic Nabataeans and their cultural achievements within a broader historical context.  Speaker Dr. Jeff Pearson is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Classics for the 2011-2012 academic year at Macalester.  The lecture will be held Thursday, February 2, 20012 at 6pm in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall in the basement of the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center at Macalester College.  It is sponsored by the Minnesota Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America.

The Minnesota Office of the State Archaeologist has posted the report completed by the Duluth Archaeology Center (DAC) for the Legacy Amendment funded archaeological survey of Minnesota Archaeological Region 9, the Lake Superior Shore.   Points and Pits: Archaeological Investigations in Minnesota’s Region 9, the Lake Superior Shore, Carlton, Cook, Lake and St. Louis Counties, Minnesota will be a firm foundation for future research in the region.  As with other areas chosen for survey by the Advisory Board, Region 9 was represented by a relatively small number of recorded archaeological sites (a total of 34 prior to this survey).  The hope was to gain a better understanding of the region’s archaeology by increasing the number of recorded sites to provide a better sample for researchers. 

The question has always been, are there few recorded sites in the region due simply to a lack of survey or is the lack of sites due to small numbers of prehistoric inhabitants?  This investigation suggests the latter.  DAC’s survey visited previously recorded sites and looked for new ones using a GIS based survey methodology.    Hampered somewhat by the time frame inherent in the Legacy Amendment projects, which limited survey to late fall and spring, DAC located 6 new sites during field survey and verified an additional 20 based on informant reports and museum collections.  The report documents the activities conducted for the investigation and provides a summary of prehistoric archaeological sites known in Region 9.  Check it out.

Old Dirt – New Thoughtsis an archaeology and education blog created and maintained by a college professor/archaeologist at Hamline University.  Much of the author’s field work takes place in Alaska, but he still finds time to do some archaeology with his students around Minnesota and the Hamline neighborhood.  Currently the blog is featuring excavations at the Hamline University campus in St. Paul.    Check out this link to see their latest findings.

The Otsego Heritage Commission (Otsego is just northwest of the Twin Cities) is offering the public an opportunity to participate in an archaeological dig and assist in documenting the construction methods used in building the historic McDonald house in Otsego.  The McDonald house was initially constructed in the 1850s by the first Northern European settler in Wright County.  The event runs from 8 am to 5 pm daily, October 14, 15 and 16, 2011.  This flyer will give you detailed information about participating or just visiting the event.

On Tuesday October 18, 2011 at 6:30 pm the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness will host Lee Johnson, Forest Archaeologist, from the SuperiorNational Forest.  Johnson will give a presentation on the history of iron mining on the Gunflint Iron Range.  The presentation is titled “The PaulsonMine and the Port Arthur Duluth and Western Railroad:  Collapse of the Gunflint Iron Range.”  Come and learn about the Gunflint Iron Range, John Anderson Paulson’s iron mine, the fabled Port Arthur to Duluth railroad, and the financial panic of 1893.  The event will be held at the Murray-Herrick Campus Center, Room 304 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.  Check out the event web site to see other presentations that evening.  The event is free and open to the public.