Conference Agenda

Antiquarians have been interested in the many stone structures scattered about the landscapes east of the North American subcontinental divide for many decades, but with the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, indigenous tribes have begun to voice their forceful claims that these are their own sacred monuments and that they are in need of protection from development. Despite opposition from some parts of the regional archaeological community, this idea is gaining traction among a wide variety of investigators, with collaboration taking place among several different fields of inquiry. This symposium will explore some of these collaborative efforts from several perspectives.

1) Who Owns History?

Tyler Chase

Abstract: My presentation will be in the form of a short film (10-12 minutes) featuring case studies on the future of archeology and anthropology, including a look at “the Clovis Police.” How do we rethink the history of this land? I will address three issues:

1. Economics vs Science vs Human Rights, a three-pronged reality. Development (economic) pressure in conflict with true scientific research and finally, resolving the conflicts caused by economics and science in controlling the history of a genocided and traumatized people.

1. Perception and Culture – The necessity of working with Native Americans of the territory to find a deeper understanding of what is there and what it means to them.
2. Looters or collectors – This section involves collectors who react strongly at the thought of any artifact that they have in their possession being given to tribes.

Bio: Tyler A. Chase is an Award Winning Filmmaker (Director/Producer/DP/Editor) and founder of L’ORAGE Productions.

Education: Concordia University/BFA Cum Laude, graduate of College Marie Victorin in Human Behavioral Studies, and New York University Film School.

Tyler’s work has garnered multiple awards. Some has been screened at the National Arts Club, Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at NYU Tish School of the Arts, William Esper Studio, The National Arts Club, The Dante Alighieri Society in Cambridge and the Players Club.

2) Preserving the Buttonhook Forest Sacred Stone Sites

Michaeline Picaro Mann, Ramapough Lenape/Turtle Clan

Abstract and bio: TBA

3) Silent Stones and Native Landscapes: An Archaeological Investigation of Piled Stone Features at Nash Turkey Creek

Kaitlin R. Ahern and Joshua A. Herrin

Abstract: Piled stone features found across Georgia have long puzzled archaeologists, since they vary greatly in size, form, and placement. While some were created in the post Contact period as field-clearing features, others appear to be much older. Excavations at several sites in Georgia have uncovered intact stone mantles, burial contexts, and cultural materials beneath the piles, linking them to Native communities of the Late Woodland and Mississippian periods. Over the last two years, the authors have aided a landowner in the examination of two clusters of piled stone features located on their private land. The site is known as Nash Turkey Creek (9GW762) and contains 16 piled stone features in various states of preservation. Archaeological investigations have involved shovel testing, metal detection, and geospatial documentation of the site. Research resulted in the landowners’ decision to create an ecological trust to protect the piled stone features and surrounding area. This presentation discusses this site while also providing insight into other piled stone features in Georgia.

Bios:

Kaitlin R. Ahern is a Senior Scientist at AtkinsRéalis and she obtained her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University at Buffalo in 2020. She also serves as a Research Associate for the Anthropology Department at the University at Buffalo.

Joshua A. Herrin is a Project Archaeologist with Terracon, Inc.'s Macon Office. His research focus is on historic ceramics and British Colonialism, and he obtained his Masters Degree in Archaeology from Georgia Southern University in 2021.

4) Applying GIS to Ceremonial Stone Landscapes

Rachel Mulroy
Abstract: Ceremonial stone landscapes span the eastern seaboard. Working with a population of N > 1,000 sites, I performed a spatial analysis to situate these sites within a continental context. Coordinates were recorded for each site using the 1927 North American Datum using the Universal Transverse Mercator projection across Zones 16 through 20. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services web soil survey (WSS) was used to obtain soil and slope data at the map unit level. The National Geodetic Survey Coordinate Conversion and Transformation Tool was used to batch data for analysis by latitude and longitude in the WSS. ArcGIS Pro was used to map sites and subsequent analyses for obtaining distances to watershed boundaries were performed. The resulting dataset can be further analyzed to identify patterns of ceremonial stone landscapes across the geocultural landscape.

Bio TBA

5) STONE PRAYERS: AN UPDATE TO THE INVENTORY

Curtiss Hoffman, Ph.D.

Abstract: In 2019, I published Stone Prayers: Native American Stone Constructions of the Eastern Seaboard (FontHill Press), in which I presented the results of a decade of research to catalogue and analyze over 5,500 individual stone structure sites from Georgia to Nova Scotia. I explored a number of consistent environmental parameters for the environmental locations of these sites, and tested a number of leading hypotheses concerning their origin. I concluded that for the overwhelming majority of them, the only hypothesis which satisfied all conditions was that they were the result of Indigenous peoples’ ceremonial landscape articulation, both before and after European contact.

Since that time, I have added over 1,000 new sites to the inventory, from all of the nineteen U.S. states and Canadian provinces within the study area, with the sole exceptions of Delaware and New Brunswick. I will provide a comparison between the new data set and the old, and demonstrate that the settings of the new sites are largely congruent with the earlier findings, while a selection of random locations within the same area failed to exhibit similar patterns of geographical distribution. This intentionality further indicates that the creators of these structures were Indigenous people, as their descendant groups continue to claim.

Bio: Dr. Curtiss Hoffman is professor emeritus at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, where he has taught courses in Anthropology, Archaeology, and related fields since 1978. He received his doctoral degree from Yale University in 1974 from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, and since then has been actively engaged in pre-Contact archaeological research in Massachusetts. He is the author of numerous monographs and articles, and has served as president of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society and of the Northeastern Anthropological Association, on whose executive board he currently sits.

6) What I Look For In The Stones (Video Presentation)

Mike Luoma

Abstract: Ancient Indigenous stone rows in Northeastern North America, recognized elements of Ceremonial Stone Landscapes, have often been mistaken for agricultural leftovers or settlers' stone walls, especially by those unaware we are looking at a blended stonework landscape in our woods and forests. What makes a stone row an effigy work? What differentiates Indigenous stone row stonework from other constructions?

Based on observations, several repeating design elements seem to be indicative of Indigenous stone row stonework. Bringing a notebook sketch page to life, we look at several of the designs seen in stone rows around the Northeast, in what could be ancient Indigenous stonework. We consider each stone row design element sketch followed by multiple examples of that design element found in stone rows around the Northeast. The repetition of form shows us that these are most likely designed elements, though they often occur in what some have dismissed as "junk stone walls." These design elements, together in various combinations, seem to reflect Great Serpent and/or Underwater Panther stories and imagery from Indigenous cultures in what is now North America and beyond, and support the contention these stone rows could be ancient Indigenous-built effigy works rather than later settler- or farmer-built stone walls.

Bio: Mike Luoma is an Independent Author, Publisher, Radio Host, and Podcaster, offering his science fiction and non-fiction in novels and books, graphic novels, video presentations, articles and short stories, and comic books. From tales of the future in The Vatican Assassin Trilogy and The Adventures of Alibi Jones, to explorations of the past like his Ancient Stone Mysteries of New England, Luoma chronicles both fictional adventures and non-fictional, historical hypotheses. This year, he celebrates the 20th anniversary of presenting free, serialized, audio science fiction on his long-running podcast, Glow-in-the-Dark Radio.