For meeting information please contact Paul Mielke.

Upcoming Events (updated 1/30/08):

Tuesday February 19th- MAS Winter Lecture   Fort Snelling History Center, 7:000pm

Tim Tumberg, MHS Archaeologist, will present a talk on his recent work at the Whiskey Row site in Two Harbor, MN.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

PAST MEETINGS and EVENTS:

Tuesday February 20th, 2007 - WINTER LECTURE: Recent Archaeological and Historical Investigations at Fort Ridgely State Park. Presented by Doug George.   Ft. Snelling History Center Auditorium, 7pm

For the past two field seasons staff of the Minnesota State Park Cultural Resource Management Program of the Minnesota Historical Society have been conducting extensive archaeological reconnaissance and limited site evaluation excavations at Fort Ridgely State Park in Nicollet County. These investigations are being conducted as a part of a major rehabilitation of the golf course that surrounds the site of historic Fort Ridgely. While the Fort Ridgely Mounds and Fort site (21NL8) has undergone extensive site examination in the past, this most recent work has focused on areas not intensively examined and has resulted in the identification of several additional site components and demonstrated the presence of previously unknown site features. In addition, the archaeological survey of portions of the golf course beyond the area of site 21NL8 has resulted in the discovery of previously unknown sites that lie in the golf course. The reconnaissance survey also documented the presence of munitions and other materials related to the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War Battle of Fort Ridgely. These discoveries have resulted in the identification of significant historical vistas that are located within the golf course and have been recommended for preservation with minimal visual impacts or intrusions from the redesigned golf course. The cultural resource survey project has resulted in significant alterations to the original golf course rehabilitation plan with the strong support of Minnesota State Parks in efforts to preserve this major archaeological and historic site.

Refreshments will be served before and after the lecture. Please phone 612-726-1171 for further information on how to get to the Ft. Snelling History Center Auditorium.

Saturday & Sunday Feb. 10th-11th, 2007 - Council for MN Archaeology (CMA) Symposium, MSU Mankato, Trafton Science Center Room 124. Sat 9am-4pm, Sun. 9am-3pm.

Please join us at this year's symposium! This year's papers are focused on cultural resource management and academic research from both prehistoric and historic and historic settings. Topics include site sampling, building state-wide historic contexts, GIS, mortuary analysis, ethnographic archeobiology, and documentary archaeology. Contexts include: Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Late Woodland, Historic Frontier, and Historic Agriculture.

For detailed maps and directions to both campus and Trafton Science Center please go to: www.mnsu.edu/maps

Tuesday November 14th, 2006 - FALL LECTURE: Shadows in the Mist: Archaeology Along the Old Grand Portage. Presented by Doug Birk.   Ft. Snelling History Center Auditorium, 7pm

The North American fur trade relied on water routes for transportation and supply. At the height of the Montreal trade, goods were shipped thousands of miles from the wharves of London to remote areas of North America with a minimal use of land transport. A major gateway on the mainline route between Lake Superior and the Northwest was the Grand Portage, an 8.5-mile carrying place now managed as a park unit of the National Park Service.

Archaeologists recently opened a new phase of research to explore past use of the Grand Portage and to determine how that use developed or changed over time. Prior investigations at Grand Portage Bay and the Pigeon River landing (Fort Charlotte) reveal the shifting nature of activities at the east and west ends of the portage. A goal of the present research is to better define the early systems, practices, and facilities used in crossing the portage itself. The research assumes that the intervals between posés (resting points) varied with .pheric distance,. a measure of the time and energy needed to cross the intervening spaces. The initial results of the survey have refined early expectations of the archaeological record while allowing the fieldwork to become increasingly intuitive.

Sunday June 4, 2006 - Mille Lacs-Kathio Archaeology Day   10am - 4:30pm   Free admission to state park! -- Enjoy a day of family activities. Voyageur canoe rides will offer unique view of archaeological sites in the Kathio National Historic Landmark District. There will be ongoing demonstrations of flintknapping and pottery making as well as displays of artifact collections and books. Archaeology films will be shown continuously at the interpretive center.

Sat.-Sun. May 6-7, 2006 - MN Archaeology Fair   Fort Snelling      10am-5pm Sat, 12-5pm Sun   Free admission! -- Pottery displays, flintknapping demonstrations, atlatl (spear) throwing, and informative posters will be held in the Ft. Snelling Interpretive Center and outside just in front of the Fort. On Sunday only, bring in your artifacts for identification by a professional archaeologist.

Last Updated: April 2, 2007
Comments to Webmaster