Ohio History fans, we need YOUR VOTE to make history come alive for Ohio students! National History Day in Ohio is competing for a $50,000 Pepsi Refresh Project grant in the month of December.

To win, we need to have as many people as possible vote for our project in December. The grant will go for scholarships to low-income students, program materials, field trips to historic sites and teacher training to help increase National History Day participation in urban and rural schools.

Here’s how you can help: Please go to Pepsi refresh online and vote for National History Day in Ohio: http://www.refresheverything.com/ohiohistoryday . In order to vote, you will need to register and then you can vote once-a-day, every day in December. It’s simple and easy to do! In addition to voting, you can ask your friends and family to vote for National History Day in Ohio, too! Just forward this e-mail to your mailing list. The more people to vote for us, the better our chances to win $50,000!

About National History Day

National History Day in Ohio is a year-long educational program where students in grades 4-12 do explore topics that interest them related to a specific theme. In the 2010-2011, it’s Debate and Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences. Students do research and present their work through exhibits, performances, documentaries, research papers or websites at regional and state and national competitions. Learn how National History Day in Ohio helps students excel by watching our Pepsi Refresh Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40a5j3PiSh8

About Pepsi Refresh Project

In 2010, the Pepsi Refresh Project will give away more than $20 million to refresh the world, one idea at a time. Each month, Pepsi will award up to $1.3 million in grants to the ideas with the most votes. Pepsi will accept up to 1,000 new ideas every month and the public decides who wins. Vote for your favorite ideas now at www.refresheverything.com. The Pepsi Refresh Project can be found at www.refresheverything.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/refresheverything or on Twitter, @Pepsi or #pepsirefresh.

Archaeology Volunteers Wanted for the Deardurff House Project in Franklinton

The Deardurff House, located at 72 South Gift Street in the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, is the oldest known structure in Franklin County to still be located on its original foundation – other older structures have been moved from their original location (Figure 1, artists rendition of the house ca 1860). Public records suggest that the Deardurff House was built in 1807; a mere four years after Ohio became a state. The 2-story, log cabin portion of the house was built by David Deardurff, the 21-year old son of Abraham Deardurff, one of the first settlers of Franklinton. The Deardurff family arrived in Franklinton from Pennsylvania in 1798. The front room of the original log cabin was used as a post office in the early 1800s. It appears that the rear addition was added ca. 1860. Between 1815 and 1950 the house was lived in by many different families. The property was listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1973.

The owner of the property, Mr. Walt Reiner, has committed to restoring the house in a historically accurate manner. Prior to the restoration work, Mr. Reiner wishes to have archaeological investigations undertaken in an attempt to recover any additional information about the building and its past occupants. Hardlines Design Company, an architecture, planning, and cultural resources management firm based in Columbus, submitted a proposal to conduct this work that included the donation of some labor and all materials, and the use of volunteers in an effort to maximize neighborhood and student participation in this interesting investigation. Fieldwork is just the first step of the project; artifact analysis and report preparation will continue during 2011.

Fieldwork will take place on Saturday December 4th and Sunday December 5th. Interested parties should contact Anne Lee at 614-784-8733 or alee@hardlinesdesign.com to receive more information.

Date and time: October 24, 2010, 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. for lecture and tour.

Fees: Lecture is FREE. Tour: $65 regular, $55 children and students with valid ID. Includes box lunch and drinks. Reserve with Cincinnati Museum Center (513) 287-7021

Location: Reakirt Auditorium, Cincinnati Museum Center: 9 a.m. – 11 a. m.

Tour: Round trip from Museum Center at Union Terminal to Sunwatch Village, Dayton, and Ft. Ancient, Warren County. 11:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Speakers:
Gary Meisner, FASLA, moderator, Architecture Foundation of Cincinnati, trustee
Brad Lepper, archaeologist / The Ohio Historical Society
Kevin Pape, archaeologist / Gray & Pape Cultural Resource Consultants
Bob Genheimer, archaeologist / The Cincinnati Museum Center
John Hancock, architect / Professor, University of Cincinnati, DAAP, and co-director, The Ancient Ohio Trail.

The presentations, which incorporate the latest research, will include:
An overview of the most significant pre-historical sites in Ohio.
A discussion of the interrelationship of ancient and modern Native American cultures.
An overview of modern archaeological exploration tools and technology.
3D re-creations of key remaining sites and several “lost sites.”
Several sites have documented partial solar and lunar calendars. There will be on-site discussion of archaeoastronomical connections to the cycles of Earth, Moon, and Sun.

Several Ohio Earthworks sites are being considered for UNESCO designation as “World Heritage Sites.” An overview of this significant process will be presented. Very few sites in the United States have received this designation.

The tour immediately following the lecture features educational presentations, including site-specific videos moderated by the speakers. This will enhance visitor appreciation of these unique and subtle landscapes.

Sponsored by:
Architecture Foundation of Cincinnati
Cincinnati Museum Center
The Ohio Historical Society
Sunwatch Village
The Ancient Ohio Trail Initiative

Shippen carved the sculpture of an American Indian man wearing a bearskin from a fallen Maple tree near the Great Circle. Mark Welsh and others of the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio (NAICCO) will lead the Native American ceremony. The Native American Heritage Garden was created by 5th graders from Miller Elementary School in 2009.

The equinox occurs in the spring and the fall each year; in the fall, both day and the night last the same amount of time, because the sun is shining directly on the equator and sets directly in the west.

“This is a time of year when we think about balance in our lives, because of the balance between light and dark,” said Carol Welsh, director of NAICCO. “It is also harvest time, so we’re thankful for the blessings in our lives.”

Students, faculty and staff of The Ohio State University at Newark plan to attend the event, which will follow Convocation, taking place earlier that day with Chief Glenna Wallace of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma as speaker. Chief Wallace is the first woman in Tribal history to be elected to her position. Convocation takes place on campus at 11 a.m.

Parking is limited at the Great Circle, which is located at 455 Hebron Road, state Route 79, Heath, Ohio, 43056. Parties interested in utilizing campus transportation to the site should contact Holly Mason, assistant director of student life, at 740.366-9172 or hmason@cotc.edu.

7:00pm: Dr. Robert Riordan, Wright State University: The Moorehead Circle at Fort Ancient: preliminary results of the 2010 Wright State University Field School Excavations. What are the latest discoveries at the highly complex Moorehead Circle, a Hopewell ceremonial feature at the Fort Ancient Earthworks? Could these discoveries change the way we look at prehistoric architecture?

7:30pm Christine Keller, Ball State University: Glacial Kame Sandal Sole Shell Gorgets: An Exploration of Manufacture, Use, Distribution and Public Exhibition. The sandal sole shell gorget is one of the diagnostic artifacts of the Late Archaic Glacial Kame culture. This presentation focuses on recent research on sandal sole shell gorgets. What were the results of the research? Come and find out!

8:00pm Dr. Jarrod Burks, Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc.: Excavations at the Rankin House State Memorial. In 2010 OVAI was contracted by OHS to conduct archaeological investigations in the lawn of this historic abolitionist residence. What they found was quite interesting indeed!

8:30pm Dr. Annette G. Ericksen, Hocking College: Results of the 2010 Fieldwork at Pickawillany, Miami County, Ohio. Pickawillany, a 1750′s Miami Indian village and English trading post is the location of the first historically recorded conflict in what would become Ohio. What did the Hocking College students discover this year?

For additional information please contact Linda Pansing, Assistant Curator or Archaeology at lpansing@ohiohistory.org or 614-298-2061.

Ohio Archaeology Month is an annual event coordinated by the Ohio Archaeological Council. The mission is to promote awareness of Ohio’s cultural heritage as revealed through nearly 200 years of archaeological research. A series of statewide educational events designed to highlight archaeological research throughout Ohio are planned. Detailed information on each event can be found on the Ohio Archaeological Council’s website http://www.ohioarchaeology.org/.

The following is her acceptance speech for those who were unable to attend.

“Probably the most exciting aspect of my 40+ years in archaeology at the Ohio Historical Society is the nearly constant change. New discoveries, new theories, new technologies continually give us addition insights into the lives and accomplishments of people who lived here hundreds and even thousands of years ago, as well as new ways of communicating those discoveries to wider and wider audiences.

I have also been heartened by the growing number of women who are entering my profession and are establishing successful careers in universities, museums, and cultural resource management. The thought that my own career has possibly served as a role model for some of these women is both gratifying and humbling.

To my colleagues in the profession and at the Ohio Historical Society, thank you for your dedication and enthusiasm.

To my family, and especially to my husband, Frank, thank you for your love and support.

To the Governor’s Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach, thank you for this great honor.”

The award ceremony can be seen in its entirety at http://www.ohiochannel.org/multimedia/media.cfm?file_id=126769

The main feature this year has been feature 10. It is proving to be a very complex, layered feature that extends deeper than the approximate 3 feet that was excavated this year (photo 1 is profile map). Work will continue here next year and it will be very interesting to see what is yet to be revealed about the nature of this feature.

Features 60 and 61 were located in the second investigation area on the final day of work and appear to be consistent with other Pickawillany era pit type features discovered the past two field seasons. Undoubtedly they will be systematically excavated next field season.

While it was hard to pull away from features still awaiting investigation the time for shovels and trowels had come to an end. The students focused on taking additional notes, mapping in their features and on the last day filling in the units that have been part of their lives over the past 3 weeks.

We at OHS thank the students, staff and volunteers for all of their hard work. Their efforts will provide additional information on how the people lived and used the landform and improve site interpretation.

Thanks for a job well done!

Hot, humid, sticky, icky, dirty and exciting all sum up the past two days of field work at Pickawillany. Oh, did I mention hot? Really hot??

After sweltering Monday the crew came over to the museum for a small “thank you” cookout. The evening started with comments from Erin Bartlett, regional manager for OHS, Andy Hite, site manager for OHS and Jim Oda from the Piqua Historical Area Friends Council. Afterward the staff and students were presented certificates of appreciation for the work they have done helping to shine light upon the lives of those who lived at Pickawillany (photo 1, Hite, Oda and Dr. Annette G. Ericksen). During the rest of the event pictures that had been taken during the dig were projected for everyone to see and the all-you-can-eat hot dog, brat and hamburgers were enthusiastically consumed.

Tuesday’s humidity hung in the air for most of the day, only resulting in a slight drizzle over lunch time. Feature 10 proved to be exciting, revealing some old friends such as gun flints and small glass white “seed” beads and introduced us to some new ones. Our first larger caliber musket ball (photo 2), our first kernel of carbonized corn (photo 3) and our first beaver mandible (photo 4). Other firsts include a small blue “seed” bead, two fragments of what could turn out to be leather and an item that might be bronze/brass hardware for a trunk (photo 5 in situ, photo 6 in hand).

One thing we know about tomorrow it that it will continue to be nasty-hot. The unknown is what else we may discover about those who were here before us. Stay tuned for more!