Pickawillany Lab and interesting stats

The Pickawillany lab work is coming along very well. Picture one is of Bill Pickard diligently working away. The material has been examined (picture two) washed, weighed, measured (picture three), cataloged and rebagged. Each items provenience (the grid location where item was found) has been entered into the database and distribution maps created.

After reviewing field and lab information, here are a few bits of information you might find interesting.

• 28 days of field work were scheduled for 2006
• 9 days were cancelled due to rain.
• High temperatures ranged from 25-75 degrees, with the average being 48 degrees.
• 7 volunteers and 2 interns worked a total of 270 hours on the project.
• 30,000 square meters of geophysics were surveyed.
• 32,400 square meters of metal detecting was completed.
• 1162 hits investigated and of those 68 Pickawillany related artifacts recovered.
• Basically for every 17 hits investigated 1 Pickawillany era item was recovered.

OHS at MAC

From October 12 to 14, the Midwest Archaeological Conference held its 50th annual meeting at the University of Illinois, Urbana. Among the papers presented were four that focused on the Society’s archaeological sites and collections; the abstracts of those papers are presented here.

The Midwest Archaeological Conference is organized to “…promote and stimulate interest in the archaeology of the midwestern United States and neighboring areas; to serve as a bond among those interested in this and related subjects; to publish and encourage publication; to advocate and aid in the conservation of archaeological data and to encourage an appreciation and support of archaeological research.” The organization also publishes the quarterly journal, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology. For more information about the MAC, check out the website: http://www.midwestarchaeology.org/ ; all the abstracts from the 2006 annual meeting are available at http://www.midwestarchaeology.org/2006_MAC_Abstracts.pdf

Baldia, Christel M. (Archaeological Textile Consulting)
Kathryn A. Jakes (The Ohio State University)
Maximilian O. Baldia (Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University)

The Use of Dye Technology as Indicated By Polychrome Hopewell Textiles from Seip Mound

Yellow/brown textiles from the Hopewellian Seip Mound group that had not been directly in contact with copper were selected for this research. These were sampled based on the results of non-destructive forensic photography. Optical microscopy illustrated that this yellow/brown group were made of a dyed rabbit hair and bast fiber mixture. The yarns were colorant saturated and the colored patterns on the textiles were identical on both sides of the textiles. Besides the use of several colors, fringes and possibly a leather appliqué were used as decorations. These polychrome textiles indicate complex textile construction methods with elaborate decoration techniques and the use of complex dye technology.


Greber, N’omi B. (Cleveland Museum of Natural History)
Richard W. Yerkes (Ohio State University)
Katharine C. Ruhl (Cleveland Museum of Natural History)
Anne B. Lee (Hardlines Design)
Dawn W. Gagliano (Ohio University)
Jarrod Burks (Ohio Valley Archaeology Consultants)
Martha P. Otto (Ohio Historical Society)

Interpretations of Several Low Mounds within Seip Earthworks, Ross County, Ohio

From 1971 to 1977 the Ohio Historical Society, under the direction of Dr. Ray­mond Baby, conducted a series of excavations within the largest element of the Seip Earthworks, Ross County, Ohio. Recent analyses of records and collections of artifacts and field samples recovered provide new information for considering pos­sible activities and chronological relationships reflected in the complex pattern of structures and features covered by small mounds. A summary discussion will be presented of the context of lithic, ceramic, faunal, and exotic materials recovered from mounds and features within and outside wooden structures found in this lim­ited area of the earthworks.


Riordan, Robert (Wright State University)

Investigating the Moorehead Circle

During the summer of 2006 Wright State’s field school investigated a circular enclo­sure 60m in diameter detected in 2005 by remote sensing in Fort Ancient’s North Fort. The goals were to test: (1) an area on the circle’s perimeter where one or more ditch and embankment combinations were presumed to have existed; and (2) a strong magnetic anomaly located at the center of the circle. Our results suggest that the circle was defined by posts set in individual pits, and that a central pit, perhaps enclosed within a structure, was filled with burned soil.


Royce, Karen L. (The Ohio State University)

The Late Woodland Scioto Trails Site (33Fr8) in the Middle Ohio River Valley

The Scioto Trails Site (also known as the Zencor or Merion Village site) dates to the Late Woodland time period and is located in the Central Ohio area. Portions of the site were excavated in the 1960s and 1980s and most recently investigated using a fluxgate gradiometer (2006). This site is similar to the nearby, Late Woodland Water Plant site (33FR155), in that they both exhibit the presence of a semi-circular pre­historic ditch circumscribing the sites along major waterways, with steep banks. It is important to investigate and publicize sites like these before they totally disappear.

Research Revises Popular Legend

The following is a press release from the Ohio Academy of Science (www.ohiosci.org). The full research article can be downloaded from http://www.ohiosci.org/BlueJacket.pdf

DNA Study Concludes Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket was a Native American, not legendary Dutch Caucasian

Columbus (December 1, 2006) . . . The great Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket, who played a pivotal role in the early history of southwestern Ohio, was not the legendary Dutch Caucasian named Marmaduke Van Swearingen, according to research publish today in The Ohio Journal of Science.

“Barring any questions of the paternity of the Chief’s single son who lived to produce male heirs, the ‘Blue Jacket-with-Caucasian-roots’ legend is not based on reality,” said Carolyn D. Rowland, an analyst at Forensic Bioinformatics, Inc. in Fairborn, Ohio, and lead author of the report.
Using the tools of modern molecular biology and genetics Rowland and her colleagues tested the issue of paternity by analyzing cheek tissue samples collected from six direct male line descendants of George I Blue Jacket, son of Chief Blue Jacket and his wife “Metis” Baby. Similarly, researchers collected samples from the Swearingen male line from two direct male descendants also six generations removed from Charles Swearingen; and one each from direct descendants of Marmaduke Swearingen’s paternal great-uncles, Samuel Swearingen and John Swearingen.

According to the article, if it is accepted that George I was Chief Blue Jacket’s son, it can be reasonably concluded that the famous Shawnee war chief was in fact a Native American and that the popular story surrounding his relatedness to Dutch settlers is without merit.

Written and oral accounts have claimed that the young Marmaduke Van Swearingen was captured by the Shawnee while he was wearing a blue linsey blouse or hunting shirt. That article of clothing is then said to have given rise to his Indian name when he became enamored with and dedicated to the way of the Shawnee and, ultimately, became Chief of the Shawnee by the age of twenty-five.

The paternally inherited Y chromosome, the focus of this research, has become a particularly important tool for such genealogical reconstructions as well as other purposes including forensics, molecular archaeology, nonhuman primate genetics and human evolutionary studies. The Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings affair and the identification of the remains of Christopher Columbus are among the more prominent oral traditions that have been directly tested by such DNA comparisons.

The lead author of the report, Ms. Carolyn Rowland, is currently an analyst at Forensic Bioinformatics, Inc. in where she reviews case files including GenophilerTM output, laboratory notes and serological results associated with forensic DNA testing. She has reviewed and consulted with the lead attorneys of more than 400 cases over the past four years.

Other authors included R. V. Van Trees, Major, USAF (Ret.), historian, genealogist and author; Marc S. Taylor, technical advisor to the Quincy TV series and lead scientist at Technical Associates in Ventura, CA; Dr. Michael Raymer, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Wright State University; and Dr. Dan Krane, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Wright State University.