2017 Conference & Annual Meeting: Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology (CNEHA)

Conference & Annual Meeting

CNEHA 2017 Annual Meeting

CNEHA’s 2017 annual meeting will be held at the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel and Conference Center in historic Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on November 10-12, 2017. The theme for this year, Taverns, Transportation and Trade, is in keeping with Portsmouth’s nearly 400-year-old role as the center of commerce, travel and industry in the Piscataqua region. Individual papers, sessions and posters on this theme, and on others related to historical archaeology of the Northeast are welcome.

Student Volunteers Needed

Student volunteers are essential to any conference by assisting with various duties including registration, set-up, special events, and conference sessions. Volunteering at a conference is also a great way to meet and network with professionals.

The CNEHA planning committee is looking for student volunteers to sign up for at least one 4 hour shift during the 2017 CNEHA Meeting in exchange for free conference registration. You must pre-register for the conference at the student rate. If you are accepted as a volunteer, you will be reimbursed for the amount of your basic registration rate.

2017 Conference Schedule

The conference will begin on Friday with a day of walking tours including Strawbery Banke Museum, the architectural treasures of downtown and the MacPhaedris-Warner house, (c. 1716), as well as the Portsmouth African Burying Ground Memorial Park. Other tours will venture out from Portsmouth to explore the historic forts Piscataqua region and colonial archaeological sites in South Berwick, Maine. A special tour of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is planned for Sunday afternoon. Workshops on Friday will explore the latest in non-intrusive survey techniques such as remote sensing, aerial drones, GPR technologies as well as hands-on opportunities to identify unusual ceramics from the Warner House and private collections.

Portsmouth has a long and rich history as a center of the brewing industry. Attendees will have a chance to sample local brews from the region’s heralded microbrewing industry both at Friday night’s reception as well as at a ticketed beer tasting event immediately before the Saturday banquet. This year’s banquet features a classic New England clam bake with lobster and all the trimmings (vegetarian option available) as well as entertainment by talented local musicians.

Le colloque annuel 2017 du CNEHA

Le colloque annuel 2017 du CNEHA se tiendra au Sheraton Portsmouth Harbourside Hotel and Conference Centre à Portsmouth, au New Hampshire, du 10 au 12 novembre 2017. Le thème de cette année, les tavernes, les transports et les échanges, fait référence au rôle de Portsmouth comme centre commercial, touristique et industriel de la région de Piscataqua, et ce, depuis près de 400 ans. Des communications individuelles, des séances et des affiches sur ce thème, et sur d'autres sujets liés à l'archéologie historique dans le Nord-Est américain sont les bienvenues.

Le colloque débutera vendredi avec une journée de visites à pied de lieux historiques de Portsmouth, dont le musée Strawbery Banke, les trésors architecturaux du centre-ville et la maison MacPhaedris-Warner (vers 1716), ainsi que le African Burying Ground Memorial Park de Portsmouth. D'autres circuits s'aventureront à l'extérieur de Portsmouth, pour explorer les forts historiques de la région de Piscataqua et les sites archéologiques coloniaux de South Berwick, dans le Maine. Une visite spéciale du chantier naval de Portsmouth est prévue pour dimanche après-midi. Les ateliers de vendredi exploreront les dernières techniques de recherche non intrusives, telles que la télédétection, les drones aériens, les technologies de géo-radar ainsi que les façons d'identifier des céramiques inhabituelles provenant de la maison Warner et de collections privées.

Portsmouth a une longue et riche histoire en tant que centre de l'industrie brassicole. Les participants auront la chance d'échantillonner les merveilles locales des microbrasseries de la région lors de la réception du vendredi soir, ainsi qu'à un événement de dégustation de bière qui précédera immédiatement le banquet de samedi. Le banquet de cette année présente un clam bake de la Nouvelle-Angleterre avec du homard et toutes les garnitures (option végétarienne disponible), ainsi que du divertissement par des musiciens locaux talentueux.

Where to Stay

The CNEHA 2017 annual meeting will be held at the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel and Conference Center where a block of rooms has been reserved for Thursday, November 9 through Sunday, November 12, 2017. Attendees also have the option of staying at the hotel an extra night before or after the meeting at the conference rate.

Workshops

SOLD OUT- Aerial Drone And GPR Survey of North Cemetery

Presented by Stefan Claesson, Peter Leach and Daniel Welch
Friday, November 10, 2017 - 9:00am to 1:00pm. Limited to 12 participants. Location: Conference Hotel.

This remote sensing workshop will showcase aerial drones or small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and ground penetrating radar technologies (GPR), and their potential applications to historic archaeological site detection and documentation. Field work will include hands-on experience mapping a historic cemetery in Portsmouth using UAS and GPR. Participants will learn the basic process of project planning, data collection, post-processing, and analysis.

Isles Of Shoals: The Digital Archaeological Record

Presented by Nathan D, Hamilton, Robin Hadlock Seeley, and Anthony Viola. Friday, November 10, 2017 - 1:00am to 3:00pm. Limited to 12 participants. Location: Discover Portsmouth Center.

The workshop will introduce several analytical tools for the documentation and assessment of historic material culture and faunal remains. The examples and objects were excavated from pre-contact and historic deposits at Smuttynose Island, Isles of Shoals in the western Gulf of Maine. Most of the examples are from the 17th century fishing era operations on the island. Techniques included digital microscopy, 3D photogrammetry of objects and X-Ray fluorescence (NITON) analysis for chemical composition. The workshop will assist in the development of a conservation assessment plan and analysis of the material culture record. These selected techniques will assist in the building of the digital archaeological record for curation and public and professional access.

Ink Stands, Strainers And Pickle Leaves: Identifying Unusual Ceramic Forms

Friday, November 10, 2017 - 2:00am to 4:00pm. Limited to 15 participants. Location: Warner House.

This hands-on workshop will look at mystery pieces in archaeological collections and consider unusual ceramic pieces that are difficult to identify from small sherds. Using examples from the Warner House (c.1716-1929) museum and archeological collections, from local archaeological projects, and from ceramic historian Louise Richardson’s personal collection, this workshop will also consider how local shopkeeper records and probate inventories aid in accurate identification. The workshop will also match ceramic sherds with whole objects and will challenge common assumptions about ceramic form and alternative uses. Learn about lesser known objects such as the “pickle leaf,” “flower horn,” and “spit pot,” that may be more common than you realized!

Tours

SOLD OUT - The Archaeological Sites of Strawbery Banke Museum

Presented by Alexandra Martin. Friday, November 10, 2017 - 12:00 to 2:00pm. Limited to 20 participants.

Strawbery Banke is a 10-acre outdoor history museum in downtown Portsmouth, dedicated to bringing to life over 300 years of history in the same waterfront neighborhood. Led by museum archaeologist Alexandra Martin, this tour will meet at the museum’s Tyco Visitors’ Center at 14 Hancock St. and continue across the neighborhood, where archaeology has been an important avenue of museum research since the 1960s. The tour will feature selected information about the museum’s 29 archaeological excavations, nearly 40 extant buildings, and extensive archaeological collection. Highlights include the garden behind the c. 1695 Sherburne House, the 18th century Marshall Pottery site, and the site of a turn of the 20th century mikveh (Jewish ritual bath) that was central to the neighborhood’s Jewish immigrant community.

Portsmouth as Regional Commercial Hub, 1700-1900

Presented by Richard Candee. Friday, November 10, 2017 - 10:00am to 12:00pm. Limited to 12 participants.

This architectural walking tour will provide and overview of the varied and extensive infrastructure still visible in Portsmouth’s historic downtown. Highlights of the tour include a review of the Portsmouth the early commercial district along the waterfront, including the McPheadris-Warner House (c. 1716), The Portsmouth Athenaeum (built 1805 for NH Fire & Marine Insurance Co.); the impact of Portsmouth’s three devastating fires; the Federal era Market Square; as well as many of the city’s Victorian commercial structures that have strong ties to 19th-century brewer and financial baron Frank Jones (eg. National Block, Music Hall, Rockingham Hotel). This 2-hour tour will begin at the conference hotel and end downtown where you may have lunch on your own.

Portsmouth African Burying Ground

Presented by Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire and Kathleen Wheeler (IAC). Friday, November 10, 2017 - 2:00 to 4:00pm. Limited to 25 participants.

In 2003, archaeologists recovered and documented skeletal remains beneath a city street, thus verifying the location of the 18th-century “Negro Burying Ground” known by the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail to be present in the general area. Presently the site of the “African Burying Ground Memorial Park,” this segregated burying ground may have been in use as early as 1705 in what was then the outskirts of town. This tour begins at the conference hotel with a presentation of the archaeological findings by Kathleen Wheeler, followed by a walk through downtown Portsmouth led by a Sankofa Tour Guide of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire to discuss the role that institutionalized slavery had in establishing the racialized American economic system. The walk will end at the Memorial Park for further discussion and reflection.

Commerce, Transportation And Communication On The Salmon Falls River, 1630-1802

Presented by Neill DePaoli and Emerson “Tad” Baker. Friday, November 10, 2017 - 12:30 to 4:30pm. Limited to 12 participants.

Located on the edge of the seventeenth-century frontier, present-day South Berwick, Maine was an early center of the fur trade and the lumber industry. The tour will focus on the historic Brattle, Vines Street, and Old Fields Road. Stops will include: the grounds of Jonathan Hamilton’s ca. 1785 Georgian mansion at Pipe Stave Landing; neighboring Old Fields, the eighteenth century home, and archaeological site of a tavern and blacksmith shop, as well as the nearby cemetery; the Great Works River, site of the 1634 saw mill and many subsequent mills; and the Chadbourne site (1643-1690), the trading, milling and farming complex that was excavated from 1995-2007. The tour will also explore the evolution of the region’s transportation and communication network that linked old Berwick not only to coastal ports such as Portsmouth and Boston but more distant locales such as the Caribbean, England, and Europe.

The last stop will be the Old Berwick Historical Society’s Counting House Museum, to see the exhibit, “Forgotten Frontier: Untold Stories of the Piscataqua.” This exhibit explores the Berwicks and the Piscataqua in the seventeenth century, through artifacts from the Chadbourne Site and Old Fields, as well as objects from area museums and private collections. Artifacts from the Chadbourne site not usually on display will also be out for inspection. The tour will depart from the lobby of the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel, and conclude there as well.

SOLD OUT - Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Presented by Kerry Vautrot, Cultural Resources Manager and Joseph Gluckert, Shipyard Historian. Sunday, November 12, 2017 - 1:00pm to 5pm. Limited to 12 participants.

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (est.1800) has a venerable heritage and rich tradition. For more than 200 years, Yankee ingenuity and quality have been the keys to the Shipyard's success. Learn about the Shipyard's role and achievements in times of war and peace on a driving tour around the perimeter of the base including an up-close view of the former US Naval prison's exterior and a tour of the Shipyard Museum. The tour will also include discussions related to landmaking, archaeological resource highlights and the challenges associated with urban archaeology within an active Shipyard.