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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

IU professors lecture at Mathers Museum

Archaeology

Indiana dedicates the month of September to archaeology. Events, lectures and workshops throughout the state will be open to the public, teaching Hoosiers about the discipline.

The month is sponsored by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.

Events such as laboratory open houses and archaeological excavations will work to promote interest in the anthropology science.

In Bloomington, Mathers Museum of World Cultures at IU at 416 Indiana Ave. offers free lectures at noon every Friday. The lectures will be presented in the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology’s library. 

IU professors Stacie King, April Sievert and Laura Scheiber will lecture on their archaeological specializations.
 
King, associate professor of anthropology, was recently named a guest curator of the Mathers Museum and will present a lecture on Friday about her recent field research in Oaxaca, Mexico.

She will explain her own methods of uncovering a town’s story by using archaeology, searching through archives and collecting oral histories.

“Part of the speech will be about how the evidence works together to solve the challenges and questions they create,” King said.

Scheiber, associate professor of anthropology, will present “Stories told in Stone: Recording Sacred and Everyday Landscapes in the Shadow of the Rocky Mountains” on Sept. 21.

On Sept. 28, Sievert, senior lecturer in anthropology, will discuss the life histories of archaeological sites. It is titled, “‘Maria, Put the Kettle On! We’ll All Have Some Tea.’ Public Archaeology at the 19th century Munson House at Spring Mill State Park.”

She will discuss the artifacts found and their connection to southern Indiana families in the mid-1800s.

Indiana supports archaeology month to better educate residents about the history of Indiana lands, according to the DNR website.

According to the GBL website, a Hoosier National Forest excavation project led by Timothy Baumann, the curator of archaeology at IU, will begin in October. The German Ridge Heritage Project will include archival research, excavations and oral history collections.

Baumann and his team of students from IU and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis plan to create historical trails throughout the forest with the results.     

On Saturday, Baumann presented a free lecture at the Perry County Public Library in Tell City, Ind., on his upcoming project. His lecture, “Living on the Edge: The German Ridge Heritage Project in Hoosier National Forest,” was a topic favored by local families who grew up in the area. Because of its close proximity to the Hoosier National Forest, Baumann agreed to include the Tell City library staff in his work in the area.

Cindy Kaufman, director of the Perry County Public Library, said there was a good turnout for the first anthropological lecture in Tell City.

“The lecture brought in people who had family who came to this country and started all over for a better life,” Kaufman said. “We are very lucky to have Dr. Baumann and our Hoosier National Forest working together and including us on this project.”

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