We have taken a break from our bi-weekly blog (TWIPA), and are brainstorming about what will be next: new media platforms, new excavations, new processes for handling collections, and maybe some new staff?  The one thing that is certain is that we will be holding our annual archaeology month Workshops in Archaeology in October. This year, the 2023 State Museum of Pennsylvania’s Workshops in Archaeology theme will be Discovering The Past: The Sciences Of Archaeology. Archaeology is the study of past people and cultures through objects preserved and excavated from the ground. These materia ..read more

While home canning has recently seen a rise in popularity, its peak was during the mid-20th century. Promoted as an economical way to make produce available throughout the cold winter months, home canning was a common household practice that has been frequently recorded in the archaeological record of historic domestic sites. Historically, Pennsylvania has been an important center for glass manufacture due to its richness in natural resources, and several canning jar and lid manufactures had production centers within the state. The State Museum of Pennsylvania’s Section of Archaeolog ..read more

The Eastern States Rock Art Research Association (ESRARA) held its 2022 conference on Oct. 7-8, 2022, in St. Louis, Missouri. The conference brought together presenters and attendees from nine states to discuss the documentation, preservation, and interpretation of rock art sites which included petroglyph (images carved on stone) and pictograph (images painted or drawn on stone) sites in the Eastern United States. Pennsylvania was well represented with three presentations focusing on rock art sites from the Keystone State, which now has over forty petroglyph sites recorded in its cultural res ..read more

It’s that time of year again, October is Archaeology Month and that means it’s time for the Annual Workshops in Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, this year we are live for the first time since 2019.  That’s right, live at The State Museum of Pennsylvania on October 29, 2022, so join us as we travel the ‘Pathways to the Past’.  This year’s presentations will discuss not only the physical paths, portages, and trade routes that traverse Pennsylvania’s mountains and valleys, but also the less tangible and often hidden paths of the Underground Railroad, a pathway to free ..read more

In This Week in Pennsylvania Archaeology (TWIPA) blog we are revisiting the “Pots of the Past” series by showcasing some of the Precontact Woodland period pottery vessels that were recovered from the Upper Delaware Valley by Bill Leiser, Fred Assmus, and Dave Werner Sr. These gentlemen were avocational archaeologists with the Lenape Chapter 12, Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Inc. Their artifact collections, accumulated over many years (Werner 1972), were donated to the State Museum of Pennsylvania and New Jersey State Museum in 2019, 2014 and 2004.  Image from Archaeology in ..read more

It’s that time of year again when we pull out our favorite cozy sweaters, eat and drink a lot of pumpkin spice, and snuggle up in front of the fireplace; autumn is here. Just as we do now, people throughout time have used fires to warm themselves and their homes. Evidence of this human behavior is found in both Precontact and historic archaeological sites. On Precontact sites archaeologists find dark stains in the soil filled with charcoal and fire cracked rock remains in the ground. These stains, called features, are the remains of the cooking and heating fires left by Precontact peoples ..read more

Recent additions to the collections of the Section of Archaeology Artifact collections from development projects required to undertake the Section 106 process continue to be submitted to the State Museum of Pennsylvania’s Section of Archaeology for curation. The Archaeological Services program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania recently delivered artifact collections to the State Museum of PA, some dating to as far back as the 1980s. Avid readers of TWIPA may have observed that many of our posts dealing with cultural resource management (CRM) projects are the product of PennDoT construc ..read more

For the last several weeks, our blog posts have focused on the 50th anniversary of Tropical Storm Agnes and its impact on archaeological sites and cultural resources in Pennsylvania. This week, we would like to turn back to happier subjects and have a look at some of the beautiful ceramic vessels from a site discovered in the city of Philadelphia. In the 1970s, construction of portions of I-95 and urban redevelopment projects occurred in the oldest sections of the city near the waterfront, prompting archaeological investigations in the areas that would be affected by demolition and constructi ..read more

With this blog we say good-bye to our series on Tropical Storm Agnes and her impact on the Commonwealth.  The previous blogs have traced her path through the major river basins of Pennsylvania, leaving behind massive destruction and hardship.  Cultural resources – churches, museums, libraries, and cemeteries- were significantly impacted, but the communities surrounding them rallied together to help salvage these resources. Improved preparation and planning by many of these institutions were implemented in anticipation of the potential for future floods. Flood protection programs tha ..read more

If you have been following our series on the effects of Tropical Storm Agnes in the various river drainages of Pennsylvania, you may have noticed a pattern of devastating damage followed by the resilient recovery of the people and properties affected.  In many cases recovery included construction of reservoirs and other flood control projects to protect against future flooding events.  As part of the planning and construction of these facilities, archaeology was often required to mitigate damage to possible archaeological sites.  As a result, many new sites were dis ..read more