Upcoming Events
Archaeology Camp at Fort Frederica
Dates are not finalized, please go to the Friends of Fort Frederica website for more information on dates.
Each year, our members volunteer their time to help with the summer archaeology camps at Fort Frederica National Monument on St. Simons Island.
Elementary- and middle school-aged children get the opportunity to participate in a real excavation at a colonial site, by learning the archaeological process and digging, sifting and classifying artifacts.
GIAS members assist with all parts of the process, sharing their knowledge with the students and often learning a few things themselves. It’s also a great opportunity for amateur archaeologists to gain experience at a low-stress dig site.
Fort Frederica Archaeology Day
Join us at Fort Frederica National Monument for Archaeology Day. More details to come
Picnic in the Park
GIAS Summer Picnic at Neptune Park! Bring some goodies and wrap up the first half of the year. Casual get together and last meeting until August, Happy Summer!
Archaeological Lab Work
Hands on Lab Work at the Fort Frederica National Monument Archaeological Lab. Come learn about the artifacts found at Fort Frederica from the Colonial to the Modern, as well as participate in the lab work necessary for an archaeological site to run.
Archaeological Lecture: Dr. Lindsey Cochran
Dr. Lindsey Cochran presents an archaeological lecture on Cannons Point Preserve. The presentation will be in the Fort Frederica National Monument Visitor Center.
Lindsey Cochran is an anthropological archaeologist, with specialties in historical archaeology and spatial archaeology. Her research in historical archaeology focuses on antebellum culture in the Georgia lowcountry using geospatial methods to understand past people’s interaction with natural and cultural landscapes. She is also working to create predictive models of which cultural heritage sites on the East Coast, USA, will be impacted by various effects of climate change, along with estiamtes of when those changes are expected to occur.
Archaeological Lecture: Dr. Ryan McNutt
Dr. McNutt earned his B.S. in Anthropology from Middle Tennessee State University in 2006, and his Mlitt (2010) and PhD (2014) in Archaeology from the University of Glasgow, where he specialized in conflict archaeology. Dr. McNutt’s presentation “The Devil Came to Georgia: LiDAR, KOCOA, and Identifying Ephemeral Sites of Conflict” will discuss archaeological investigations of two 1864 Civil War battlefields; the Battle of Buckhead Creek and the Battle of Lawton Station. Both battles occurred in Jenkins County during Sherman’s March to the Sea. Dr. McNutt will show how using modern technology helps to locate the battlefields and uncover some of the hidden history of what happened during the battles. This should be a excellent presentation, especially since the Civil War time period and the March to the Sea is a topic of a great deal of interest.
Archaeology presentation in the Fort Frederica National Monument Visitor Center.
Archaeological Lecture: Laura Seifert
Fort Pulaski’s Lead Archaeologist Laura Seifert has been digging through Savannah’s museums and squares since receiving her master’s degree at East Carolina University in 2006. She has traced Savannah’s history from the Revolutionary War in Savannah’s squares to the industrial revolution at the Roundhouse Railroad Museum to the personal, domestic histories at the Sorrel Weed House. She joined the Fort Pulaski staff in 2021. Her presentation, “From Fort Construction to Hurricane Destruction” will give members better insight into Fort Pulaski. While Fort Pulaski is known for its pivotal Civil War battle, the fort’s nearly 200-year history has many layered and complex stories that are less told. Archaeologists are investigating the Workers’ Village, which was initially home to the people who built the fort. The Workers’ Village later housed hospital patients, self-emancipated “contrabands,” officer’s families, and more before the village was thoroughly demolished in the 1881 hurricane. Laura, as the NPS archeologist involved in the work, is looking forward to sharing the results of their work and their latest finds.
Held in the Fort Frederica National Monument Visitor’s Center
Holiday Party
End of the year wrap up, potluck, and planning for the next year. Join us for sweets and help us plan the next year!
Archaeological Lecture: Bruce Piatek
Bruce Piatek is a Southeast region archaeologist. In this lecture Bruce shares his presentation on “First People of Jekyll Island,-Thousands of People for Thousands of Years” which touches on the archaeology that has been done on Jekyll Island and what has been learned from archaeology about the different phases of occupation of the earliest people on the island. Explore the different time periods prior to European contact and a description of the archaeological evidence from each. As a bonus Bruce is making black water from the wild yapon plant so that GIAS members will get a taste of the liquid the Native Americans used to “cleanse themselves.”
Held in the Fort Frederica National Monument Visitor’s Center