News
Courtesy of LAS
CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION AWARDS 2020
Preservation Connecticut is proud to announce its Connecticut Preservation Awards for 2020. Recognizing individual projects, long-term contributions, and professional achievement, the awards demonstrate the many ways historic places contribute to the life and vitality of Connecticut communities.
Statewide: Resiliency Planning for Preservation
The devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy underscored the need to incorporate historic preservation in resilience planning and disaster recovery. Connecticut’s State Historic Preservation Office has created a comprehensive approach to preservation planning amid climate change along with planning tools to carry that out. Now, Connecticut is better able to protect its irreplaceable historic resources amid environmental threats. Project team: R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc.; Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office; Dewberry; Milone and MacBroom; Towers | Golde, LLC; Ocean Surveys, Inc.; Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center; University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography
Hurricane Sandy Program
February 2020. Colby and Kathy Child of our Maryland Office are seen documenting a 25′ stone-lined cesspit associated an 19th century slaughter house and later residence in Frederick. The pit was covered by a series of cast-iron railroad track segments that in turn supported a 5′ diameter rough-hewn stone cap.
Beneath The Surface: A Deep Dive Into Connecticut Shipwrecks
Join Dr. Goodwin as he discuses some of the results of underwater archaeological survey and evaluation of shipwrecks in Connecticut waters of Long Island Sound. He is joined by colleagues Dr. Nick Bellatoni and Dr. Kevin McBride on the Colin McEnroe Show on NPR Radio. This show, recorded at the Connecticut River Museum, is provided here courtesy of Connecticut Public Radio.
What can be found in Long Island Sound’s murky waters are ample remains of Connecticut’s once prominent shipping industry, and perhaps evidence of early Native American villages from around 20,000 years ago when the Sound was a glacial lake. From dugout canoes and mastodon molars to the more than two dozen ships set ablaze in Essex harbor during the War of 1812, it’s an underwater adventure not to be missed.
Brittany Hill, Ph.D. of RCG&A’s Plains office Presents Paper at the Society of American Archaeology’s 84th Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 10 – 14, 2019.
“Expanding the Role of Animals in Romano-British Burials”
This work considers the implications of human-animal relationships as observed in the mortuary record of Verulamium- modern town of St. Albans, England. Once considered a major center, the mortuary rites given to its people suggest high variability in the role that specific animal species played within the living and death culture of the city. While 480 human individuals were examined, only a small percentage was found to have been afforded the rite of a human-animal co-burial. Of major concern are the treatment of remains, the point at which animals entered into the funerary rituals and the impact this had on the surviving members of the society. Investigations were primarily carried out using zooarchaeological and human osteological techniques, but applied literary sources and other data. Analysis is situated in a broader theoretical approach on human-animal relationships adopting a non-anthropocentric view point. It is concluded that within the Romano-British city, there was a mutual participation of certain faunal species (namely cattle, sheep, pig and chickens) in rites that extended beyond typical agricultural needs and that different animal individuals within the same species could fulfil roles beyond that of the ultimate purpose of ‘food item’.
LAS
In February, the Louisiana Archaeological Society (LAS) held its 2018 annual meeting in Metairie, Louisiana to celebrate the 300 year anniversary of the founding of New Orleans. R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. was proud to join in this celebration of our hometown. On the first night of the conference, RCG&A sponsored a reception for all attendees. On the second day, Nathanael Heller, Senior Project Manager at RCG&A and a lifelong resident of New Orleans, served as program chair for a slate of 22 presentations examining the archaeology of Louisiana. The program included special sessions on Poverty Point World Heritage Site, and on recent archaeological investigations in New Orleans. In addition to the formal conference events, the LAS meeting was a great opportunity to celebrate New Orleans and to catch up with old friends.
AIA
On April 19, 2018, Nathanael Heller, Senior Project Manager and Lab Supervisor for the New Orleans office, delivered a presentation to the New Orleans Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) titled “Archaeological Investigations of a Former Yellow Fever Hospital in New Orleans.” The talk highlighted an important discovery of medical artifacts and other materials from a temporary hospital set up to treat indigent yellow fever patients in 1897. A team from Goodwin & Associates led by Nathanael made this discovery during archaeological excavations associated with the renovation of a historic school building that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Included among the finds Nathanael discussed were bedpans, invalid feeders, wash basins, pitchers, medicine bottles, part of a hypodermic syringe and other items for the care of yellow fever patients. Also described were pieces of colorful glass flower vases, dolls, an ivory chess piece, and other artifacts that represented how the hospital staff worked to keep patients in good spirits while they recovered from their illnesses. The site provided an almost unprecedented opportunity to examine 19th century medical practices used to combat yellow fever.
Louisiana Archaeologist of the Year
On April 22, 2014, Jay Dardenne, Lt. Governor of the state of Louisiana, and the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development (OCD) named R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. “Archaeologist of the Year” at the annual Louisiana Culture Awards. The Louisiana Culture Awards recognize efforts to highlight and cultivate the rich cultural resources of Louisiana. R. Christopher Goodwin, Ph.D., President and CEO, accepted the award on behalf of the company.
The state recognized R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. for outstanding contribution to the archaeological understanding of Louisiana material culture through implementation of measures intended to partially fulfill the stipulations of a 2011 programmatic agreement to mitigate the effects of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). As a group, these mitigation measures represent one of the largest single-project contributions to Louisiana archaeology. The project included both new work and the reexamination of old work, and comprehensive integration of both previous and current studies in a period of 24 months. Archaeological treatment measures included: (1) analysis of eleven archaeological collections that never had been examined or that were not analyzed using modern methods; (2) survey and evaluation of Fontainebleau State Park and New Orleans’ City Park; and (3) research on 204 parks and archaeological survey of thirty parks around the city of New Orleans. Additionally, the project required survey of seven National Register Historic Districts in New Orleans; scanning of up to 150,000 National Register and Standing Structure documents; and, providing a dedicated liaison between the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office and FEMA to ensure timely preparation of digital deliverables. This project resulted in both written and digital media public outreach programs.
R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. served as the archaeological and historic preservation contractor for the larger Dewberry Team during implementation of the mitigation efforts. Dewberry is a leading professional services firm with a proven history of providing architecture, engineering, management and consulting services to a wide variety of public- and private-sector clients.
R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. featured in Spring 2014 Energy and Mining Industry Magazine
Click here to see the full “Energy & Mining International Magazine – Spring 2014”
R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. featured in Professional Surveyor Magazine for work at White Sands, New Mexico and in Lake Pontchartrain
Dr. Goodwin Co-authors Article on Wind Energy and Transmission System Development on the Continental Shelf
Dr. Goodwin co-authored an article in North American Wind Power, on permitting and development challenges for subsea cabling and backbone transmission lines that will connect wind-turbine generated power to onshore grids. The article was co-authored with Daron Threet, Esq., now Assistant Chief Counsel at MARAD. The article reviews the regulatory framework for the development of offshore cable arrays, issues pertaining to marine archaeological survey requirements, the need for active consultation with regulatory agencies and other stakeholders, and the need for careful project planning and site evaluation.
Goodwin Staff In the News, In Print, and In the Public Forum
Goodwin Team Provides New Data on Climatic Change and Human Adaptation at the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition
Dr. Chris Goodwin and Dr. Bill Barse presented a poster on the results of excavations at five Late Paleoindian (Suwannee) and Early Archaic (Bolen) stratified archaeological sites located in the Florida panhandle in the Paleoindians of the American Southeast poster session held at the Paleoamerican Odyssey Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. These sites share consistent features of stratigraphy and archaeological context reflecting a landform subjected to the same climatically induced depositional processes at the close of the Pleistocene. Those processes encapsulated Paleoindian and Early Archaic sites along the edge of the Cody Scarp below variably thick packages of eolian sand deposits. Technological, microwear, and blood residue analyses were used to study approximately 27,000 lithic artifacts. The largest site, Site 8LE2105, functioned as a base camp. The four smaller sites (8LE2102, 8JE880/LE2909, 8JE872, and 8JE878) were utilized for hunting and resource extraction. These five sites offered an opportunity to explore patterns of settlement, subsistence, and technological change at the Pleistocene – Holocene transition.
As a result of these investigations, RCG&A obtained a new 14C date [11,273 cal BP (9870±38 14C)] on a Bolen component at Site 8LE2105, one of three Early Archaic Bolen sites radiometrically dated in Florida. Bolen is the first radiometrically dated cultural horizon post-Clovis in Florida. Blood residue analyses showed butchering of bear and bison at 8LE2105. The presence of end thinning flake removals on Bolen projectile point preforms (i.e., fluted preforms) showed technological continuity in biface reduction from Clovis to Suwannee to Bolen. Continuity in the trajectory of biface reduction from Clovis to Bolen disappeared from the archaeological sequence when notched forms were replaced by stemmed forms in the Middle Archaic.
Martha Williams Receives Outstanding Professional Archaeologist Award
Our own Martha Williams, M.A., M.Ed., who joined the Goodwin team in September 1989, received another prestigious award on October 25, 2011, when Martha was named Outstanding Professional Archaeologist by the City of Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to a trophy showing a stratified archaeological deposit, the award reads:
WHEREAS, a 2011 Brenman Award for Outstanding Professional Archaeologist is presented to Martha Williams in recognition of her nearly 40 years of outstanding teaching, historic research, and archaeological investigations in and near Alexandria, for her excellence in completing numerous investigations and reports in her career as archaeologist with R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., for writing several superb histories of Alexandria and Fairfax County, and, while most places about which she has written are now redeveloped, for her archaeological work and written materials that allow past incarnations to live on for the community.
The Award was presented by William D. Euille, Mayor, on behalf of the City.
Martha also has been named Professional Archaeologist of the Year by the Archaeological Society of Virginia, and she received the Award of Merit from the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) for her efforts in the field of public education in archaeology and for bringing the concept of public education into the SHA.
Kathryn M. “Kate” Kuranda, Senior Vice President for Architectural & Historical Services, Authors Lead Article in Wiley-Blackwell Book on Cultural Resource Management
Kate Kuranda, Senior Vice President for Architectural & Historical Services at R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., is the author of Chapter 1 of the new book A Companion to Cultural Resource Management (Wiley-Blackwell 2011), edited by Thomas F. King. Kate’s chapter, entitled “Studying and Evaluating the Built Environment,” examines the process of assessing the built environment from an expert architectural historian’s point of view. The chapter encourages “thoughtful and responsible professional practice,” and provides a framework for documenting and evaluating architectural properties. This chapter should be a “must read” for architectural historians in training, for students, and for those seeking to understand the rationale for and the structure of proper cultural resource practice in the built environment. The book, which also offers important perspectives on archaeological sites, cultural landscapes, shipwrecks, and other classes of cultural resources, can be ordered online by clicking the link below.
R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. Supports Local Elementary School STEM Night
Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) are a highlight of school curricula all over the United States. Thurmont Elementary School, in northern Frederick County, Maryland, recently hosted a STEM night, and R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. (RCG&A) participated in the event teaching the students about archaeology. Kathy and Colby Child, two project managers at RCG&A with a combined 50+ years of experience in archaeology, also have years of experience providing exposure to archaeology for Frederick County Public Schools and the Boy Scouts of America.
Students are given basic instruction on what archaeology is and why it is important, including stratigraphy and the methodical excavation of soil by layers and artifacts. Either individually or in small groups, the students excavate using trowels, brushes and dust pans. As they recover artifacts, they sort them into groups based on the layer from which they were excavated.
The goals are to expose them to the fundamental practice of archaeology and to provide the chance to interpret the material they recover. In the end, they need to explain the “story” of their “site” based on the artifacts recovered and the layers in which they were found. Some of the stories are very colorful, while others are highly plausible. The story told by the artifacts and familiarization with the archaeological process sets the students up for lessons in their science or social studies classes. STEM also suggests future possibilities in high school, college and beyond. On occasion, RCG&A gets to rekindle these relationships when a former STEM student applies for an internship or employment.
Papers/Poster Presented:
Nathanael Heller
Archaeological Investigations of a Former Yellow Fever Hospital in New Orleans. Paper presented April 19, 2018 to the New Orleans Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Shannon R. Ryan
Investigating Paleoindian Hideworking Areas at the Shifting Sands Site, Texas. Paper presented April 2017, for the Kansas City Archaeological Society, the Kansas City Chapter of the Missouri Archaeological Society, Kansas City, Missouri (Invited).
Nathanael Heller
Results of the 1975 LSUMNS Excavations at the Bayou Jasmine Site, 16SJB2. Paper presented February 11, 2017 at the 43st annual meetings of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, Marksville, Louisiana.
Shannon R. Ryan
Historic Native American Bison Hideworking on the Great Plains: Lessons for Archaeological Interpretation. Presented November 2016, Explorations in Archaeology Lecture Series, University of Kansas, Lawrence (Invited).
Shannon R. Ryan, Alan R. Potter, Janice A. McLean, and Paul A. Demers
2016 Relocating Historic Fort Riley Boundary Markers. Poster presented at the 74th Annual Plains Anthropological Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Shannon R. Ryan
2016 Recognizing Paleoindian Hideworking Activity Areas at the Kanorado Locality (14SN106) and the Shifting Sands Site (41WK21). Poster presented at the 74st Annual Plains Anthropological Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Nathanael Heller
Recognizing Cultural Complexity and Innovation in the Everyday Life of the Tchefuncte Peoples of South Louisiana. Co-authored with Richard Weinstein. Paper presented Nov. 19, 2015 at the 72nd annual meetings of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Nashville, TN.
Nathanael Heller
Rethinking the Early Woodland Occupation of the Louisiana Coastal Zone. Paper presented on May 27, 2015 to the Baton Rouge Chapter of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Nathanael Heller
A Fresh Look at the 1941 WPA Excavations at the Lafayette Mounds Site (16SM17), and the Date of Lafayette Mound 1. Paper presented February 21, 2015 at the 41st annual meetings of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, Leesville, Louisiana.
Nathanael Heller
Rethinking the Early Woodland Period Occupation of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin. Paper presented February 8, 2014 at the 40th annual meetings of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, Natchitoches, Louisiana.
R. Christopher Goodwin, and William P. Barse
2014 From Biscayne Bay to the Cody Scarp: The Early Archaic Bolen Horizon in Florida. Paper presented at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Greenville, South Carolina.
R. Christopher Goodwin, and William P. Barse
2014 Technological Organization at Site 8LE2105: Human Response to Late Pleistocene Environmental Change in Northern Florida. Paper presented at the 79st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas.
R. Christopher Goodwin, and William P. Barse
2013 Late Pleistocene – Early Holocene Human Adaptation in Northern Florida. Poster presented at the Paleoamerican Odyssey Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Janice A. McLean, Shannon R. Ryan, and Alan R. Potter
2013 Effects of Lithic Source Areas on Archaeological Site Density: A Case Study from Northwestern Kansas. Poster presented at the 71st Annual Plains Anthropological Conference, Loveland, Colorado.
Shannon R. Ryan, Janice A. McLean, Alan R. Potter, Carey L. Baxter, Michael L. Hargrave, and Scott M. Hall
2013 Archaeological Investigation of a Portion of World War I Camp Funston (14RY2169), Fort Riley, Kansas. Poster presented at the 71st Annual Plains Anthropological Conference, Loveland, Colorado.
Rolfe D. Mandel, Janice A. McLean, and Shannon R. Ryan
2010 The Coffey Site (14PO1) Revisited. Poster presented at the 68th Annual Plains Anthropological Conference, Bismarck, North Dakota.
Advancement
Dr. Shannon R. Ryan was promoted to Senior Project Manager in the Great Plains office in Lawrence, Kansas. She was hired by R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. as an Assistant Project Manager in August 2006 and since October 2009 has served as a Project Manager. She has 16 years of archaeological experience in the Great Plains and has worked extensively in all phases of archaeological investigation in cultural resources management and academia. A native of Salina, Kansas, Dr. Ryan received her B.A. in History from Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana and an M.A. in Anthropology from The University of Kansas. She successfully defended her dissertation on April 12, 2016 and, in May 2016, will graduate with a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Kansas. Her dissertation, entitled “Recognizing Paleoindian Hideworking Activity Areas on the Great Plains” explores how archaeologists can identify and interpret Paleoindian hideworking activity areas using two early sites from the Great Plains as examples. Dr. Ryan has extensive experience in archaeological survey, excavation, analysis, and reporting throughout the Great Plains. She has directed cultural resource surveys and evaluations in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.
Kirsten Peeler, M.S., was promoted to Senior Project Manager in the Architectural & Historical Services Division. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Ms. Peeler received an M.S. in Historic Preservation from Columbia University in 1996. She has served as a project manager at R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. for the past 11 years. Ms. Peeler has directed projects for public and private-sector clients ranging from architectural surveys and resource evaluations, to cultural resource planning documents, to public outreach programs. Noteworthy among her recently completed projects are the development of an interactive website for Fort Belvoir, Virginia, on the history and development of the new Community Hospital site and the development of an historic context and comprehensive architectural survey of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
