Northern 2007 Data-Sharing Meeting

Report on 2007 Northern California Data-Sharing Meeting

Michael D. Newland, Northern California Vice-President

This year, the Northern California Data-Sharing Meeting was held at Columbia Community College in the historic town of Columbia, in Tuolumne County. It has been several years since we’ve seen a foothills data-sharing—the campus venue was beautifully landscaped with native species and made for a great picnic location. The attendance was healthy (a little over 70) and the tone of the meetings was relaxed, with the audience and speakers engaged in several excellent discussions. The college’s Dogwood Auditorium was an excellent room that fit both the subject matter and crowd size well.

The meeting was introduced with opening remarks by SCA President Steve Horne and Northern California Vice-President Michael Newland, followed by a great synopsis of both the history of the campus, located on both Central Sierra Me-Wuk and historic-era mining sites, by SCA Past-President Shelly Davis-King. The morning session continued with presentations by Julia Costello and Judith Marvin on the creation of a new cultural resources element in the General Plan for Calaveras County; David “Jack” Scott of the Toyabe National Forest, Bridgeport Ranger District on big horn sheep drives in the Eastern Sierras; Tom Burge and Keith Hamm from the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks on their recent survey work in the remote Tehipite Valley; a paper by Shannon Tushingham, Allika Ruby, and Bill Hildebrandt and presented by Rick Fitzgerald providing an update on their recent excavations along the Smith River; and an update on the Central Pomo Mapping project by Michael Newland.

During the lunch break, Shelly Davis-King gave an impromptu tour of different cultural and natural resources located on the scenic Columbia campus, including a reconstructed Central Sierra Me-Wuk roundhouse. Located adjacent to the historic town of Columbia, the campus has several relict mining features, including a substantial ditch system and a reservoir that now forms an integral part of the campus landscape.

The afternoon session proceeded with papers by Tsim Schneider from UC Berkeley on his dissertation work on the China Camp Shell Mounds in Marin County; Alex DeGeorgey of North Coast Resource Management on important ethnographic resources they identified during research for a tribal history for the Potter Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians and subsequent discoveries during excavation within the valley; Al Schwitalla from the Department of Anthropology at CSU Sacramento on his thesis work with mass burial features across the Central Valley; and Rick Fitzgerald and Nathan Stevens from the California Department of Parks and Recreation on the preliminary results of their salvage work at the remarkable Marsh Creek complex of archaeological sites.

After a break, the afternoon continued with Mary Baloian of Applied Earthworks on their recent excavations at the Wawona Lodge complex in Yosemite National Park; Sandra Gaskell, Anthony Brochini, and Danette Johnson on family use districts and village environment in watersheds located within Southern Sierra Miwok ancestral lands. Julie Clark, Western Region Field Representative for the Archaeological Conservancy also attended the meeting and provided an interesting summary of the Conservancy and an overview of the Conservancy’s laudable California site protection efforts. The afternoon concluded with a Q&A session from the audience to the different presenters, followed by an adjournment of the meeting to the historic St. Charles Saloon, a bar in Columbia.

In addition to the presentations, the SCA’s Student Affairs Committee awarded four SCA Memberships to students who attended the meeting. The awardees were Alicia Perez, Tsim Schneider, Nathan Stevens, and Terry Brejla. The awards were generously sponsored by SCA Past-President Tom Origer. Thanks Tom, and congratulations to the winners.

I would like to personally thank Shelly Davis-King for helping get this data-sharing meeting together during a time that I know was over-booked for her already, for generously opening her home the night before the meeting for drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and for both picking up a few gallons of coffee and subsequently sacrificing the cargo area of her SUV to the Coffee Gods during transport.

I would also like to thank SCA Board Members Steve Horne, Frank Bayham, and Risa Huetter for attending the meeting, their bags still packed and credit cards still warm from the SoCal Data-Sharing.

Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to the presenters and attendees who made the scenic drive. Next time I see everyone I will be a new Dad trying to remember what sleep is like. Best wishes to you all!

Home - - - What's New - - - About SCA - - - About California Archaeology