Mission

Living Archaeology Weekend is a free, annual public outreach program that offers local school children and a national general audience a variety of educational activities in archaeology and American Indian lifeways delivered along the picturesque banks of Gladie Creek in eastern Kentucky.

Objective

The objective of Living Archaeology Weekend is to provide school children and the general public with diverse, high-quality, multi-sensory educational opportunities in American Indian traditional technologies and other lifeways, archaeological interpretation, and archaeological site preservation.

Goals

Living Archaeology Weekend programs will promote in the public an appreciation for cultural diversity and cultural accomplishments, namely American Indian lifeways and contributions, by demonstrating the rich Native heritage of Kentucky spanning 11,500 years and continuing to the present. In Kentucky there is a pervasive misconception that American Indians “never lived in Kentucky and only came here to hunt,” which simply is not correct.  Activities associated with LAW demonstrate the truly rich native heritage of Kentucky spanning 11,500 years and continuing to the present. Using presentations, free posters, booklets, and other materials, demonstrators present information about topics such as plant domestication, technological innovations, forest management, art, music, and oral traditions.

Living Archaeology Weekend programs will inform the public about the past as it is known through archaeology, including but not limited to archaeological site types in Kentucky, the culture history of Kentucky, and reconstruction of prehistoric American Indian lifeways (technology, subsistence, settlement, healing practices, artistic expression, and belief systems) in Kentucky. LAW provides participants with information about diverse archaeological site types in Kentucky, the culture history of Kentucky, and lifeways reconstructions about prehistoric American Indian inhabitants of Kentucky. Particular emphasis is placed on the latter, with activities focused on primitive technologies (flint knapping, ground-stone tool manufacture, pottery making, basket weaving, woodworking), subsistence strategies (hunting and other procurement activities, diet and food choices, cooking and food preparation activities), settlement strategies (architecture, building techniques, rockshelter utilization), healing practices (medicinal plant use), artistic expression (rock art, storytelling, flute playing, drumming, singing), and belief systems (cosmology, religion).

Living Archaeology Weekend programs will foster in the public respect for cultural resources and promote public stewardship of the archaeological record. Presentations on “leave no trace” hiking and rock art defacement reinforce the need for site protection and provide attendees with actionable alternatives for site preservation. Personnel from the Kentucky Archaeological Survey distribute information about recording archaeological sites, demonstrate the state-wide archaeological site database, and answer questions about the Kentucky Archaeological Registry. The KAS also provides attendees with free bookmarks and other printed materials about preserving Kentucky’s rich archaeological heritage.



web page last updated 6 January 2009