Renew your MAC Membership for 2020

2020 Annual Meeting has been Cancelled

☛ Larry Dean Grantham passed away on June 23, 2020 (Read obituary)

☛ Online guide to “Talking About Race,” designed by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (webpage)

☛ MAC Occasional Paper Volume 4 now available (webpage)

☛ Deadline for Summer Fellowship for Native American Students Extended to April 3 (PDF Flyer)

☛ SIU Summer Field School in Historical Archaeology (PDF Flyer, More Info)

☛ Outcomes from the 2019 Geophysics Student Workshop (webpage)

☛ Announcing 2020 MAC Student Paper Competition (PDF Flyer, 2020 Annual Meeting page)

☛ Editor Position Announcement for the Midwest Archaeological Perspectives 

☛ The latest volume of the journal Indiana Archaeology is now available from the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology (DHPA)

☛ First Notice for The Mississippian Conference at Cahokia Mounds on July 8, 2020

☛ MAC member Lynn Goldstein will be this year's recipient of the SAA Lifetime Achievement Award!

☛ Introducing a new book series Midwest Archaeological Perspectives

Deadline for Summer Fellowship for Native American Students Extended to April 3

View/print PDF flyer

The newly formed IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is offering a summer fellowship for Native American students.

The extraordinary reaction to the global COVID-19 pandemic has and will continue to cause disruption to daily life. To allow as many as possible the opportunity to apply, the IUMAA is extending the application deadline to April 3. Please review the attached document which outlines submission guidelines and distribute to your students, staff, faculty and/or colleagues as appropriate.

If you have any questions, please contact Edward Herrmann, Executive Director IUMAA, edherrma@indiana.edu.

SIU Summer Field School in Historical Archaeology in Southern Illinois

The Southern Illinois University archaeology summer field school is a six-credit course designed to provide students with instruction in archaeological excavation and analytical methods. This six-week course will involve day-long investigations at two important historic period archaeological sites—Ft. Kaskaskia and Miller Grove—in southern Illinois. Ft. Kaskaskia is a French colonial fort (1759-1763) that is also associated with the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806). Miller Grove (1844-1930) is a freed slave, African-American community associated with the Underground Railroad.

Students will learn basic mapping, surveying, and excavation techniques. They will also have the opportunity to work with ground penetrating radar (GPR) and gradiometric instruments that can locate archaeological features below the ground.

View/print PDF Flyer

More details and application form: http://cola.siu.edu/anthro/undergraduate/field-school 

Contact Dr. Mark Wagner for questions at mjwagner@siu.edu.

Outcomes from the 2019 Geophysics Student Workshop

View the results of the student workshop from 2019 (/annual-meeting/previous/workshops).

2020 MAC Student Paper Competition

Submission Deadline: Friday, September 18th, 2020

The Midwestern Archaeological Conference Student paper competition was created to promote scholarly excellence among students conducting archaeological research in the Midwestern U.S.

See PDF Flyer or 2020 Annual Meeting page for complete details. 

Editor Position Announcement for the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Inc. and University of Notre Dame Press Midwest Archaeological Perspectives Monograph Series, MAC, Inc. and UND Press Dissertation Prize

The MAC, Inc. Executive Board and UND Press are now soliciting applications for Editor of the Midwest Archaeological Perspectives (MAP) monograph series, a partnership between the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Inc. and the University of Notre Dame Press.  We seek an experienced editor to continue growth and cultivation of the series, which will begin its fourth year with the onset of the new Editor’s tenure.   We anticipate the successful candidate will begin their term as Editor by October 2020 to ensure a seamless transition. The series editor for the MAC, Inc. and UND Press book series performs duties completely independent of the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology editorship. This is an unpaid position, although the Editor shall receive copies of MAP series books and, as appropriate, a stipend from UND Press for review work.  The Editor position carries an expected term of three years, potentially renewable by negotiation. 

Details about the series and Dissertation Prize can be found on this page: https://www.midwestarchaeology.org/midwest-archaeological-perspectives

The Editor is responsible for oversight and management of all aspects of the MAP monograph series and selection of dissertation prize recipients.  These activities are accomplished through close interaction with an Editorial Board composed of respected professionals in the archaeology of the Midcontinent, as well as regular consultation and interaction with the UND Press Editor.  The Editor, in consultation with the Editorial Board, manages identification and selection of dissertations and other manuscripts for review, provides oversight and direction for the systematic review and balanced selection of manuscripts for publication, dissertations for the dissertation prize, and is otherwise responsible for efficient and timely work flow.  Further, the Editor has responsibility for Editorial Board member selection and replacement, augmentation of the Editorial Board as appropriate, and the capture of external expertise as may be necessary for the conduct of reviews.  The Editor attends the MAC, Inc. Annual Meeting in October, reports to the MAC, Inc. Executive Board at its annual meeting, and with the UND Press Editor participates in the Awards Ceremony where the Dissertation Prize is conferred.   The Editor is the primary communications conduit for the MAP series.  Editorial work load is variable dependent upon the number of manuscripts and dissertations in various aspects of review, as well as the scheduling of decisions based on review results. 

Letters of interest should be addressed to MAC, Inc. President John Doershuk (john-doershuk@uiowa.edu).  Submissions should indicate prior editorial experience, a demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with multiple boards, and other activities pertinent to the position.  Please submit application materials by March 15, 2020.

The latest volume of the journal Indiana Archaeology is now available from the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology (DHPA) 

Volume 14, Number 1 includes articles about archaeology at:

  • Anderson Mounds
  • Fort Ouiatenon
  • Indiana’s first penitentiary site
  • and in Benton County

Per state statute (Indiana Code 14-21-1-12), one of the duties of the DHPA is to develop a program of archaeological research and development, including the publication of information regarding archaeological resources in the state. This journal is one of the ways that their office continues to address that mandate, and they hope you enjoy reading the interesting articles

First Notice for The Mississippian Conference at Cahokia Mounds on July 8, 2020

This is the first notice for The Mississippian Conference, which returns to Cahokia Mounds this summer and is scheduled for Saturday, July 18. As usual, we hope to have 16  20-minute presentations on current Mississippian research in the Midwest/Southeast. More notices will go out in future months as reminders. Submitters should include their name and how they wish to be listed; title of the presentation; and a short abstract. These should be sent to Lori Belknap (the new site superintendent) Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, 30 Ramey Street, Collinsville, IL 62234, or emailed to her at lori.belknap@illinois.gov.

SAA Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Lynne G. Goldstein

For her pivotal theoretical and empirical contributions to our field, in the areas of mortuary archaeology, Midwestern prehistory, historical archaeology, archaeological ethics and repatriation, and public engagement, as well as professional and institutional leadership.

View this listing on the SAA website

Introducing a new book series Midwest Archaeological Perspectives

A Book Series edited by William Lovis and Timothy K. Pemula 

The American Midcontinent, stretching from the Appalachians to the Great Plains, and from the Boreal Forests to the Gulf of Mexico, is home to a rich and deep multiethnic past that even after 150 years of exploration continues to fascinate scholars and the public alike. Beginning with colonization by the first Native American big game hunters, through the origins of domestic food production and construction of the largest earthen monuments in North America, and ultimately the entry of multiple colonial empires and their varying interactions with native populations, the story of the region is an exciting one of changing cultural and environmental interactions and adaptive strategies. The diverse environments that characterize the region have fostered a multiplicity of solutions to the problem of survival, ranging from complex sedentary agriculturally intensive societies to those with highly refined seasonal resource strategies keyed to timed movement and social flexibility. 

To explore this region from new and different vantage points the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Inc. and the University of Notre Dame Press are pleased to announce the launching of Midwest Archaeological Perspectives, a unique collaborative book series intended for a broad range of professional and interested lay audiences. The books published in Midwest Archaeological Perspectives will be the most compelling and current works of archaeological narrative and insight for the region, with a temporal scope encompassing the span of human use of the region from the first colonizing Paleoindian cultures to the more recent historical past. The series will explore both old questions tackled from new perspectives, and new and interesting questions arising from the deployment of cutting edge theory and method. 

MAC, Inc. Dissertation Prize

Unique to this series is the MAC, Inc. Dissertation Prize. MAC, Inc. and Notre Dame Press will sponsor the prize, awarded by MAC, Inc. The prize winner will be offered a contract with Notre Dame Press, a $500 award, and will work with the editor and editorial board to develop the dissertation into a compelling book manuscript for scholarly publication. Manuscripts outside the Prize category will be vetted and considered by both MAC, Inc. and Notre Dame Press. 

To be considered for the Prize, please contact Series Editor William Lovis (lovis@msu.edu, 517.355.3485), Assistant Editor Timothy K. Perttula (tkp4747@aol.com, 512-312-0812) or University of Notre Dame Press Senior Acquisitions Editor Eli Bortz (ebortz@nd.edu, 574.631.4912).