Tag Archives: Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology

Your Help Is Needed: Oppose United States Withdrawal from UNESCO

GSMNP Sign

An Official UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tennessee

The Trump administration has its feet on yet another ill-advised pathway that could result in damage to significant cultural resources and environmental resources in the United States and around the world. The current plan is to withdraw the United States from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This withdrawal is scheduled for late 2018.

On October 20, 2017, the Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology (TCPA) sent out a formal press release to alert Tennesseans and the American people to the nature of this planned action and the potential adverse consequences that would occur as a result of it. This press release encourages Tennesseans and other Americans to contact their Congressional representatives to advocate for renewal of United States member status in UNESCO. It also asks people to personally support UNESCO efforts to “preserve archaeological, historical, cultural, and natural sites of global importance.” You may read the entire TCPA press release by clicking on the following safe link:

TCPA Press Release

The Oak Ridge Archaeological Research Institute (ORARI) is beginning its 2018 calendar year by responding positively to this TCPA request. We are sending formal letters to our Congressman (U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann) and to U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and U.S. Senator Bob Corker. We are kindly asking them to oppose the United States withdrawal from UNESCO and to persuade the Trump administration to renew United States member status in UNESCO. You may read one of our letters by clicking on the following safe link:

Letter to Senator Alexander

One of the key missions of ORARI is to be a strong public advocate for professional archaeological research and the preservation of cultural resources (particularly National Register eligible or listed properties). In addition, Mr. Tracy C. Brown, President of ORARI, has spent a large portion of his professional career engaged in the investigation, clean up, protection, and preservation of environmental resources throughout the United States. As a result, he has far more than just a little affection for the overall work that UNESCO does here in the United States and around the world.

The Archaeology in Tennessee blog has numerous readers here in Tennessee and throughout the United States. ORARI gladly joins with the TCPA in urging you to contact, either personally or organizationally, your Congressional representatives in all 50 states to advocate for keeping and maintaining United States member status in UNESCO. You may easily obtain the contact information for your U.S. Representative and your two U.S. Senators by using the quick access tool at the following safe link:

Get Contact Information

Thank you very much for your concern and help in this effort.

Photograph Credit: placesinthehome.com

Tennessee Archaeology Awareness Month

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Today is September 1, 2015. This is kickoff day for the Tennessee Archaeology Awareness Month throughout Tennessee from Bristol to Memphis and Mitchelville to Ardmore. As is usually the case, the charge this year is being led by the fine folks at the Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology (TCPA). You can check out the scope of the planned festivities at the following two links:

https://www.facebook.com/Tennessee.Archaeology

https://tennesseearchaeologycouncil.wordpress.com/

The festivities this year include the 2.0 version of the Tennessee Archaeology Blogfest (formally titled 30 Days of Tennessee Archaeology). Last year’s blogfest was enormously interesting and informative, gaining Southeastern Archaeological Conference attention, and my personal intuition strongly suspects that the 2015 blogfest will be even better than the one last year. Tennessee archaeologists put a lot of energy and care into writing these daily blog posts and illustrating them, so be sure and check for a new blog post on Tennessee archaeology each day throughout September.

If you prefer to sample Tennessee archaeology firsthand in the real world rather than in cyberspace, a list of archaeological events in a Tennessee town near yours has been developed for your inspection. Please take a look at the list of scheduled events at the second TCPA link above, identify one that fires your imagination, gather up the family, hop in your vehicle, and head on over for a fun and interesting day of archaeological activities, sights, and sounds.

I would like to end by saying that American archaeology and Tennessee archaeology, for all practical purposes, were predominantly “male only” clubs in the 19th century and throughout most of the 20th century. In spite of Jimmy Griffin and his recommendation against hiring a woman, our own Madeline Kneberg became one of the first women to begin flipping over that all-male apple cart here in Tennessee. Many other women archaeologists, such as my close friend Dr. Patricia Cridlebaugh and our very own Dr. Lynne Sullivan, have followed in her footsteps throughout Tennessee over the past 46 years. Here at the Archaeology in Tennessee blog, we are strong supporters of feminist archaeology and the many women who are active in Tennessee archaeology today. As the 2015 Tennessee Archaeology Awareness Month proceeds, I hope each of you will stop and take special notice of the many women who are making excellent contributions to the archaeology of the Volunteer State. In doing so, I also hope the many girls in Tennessee public and private schools (K-12) will be inspired by their work and know that they too can have their own place at the table one day in Tennessee archaeology and be both welcomed and appreciated for the work they do. Times will continue changing, and the future is yours girls. You are an agent of change simply by being YOU. Go for it!!!

F. Kent Reilly on Mississippian Iconography