Around lunch time Dr. Peres and Field Assistant Kate McKinney headed up to Nashville to participate in the ceremonial bill signing for the Tennessee State Artifact. Dr. Peres is the President of the Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology (TCPA), and Kate is the student liaison to the Board.
You can read more about how this idea came about (thanks to TCPA Board Member Jared Barrett) and the process of idea becoming law on the TCPA website. More info on “Sandy” can be found here, and the most thorough media coverage is here. Sandy is housed at the McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture at the University of Tennessee, and is on permanent exhibit as part of “Archaeology & the Native Peoples of Tennessee.”
Of course while we were away there were some exciting developments at the Magnolia Valley site. Several features started to appear in levels 2 and 3 of a few units, some interesting artifacts were recovered, all which will be shared in upcoming blog posts. Maybe Dr. Peres should go to Nashville more often?!?
Mississippian stone statue “Sandy,” from Wilson County Tennessee. Photo by David H. Dye.
The official bill.
Andrew Brown (Board member), Aaron Deter-Wolf (Secretary/Treasurer), Phil Hodge (Board Member), Kate McKinney (Student Liaison), Kelly Ledford (Member), Tanya Peres (President), and Jared Barrett (Board Member) at War Memorial Auditorium for the signing ceremony.
Rutherford County Archaeology Research Program 