(Media release from Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home):
Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home will welcome back Pat Garrow to conduct a new archaeological study on the museum campus October 18th-23rd.
The museum invites the community to volunteer to help with the dig. Volunteers are required to be 18 years or older, current members of the museum, and to wear a mask during their volunteer shift. The schedule for volunteer work is Monday, October 18ththrough Saturday, October 23rdwith shifts from 9am-12pm and 1pm-5pm. Volunteers are not required to work a full shift.
Visitors will be able to see the archaeological dig in progress during the museum’s regular operating hours next week 10am-4pm Wednesday-Saturday next week. Admission prices for the dig and museum next week will be $10 for adults, $6 for seniors age 62+, and $4 for students K-College.
Pat Garrow has had a 53-year career in archaeology, of which 40 years have been spent in cultural resource management. He has extensive experience in ethnohistory, historical archaeology, prehistoric archaeology, urban archaeology, historic cemetery studies, and cultural resource studies. He has directed projects over much of the continental United States and the U.S. Caribbean. He has served as Principal Investigator, Project Manager, or Senior Technical Advisor on hundreds of projects, and has published nine books or monographs and over 50 articles. His experience has included preparation of scopes of work, research designs, work plans. He has authored or co-authored hundreds of contract reports.
Mr. Garrow served as the lead archaeologist who performed the original archaeological digs at Chieftains in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the help of local students and volunteers. His work at the museum unearthed some of the most valuable pieces in the current collection and provides a touchstone to the past for our area. Mr. Garrow retired in 2016 and has since been working on two books and several articles.
In 2019, Mr. Garrow returned to Chieftains and unearthed part of what could be one of the outdoor kitchens used by the Ridge family in the 19th century. Items found during that site exploration include a door hinge and several ceramic sherds dating from the occupancy of the Ridge family as well as two prehistoric projectile points. The archaeological dig next week will further explore this area at the museum.
For more information about this event, or to become a member of Chieftains Museum, visit www.chieftainsmuseum.org or call (706) 291-9494.