Neara Fall Meeting 2007

Neara Special Event in Nova Scotia 2007

Neara Spring Meeting 2007

Neara Fall Meeting 2006

Neara Spring Meeting 2006

Neara Fall Meeting 2005

Neara Spring Meeting 2005

Neara Fall Meeting 2004 - 40th Anniversary Part 2

Neara Spring Meeting 2004 - 40th Anniversary Part 1

Neara Fall Meeting 2003

Neara Spring Meeting 2003

Neara Fall Meeting 2002 - ABC+10 Conference

NEARA's Fall Meeting November 2-4, 2007

Holiday Inn - New London Connecticut

Featuring: Archaeoastronomy, Newport Tower Up-Date, Spirit Pond, Charcoal Making Sites, Minoan Calendar, Hammonasset Line.

 

Schedule of Conference Events

Conference Highlights & Field Trips

Featured Speakers & Abstracts

Holiday Inn Rates & Directions

Conference Registration

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Schedule of Events

Friday November 2nd

Saturday November 3rd

Sunday November 4th

Conference Highlights & Field Trips

● Mashantucket Pequot Museum: Visit on your own

Featured Speakers & Abstracts

Steve Voluckas:  Oakes, Ponds, and Standing Stones

New insights from previously noted and recently noticed features at Spirit Pond that may contribute to the search for, evaluation of, and understanding of sites from Nova Scotia to Rhode Island.  A relationship has been noticed between tidal ponds or estuaries, the presence of very large red oak trees, and medieval type structures or features.  This relationship could be useful in the search for evidence of settlements, contact with native populations, and activities such as boat building.  NEARA members may be interested in checking if this relationship exists at locations they are researching.  

Steve Voluckas is a professional pilot for a small regional airline, Island Airlines, flying between Hyannis and Nantucket, Massachusetts.  He served in the US Coast Guard 1968-72.  Other interests include:  Producer/director of public access television programs on Cape Cod Community Media Center – Comcast Channel 17 mid-Cape area.  Member of the planning committee for the annual Multicultural Festival of Cape Cod, held in March at the Cape Cod Community College.  He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Cape Cod Immigrant Center and is a member of the Lithuanian-American Community of Cape Cod.  In September 2005, I began research into Norse settlement sites on/near Cape Breton, Nova Scotia that I believed corresponded to the Vinland Sagas.  Following the NEARA meeting held in Concord New Hampshire, he visited Spirit Pond in Maine for the first time, believing it held a key to connecting many of the “puzzle pieces” we have all been studying and found more than he expected!

Dr. John B. Carlson:  Archaeoastronomy and the Study of Astronomy in Culture in New England and beyond: Some Perspectives for Further Discussion

Beginning with the publication of J. Norman Lockyer’s “The Dawn of Astronomy” in 1894, Archaeoastronomy has developed into the interdisciplinary study of the astronomical practices, celestial lore, mythologies, religions and world-views of all ancient cultures… and the surviving indigenous peoples of today. (Investigations of contemporary native astronomies have come to be called “Ethnoastronomy.”) With many important amateur contributions, the discipline has transcended its early beginnings as “Astro-archaeology” – largely devoted to the measurement and interpretation of alignments of structures and sites – to become the broad-based study of astronomy in culture. Essentially the anthropology of astronomy and world-view, Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy has blossomed into active interdisciplinary fields that are providing new perspectives for the history of our species’ interaction with the cosmos. This would include many interrelated interests in ancient and native calendar systems, astrologies, concepts of time and space, mathematics, counting systems and geometry, surveying and navigational techniques, as well as “geomancy” and the origins of urban planning. One hallmark of the new research paradigm is productive cooperation between professionals and amateurs from many backgrounds and cultures. In this informal presentation, some perspectives are presented for discussion on amateur Archaeoastronomy and Archaeology in New England and beyond.

John B. Carlson, a radio and extragalactic astronomer by training, is the Director of the Center for Archaeoastronomy, a non-profit institute for research and education related to interdisciplinary studies of the astronomical practices, celestial lore, religions and world-views of ancient civilizations and the contemporary indigenous cultures of the world. In this capacity, Dr. Carlson is an expert on Native American astronomy specializing is studies of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and is the Editor of the ARCHAEOASTRONOMY Journal, published by the University of Texas Press. The art, iconography, calendar systems and hieroglyphic writing of the Maya and Highland Mexican civilizations are particular interests, and he has published and lectured extensively in these fields. A photographic essay on “America’s Ancient Skywatchers” was published in the March 1990 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE.  A review of his research into ancient Mesoamerican practices of Venus-regulated sacred warfare and ritual sacrifice in the context of Teotihuacan, entitled “The Rise and Fall of the City of the Gods,” appeared as the cover article of the Nov./Dec. 1993 ARCHAEOLOGY Magazine. The “archaeology of pilgrimage” is a current special research interest. In this context, he was the organizer of the October 2000 Dumbarton Oaks Symposium on “Pilgrimage and the Ritual Landscape in Pre-Colombian America” and is currently completing a book on the “Equinox Serpent of Light and Shadow Phenomenon” which takes place at the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent at Chichén Itzá, Yucatan. Carlson is Senior Lecturer in the University Honors Program, University of Maryland  –  College Park, where  he  teaches  courses  in  Astronomy, Anthropology and  the History of Science.

Mary and James Gage: America's Stonehenge: The History of a Sacred Place

This film reconstructs the 2500 year cultural history of the America's Stonehenge archaeological site located in North Salem, NH. The complex of stone chambers, standing stones, niches, and other stone structures at the site served as an important spiritual and ritual center for a group of ancient Native American people. For the Native Americans this place was sacred. Construction of this ritual complex began over 3,000 years ago and evolved through five major periods of construction and change until its final closure with the arrival of European colonists. The Native Americans left an extraordinary archaeological record of their ritual activities and spiritual beliefs.

Mary Gage, author an independent researcher, has meticulously researched this site for many years and has successfully reconstructed its cultural history. This film is based upon her book, America's Stonehenge Deciphered (2006).

Richard Lynch: Charcoal-Burners, Carbonari, and Freemasons

Scattered throughout the New England landscape and  many   other   areas  of  the  country,  are the remains  of  what  was once a flourishing industry of “charcoal making.”  The impressive stone remains and mounds are only a hint of what was once a thriving economy.  Who built these structures?  Most were built by members and decedents of a secret political society; the “Carbonari.”  The similarity between the secret society of the Carbonari and the Freemasons is evident and unmistakable.  My presentation will tell of the history of the “charcoal burners” from their roots in Italy, Portugal, and France and their impact on the development of early America

Rick Lynch is the past president of NEARA.  He has had a very long interest in history and archaeology, especially in the areas of New England and the American Southwest.  He has many other areas of  diverse  interest  including,  astronomy,  UFOs and railroading.

Dr. Jack Dempsey: The Minoan Great Year Calendar: Secrets of Time, Life and Power in Ancient Crete

The calendar of ancient Greece is still with us in the 4-year timing of The Olympic Games. But that calendar’s origins were not understood until Charles F. Herberger’s 1972 discovery of the 8½-year lunar/solar cycle called The Great Year in Bronze Age Minoan Crete. In fact, the Minoan calendar has been hiding in plain sight, in the decorative border of the famous Toreador or Bull-Leaping Fresco from Cnossos Labyrinth. How does this calendar work? What are its anchors in natural observation, astronomical tradition, and religious symbolism? How does The Great Year bring new understandings of ancient Crete’s social organization and spirituality? And what secrets of time, life and power woven into this artifact can help us understand why Minoan civilization was the longest and most prosperous period of Western development on record?

Dr. Jack Dempsey (Ph.D. Brown University) is a writer, editor and producer of works on ancient Greece and early America. This lecture draws upon his latest work, “Calendar House,” whose 9 chapters and 280 illustrations work to demonstrate the validity of Charles F. Herberger’s discovery of the Minoan Great Year in The Toreador Fresco from Gnossos.

Evan Pritchard & Tom Paul: Hammonasset Line: A Solstice and Spiritual Marker

Summer Solstice sunset at Fort Pond Hill 6/21/06 Gardner’s Point and Plumb Island by the sun. (Photo by Tom Paul)   .

This talk will explore a solstice line from the perspectives of two people who have begun separate research work on this subject, coming up with similar conclusions. Tom Paul first studied stone markers in north Madison, CT in the summer of 1995.  Early on it became evident that there was a solstice line located by his home, and by spring of 1996 he had named it the Hammonasset Line because the Native American tribe living in that area was the Hammonassets.  Since that time many stone structures have been found on or associated with this line, Montauk to Hunter Mountain and beyond. Evan Pritchard, in his book “Native New Yorkers,” used sources from archaeology, cartography, linguistics and also the oral traditions of Long Island’s Native Americans to help establish the existence of solstice lines from Montauk westward. He will start the discussion by examining line associated with “mortuary cities” on Long Island.  He will present his case for the existence of the line along with its possible development and usage.  Evan will use maps and examples of important markers from Montauk to Upper New York State.  Tom will then follow by reviewing what he has found along the solstice line from Montauk to Hunter, NY, noting different types of stone structures, their age and meaning. Some structures are in the form of cairn fields.  It is felt that these cairn fields are a burial marker or a memorial marker for native people who have died and placed on or near by a sacred line marker, the Hammonasset Line.  Other structures such as prayer seats, standing stones, stone effigies, shaped stones and viewing platforms appear to have spiritual meaning.  Evan will continue by exploring the possibility of a continuation of the solstice line from the Catskills to northern Canada. He will indicate important areas for the Algonquin and Iroquois along this way. 

The Hammonasset Line:   ● Originally presented by Tom Paul at the 2001 NEARA Spring Meeting. . ● Tom Paul's 2 Part NEARA Report on the Hammonassett Line. . ● Further updates by Tom Paul on the Hammonassett Line at the 2005 NEARA Fall Meeting: The Large Standing Stones and Perched Boulders of the Hammonasset Line. .

Tom Paul has a Masters Degree in engineering, attended Duke University and New Jersey Institute of Technology.  He retired in 2006 from the 3M Co. Tom is a member of many organizations and currently is the Treasurer for NEARA.  

 

Evan Pritchard is director of the center for Algonquin Culture.  Evan is of Micmac, Wampanoag and Celtic descent.  Through his lectures and books, such as, ‘No Word for Time’ and ‘Native New Yorker,’ he has worked to highlight the importance of Algonquin culture in North American history.  Evan is a professor of Native American History at Marist College, and lectures throughout the US and Canada.  He is author of the new book, ‘Native American Stories of the Sacred, Annotated and Explained by Evan T. Pritchard (Skylight Paths)’

Jan Barstad: An Update on the Dig at the Newport Tower

With the gracious permission of the Newport City Council, Chronognostics has conducted an archaeological excavation of sites they found in the park during their geophysical studies of the past three years: possible building foundations and a rocky area near the Tower. The Tower itself, though completely visible and beautiful, is mute; we can only hope that its neighbors underground will be more talkative and tell us their tales from the past, and the tale of the Tower.  Jan will discuss her research and the findings from the digs so far.

Jan Barstad is a historian, writer, and botanist. Born in the historic town of York, Pennsylvania, she attended Middlebury College in Vermont, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in History; later she earned a Masters of Science in Botany, specializing in plant ecology, from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.  Jan began her writing career as a staff writer for Paddock Publications (a suburban newspaper chain) in Arlington Heights, Illinois. In Arizona, she served as a public relations specialist for two Phoenix hospitals, and later as publications director for the Desert Botanical Garden.  As a botanist, she worked as a riparian research technician for the research unit of USDA Forest Service at Arizona State University in Tempe. She served as a field representative for USDI Bureau of the Census from 2000 to 2004. Currently she is an Adjunct Faculty member of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Arizona State University.  As a writer and editor, Jan has written many articles for Arizona Highways Magazine, other magazines, and science journals. She is the author of several books, including The Verde River Sheep Bridge and the Sheep Industry of Arizona and Hohokam Pottery.   Most recently, she edited and wrote chapters for The International Handbook of Underwater Archaeology, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2002. In 2004 she founded and is president of the nonprofit Chronognostic Research Foundation, Inc., whose aim is to pursue research into historical and archaeological questions. She lives in Tempe with her husband, Ron, and their seven cats.

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Newport Tower Seminar: 27 October 2007   In the wake of the current investigations of the Newport Tower, NEARA’s Suzie Schochet has planned a one day Tower seminar on Saturday, October 27, 2007 at the Newport Art Museum & Art Association.  Sue Carlson, Bill Penhallow and Jim Egan will be speaking under the baton of moderator Jan Barstad of the Chronognostic Foundation, organizer of the studies.  Watch for complete information here at www.neara.org and www.chronognostic.org. ● At the NEARA 2002 Fall Meeting "ABC +10", Sue Carlson, Bill Penhallow, and Jim Eagan presented: The Newport Tower: Sunlight and Moonshine.  . ● NEARA Monograph: The Newport Tower: . . NEARA’s editors feel the time is right to compile the efforts of our many contributors in a single volume. We hope that readers who have followed the twists and turns of Tower research will revisit the information contained herein, and that those who are new to the subject will find the subject matter intriguing and a catalyst for more reading and study. We have, in some cases, edited the authors' original articles in order to avoid redundancy.   (Includes ordering info)

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Keynote Lecture Saturday Evening:

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Dr. John B. Carlson: "Serpent of Light and Shadow" at the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent: Chichen Itza as a Maya Pilgrimage Center (with Tribute to Jean-Jacques Rivard, a Pioneer in Maya Archaeoastronomy)   

Every year, around the time of the equinoxes (21 March and 21 September), thousands of people from every part of the globe come to the Maya archaeological site of Chichén Itzá in northern Yucatan, to witness a striking visual effect projected before sunset onto the north balustrade of the “Castillo” or “Pyramid of Kukulcan,” the Feathered Serpent. But, is there compelling evidence that the ancient Maya architects of the Castillo designed and oriented it intentionally to create this moving visual manifestation, now viewed by the masses as the descending “Serpent of Light and Shadow”? First proposed by Jean-Jacques Rivard in 1970 in his pioneering Maya archaeoastronomy study entitled “A Hierophany at Chichen Itza,” his ideas have well withstood the test of time based on subsequent research and new data. His interdisciplinary hypotheses of an astronomically-timed architectonic “manifestation of the sacred” were prescient, and his night-time photographs of “star trails,” analyzed in collaboration with astronomer Charles Smiley, were among the first to establish the orientation of a Maya temple with astronomical questions in mind. In its day, ancient Chichén Itzá was a great Mesoamerican pilgrimage center, and it has once again become a sacred as well as secular shrine of veneration for religious devotees, tourists and the local people on holiday. Whatever our ultimate judgment of the evidence, the equinoctial sunset “Descent of the Feathered Serpent” at Chichén Itzá is, without a doubt, a fascinating example of the role of astronomy in both an ancient civilization as well as now in contemporary world popular culture.

 

  

 

John B. Carlson, a radio and extragalactic astronomer by training, is the Director of the Center for Archaeoastronomy, a non-profit institute for research and education related to interdisciplinary studies of the astronomical practices, celestial lore, religions and world-views of ancient civilizations and the contemporary indigenous cultures of the world. In this capacity, Dr. Carlson is an expert on Native American astronomy specializing is studies of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and is the Editor of the ARCHAEOASTRONOMY Journal, published by the University of Texas Press. The art, iconography, calendar systems and hieroglyphic writing of the Maya and Highland Mexican civilizations are particular interests, and he has published and lectured extensively in these fields. A photographic essay on “America’s Ancient Skywatchers” was published in the March 1990 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE.  A review of his research into ancient Mesoamerican practices of Venus-regulated sacred warfare and ritual sacrifice in the context of Teotihuacan, entitled “The Rise and Fall of the City of the Gods,” appeared as the cover article of the Nov./Dec. 1993 ARCHAEOLOGY Magazine. The “archaeology of pilgrimage” is a current special research interest. In this context, he was the organizer of the October 2000 Dumbarton Oaks Symposium on “Pilgrimage and the Ritual Landscape in Pre-Colombian America” and is currently completing a book on the “Equinox Serpent of Light and Shadow Phenomenon” which takes place at the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent at Chichén Itzá, Yucatan. Carlson is Senior Lecturer in the University Honors Program, University of Maryland  –  College Park, where  he  teaches  courses  in  Astronomy, Anthropology and  the History of Science.

Lodgings: Holiday Inn New London

Holiday Inn New London / Mystic, 269 North Frontage Road, New London, CT 06320.  Phone: 860-442-0631, Fax: 860-442-0130, Email Address, Website.

The Holiday Inn New London is nestled in the heart of Mystic Country, conveniently right off I-95. Take a stroll back in time and enjoy the charms of the historic Mystic Seaport and Olde Mistick Village. Explore one of the most diverse aquariums in the nation at the Mystic Aquarium.  And then of course there’s the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center – a must see for NEARA members!

NEARA has secured a rate of $89.00 per night, plus applicable sales taxes.  When you call to make your reservations, mention that you are a NEARA member and verify that  you are  receiving the  special rate. 

● Directions to the Holiday Inn:

I-95N to exit 82A. Take Colman Street exit, right at the light.  At second light take a left onto Bayonet Street.  The back entrance to the hotel is on the left.  

 

I-95S: Take exit 83, hotel is ½ mile on the right.

Email: holidayinnnewlondon@waterfordhotelgroup.com
 

Website: www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/gonms?_requestid=209380

Important Notice: The cut-off date for NEARA  special rates is October 19th so call to reserve your room  now!!  After the cut-off date,  all rooms being held for NEARA will be released back into general  inventory and any requests made after October 19th will be  subject to room  availability.

Please make your reservations by October 19th.

Registration   (click here)  

Please follow the link for Fall Meeting registrations form.  Please print the form, fill it out, and mail it in to the address on the form.  (We do not have on-line registration capabilities as yet.)  Thank you!

Notice: NEARA Members receive a discount on the registration fee.  If you would like to become a NEARA member there is a Membership Application attached to the Registration Form. 

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NEARA 2008 Spring Meeting:

25-27 April 2008, Clarion Hotel, Northampton, Massachusetts

NEARA Special Event in Nova Scotia

August 8 - 13, 2007

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Hosted by NEARA's Nova Scotia Chapter

Six days of Field Trips and Adventures in Nova Scotia!

 Featuring: Oak Island, the Yarmouth "Runic" Stone, the Bayers Lake Walls, the Chain Lake Ruins, and the Bedford Petroglyphs

 

"We are eagerly looking forward to having you visit with us this summer, and to have you see for yourself the exciting and enigmatic relics of our mysterious past."  - Terry Deveau, Event Coordinator

Schedule

Registration

Lodgings

Links

Program & Schedule of Events

A note regarding passports—If travelling by air, passports are required now for US citizens visiting Canada. However, for land and sea travellers, passports will not be required until 2008.

Registration     Registration form here.

Event fees (if any) will be minimal, but we won’t know exactly until we have better numbers. You are on your own for all accommodations. You must pay for all your own meals yourself. There are some very minor charges for the OITS events, as noted in the program.

Please submit your registration form as soon as you know your firm plans. We need to get some idea as to numbers so we can make sure space is reserved for us. The month of August is a very busy time for the hospitality industry in Nova Scotia and space becomes unavailable if not booked well in advance.

Those who submit a registration form will be kept fully informed of further developments as the schedule of events is firmed-up. Space is limited to the first 40 registrations received, so don’t be disappointed; send us your registration today!

You may submit your completed registration form by Emailing it to:

Terry J. Deveau deveau@chebucto.ns.ca

Or via letter mail to:                          

Terry J. Deveau                            

3 Shore Road                        

Herring Cove, NS, B3V 1G6                                 

Canada

Lodgings

For the utmost in comfort and convenience, we recommend the following accommodations providers (contact them directly, without delay, for rates and availability). We regret that we cannot offer any special rates or group deals this time.

In Yarmouth:  (1 night, August 8)

Rodd Colony Harbour Inn

http://www.rodd-hotels.ca/ourhotels/ns/colonyinn/index.asp                               

1-800-565-7633

In Western Shore:  (4 nights, August 9-12)

Oak Island Resort & Spa Convention Centre

www.oakislandresortandspa.com

1-800-565-5075

There are also many other quality providers available, in all price ranges. You can have all your hospitality and accommodations choices explained by calling 1-800-565-0000, or on the web at www.novascotia.com. Be sure to order your free copy of the 2007 Doers’ and Dreamers’ Guide; over 400 pages of fully-detailed information on everything that the Nova Scotia hospitality industry has to offer (shipped hot-off-the-press mid-February, if you request it now).