NYAC Fall Meeting, October 1, 2022
NYAC will host the fall meeting on October 1, 2022 at the New York State Museum in the Huxley Theater. The general business meeting will be from 12:45-1:45 and the program from 2-4:30.
Officer Reports
Committee Report
The Current State of African American Archaeology in New York
Abstract
Contrary to popular belief, the percentage of slave-holding households was higher in New York than many places in the South. Unlike the plantation economies to the south, enslaved people in the North rarely lived in clusters of separate quarters. Most often, enslaved people of African and Indigenous descent lived in the main house, an outer kitchen, or other multi-functional outbuilding. Such complex households as well as Free and Maroon communities have been investigated on archaeological projects in urban and rural settings. Surprisingly, there are few publications which address these households and communities that existed in New York. Only in cases where a household or a community was known to have been occupied by African Americans are deposits considered reflections of their lives. Archaeologists have struggled to interpret the lives of enslaved people through the material culture of plural households. Recent investigations, however. suggest that there are ways of ‘seeing’ African Americans in diverse households. This program brings together archaeologists to share what they have learned from their experiences working with plural households and communities in New York, suggestions for better material culture analyses, and the importance of working with descendant populations and vested communities.
» Full List of Presenters & Abstracts
New York State Archaeological Association
104th Annual Conference
The NYSAA conference is canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have already registered you will be refunded. If you have made a reservation at the Crowne Plaza hotel you must call and cancel. Please see the attached letter for further details.
The Incorporated Orange County Chapter of NYSAA has made the difficult but necessary decision to cancel this year’s annual NYSAA conference. Our local area in the Hudson Valley is experiencing a growing number of COVID-19 cases, and the health and safety of our members and guests is our number 1 priority. While we are very disheartened by these circumstances, we are glad to report that the 104th NYSAA meeting will now take place next year on April 23-25, 2021 at the Crowne Plaza Suffern-Mahwah. Registration information for next year will be available at a later date.

New York State Archeological Association
Hosted by the Incorporated Orange County Chapter
The Orange County Chapter is excited to host next year’s annual meeting of the NYSAA. The meeting will take place in the scenic lower Hudson Valley at the Crowne Plaza Suffern-Mahwah ( 3 Executive Blvd., Suffern NY 10901). For hotel reservations contact the hotel by March 27, 2020 to receive group rate of $121/night. Telephone: (845) 357-4800 website: www.cpsuffernhotel.com Group Code: SAA.
The New York Archaeological Council will hold its annual meeting on Friday, April 24. The NYSAA business meeting will take place Friday evening, April 24. Paper and poster sessions will be held Saturday, April 25 and Sunday morning, April 26. A book sale room will also be available on Saturday and Sunday.
The NYSAA annual banquet, awards ceremony and special guest speaker will be Saturday evening. Tours will take place on Friday morning and afternoon, and on Sunday afternoon. Tour details and other nearby museum information may be found with the links below.
This year, our banquet speaker is Richard Veit, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Anthropology at Monmouth University. Rich is a North American historical archaeologist whose research focuses on the Middle Atlantic Region between the late 17th and early 19th centuries. His work focuses on commemoration, symbolism, vernacular architecture, and military sites archaeology. A Monument to fallen Royalty: Rediscovering Joseph Bonaparte’s Point Breeze Estate in Bordentown, New Jersey, will discuss recent archaeological excavations in Bordentown, New Jersey that have unearthed the remains of Joseph Bonaparte’ palatial estate, Point Breeze. Joseph, the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte and former King of Spain and Naples, fled to the United States in 1815. He lived in New Jersey from 1816 until 1839.
2020 NYSAA Conference Flyer (1.3 MiB)
2020 Conference Information for NYSAA & NYAC (246.1 KiB)
2020 Open Call for Papers (162.2 KiB)
2020 NYSAA Conference Registration (555.0 KiB)
New York State Archaeological Association
103rd Annual Conference
April 26-28, 2019
Holiday Inn, Johnstown, NY
Hosted by Van Epps-Hartley Chapter
The Van Epps-Hartley chapter is proud to host the 103rd Annual Meeting of the New York State Archaeological Association (NYSAA) and the annual Spring Meeting of the New York Archaeological Council (NYAC).
The NYAC spring meeting will be held Friday afternoon at the conference hotel. Conference tours will include Fort Johnson on Friday afternoon and the Schenectady Stockade on Sunday afternoon.
Our special guest speaker for the Saturday banquet will be Dr. David Givens, who will present on the Jamestown Rediscovery Project. All events will be held at the Holiday Inn, located at 308 N. Comrie Avenue, Johnstown, NY.
Hotel reservations at the Holiday Inn can be made on line at www.holidayinn.com or by calling Holiday Inn Nationwide 1-800-HOLIDAY, or calling the hotel directly at 518-762-4686. When registering, mention you are reserving for the NYSAA conference or use group code RCH to receive the conference rate of $92 per room per night. Deadline for hotel reservations is April 1st, 2019.
NYAC/NYSAA Spring Conference Preliminary Program 2019 (1.7 MiB)
2019 Conference Information (66.8 KiB)
2019 Conference Registration (88.6 KiB)
New York State Archaeological Association
102nd Annual Meeting
The 102nd annual joint conference of the New York State Archaeological Association (NYSAA) and the New York Archaeological Council (NYAC) will be held April 27-29, 2018 at the Comfort Inn and Suites, 6701 Buckley Rd., Syracuse NY. The registration form including tour information and hotel rates and accommodations is available here for download.
2018 Conference Registration Form for NYSAA & NYAC (360.9 KiB)
The inn is located at the intersection of I-81 and the Thruway. The 2018 theme is the Erie Canal in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the building of the canal. There will be trips to the Chittenango Landing Museum and the Canal Museum in Syracuse on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Preliminary Program
2018 NYSAA Conference Preliminary Program (192.8 KiB)
NYAC 2018 Fall Meeting
Please join the New York Archaeological Council for the Fall meeting on October 27th in New Paltz, NY. This year’s program will feature short talks on the research of Dutch and English archaeological sites and collections. The meeting will be held at the Huguenot Historical Society which is located in Historic Huguenot Street. As is our custom, the general business meeting will be from 1-3 pm and the afternoon program from 3-5 pm. A walking tour of the historic district will be given afterwards by Joe Diamond,SUNY New Paltz. Refreshments will be served.
NYAC Fall Program 2018 (50.2 KiB)
Call for Papers
The Beauchamp and the Finger Lakes chapters are proud to host the 102nd Annual Meeting of the New York State Archaeological Association (NYSAA) and the annual Spring Meeting of the New York Archaeological Council (NYAC).
Call for Papers (134.1 KiB)
The NYAC spring meeting will be held Friday afternoon. Our special guest speaker for Saturday evening’s banquet will be Dr. James Bradley.
Archaeology Video Festival
Archaeology Season Event! This year there will be no archaeology poster. Instead, film and videographers have submitted Short video clips on archaeology which will be shown Friday evening at 9 at the conference hotel. They will be at the event to talk about their films. Hope you will join us!
NYAC Video Festival Flyer (252.7 KiB)
NYAC Spring Meeting 2018 Announcement (440.5 KiB)
101st Annual Conference 2017
The joint conference of the NYSAA and NYAC took place on April 21-23, 2017. The Adirondack Chapter was proud to host the 101st Annual Meeting of the New York State Archaeological Association (NYSAA) and the annual Spring Meeting of the New York Archaeological Council (NYAC).
2017 New York State Archaeological Association 101st Annual Conference (187.1 KiB)
NYAC Spring Meeting 2017 Schedule & Directions (250.2 KiB)
The NYAC spring meeting was held Friday afternoon and the NYSAA annual business meeting was held Friday evening. Paper presentations began on Saturday morning and continued through Sunday morning. The NYSAA annual banquet, awards ceremony and special guest speaker was held Saturday evening.
NYAC Program
From Screen to Screen: Growing Your Archaeological Community with Video
A Workshop on Video Production and Distribution for Archaeologists
Friday, April 21st from 3 – 5 pm
From Screen to Screen: Growing Your Archaeological Community with Video (194.9 KiB)
Centennial Conference, April 2016
The centennial conference of the NYSAA took place April 15-17, 2016 at the Woodcliff Hotel and Spa in Victor NY. It was very well attended. Fifteen of the 16 chapters were represented. In celebration of the event centennial pins were given to all registrants. The NYSAA funded a cocktail reception before the banquet. The Adirondack and Brennan Chapters, as well as the Archaeological Conservancy helped fund the coffee breaks. The conference was supported from several companies including the Canandaigua National Bank, Louis Berger, Morton Archaeological Research Services, Beta Analytic, AECOM, PaleoWest, and Lois and Alan Jones of Bristol NY. The 2016 Archaeology Season poster was made possible by the Rochester Museum and Science Center, Kathryn Murano Jones and the New York Archaeological Council.
2015 Fall Program, September 26th 10 am – 5 pm
Location:
Rome Historical Society & Museum
Address: 200 Church St, Rome, NY 13440
(Across from Fort Stanwix)
EVENTS
10-12 NYAC Board Meeting (upstairs in the Historical Society Board Room) —Board Members Only
10-12 Explore the National Park Service’s Visitor’s Center and gift shop at Fort Stanwix. Join a 10 am tour of the grounds of Fort Stanwix. Meet Keith Routley (Museum Curator and Division Chief, Division of Cultural Resources, at 11 am in the Visitor’s Center for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Fort Stanwix Collections.
12-1 Lunch on your own.
1-2 NYAC general business meeting at the Rome Historical Society and Museum Auditorium. All invited to attend.
2-5 Afternoon program: Collections Management for the 21st Century – is Culling an Option or Necessity?
This is moderated panel discussion about CRM collection issues concerning curation, culling, long term management and storage. This is a two part program. This meeting is an attempt to understand the issues faced by repositories and their concerns versus those of future researchers of collections. The second part will take place at the spring meeting which will focus on solutions to the issues identified this fall. Please join us. This affects everyone.
Fall 2014 Annual Meeting
The New York Archaeological Council will hold its Fall annual meeting on November 1st. The Fall program will consist of a workshop and tour of the Devonian Cherts of the Mid-Hudson Valley. Information about the program is attached. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation to the various outcrops.
Following the tour from 4-6 pm, NYAC will hold its general meeting at the University at Albany, SUNY in Arts and Sciences Room 11.
2014 Workshop Announcement (115.5 KiB)
Fall 2013: NYAC Fall Meeting & Archaeology Conference
- 10:00 am Board Meeting
- 1:00 pm General Meeting
- 3:00 pm Program on Disaster Preparedness
Location: New York State Museum
Spring 2013: Save Our Stories
Save Our Stories Poster (200.3 KiB)

A free exhibit to highlight distinctive artifacts from archaeological projects in New York City and the stories of the people they represent.
Location: Low Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.
When: May 4th – 31st, 2013; Opening May 14th, 6-8pm
Sponsored by: Museum Anthropology and Historic Preservation Master’s programs
Event Title: “Digging” the Roots of Inequality: Archaeological Investigations of Ethnicity and Race on Long Island
Date, Time: March 15, 2013 at 5pm
Presented by: Suffolk County Historical Society
Sponsored by: Doctoral Student Council of the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY)
Location: 300 W Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901
For additional information contact: Suffolk County Historical Society (631) 727-2881
300 W Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901
Cost: free
Details: Please join us for an evening of presentations by Allison Manfra McGovern, Meg Gorsline, and Jenna Wallace Coplin. By examining the material traces left behind by past Long Islanders, these archaeologists explore race and ethnicity in Rocky Point, East Setauket, and across modern boundaries with the help of the web.This event is presented by the Suffolk County Historical Society, in conjunction with the special exhibit Hidden and Forbidden: Art and Objects of Intolerance, Evolving Depictions of Blacks in America, on display through June 1, 2013.
Spring 2012 Archaeology Conference
New York Archaeological Council Discusses the Effect of the Recession on Archaeology in New York State
On Friday April 27, 2012 the New York Archaeological Council (NYAC) will offer a series of presentations and panel discussion on the effect of the recession and continuing slow economy on archaeology in New York State. The program will take place at 3:00 PM at the NYAC spring meeting, held jointly with the New York State Archaeological Association (NYSAA) at The Clarion Hotel, Poughkeepsie, New York. Attendance is free and open to all interested parties.
96th NYSAA & NYAC Annual Meeting
April 27rd – 29th, 2012, The Clarion Hotel & Conference Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
Fall 2011
Geomorphology and Archaeology:
Case Studies from Western New York
Geomorphology Powerpoint download
New York Archaeological Council Fall Meeting
Date: Saturday October 1, 2011
by Douglas J. Perrelli
2011 NYSAA and NYAC Spring Conference Information
- NYSAA 95th Preliminary Program and Addenda download
- New York State Archaeological Association 95th Conference Registration download
- NYAC 2011 Spring Meeting Announcement download
- NYAC Spring Meeting Program download
Proceedings of the Fall 2010 Program
Proceedings of the Fall 2010 Program
The Practice Of Urban Archaeology: Panel Discussion