September 9 (Tuesday).  PAAC Class Colorado Archaeology Begins
The fall Northern Colorado Chapter, Colorado Archaeological Society PAAC (Program for Avocational Archaeological Certification) class is Colorado Archaeology. This 20 hour class will meet from Sept. 9-Oct 21, Tuesday evenings 6:30-9:30 pm at the Veterinary Specialty Center, 201 West 67th Court, Loveland Colorado.  Note the NEW LOCATION. See the course and location descriptions at the end of this message for more details.  To register for the class send a check for $12 made out to the "Colorado Historical Society" and mailed to NCC-CAS/PAAC, P.O. Box 270738, Fort Collins, CO 80527 by Friday, August 29. Include a telephone number and an email  address. Registration confirmation will be sent by email. We need a minimum of  10 people to hold the class and class size is limited to 20. The $12 fee covers all 7 lecture sessions and course materials. No outside work is required. A final exam is optional unless the course is taken for college credit (contact me for information) or as part of the PAAC certification  program. Class participants must be 15 years or older and sign the PAAC Code of Ethics starting with the second class they take. Neither prior experience with archaeology or membership in the Colorado Archaeological Society is required.

October 15 (Wednesday).  Business Meeting and Program.  7:00 p.m.
Poudre Fire Station #10, 2067 Vermont Drive (Timberline and Vermont) (map).  Archaeological Lessons from a Post Fire Landscape: Overview of new data gathered after the burning of the Greybull River Drainage, Northwestern Wyoming, by A. Kvale Thompson, Master’s Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University.  Since 2002, Colorado State University’s archaeological field school has been held in the Absaroka Mountains of Northwestern Wyoming under the direction of Larry Todd and the Greybull River Sustainable Landscape Ecology Project (GRSLE). In summer 2006, the Little Venus Fire enriched the known archaeological record by expanding the number of visible materials of sites documented before the fire, and exposing many new, exciting sites. Because of the non-collection documentation strategy practiced as part of the GRSLE project, research had been able to document the wildfire induced changes to the archaeological record. Exploring the impacts of the Little Venus Fire illustrated the need for a better integration between fire history studies and the archaeological record. For many ecosystems, including Colorado forests, large scale fires will impact the archaeological record granting more opportunities to further study these types of interactions. Using the GRSLE project and the Little Venus Fire as a case study, this presentation will walk through some of those changes to the archaeological record and what has been learned from a post-fire environment.

Sam Richings-Germain will present The Archaeology of a Victorian Resort in Lake County, Colorado. The Interlaken resort was an activity-oriented recreational destination that existed to meet the needs of a Victorian society. The location of the Interlaken, at the base of Mt. Elbert, near Leadville, Colorado provided clean, beautiful decorated accommodations that met the Victorian standards of consumerism, efficiency, and sanitation. In 1980 and 1981 archaeological investigations at the resort produced over 50,000 artifacts, the majority of which were recovered from around the perimeter of the hotel structure. In addition, to the hotel, the billiard parlor and blacksmith shop were the focus of the investigations. Once considered a "dead assemblage" the Interlaken Resort assemblage has been revived and has proved to be valuable as an example of a Victorian hostelry with a purely recreational theme. A description of the archaeological investigations and cultural significance of material remains will be the focus of the presentation.  Sam Richings-Germain is currently working for Dr. Jason LaBelle at the Laboratory of Public Archaeology (LOPA) as a research associate. In addition, she teaches online anthropology courses at Front Range Community College, Larimer Campus. Ms. Richings-Germain received her BA in anthropology in 1995 from CSU and MA in anthropology in 2002. In addition to having a passion for archaeology, she enjoys getting outside and recreating with her family, as much as possible.