In October I did something I regularly do: I submitted news from Curtin Archaeological to the New York Archaeological Council (NYAC) Newsletter. More recently, I was responding to an email from colleague Linda Stone, and noticed that she mentioned the recent newsletter. Where is my NYAC Newsletter? I wondered. It wasn’t in my email, where it has been arriving regularly for several years. Consulting with NYAC Newsletter Committee Chair Laurie Miroff, I found out that I should look on the NYAC website.

And there it was! This fall’s newsletter has Curtin Archaeology’s contribution, which covers recent data recovery research at the A. Shafer site in Cobleskill, The Fernlea 1 and 2 sites in Coxsackie, and the Esmond sites in Malta. These are towns where we have been doing archaeological surveys for years, and putting news in the NYAC newsletter is a way to provide some information to colleagues about what we are learning. And now, this information is even more accessible to students, archaeologist non-members, archaeologists from other regions, and the interested public.

The practice of posting the newsletter on the NYAC website is actually a big improvement in this regard, because a wide audience can learn about goings-on in New York State archaeology. You don’t have to be a member to access this information, which is a win-win for NYAC and everyone else interested in archaeology: familiarity with (and membership in) NYAC is excellent for the practice of archaeology in New York State.

This Fall 2015 Newsletter has a lot of great information. My attention was particularly drawn to the news on the Spaulding Green I site (Town of Clarence, Erie County) from the SUNY Buffalo archaeological survey. This article draws attention to Iroquoian ceramics believed made by children, and has a great illustration showing the beautiful color of western Onondaga chert.

Another highlight is the report on the recent panel discussion on the crisis in curation and the culling of archaeological collections. This discussion was held at the Fall NYAC meeting at the Rome Historical Society, Rome, New York.

The NYAC newsletter contains plenty of interest. It appears every fall and spring, usually around November and May. Check it out at the NYAC website if you have been missing yours, or if you want to learn what NYAC and its members are working on!