An Invitation

Tomorrow night the New Albany Common Council will consider a resolution (R-13-09) in support of mining Floyd County's past; not a search for nature's riches hidden below ground, but rather a search for elucidation of our predecessors' days buried by time.

Some weeks ago I was contacted by the cousin of a constituent who has the opportunity to compete for a grant through the U.S. Department of the Interior to engage in archaeological sleuthing in counties that have received relatively little attention. In our area, Floyd County has had less study than either its eastern or western neighbors. Rebecca VanSessen, the cousin of the constituent, lived in Floyd County as a child and identified her childhood environs as a place which might fit the criteria of the grant. She is a research associate at the University of Indianapolis, and along with Dr. Chris Moore they hope to demonstrate the worth of their project which can bring to light facts about the ancient inhabitants of our county.

During a brief meeting and discussion over a modern version of an ancient beverage, Dr. Moore mentioned a term I had never heard, Industrial Archaeology. This study of relatively recent artifacts can also help us understand some of the early settlers here who lived a life more akin to our own today, yet still blurred by the passage of time.

The two archaeologists will speak at an informational session before the meeting tomorrow night. They will outline some of their plans and discuss the richness of our past. Since I've had the pleasure of meeting with them already I can attest that what they have to say will be interesting and worth the time to attend.

The informational session will be held in the Strassweg Auditorium in the New Albany Floyd County Public Library beginning at 6:30PM. Around 7:15 Council members will cross the street to the City County Building for the regular Council meeting at 7:30PM.