Bear Paw Rock in Idaho

ARCHAEOLOGY IN IDAHO

For centuries, thousands of Idaho's earliest inhabitants hunted and gathered to exist.  The remains they left are often in the form of projectile points, knives, scrapers, and other stone tools.  More recently, explorers, trappers and miners left their mark on Idaho's landscape.

What can we learn about the lives of past peoples by the artifacts they left behind?  Where did they live, hunt, and fish?  What was their environment like?  How did they earn a living?  If you are interested in these and similar questions, you definitely have an interest in Idaho archaeology.

The Idaho Archaeological Society is dedicated to understanding the past residents of Idaho with the hope that it will be relevant to the present and future.

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP

Your Membership fees help the IAS to pursue its important activities and objectives.  As a member you will:

• have a means of keeping informed about Idaho Archaeology through meetings, publications, etc.

• receive the Idaho Archaeologist, a journal containing professional reports and other archaeological articles, photographs, and information.

• receive information on chapter meetings, seminars, films, field trips, etc.

• receive the Artifacts newsletter detailing IAS events and information on Idaho archaeology.

• help professional archaeologists with public outreach programs.

Spring 2008 Newsletter now available...click here

"To preserve, educate, and encourage the study
of Idaho's antiquities."

The Idaho Archaeological Society is concerned with the increasing destruction of the archaeological record.  People who don't know what they are doing often do this destruction.

All people have left evidence of their passage.  These remnants are the heritage of everyone.  Because artifacts exist in the context in which they are created, they tell a story of how a people lived.  Once an artifact is taken from context or a feature is damaged, that knowledge is lost to all of us.  The past is not a renewable resource, and the stories are important to all of us.  Professional archaeologists know that a site is destroyed when it's excavated.  That's why they excavate just a small portion.  An archaeologist is trained to interpret context by examining clues like a detective.  Pollen, pottery, insects, soil contents, artifacts and the layers above and below the site are carefully recorded and studied for their contribution to the story the site tells.  Later excavation techniques could be far more useful, so most of the site is saved for the future.  The past is not limited to objects--its' an environment.  If you find a site or an artifact, please, leave it in place and report it to authorities.