A Message from Your President	Thomas Amble
Central States Archaeological Societies 2004 July Journal	St. Paul, Minnesota

50 years and still growing! I am pleased to announce that Nebraska has joined Central States Archaeological Society. Look for more about our newest society in upcoming issues of the journal. If you live in Nebraska or a nearby state that is not a member of CSAS I would encourage you to join up with Nebraska. For more information on their society, please contact:

The spring hunting season has come to an end. Those of us who have searched the surface of the plowed fields know this. The crops are growing tall, the weeds are showing and those glorious days filled with anticipation and excitement are no longer controlling our thoughts. Hopefully you are surveying, studying, photographing, and cataloging your finds. Did you find anything that you would like to share with your fellow collectors? Have you considered photographing your artifacts for the Central States Archaeological Society Journal¨Cyour journal? Or better yet, have you thought of submitting an article about your finds to the editor-in-chief of CSAJ? Please do so.

It is the easiest and most rewarding way to be involved with your society. It is late in the evening and I have just returned from the field with a newfound friend. He has been hoping to find an arrowhead for some time now. I took the time to invite him and an old friend (literally) out hunting for those elusive artifacts that we all cherish, study and protect. They give us great pleasure and increase our knowledge when we ponder them after a day out. If we are willing to inspect them closely overtime they will give us endless knowledge, whether it is a chip, base, tip, shard or even a complete artifact. The best reward of this pursuit is the time spent in the great outdoors, visiting and sharing stories with friends, old and new. Whether you find something or not, the time is well spent. If you are lucky enough to find an artifact, stop for a moment and try to identify what time period it is from. Look around you and visualize what the surrounding area might have looked like long ago, one thousand, five thousand or even ten thousand years ago. How has it changed and can you figure out why the artifact was lost.

Have you considered what you can do to further the cause of keeping people, both young and old, interested in avocational archaeology? Take the time to introduce someone new to the study of American Indian artifacts. That¡¯s how I got started; a friend's parents took the time to bring an impatient kid along with them to go surface hunting and that led to a lifelong interest in North American history. Invite someone new on a surface hunt. Volunteer your time on a dig in the field or offer your time and knowledge to a museum. Show someone an archaeological site in your area, or take him or her to a CSAS show. The son of a family friend has shown an interest in archaeology and I try to get him involved in anyway I can.

How about giving someone a journal. They will soon see why it is the best format to record their part of history. There are many reasons why CSAJ is still growing after 50 years. These articles, written by fellow collectors and their finds, are educational and inspiring. Where else can you find all of this in one publication, cover-to-cover created by volunteers.

You could influence a flicker of interest in someone and turn it into a flame, creating a lifetime of study and knowledge that will be shared and passed down for many generations to come. Do your part and introduce someone new, especially someone young to this wonderful world of interest.


In closing you may be asking yourself, did my newfound artifact hunting friend find any thing? Yes, a scraper and some flake knifes. Will he be back? Definitely, he still has to find that first complete point. We made plans to go again before the hunt was over. Do you remember the first artifact that you found? Of course, it is something that you will never forget.

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