Digging in the dirt and getting your hands dirty is fun. Ask any young child or gardener. Tilling the soil, tending to the seeds and plants is not only enjoyable, but there are many physical and mental benefits that go along with it. However, there are many people who dig in the dirt not for gardening, but rather for the pleasure and joy of finding artifacts from the past. Members of the Louis A. Brennan, Lower Hudson Chapter of the NYS Archaeological Association, with their headquarters located at Croton Point Park inside the Croton Point Nature Center, have been doing just that since the group’s founding in 1963.

On Sunday, October 6, 2024, from noon to 4:00 p.m., the NYSAA Lower Hudson Chapter invites everyone, no matter the age or ability, to come and dig in the dirt with them for free as they host Dig Into Archaeology Day.

Dig Into Archaeology Day is an outdoor event and will be held at the Croton Point Park Nature Center in Croton Point Park. Attendees will participate in an archaeological dig, learn the basics of stratigraphy (the study of rock layers and their interpretation with respect to geological time), screening, teamwork, and have fun while doing it. In addition, Barry Keegan, renowned master of early arts and technologies, will show participants how to start a fire without matches, create and shape tools from stone via Flint Knapping, and teach about First Nation lifeways.  

Members of the NYSAA Lower Hudson Chapter will be on hand to discuss local history, archaeology and show off the Chapter’s exhibits and library. Members love to see new artifacts that folks have hanging around the house. Members will try to help date old bottles you may have or try to figure out what kind of artifact or special rock you have that’s been hanging around your house for years without an idea what it really is.  So bring those artifacts along for help in identifying them. 

Dig Into Archaeology Day will be fun and exciting. You never know what you will discover. For more information visit the L. A. Brennan, Lower Hudson Chapter of the NYS Archaeological Association website www.lablhc.org and follow them on Facebook.  

The NYSAA Lower Hudson Chapter is named in honor of Louis A. Brennan.

Louis Brennan died in March of 1983. He was renown throughout the archaeological world and was a resident of Westchester County. The excerpts below were printed on March 21, 1983 Section D, Page 11 in the national edition of the New York Times.  

Louis Brennan was a professor of field archeology at the Briarcliff, N.Y., campus of Pace University. Professor Brennan wrote several books on archeology including ”Beginner’s Guide to Archeology” and ”No Stone Unturned: An Almanac of North American Prehistory.” He was also an editor of bulletins and research information prepared by the Eastern States Archeological Federation, and for 20 years was the editor of The New York Archeological Bulletin.

An expert on the archeology of the lower Hudson River valley, Professor Brennan stated that Indian tribes lived in what is now Westchester County as early as 12,000 years ago and that the prehistoric area was a crossroads for diverse cultures.

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