Molly

Far Western Grad Examines How Accessibility Impacts Population Growth

Molly · July 15, 2015 ·

Far Western’s Ruth Zipfel, one of our GIS specialists, successfully defended her Master’s thesis on waterway-to-rail and rail-to-roadway transportation, entitled “Network Accessibility and Population Change: Historical Analysis of Transportation in Tennessee, 1830–2010.”

She used GIS and statistical linear regression models to analyze factors contributing to population changes spanning 180 years. She focused primarily on transport networks, and she also included additional potential contributing variables, such as population share and mean geodesic distances to large cities.

Congratulations, Ruth, on graduating with your
Master’s of Science in Geographic Information Science and Technology from USC!

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Archaeology and Prehistoric Ecology of Putah Creek Lecture

Molly · June 29, 2015 ·

Join Putah Creek Council’s third CreekSpeak talk of 2015 on July 2, 2015, by Far Western’s Adrian Whitaker.

Thursday, July 2, 2015, 7:00 PM
Davis Veterans Memorial Theatre Club Room
203 E. 14th Street
Davis, California

CreekSpeak is Putah Creek Council’s six-month series of community talks about the nature, culture, and history of the Davis region.

Press release from the Putah Creek Council:
Have you ever wondered who used to live along Putah Creek? Humans have lived along the shores of Putah Creek and other tributaries of the Sacramento River for thousands of years and the physical remains of their activities are preserved in a rich archaeological record. Join us as we learn about the earliest human settlers around Putah Creek, the resources they relied on, and what the archaeological record can tell us about the past ecology of the creek and watershed. We will also explore the need and process of preserving archaeological resources as part of our shared cultural heritage.

Adie Whitaker is a California Archaeologist who has worked throughout the state. He received his PhD from UC Davis in 2008 and has worked since that time at Far Western, an archaeological consulting firm in Davis. He has published research focused on the ecological interactions between prehistoric humans and their environments in California. In his former career as a camp counselor he worked at Camp Putah in Davis, where he was known as “Monkey.”

CreekSpeak talks are free to Putah Creek Council members and open to the public. A $5 donation is requested from those who have not yet joined the Council.

https://www.putahcreekcouncil.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=591

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Cuyama Valley Digital Booklet, Exhibits, and 3D Gallery

Molly · May 21, 2015 ·

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the California Division of Highways carried out three highway realignment projects in Cuyama Valley, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Salvage archaeological work was conducted at seven sites, but the resulting extensive collections were never formally catalogued or documented.

Some 40 years later, the California Department of Transportation awarded Far Western a Transportation Enhancement grant to analyze and document the Cuyama Valley archaeological collections. The result is entitled Cuyama Valley – A Corridor to the Past.

The Cuyama Valley story is also presented in a booklet for the public called The Long Road Traveled by Patricia Mikkelsen, Paula Juelke Carr, Shelly Tiley, Julia Costello, Nathan Stevens, and John R. Johnson. Read it HERE!

We created a 3D gallery as part of the digital booklet. Spin and view the 3D Visualization Gallery HERE!

This publication honors Dr. Valerie Levulett, who initiated the Cuyama Valley project.

She was instrumental in ensuring that the gathered information be made available to researchers and the public alike.

Far Western also designed and fabricated two sets of portable exhibits and a set of four bookmarks to be used by members of the Chumash Indian community.

This project was a collaborative partnership among the Native American community, the District 5 Central Coast Specialist Branch of the California Department of Transportation, Far Western, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Foothill Resources, and Tiley Research, among others. We thank the many individuals who contributed their talents to this project, and particularly want to recognize the Native Americans with ties to Cuyama Valley who generously shared their time and stories with us.

We also wish to acknowledge the generous support of the California Transportation Commission, who made it possible to complete the proper processing and curation of the Cuyama archaeological collection. This study has opened up new and important vistas on the prehistory and early history of the Cuyama Valley corridor.

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California Transportation Award Nomination

Molly · May 12, 2015 ·

The First Inhabitants Board

Far Western recently completed work on the Truckee River Legacy Trail in Nevada County, California. This long-term contract included site evaluations, data recovery, public interpretation, and a series of reports and treatment plans for the California Department of Transportation, the Tahoe National Forest, and the Town of Truckee, California. Dr. Susan Lindström, Zeier & Associates, and Penny Rucks Ethnographic Services worked with Far Western on various aspects of the project.

Chinese Emigrants in Truckee and Truckee Ice

Sharon A. Waechter and Tammara Ekness-Norton designed 15 trail-side panels, as well as a trail map and brochure.

Fish of the Truckee River and Native Plants Along the Trail

The Truckee River Legacy Trail has been chosen as one of the three finalists in the Bicycle/Pedestrian Trail category for a Transportation Award from the California Transportation Foundation (CTF). Anne Mayer, Chairperson of the CTF Awards Committee, noted that the finalists “represent the best of the projects, programs, and people who made a positive difference for California transportation in 2014.” The winner will be announced at a luncheon on May 21, 2015.

For more information on the Truckee River Legacy Trail see our featured project page HERE!

See all Finalists for the California Transportation Foundation Awards HERE!

26th-Annual-Trans-Awards

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Crescents? What Are They Good For?

Molly · May 5, 2015 ·

Mike Lenzi gave a knock-out presentation on the function of crescents. It described the results of employing experimental archaeology to compare crescents to technological alternatives (flakes and Western Stemmed Tradition points) for a variety of tasks. The presentation also related the use-wear breakage to patterns displayed by archaeological specimens. His conclusions: the primary function of crescents was likely hafted projectiles for procuring waterfowl and small game at the margins of Pluvial lakes and near wetlands.

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Far Western Grad Examines How Accessibility Impacts Population Growth

Archaeology and Prehistoric Ecology of Putah Creek Lecture

Cuyama Valley Digital Booklet, Exhibits, and 3D Gallery

California Transportation Award Nomination

Crescents? What Are They Good For?

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