An MTSU professor will be the featured speaker at the inaugural meeting of a recently formed archaeology group. The opening meeting of the new Rutherford County Archaeological Society will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at the Heritage Center, 225 W. College St., in downtown Murfreesboro. MTSU’s Dr. Tanya M. Peres will give a special presentation entitled “Prehistory Beneath Our Feet: Doing Archaeology in Rutherford County, Tennessee.” Peres is director of the Rutherford County Archaeology Research Program and an associate professor of anthropology at Middle Tennessee State University.
“We’re open to anyone interested in archaeology,” archaeologist Laura Fyock Bartel, founder of the group, told wgnsradio.com “Our focus is on the archaeology and cultural heritage of the county, as well as archaeological and anthropological topics in general.”
Bartel is a Murfreesboro resident and anthropology instructor at Motlow State Community College.
According to wgnsradio.com Peres will provide an overview of archaeology in Rutherford County, discuss two recently identified prehistoric archaeological sites, including one in Murfreesboro, and share how the public can get involved in order to help document the county’s ancient past before it is lost to growth and development.
For more information on the Rutherford County Archaeological Society, go to facebook.com/groups/RCAS.TN or contact Laura Bartel at lbanthro@gmail.com
