Culturally Modified Trees—Questions, Data, and Ideas: A Proposal for a Forum

The recent publication of History and Analysis of Wisconsin Culturally Modified Trees by Wisconsin Archeological Society (WAS) member David J. Tovar in Volume 97, Number 1, of The Wisconsin Archeologist has generated a great amount of response from the WAS membership. In light of this, the Society wishes to provide an opportunity for further discussion of this topic through an informal poster-style forum to be held at the Fall 2017 WAS meeting, scheduled for Saturday, September 30th at Beloit College. We hope that Society members will bring images of potentially culturally modified trees of which they are aware, as well as any pertinent information they wish to share about them (location, age and/or size, nature of modification, etc.) and any ideas regarding their interpretation. Likewise, we hope that anyone interested in the structure and form of trees, how they grow under variable conditions of physical stress, natural and human sources of modification, orrelated topics also will wish to participate. For those wishing to contribute but unable to attend, we encourage you to submit any information and/or materials to the forum session organizer, below. We plan to assemble selected contributions for publication in an upcoming volume of The Wisconsin Archeologist.

If you are interested in participating in the poster forum, submitting materials or information, or simply wish to be kept informed about the topic, please email Dr. Robert Sasso of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside at sasso@uwp.edu or contact him at the following address to inform him of your interest:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
University of Wisconsin-Parkside
900 Wood Road, Box 2000
Kenosha, WI 53141-2000