THE ROTUNDA VOL. I .VII
LONGWOOD C0LIJ2GE, FARMVILIJ3, VIRGINIA
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1981
NO. 4
Jordan Highlighted In Fireside Chat By GAIL W. SHANNON The first Fireside Chat was held September 17 at 7:30 p.m. at logwood House. To open the evening, Dr. Janet Greenwood reiterated her theme of "joining together* to welcome the guests; members of the HampdenSydney and Farmville communities, Longwood administrative staff, faculty, and students. She informed the approximately 30 guests that the same sort of informal gatherings had been held more than 100 years ago for the same purpose of drawing the college and community together. Dr. Greenwood chose Mr. Homer Springer of the Ixmgwood Art Department to organize the Fireside Chats. For the first meeting. Mr. Springer chose Dr. James Jordan of the Anthropology-Sociology Department to present a slide presentation on the Ixmgwood College Summer Field School in Archeology and the three digs he has conducted over the last two years. Dr. Jordan began his discussion by explaining that archeology is "the study of prehistoric human societies through the material artifacts excavated from their living sites." According to Dr. Jordan, "the purpose of archeology is to make things speak that seem not lo be able to. Archeologists are interested in the relationships between artifacts — the objects man makes — and behavior." They are trying to "reach into the very minds of the people who made the artifacts." The slide presentation began
by projecting the audience back in time by about 100 to 200 years with slides taken at the Hampden-Sydney College slave cabin site. One of the first discoveries was that of empty Bromo Seltzer and Celery Caffeine Salt bottles. The fact was mentioned that, in combination, these two compounds can produce a high comparable to some of today's drugs. An empty laudanum bottle was also found, prompting several tongue-in-cheek comments from the audience on just who had been using these high-producing drugs, the slaves or the H-SC president of that day. The slave cabin just happens to stand behind Middlecourt, the residence of the H-SC president. Two, even more significant discoveries were imparted to the audience; one was the presence of arrowheads in the cabin, and the other was the presence of VMI cadet buttons worn at the time of the Civil War. The question was raised over the arrowheads about whether Indians and slaves may have been congregating together in the cabin around 1829. The possibility also exists that a slave had simply picked up the arrowheads in the fields. No real explanations were offered concerning the VMI cadet buttons; that question still remains a mystery. Besides the slave cabin, the Field School tried to find the original buildings of H-SC based on studies of insurance policies of 1776 and other documents. A site was excavated based on the findings of these studies and the workers immediately hit an area
thought to be the original president's kitchen. This conclusion was reached based on finds of broken crockery and other items and comparison with dimensions listed in the original documents. Of great interest were 34 day pipe stems found in the site. These stems presented a problem that is still unresolved. According to Dr. Jordan, these pipe stems were hand-bored using a technique that had evolved over a period of many years and which allowed smaller and smaller Hnloc «r» be bored. A
classification system has been developed to date the stems based on the size of the hole. Each size hole covered a time span of about 50 years. The pipe stems found at H-SC were dated at about 1725 using this dating system. Dr. Jordan further explained that it would be virtually impossible for stems in use to last that long because of their fragility. Therefore, the problem posed is whether or not the date entered in the H-SC records is incorrect for that of the original buildings. The possibility
of delving further into this site at a later date was mentioned. Until then at least, the question of the pipe stems will remain unresolved. The next set of slides took us back 1000 years in time to the Smith-Taylor Mound Site located in Prince Edward County across from the Southside Community Hospital. This excavation site was determined lo be of the Mississippian Mound Type consisting of three pyramids with flat tops used by settled, (Continued on Page 8
Mrs. Marshall Coleman visited the campus Friday, September 18, to represent her husband Marshall Coleman who is running for Governor. Sigma Kappa Sorority sponsored a reception Friday morning from 10:00 until 10:45 a.m. All the sororities were invited to attend. The IFC hosted a reception from 1:30 until 2:15 for the faculty and administration to talk with Mrs. Coleman concerning the upcoming election. Photo by Alan Nuss
Catch That Oktoberfest Spirit By BRENDA COLEMAN Oktoberfest 1981 is in full swing with reds, greens, blues, along with many campus groups and organizations, all working together to successfully pull off Ixwigwood's biggest fall week end. Preparations for this Oktoberfest began early last semester and the work will continue up until the very last hours before the big week end of October 23-25. Geist, Longwood's top leadership honorary, sponsors this annual event. The Geist members have already worked out a complex program of events and locations to accomodate the Oktoberfest festivities. They have tried to coordinate all the planned activities into one large, fun-filled week end for students,
parents, faculty members, and friends alike. Already chosen and hard at work are the 22 blue and white Klowns, 8 ushers and 3 meisters. These individuals spread the enthusiasm and blue and white spirit symbolic of Oktoberfest and were tapped at Geist's Oktoberfest tapping on Sept. 10. The ushers who will perform traditional German dances are Tom Gonzales and Missy Wagner (freshmen); Todd Bashum and I-eigh Ann Goddin (sophomores); Brenda Jenkins and John Todd (juniors); Karen "Bird" Kilmer and Katrina Harlow (seniors). The spirited meisters who will preside over the festivities of the weekend are Mittenmeister Mary Mary Yates, Festmeister Michelle Ixewis, and Geistmeister Dennis Southers.
And who can forget those 22 beautiful, bouncy knowns? This year's colorful bunch will perform gymnastic stunts, mimes, and attempt to build Squash, the famous Klown pyramid, in addition to entertaining and delighting all at Oktoberfest. Our Klowns for this year are Mitzi Mason, Kathy Klebert, Jo Jacobs, Sharon Payne, Debbie Mihm, Anne Dempsey, Andrea Simmons, Vicki Nesbitt, Julie Jones, Pam Stanley, Penny I^udermilk, Sara Kengstorf, Patty Carey, Ellyn Friedsam, Lynley Dous, Brenda Barkley, Amy Campbell, Beth Wanamaker, Ann Masi, Tommy Schmelter, Karen Dougherty, and Vicki Beasley. But these aren't the only people involved in Oktoberfest. The color classes have already been
hard at work writing their color skits and having tryouts and rehearsals. Each individual class and participating organization also has a booth on the Midway that will sell items as a moneymaking project. The classes participate in color rush, a 5event athletic contest between the Reds and Greens. In addition, the freshmen and sophomores participate in the annual Paint Battle, the first event of the Oktoberfest week that kicks off the color competition. The color class skits will be performed both Friday and Saturday nights, with judging taking place on Saturday. The skits are the most important part of the weekend's color competition. Much hard work must be put into the writing, directing, costumes, music, and
dancing in these skits in order for them to be both entertaining as well as successful. Other events planned for the week end include the alumni CHI walk, the traditional cake cutting, the Biergarten, Festhouse, athletic games, and various SUN events. Special effort is put into the preparation of the Oktoberfest week end in order to appeal to people of all ages. The variety of events this year range from skits to a moonwalk to paint battle. Oktoberfest is for everyone — plan to participate and catch that Oktoberfest spirit !!! If anyone has any questions or views on Oktoberfest, please contact Betty Ixw Smith, Geist ("hair-man of Oktoberfest, 2-8307, Box 837, 328 Wheeler or any member of Geist.