My interest in Archaeology began in the early 1970’s and as an advocational archaeologist has continued to grow with the years.

I am a member of the North Fork Chapter 29, of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology and currently serve on the Board of Directors of that parent organization. I am also a member of the Eastern States Archaeological Federation, The Eastern States Rock Art Asssciation and the Archaeological Society of Ohio.

My interest in preservation of history has also included involvement with both the Clarion and Jefferson County Historical Societies. I currently am employed as the Executive Director at the Jefferson County History Center in Brookville, PA.

I have been affiliated with the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh as a Field Associate since 1983 and have assisted on formal excavations throughout the state. My personal area of independent research has centered within the Redbank Valley watershed which extends over much of Jefferson, Clarion and Armstrong Counties of Western Pennsylvania. Along with a comprehensive archaeological site survey of this area, I have specific interests relating to the Late Woodland Period occupations and settlement patterns and have also been very involved recording the prehistoric rock art of Western Pennsylvania. Many of the abbreviated articles presented on this site are available as formal published versions in the Society For Pennsylvania journal and a recent publication by the Jefferson County Historical Society "Jefferson County, Pennsylvania: An Illustrated History". Paintings by Larry Smail are available through the link to his web site.

If you have questions about any of the information on the site or would like to contact me - email me at kenburkett@comcast.net.

Still likes to Play in Dirt

I am currently writing a formal report publication in Society For Pennsylvania Archaeological Journal on three rockshelters excavated many years ago along the Redbank Creek in Jefferson County

On Saturday October 20th, Piereina Morelli producer for the “On Q” television program shown weekly on WQED (Channel 13) in Pittsburgh spent the day with Ed Kaufman and Dick Zeigler and I filming a segment on western Pennsylvania Rock art. Piereina, a three time Emmy award winner, was very exciting to work with and we certainly learned a lot about the creating a program.

We first filmed at the Rainbow Rocks site where she recorded the site and conducted an interview with Mr. Zeigler who initially discovered the petroglyphs while he was excavating at the rockshelter in the 1950’s.

Our next stop was Parkers Landing where filming consumed most of the afternoon. As the rock art segment is only a short part of a larger tv news magazine we decided to include only these two sites.

The program aired in January 2008 but can still be viewed by logging on to the WQED web site at : http://www.wqed.org/tv/ondemand. Under choose episode look in the History and “Landmarks” category for: “Rock Art Carvings in Stone” There is also a great program on surface collecting by the Allegheny Chapter under the same category titled “Pennsylvania Digs”.

The Pennsylvania Archaeological Council and the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology each recently awarded grants for C-14 dating of three components at the Fishbasket site Complex. Beta Analytic in Florida is currently running four separate dates.

One is from the Fishbasket North Site locus 3 which is a completely excavated and as yet unpublished village.

One date is from the Cherico Site which is an adjacent village partially excavated but mostly destroyed by the railroad and adjoining housing construction.

Two dates are from the Fishbasket site in Armstrong county.

Hopefully these additional dates will permit a better understanding of the occupational sequence of these individual villages. A more formal report will be presented at a later date.

In Memorium

Justin C. Burkett, March 15, 1983 – September 24, 2005.
Justin’s life was full of adventure and a deep interest and appreciation of nature, the outdoors and history.