The 2009 Meeting, held on January 24 at the Smith Middle School in Glastonbury CT, was highlighted by the presence of Dr. James M. Adovasio of the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, Mercyhurst College in Erie Pennsylvania. His presentation was "Early Human Populations in the New World: A Biased Perspective, and discussed his excavation findings of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania.

Meadowcroft Rockshelter is the earliest well-dated archaeological site providing evidence that humans populated the Western Hemisphere at least 16,000 years ago. Dr. Adovasio's discussion touched on a wide variety of points, ranging from the landing of Columbus in the New World; speculations on the indigenous populations (where did they come from? how long ago? how did they get here?); and various misconceptions as to what they hunted and how they lived. A detailed discussion of the excavation of the Rockshelter was also given, accompanied by a comprehensive series of slides taken during his work there.


Preceding this was the "business" portion of the meeting. Highlights included the following:

> A moment of silence was requested in memory of Dave Cooke, a founding member of FOSA and, as State Archaeologist Nick Bellantoni said during a later presentation, one of the finest field workers he's ever encountered.

> Dick LaRose was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for contributions he's performed in support of FOSA's archaeological work on projects in Connecticut over the past several years.

> The existence of the new FOSA web site was announced to the membership.

> Immediately preceding Dr. Adovasio's discussion, Nick Bellantoni -- accompanied by a montage of photographs provided by John Spaulding -- gave a eulogy of Dave, and his work with and contributions to, FOSA and the overall archaeological community in Connecticut.