March Social & Networking Event
We hope you can stop by our March social for networking and a brief presentation. The event is free, and appetizers will be served. Cash bar.
- Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania
- Tuesday March 10th
- 4:30-6:30pm
Presentation: The History of Blacksmith Shops, Social Identity, and the Archaeology of Slag and Slivers
During the social, Ryan Rowles with The Markosky Engineering Group, Inc. with provide a brief presentation on the “The History of Blacksmith Shops, Social Identity, and the Archaeology of Slag and Slivers”. This presentation pulls from “The Trade of Blacksmithing in Rural Pennsylvania” booklet by Jessica Schumer-Rowles, MA, RPA.
Ryan A. Rowles, M.A.
Program Manager – Federal Services
As the Program Manager of Federal Services for Markosky, Ryan oversees all federal service initiatives, including engineering, environmental, and cultural resources. Using his background in cultural resource management where he often engaged with project owners, federal and state agencies, and other stakeholders to collaboratively execute project initiatives, Mr. Rowles now often serves as the primary point of contact for federal partners where he forecasts resource needs to ensure efficient allocation of personnel, technology, and other assets. From time to time, however, Mr. Rowles still enjoys presenting topics related to past archaeological projects on which he worked in his former role.
ABSTRACT
Blacksmiths were among some of the first colonists to travel to North America. For the next several hundred years, they were a part of everyday life, helping to build and shape communities through the mid-20th Century. And the idea of the blacksmith was shaped in the minds and hearts of the American individual. But who were they really, and how do leftover byproducts in the soil (not horseshoes) tell us about the life of the blacksmith and the community that they worked in?