ASCO: The Archaeological Society of Central Oregon is a nonprofit organization and was formed in January 1994. Current membership is over 100 individuals. Our primary goals are to stimulate public interest in the professional management of our archaeological resources and to preserve and study our past ways of life. Society members believe that through their participation they can help conserve and bring to life many of the vanishing pages of history for future generations.

General Meetings:  Bimonthly meetings for members and visitors are held on the 3rd Thursday of alternate months from September through May. Meetings are meant to be both educational and entertaining and give opportunities for people with common interests to get acquainted. Due to COVID-related closures, all meetings will be held via Zoom Video Conference until further notice.

Board Meetings:  Board Meetings are generally held on the 1st Tuesday of the month. Please, contact us at ascoinfomail@gmail.com if you would like to attend.

Newsletter:  We publish a periodic newsletter,  The e-Midden , which contains schedules of all society activities and other articles.

Code of Ethics:

The following Code of Ethics shall be affirmed by and binding upon all members.

"As a member of the Archaeological Society of Central Oregon (ASCO), I will:

  1. Abide by all local, State, and Federal laws governing the protection and preservation of cultural heritage resources; and, will report all violations to the appropriate authorities
  2. Obtain the advice, consent, and assistance of qualified professionals in archaeology and/or history when dealing with the material remains of antiquity
  3. Keep cultural resource site locations confidential, including mapped site locations, site specific access descriptions, photograph location metadata. Do not post such locational information on any media including social media platforms to protect cultural resources unless authorized previously by an agency professional, property land owner or manager. 
  4. Assist professionals and educators in accomplishing the objectives of ASCO by participating in research, interpretive, and public outreach projects only approved or supervised by qualified professionals
  5. Obtain the authorization of the owner or property manager when dealing with material remains of antiquity present on private land

Contrary Acts:

The following are considered contrary to the objectives of the Society:


  1. Indiscriminate or illegal excavation or alteration of archaeological sites
  2. Illegal or unethical acquisition of archaeological and ethnographic materials
  3. Any act contrary to local, State, or Federal laws


Privacy Policy:

1. Names, addresses, home phones and emails are listed in our database, and this private data is available to ASCO Board members for use in maintaining membership records and historical information. This information is intended solely for ASCO internal affairs. It is not intended, and will not be used for, any commercial mail or email or any other commercial use. 

2. You have complete control over the data that you would like to be public and private on the membership directory profile. If you sign up for an activity, your activity leader will have access to your profile information for purposes of scheduling and in order to ensure your safety on the activity. 

3. We never sell our membership or contact list. We may partner with another organization to disseminate information that we think is relevant to you. In this case, we will send out information from our partner to you but we will not share your information directly with the partner.

4. If you have concerns about the storage of your personal information in our database, please email us at ascoinfomail@gmail.com


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