Posted on 11/11/2007 8:36:14 AM PST by blam
Walker archeological dig unearths more finds
Gail De Boer, Pilot Independent
Published Friday, November 09, 2007
Despite not having as much time as he’d hoped to work at the Walker Hill site this summer, Leech Lake Heritage Sites (LLHS) program director and tribal archaeologist Thor Olmanson says it was a productive and exciting season.
“We have boxes of things to go through this winter,” he declared Nov. 1, as he showed off recent “finds.”
In 2004, LLHS, a for-profit archaeological consulting firm owned by the Leech Lake Band, was brought in to study the site chosen for the new Walker Area Community Center and to look for cultural resources. Site studies are required for projects that receive federal funding.
A tiny triangular stone tool made of agate was perhaps the most important find of the summer, made by Amanda Burnette, an intern working at the Leech Lake Heritage Sites excavations.
In “digs” conducted in 2005 and 2006, LLHS’ team discovered what they and others believed were human-made stone artifacts far older than any previously discovered.
Humans were thought to have come to this part of Minnesota no earlier than 10,000 before present (BP). However, an examination of glacial deposits and strata at the levels where these artifacts were found seems to point to a date of 13,000 BP or earlier.
After news of the finds hit the media, other professionals, including State Archaeologist Scott Anfinson, dismissed LLHS’ findings as incorrect. But others in the field supported Olmanson and his team.
Summer’s work
This summer, the LLHS crew has been back, joined at times by Sue and Steve Mulholland, archaeologists with the Duluth Archaeology Center; David Mather, National Register Archaeologist with the State Historic Preservation Office; and Dr. Howard Hobbs with the Minnesota Geological Survey.
All this year’s excavations have been on land owned by WACC; previous digs were on adjacent land owned by the city of Walker; but LLHS was unable to get permission to continue digging there. Living Water Church also owns property adjacent to the dig sites.
Unusual ‘find’
Also working on the dig were Leech Lake Tribal College grad Amanda Burnette and five other students who were part of a 10-week natural resources internship program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
While sifting soil through a screen, Burnette spotted “the find” of the season: a tiny, unique tool now called the “Burnette Micro-Tool.”
The triangular artifact made of agate is no bigger than a person’s little fingernail. Olmanson says the tool has been bifacially worked all the way around and exhibits “basal thinning,” where a broad flake has been taken off each side of the base to allow the tool to be “hafted” or affixed onto a handle.
This, he explains, is suggestive of Paleoindian (12,000 to 8,500 BP) fluting technologies. Similarly shaped but larger tools were common in the Woodland period (about 1,200 to 250 BP). A tool this small would have been used for detail work.
Burnette was honored for her find Nov. 1 with the first-ever LLTC Presidential Award for Excellence.
Attending the ceremony were Jody Chase and Mike Fredenberg from NSF, who were very interested to hear about the site. After seeing some artifacts and photos of soil profiles, they invited Olmanson and his team to Washington, DC, possibly this winter, to present a seminar to the NSF board.
Other ‘finds’
Other items found this summer were lithic (stone) materials; some were raw, while others had been thermally-altered (heated) to make them more workable. There also was a large amount of lithic debitage (chips, chunks, flakes left from tool making), pebble tools and other items similar to the “atypical assemblage” found in earlier digs.
They also found a classic “thumbnail” scraper, weathered and made from a pebble.
Olmanson said the scraper would be an instantly recognizable tool to any archaeologist, because this tool form has been found around the world at sites of widely differing ages.
While most tools were made from materials native to the area, a few were crafted from Tongue River silica not found at the site, but found about 10 miles away.
No immediate answers
In this field of science, definitive answers usually don’t come immediately, Olmanson cautioned. LLHS staff and other scientists will probably be studying the Walker Hill site for years, maybe decades, while debate continues about its significance.
“Hundreds of hours of lab analysis, thousands of dollars of studies, carbon-dating, optically-stimulated luminescence studies, protein tests, tool-edge wear studies, experimental replications and more lie ahead before any definitive statements can be made about the precise age of the Walker Hill site,” he stressed.
Nevertheless, he said everything he and his colleagues are seeing points to an early age and to a previously unrecognized assemblage of artifacts.
Paradigm shift
In fact, Olmanson went on, this may be part of a “Kuhnsian paradigm shift” in the basic scientific assumptions surrounding when humans first arrived in North America.
In 1962, Thomas Kuhn, author of “The Structure of Scientific Revolution,” defined and popularized the concept of the paradigm shift - defined as the process and result of a change in the basic assumptions within a theory of science.
Two examples of historic paradigm shifts would be the change from thinking the earth is flat to accepting that the earth is round; and from believing the sun revolves around the earth to understanding that the earth revolves around the sun.
“Everyone who has actually visited the site and considered the context from which the artifacts were derived agrees that a cultural (human) origin for the artifacts is the only viable explanation,” Olmanson stated.
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Looking even farther down, they discovered the remains of a teeny, weeny slot machine-no bigger than an arrowhead. It was constructed from twigs and stone.
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A tiny triangular stone tool made of agate was perhaps the most important find of the summer, made by Amanda Burnette, an intern working at the Leech Lake Heritage Sites excavations~ pic.
http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/gfx/photos/full/MicroTU4848cmbs.jpg
I’ve been collecting agates since childhood on the shores of Lake Superior, haven’t found one like this yet!
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