Post by blackcrowheart on Mar 8, 2006 16:01:23 GMT -5
Local dig produces the 'Holy Grail' of archaeology
By DEBBY HEISHMAN
Staff writer
www.publicopiniononline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060304/NEWS01/603040318/1002/NEWS17
One little arrowhead has caused quite a stir among local amateur archaeologists.
But one arrowhead is all it took to turn Ebberts Spring Site 36FR367, two miles
south of Greencastle, from a typical archaeological dig into a super site.
The artifact, which can be hidden in the palm of your hand, is a paleo point — a
stone point from a spear used during the Paleo-Indianperiod from 10,000 to 8000
B.C., just after the last ice age. It's identifiable from later styles of points
by the groove chipped into each side. These grooves helped in slipping the stone
into a split wood shaft.
It's a rare find, said Doug Stine, president of Cumberland Valley Chapter 27
Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology Inc.
"A paleo point is the Holy Grail of archaeology," he said.
The point was found last fall while the chapter's members, all but one of them
avocational archaeologists, were excavating nine inches deep in the lawn of the
Colonial era home at Ebberts Spring. At this layer, they were finding artifacts
from 1000 B.C. and earlier.
Stine had just unearthed an exceptional artifact and wandered over to where
Melissa Spatz, a Gettysburg teacher, was looking intently at the ground. The two
had a friendly competition going and Stine wanted to brag.
"Are you OK?" he asked as she sat there, staring at her work site. There lay the
paleo point.
"In one instant," he said, "we went from a 9,000-year-old archeological dig to
an 11,000-year-old super site."
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission reports that this type of
point is an uncommon find, due to a low population density during the relatively
short Paleo-Indian period. All it takes for a site to be listed as a paleo dig
is one artifact from the Paleo period. The site is named a super site when it
includes artifacts from all four levels of past civilization (see chart).
Other items found at Ebberts Spring, besides masses of points from the Archaic
and Woodland periods, are clay pipes, stone tools and pottery, including a
nearly complete bowl that's associated with burials in the mid-Woodland period.
More recent artifacts such as buttons, jars and old coins were found in the top
layers of dirt.
While some excavation at the site had been ongoing for years, the dig started in
earnest in 2003 after the property owner, also a chapter member, mentioned how
many arrowheads he'd find each year while digging his gardens. Workers dug near
the spring and were overwhelmed by the sheer number and variety of items
uncovered.
Stine charted a grid of 5-foot-by-5-foot squares and numbered each one. Digging
only 3 inches deep at a time, teams of workers dug and recorded their finds by
section. Layer by layer, items were carefully collected and stored. In winter,
they clean, sort and catalog all their finds, using the old two-story
springhouse as a makeshift office.
Ron Powell, the site supervisor and a retired engineer, is convinced this was a
permanent community for many ages of civilization.
"The spring produces 650 gallons of water a minute," he explained. "This is what
drew people here for 11,000 years."
More recently, he said, this area was the crossroads of two great Indian trails,
the Virginia Trail and the Georgetown Road.
"At least a remnant of people from different groups stayed here all year," he
said. "It would have been occupied through fall and winter, until they moved
down to the Potomac each spring to fish."
Powell also found post hole patterns that match the size and shape of a sweat
lodge, a building where young men would go for ritual cleansing and healing.
"We found a hearth with pottery the right size and shape," he said.
Stine said the site itself is a unique dig. Doug McClearen, a chief officer with
the state's Bureau of Historic Preservation, told Stine that Ebberts Spring is
the only Pennsylvania site in the Great Valley region that's been dug near a
spring. The Great Valley, of which Cumberland Valley is a portion, runs from New
York to the Tennessee River valleys.
The rare find at Ebberts Spring is still not widely known. This spring, Stine
plans to publicize it in the society's magazine, Pennsylvania Archaeologist.
Originally published March 4, 2006
By DEBBY HEISHMAN
Staff writer
www.publicopiniononline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060304/NEWS01/603040318/1002/NEWS17
One little arrowhead has caused quite a stir among local amateur archaeologists.
But one arrowhead is all it took to turn Ebberts Spring Site 36FR367, two miles
south of Greencastle, from a typical archaeological dig into a super site.
The artifact, which can be hidden in the palm of your hand, is a paleo point — a
stone point from a spear used during the Paleo-Indianperiod from 10,000 to 8000
B.C., just after the last ice age. It's identifiable from later styles of points
by the groove chipped into each side. These grooves helped in slipping the stone
into a split wood shaft.
It's a rare find, said Doug Stine, president of Cumberland Valley Chapter 27
Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology Inc.
"A paleo point is the Holy Grail of archaeology," he said.
The point was found last fall while the chapter's members, all but one of them
avocational archaeologists, were excavating nine inches deep in the lawn of the
Colonial era home at Ebberts Spring. At this layer, they were finding artifacts
from 1000 B.C. and earlier.
Stine had just unearthed an exceptional artifact and wandered over to where
Melissa Spatz, a Gettysburg teacher, was looking intently at the ground. The two
had a friendly competition going and Stine wanted to brag.
"Are you OK?" he asked as she sat there, staring at her work site. There lay the
paleo point.
"In one instant," he said, "we went from a 9,000-year-old archeological dig to
an 11,000-year-old super site."
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission reports that this type of
point is an uncommon find, due to a low population density during the relatively
short Paleo-Indian period. All it takes for a site to be listed as a paleo dig
is one artifact from the Paleo period. The site is named a super site when it
includes artifacts from all four levels of past civilization (see chart).
Other items found at Ebberts Spring, besides masses of points from the Archaic
and Woodland periods, are clay pipes, stone tools and pottery, including a
nearly complete bowl that's associated with burials in the mid-Woodland period.
More recent artifacts such as buttons, jars and old coins were found in the top
layers of dirt.
While some excavation at the site had been ongoing for years, the dig started in
earnest in 2003 after the property owner, also a chapter member, mentioned how
many arrowheads he'd find each year while digging his gardens. Workers dug near
the spring and were overwhelmed by the sheer number and variety of items
uncovered.
Stine charted a grid of 5-foot-by-5-foot squares and numbered each one. Digging
only 3 inches deep at a time, teams of workers dug and recorded their finds by
section. Layer by layer, items were carefully collected and stored. In winter,
they clean, sort and catalog all their finds, using the old two-story
springhouse as a makeshift office.
Ron Powell, the site supervisor and a retired engineer, is convinced this was a
permanent community for many ages of civilization.
"The spring produces 650 gallons of water a minute," he explained. "This is what
drew people here for 11,000 years."
More recently, he said, this area was the crossroads of two great Indian trails,
the Virginia Trail and the Georgetown Road.
"At least a remnant of people from different groups stayed here all year," he
said. "It would have been occupied through fall and winter, until they moved
down to the Potomac each spring to fish."
Powell also found post hole patterns that match the size and shape of a sweat
lodge, a building where young men would go for ritual cleansing and healing.
"We found a hearth with pottery the right size and shape," he said.
Stine said the site itself is a unique dig. Doug McClearen, a chief officer with
the state's Bureau of Historic Preservation, told Stine that Ebberts Spring is
the only Pennsylvania site in the Great Valley region that's been dug near a
spring. The Great Valley, of which Cumberland Valley is a portion, runs from New
York to the Tennessee River valleys.
The rare find at Ebberts Spring is still not widely known. This spring, Stine
plans to publicize it in the society's magazine, Pennsylvania Archaeologist.
Originally published March 4, 2006