Digging Up Answers
Quincy Herald-Whig
July 26, 2004
By Deborah Gertz Husar
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Small bags filled with bones silently line a table at
the Illinois State Museum Research and Collections Center.
But the samples, excavated from beneath the earth at the site of New
Philadelphia, speak volumes about the people who lived in the Pike County
community, the first in the nation incorporated by an African-American.
Working to uncover the story behind the bones and other artifacts marks the
final task for students participating in the first fieldschool for the New
Philadelphia Archaeological Research Project.
Nine students, selected from a pool of nationwide applicants, spent five
weeks at New Philadelphia excavating the past and uncovering a wide range
of artifacts and architectural features from the community. Now they're
wrapping up five weeks at the research and collections center, spending
time in the Springfield lab to analyze and catalog the finds.
Trading shovels and sunscreen for computers and microscopes, the students
learned another facet of archaeological work.
"They've gotten to develop a wide range of skills. They've seen just about
everything that goes into an archaeology project," said Paul Shackel, head
of the Center for Heritage Resources at the University of Maryland, who
oversees the fieldschool. "I think they've learned a lot. I'm glad they get
time in the lab, too. A lot of fieldschools are six weeks in the field,
then the students leave."
Jesse Sloan, a senior at the University of Central Florida-Orlando, enjoys
both aspects of the school. "I've learned a lot. I had to learn the whole
process of excavation," he said, but the lab work also appeals to him.
"It's more analytical. I think I like the lab work better. There's no sun."
Terry Martin, the museum's curator of anthropology, worked with students to
identify the animal remains, comparing finds from a trash pit on the
southeast part of the New Philadelphia site with bones on file in the lab
and skeletons on display.
Up to 95 percent of the remains have been identified, with the majority
from pigs and chickens. "There was a single sheep bone, a few cow bones but
not many at all. In terms of wild game, we've got cottontail rabbit,
squirrel, possum," Martin said. "By the 1870s, deer were hunted out in this
part of Illinois and had become quite rare. The students and I only
identified one deer bone."
Also found were fish bones and remains of Norway rats along with signs of
gnawing on the other bones, leading researchers to believe the trash pit
was open and accessible to rodents.
The analysis sheds light on what the people of New Philadelphia ate - and
where they hailed from based on regional preferences. Martin said the finds
fit the Upland South tradition, commonly found in Southern Illinois
archaeological sites, which relied primarily on pigs and wild game with
very little cattle.
People migrating from Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas brought that
tradition with them to Illinois, but it runs counter to what's usually
found in central and northern Illinois, where the Yankee tradition
prevailed. "The influence from New England (was) cattle primarily with very
little in the way of wild game," Martin said.
Researchers know New Philadelphia drew people from across the nation, and
Martin expects future excavation work at the site to yield finds reflecting
the Yankee tradition as well.
The lab work, combined with oral history interviews done as part of the
fieldschool, help broaden the research base for the project from just New
Philadelphia to the whole of Hadley Township.
The fieldschool findings will be posted on the New Philadelphia Web site,
accessible to other researchers and others interested in the project. "It's
a very important project," Shackel said.
The fieldschool, sponsored by the National Science Foundation Research
Experiences for Undergraduates Program, continues for the next two summers,
and for the first-time effort, "we couldn't be more pleased. Everything
went well," Martin said.
"It was a good first experience for us and the students," Shackel said.
Planning for next year's session will start Aug. 1 - and there could be
some familiar faces. Some of this year's students already are lobbying
Shackel and Martin for a chance to come back and uncover more of the past.
--On the Net: http://www.heritage.umd.edu
Contact Staff Writer Deborah Gertz Husar at dhusar@whig.com or (217) 221-3379
Digging Up Answers - sidebar
By Deborah Gertz Husar
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - In a lab at the Illinois State Museum Research and
Collections Center, student Megan Cerasale worked with research assistant
Marge Schroeder to screen a small sample of wood and plant material to view
under the microscope.
"I never used a microscope before," said Cerasale, a senior at the
University of Central Florida. "I like the fieldwork better, but this is
fun too. You have to use your mind for this."
The magnification turns tiny specks excavated during a summer fieldschool
at the New Philadelphia site into dimensional objects, readily identifiable
types of wood for Cerasale when compared with a poster hanging on a nearby
wall or bits of wheat, corn or black walnut shell.
Nearby, St. Cloud State University senior Steve Manion refigured some
percentages on a calculator, then carefully recorded the numbers before
posing a question to Schroeder. "What do I do now?"
Just down the hall, Cecelia Ayala worked on cataloging finds ranging from
ceramics and glass to pieces of brick, nails and mortar. "It's technical
and time-consuming," said Ayala, a senior at the University of Texas-El
Paso.
"With the ceramics, we want to be able to date them, see exactly where they
came from and see where the residents of New Philadelphia were getting
their pottery from," she said. "These things were in their homes. They were
using them. It's opened my eyes to archaeology and another world."
In cataloging, the students record information about each artifact
including bag number, where it was found, its type, color, provenience or
origin and other details to help other researchers interested in the finds.
Reference books help identify some pieces - and so does consultation with
other experts, especially with one piece originally thought to be ceramic.
Terry Martin, ISM curator of anthropology, "identified it as a crinoid,
often used for jewelry," said Charlotte King, a part-time employee with the
National Park Service working with the fieldschool.
Contact Staff Writer
Deborah Gertz Husar at dhusar@whig.com
or (217) 221-3379