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Elexes Waddell, right front, helps Clarion University of Pennsylvania students uncover what is thought to be a fire pit at one of the excavation sites along the Clarion River. Students partake in university project to unearth ancient artifacts
By Heidi Zemach
Special to The Record
Eight high school students from various Elk County schools, and Archeology majors from Clarion and Slippery Rock Universities, have been digging in the dirt along the Clarion River on the former Millstone Town site these past few weeks.
Sporting yellow hard-hats, they kneel on foam pads and use small trowels and paint brushes to painstakingly unearth artifacts and other signs of the area’s history that date back a thousand years or more.
Once enough soil is loosened to unearth fire pits or old building sites, it is taken by the dustpan-full and sifted for tiny hidden objects in a method similar to panning for gold.
The Clarion River Archeological Study Program and Field School excavation is being led by Dr. Susan Prezzano, of Clarion University of Pennsylvania, in cooperation with the Marienville Ranger District of the Allegheny National Forest. It is funded from a Title III Secure Rural Schools grant from Elk County.
Elexes Waddell, of Ridgway, who will be a freshman in September, is happy to be earning a full college credit over the summer, while getting hands-on archeology and natural science experience.
“I’ve never had the opportunity to do this. It just sounded fun and it really is,” Waddell said.
In just five days Elexes had uncovered flakes, glass, metals and pottery all from historic and pre-historic times.
Holding what appeared to be small, dirty tan pebbles that she called pottery, Elexes demonstrated how their smooth ridges show they had been once crafted by humans.
Chloe VanEerden, a sophomore at Elk County Catholic, said she has been having a blast and making life-long friends.
Already speaking like an archeologist after just under two weeks, VanEerden said she had unearthed some pre-historic pottery, flakes left over from tool making, possibly arrowheads, old ceramics from the mid-1800s, and plenty of historic metal.
A historic object is considered anything 50 years or older.
“It really fascinates me to touch something that hasn’t been touched for a thousand years — it’s such a high,” VanEerden said. “I can’t help wondering what were the people then doing, and what were they thinking? And what will the people (in the future) be doing and thinking when they touch things that I have touched.”
Chloe also loves just camping out with the others. They bake their own bread every night, and try out all kinds of interesting new recipes, she explained.
Armed with the knowledge of what these artifacts actually look and feel like, both girls said they would now be able to dig through turned dirt in their own backyards, or anywhere, and that these artifacts would just pop out at them.
Dylan Vanalstine, of St Marys High School, held a historic artifact in a clear plastic bag as he documented it in a thick file folder. Time seemed to move very slowly during the field study, he said, but the hands-on opportunities offered held his interest nevertheless and only deepened his desire to get into Archeology.
Prezzano, the field instructor, said excavating is like a time machine, where the deeper you dig, the earlier back in time you go. Her group had also excavated trash from the 1980s, bottles from the 1930s, an old shed or barn, nails and bolts for buildings, a sleigh bell, burn pits, Native American tools, and pottery from the late Woodland period, A.D. 1250, or roughly 1,000 years ago.
The Clarion River has previously had very little scientific exploration or historic study, said Eric Patton, a local author and Millcreek Township Supervisor, who also headed a field trip to several historic period archeological sites. He also helped with a geomorphic excavation further down the river.
Patton came up with the excavation site location and was thrilled to see discoveries realized in front of his very own eyes. Learning the importance of historic sites and their locations will be helpful to the Allegheny National Forest and Elk County in planning camp sites, trails, parking areas, boat ramps, or even historical interpretive tourist sites, according to Patton.
Prehistoric Native American fire pits, hearths and flint were found in nearly 70 percent of the test sites early in the geomorphic investigation. These proved a very long human occupation of the Clarion River valley. At one site excavated last year, soils found adjacent to the river are believed to date to the ice age, 10,500 years ago. Tests are underway to confirm this possibility.
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