Department of Anthropology
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis 14, Minnesota
Number 3, Fall 1961
Elden Johnson, Editor
[5 pages, no figures]
The serious local collector is one of the important contributors to the advancing knowledge of prehistoric man in the New World, for this man knows his local area, and his careful surface collecting from sites provides invaluable information. It is obvious that no professional archaeologist can possibly know as intimately or in as much detail the hundreds of localities in his region as do the local amateurs. Nor has the professional the time necessary to observe the myriad construction activities that each year are the potential discoverers of archeological material. The local collector is on the spot, and it is through his interest and observation that such discoveries are made known and the information salvaged. It is indeed fortunate that the information gained is shared so willingly with the professional archeologist, for through this means the data become a part of the rapidly growing body of knowledge shared by all interested in the prehistoric development of man. The cooperation of the local collector with the professional archeologist has always been extraordinarily good in Minnesota, and the serious amateur can be justly proud of this record.
This same serious amateur and local collector can make his information more valuable to himself and to his professional colleague by carefully documenting his collection. He knows, of course, that it is the information as well as the object found that is important. He is also aware of his responsibilities as a contributing amateur and seeks to deter the vandal and the uninformed collector who annually destroy evidence by indiscriminately digging sites. The artifacts he finds are not just "things" to him as they might be to some less sophisticated "relic seeker". These are not simply collections of arrowheads akin to collections or matchbook covers or auto-
mobile license plates. They are, or can be, truly scientific collections. The surface collections of projectile points, stone skin working tools, pottery sherds, and the other materials he has are particularly valuable because they come from specific archaeological sites that he knows well. Too often, however, this information on the locus of the finds, the associated artifacts, specific information on the nature of the sites, and other vital information is there, but only in the head of the collector. He can remember this information, just as he can recall the time, place, and circumstances of the finding of most of the objects in his collection. How much more valuable, however, if this information were permanently recorded and the collection carefully numbered and labelled.
The permanent documentation of a collection is not a task that need be looked upon as a necessary evil but as time well spent. The evenings devoted to this will more than repay the collector by organizing his collection and his information and undoubtedly suggesting new leads and giving new insights into both his collection and his area.
The first step is the numbering of the artifacts in the collection with a permanent system of numbers. Indian ink numbers applied directly to the specimen, or applied over a patch of white paint on a dark specimen, gives a simple and effective system. The numbers can be covered with a thin brushing of shellac to ensure their preservation. Any numbering system can be used as long as it is clear and as long as the date [data?] on each numbered specimen is recorded in a permanent book or ledger of some sort. One such numbering system is to record finds in simple numerical order; another is to assign a number to each collecting locality or site and then number specimens from each of these localities in numerical order. The important point is that the numbers are then entered in a record book and that after each number information on the specimen itself, the date of the find, and the site and its location are recorded. Memories are not always perfect, particularly as the collection grows, so this simple record system will ensure the serious amateur of the enduring scientific importance of his collection.
Many collectors go further and keep another record book in which they record specific information on archaeological sites in their locality. The sites are located by using the legal description of the land - section, range, township - and it should include a sketch map of the site drawn to scale. Notes on the site should include a description of the terrain, the location of the site relative to other natural and man-made features, areas within the site where surface concentrations or artifacts seem to occur, and other pertinent information. A good contour map is an invaluable aid, particularly those U.S. Geological Survey topographic quadrants published for many areas. County highway maps, showing township and range, as well as all roads and most buildings, are available in Minnesota from the County highway engineer or the Minnesota Highway Department for a nominal cost. With any one of these maps the specific location can be determined and with a compass and a measurement of the length of stride a good sketch map can be made for any site simply by pacing. Adding this information and recording it carefully will be rewarding to any amateur archeologist.
The value of information as well as objects is clear and the importance of a well-documented local collection to the amateur and professional archaeologist is obvious. The amateur, who, in addition to his usual activities, does work over his collection with care and does record the information, has added considerably to the pleasure and knowledge he receives from his collection, and he also contributes his specialized knowledge to that of other engaged in the study of man.
The annual Anthropology Department archeological field session was held during the first summer session, the five week period from June 12 to July 14, 1961, at Grand Portage National Monument, Grant [sic] Portage, Minnesota. Fourteen students and two assistants participated in the excavation under the direction of Elden Johnson, State Archeologist, for the National Park Service and the Minnesota Historical Society.
The entire five weeks were spent at the Grand Portage site, where the areas excavated were those where the National Park Service plans to construct the Monument Headquarters and museum buildings. The purpose of the excavation was to determine whether or not there were any remains of historic buildings of the French or British trading posts in these areas which would be destroyed by construction. No traces of such buildings were found.
Grand Portage, in Cook County, is located on Lake Superior about five or ten miles south of the mouth of the Pigeon River and the Canadian border and about 40 miles north of Grand Marais. During the days of the French voyageurs and fur trappers there were several trading posts located at Grand Portage at the end of the nine mile portage trail from Fort Charlotte, located on the Pigeon River above the falls, the point where the canoe travel on the river was no longer possible. The furs were portaged from Fort Charlotte to Grand Portage along the portage trail by the voyageurs.
All archaeological finds of the 1961 excavation were post-contact materials - items such as nails, crockery, rusted iron and gun flints. A few flaked lithic materials such as scrapers were found, but there were no projectile points or knives, and there was no pottery.
The general area around Grand Portage (Grand Portage Island and Mount Josephine beaches) was also surveyed for possible prehistoric sites, but again nothing but contact materials were found.
Students participating in the excavations were Joyce Aschenbrenner, Dick Bailey, Judy Campbell, Jerome Carroll, Allen Ehriich, Dave Hennesey, Melvin Jensen, Carl Johnson, Nancy Lienke [? first letter obscure], Tony Lord, Beverly Lorentzen, Roberta Silverstein, Jim Stoltman, and Betty Whiteman. Two University graduate students in anthropology acted as field assistants: Maggi Read of Fairfield, Connecticut, was research assistant, and Rae Bonney of St. Paul, was teaching assistant.
During July and August sites were excavated near Lisbon, North Dakota; Newfolden and Pelan, Minnesota, to conclude the excavations in this region carried out over the past three summers. Tim Fiske, Gary Hume, Tony Lord, and Elden Johnson worked these sites. Financing of this program was through a research grant from the National Science Foundation.
The Voight site (21 WN 15) is situated on the western bank of the Mississippi River a few miles north of LaCrescent, Minnesota, just over the Winona County line (SE 1/4 of SW 1/4 of Sec. 28, R. 4 W, T. 105 N). The site lies within the right of way of Highway 61 and the new Interstate highway. Its destruction by highway construction activities is imminent, and these excavations were intended to salvage such data as could be obtained in hurried field excavations.
The Voight site was originally reported to the University of Minnesota Department of Anthropology in 1938, when Mr. Frank Voight, the owner of the property had a road cut through the side of a hill to a new house he had built, and several skeletons were uncovered. When it was discovered that the bones were human, excavations were halted, and the skeletal remains were reburied behind a retaining wall on the west side of the road.
On May 11, 1961, Elden Johnson and G. E. Evans excavated a small test trench in the side of the hill to locate the burials. While excavating in the northern end of the test trench, the bones that had been reburied were encountered and designated Burial #1.
A crew of three University graduate students, (Wilda Anderson, T. J. Barrette, and G. E. Evans) began excavating the site on Monday, May 15, 1961. A tractor with a backholer [sic] excavated at a point about 12 meters north of the north end of the test trench. The northwest corner of the test pit was used as the 0.0 point from which all measurements were taken. The machine was used to excavate as far up the hill as possible (to bedrock sandstone), which was approximately 2.5 meters below the surface. Between three and four meters Burial #2 was encountered after some of the leg bones appeared in the back fill. The tractor was then moved farther south, and work began in clearing the area around Burial #2. One meter north of the 0.0 point Burial #3 was found. The tractor was then used to excavate a small area south of the test trench, but nothing more was found. While cleaning the west wall of the test trench, the metatarsal bones of another burial were found, and this was designated Burial #4.
The pits lay under the humus soil zone and could be traced through the underlying gray clay and gravel, but they disappeared in the red subsoil. It should be noted that no humus or organic material was found in the pits. The fill of the pits appeared to be the grey clay and red subsoil, and, in
the area of the bones, large amounts of red ochre. Another feature which should be noted is the great depth at which the burials occurred.
Each pit was oval in outline with no particular orientation, Pit 2 east and west and Pits 3 and 4 roughly NW-SE. Pits 3 and 4 were the same size, 1.5 meters by 1.0 meter. Pit 2 was 1.2 meters long and .75 meters wide. Pit 2 contained a flexed burial of a young 18 to 20 year old female. In the pelvic area there were the bones of an infant, and near the left shoulder was a mussel shell. A small piece of worker [sic] copper was found in the pit fill. No other cultural materials were found. Pit 3 contained the semi-flexed skeleton of a young female. The legs were crossed at the ankles and drawn up toward the body as though the individual had been sitting cross-legged and then lay back on the ground maintaining the cross-legged position. Near the right shoulder three mussell [sic] shells were found. An extra humerus was found near and under the pelvis, and there was a large amount of red ochre in the pit. Pit 4 contained four burials which appeared to have been semi-primary burials in tightly-flexed positions, as groups of bones were found in proper anatomical order. These burials may represent group burials of those who had died during the winter and had partially decomposed before their burial in the spring. Associated with this group were a number of animal bones, most of which appear to be deer. A broken quartz projectile point was found near the pelvis of Burial #4, and a mussell shell was found near Skull #5. A broken tip from a quartzite projectile point was found in the red subsoil.
Excavation of this site was made possible by an emergency grant of funds from the University of Minnesota Graduate School. Further excavations of the burial site and a possible associated habitation site were made by Tim Fiske and Gary Hume in June, 1961. These excavations, also financed by the Graduate School, will be reported in the full site report at a later date.
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