Council for Minnesota Archaeological Newsletter
The Science Museum of Minnesota
30 East 10th Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101
Number 17 Fall, 1972
Tim Fiske, Editor
[6 pages]
For many years the State Archaeologist has attempted to develop and maintain an up to date file of all known sites in our State, both excavated and unexcavated. This has been a steady and monumental job considering the size of the State and the limited number of archaeologists who have carried on survey and excavation. However, many interested amateurs have also aided in this task.
At present there are over 1,500 sites (prehistoric and early historic] known and recorded. Included in these sites are over 10,000 burial mounds. Some of these sites no longer exist due to destruction by farming, construction, or natural causes, but they were recorded many years ago. Many more sites exist in Minnesota. They have either not been located or if located have not been reported.
The knowledge of the location of these unrecorded sites is extremely important to preserve or sometimes salvage these natural resources of our State. With increased construction and other potential sources of site destruction each year, the job of preservation is increasingly more difficult.
The Council for Minnesota Archaeology would like to encourage all of you to report sites which you have located to the State Archaeologist. Please do not consider this request as an encouragement to excavate sites as most sites are discovered by surface indications, and many of our readers do have interesting surface collections of their own. The locations of all sites reported are kept confidential to prevent human destruction, and the information is used for future protection of the site or for possible excavation under the control of a trained archaeologist.
There are many sites still to be discovered in Minnesota and some of these will undoubtedly provide vital information to fill gaps in our prehistory and early history. This is an opportunity for you to assist the Council in developing a more complete record of Minnesota sites. We need your help.
The basic information which is needed is:
1. Site Location - the County with a general description of the location with a sketch map and if possible the legal description (section, township, and range).
2. Person to Contact - This would normally be the individual submitting the report, with address and phone.
3. Property Owner - if known.
4. Types of Material Found - pottery, stone tools, historic artifacts, etc. Samples or clear photos can be sent as well.
5. Any other information which you feel might be helpful in describing the site or the artifacts recovered from the site.
The specific information accumulated on any site should be addressed to:
Dr. Elden Johnson, State Archaeologist
210 Ford Hall
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
January 11-13, 1973: A joint conference combining the Sixth Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology and the Fourth International Conference on Underwater Archaeology will be held at the St. Paul Hilton Hotel. This conference will feature experts from Denmark, England, Canada, Israel, and the Virgin Islands as well as nationally known archaeologists from all over the United States. Registration for three days is $12.50. For additional information, contact David W. Nystuen, Local Arrangements Chairman, Minnesota Historical Society, Building 25, Fort Snelling, St. Paul, Minnesota. 55111.
October 3-5, 1973: The Forty-sixth Annual Midwest Museums Conference will be held in the Twin Cities with the headquarters at the Marquette Inn, which is part of the new IDS building complex in downtown Minneapolis. Sessions will be held in several of the major local museums. The specific program will be determined next spring, and museum people of many disciplines will be in attendance. For further details, contact Tim Fiske, Local Arrangements Chairman, The Science Museum of Minnesota, 30 East 10th Street, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55101.
The 1972 archeology season at the Fort Snelling Restoration began on 8 May. Two areas were excavated during the season. First was the Officers' Latrine located along the Southeast Wall Line, behind the existing Officers' Quarters. Second was the Long Barracks building, although only 70% was completely excavated. This building paralleled the Northeast Wall Line and lay between the Short Barracks and Commandants' Quarters. In addition to the Barracks proper, and closely related, 100 feet of the original surface drain lying in front of the Barracks was uncovered. The field season ended on 27 October 1972.
The Officers' Latrine excavation consisted of a deposit found at 10.2' to 16.9' below present surface. It is probably the only undisturbed, stratified deposit within the fort. The Latrine was built over a hiatus in the bedrock and the deposit was found between the interior of the fort wall and bedrock formation. It was in use from ca. 1823 to ca. 1860. Several nearly complete chamber pots were recovered as well as a handleless ceramic cup, other ceramicware, buttons, bottles, bugle and a dog skeleton.
The Long Barracks excavation is of an 1845 stone basement foundation which was added when a limestone building replaced the original, one-story, wooden structure. It is 268 feet long. The stone barrack was razed ca. 1904.
Seven rooms uncovered during excavation and identified from an 1845 floor plan were the (east) kitchen and mess hall, (east) store, room, and four laundresses' quarters. A number of original structural features were exposed. Two double, H-shaped fireplaces, a single kitchen fireplace, a rectangular storage pit, a stairway that had collapsed in place, and wood flooring were still extant.
All of the fireplaces excavated had bevelled side walls. One of the double fireplaces was made of brick. It was in good repair and had remnants of the smoke shelves for both halves. The second double fireplace was constructed of limestone. It was extremely fragile due to heat over an extended period of time. The single fireplace in the east kitchen was made of brick but unlike the double fireplaces it was very shallow, only a foot deep. The kitchen had another structural feature, an apparent subfloor storage pit that measured 7½' x 5½' x 3'.
The collapsed stairway led from between the kitchen and the mess hall to the first floor quarters. The stairway was supported by four stringers. Examination of the stringers indicated that the angle of the stairway was approximately 45 [degrees] in a height of eight feet. Removal of the treads, risers, and stringers revealed a small room that had been built directly under the stairs. It had a wood floor and had been whitewashed.
Wood flooring was also found in the east store room. The flooring was placed parallel to the length of the building, the joists perpendicular to the floor boards. Wooden sleepers in the east mess hall indicated that the flooring in that room also paralleled the length of the building. Remnants of baseboards revealed the original basement floor level.
Joists in the laundresses' quarters were silhouetted in white sand. They were set perpendicular to the length of the building. Where fireplace masses intruded into the layout of the joists, the joists were framed around the structure.
The extent of the 1972 excavations was limited by the position of a defunct water treatment station that sits on the site, a portion of old west 7th Street covering another section, and an extremely rainy season. Twenty-nine days (or parts thereof) were lost on account of rain.
Projected completion of the Long Barracks is on or before 30 June 1973. It will require the removal of the water treatment station and West 7th Street from the site. Approximately 65' incorporating three areas will remain to be excavated: the (west) store room, mess hall, and kitchen.
1972 Trunk Highway Archaeological Reconnaissance Program
The continuation of this program since its initial start in 1968 has been of extreme value not only to history, but to the Minnesota Highway Department. Historic and prehistoric sites previously unknown have been discovered and their destruction prevented, and the Minnesota Highway Department has been able to build its roads without delays and problems caused by archaeological sites found in the roadway during construction.
In 1972 over 300 miles of proposed highway construction were surveyed and 98 archaeological sites were found in and along highway rights-of-way. Most of these sites were burial mounds and every effort will be made to prevent their destruction.
One side benefit of this program is the exposure to the State of the interest and intent to locate and preserve history through archaeology. To this effect people in 34 counties were introduced to archaeology through contact with the survey crews.
The past summer this program was run by David Nystuen with help in the field from Robert and Carla Tiling, Jeffery Nielson, and Les Peterson.
Minnesota Historical Society - Underwater Archaeology Program - 1972
In the absence of Robert C. Wheeler, the Associate Director of the Minnesota Historical Society and the director-arranger of the Society's undewater search program, three separate trips were organized by diver-photographer Joe Jabas (of the MHS Microfilm Department) to Fort Charlotte on the Pigeon River and the Maligne River in Ontario, Canada. The first week in July a cook, three volunteer divers, Joe Jabas, and Archaeologist-Diver Douglas A. Birk portaged into the site of Fort Charlotte, a former North West Company supply depot on the west end of the Grand Portage (now part of the Grand Portage National Monument). The initial objective of the trip was to conduct a systematic underwater search for fur trade artifacts in the Pigeon River opposite the old depot site. The recoveries were phenomenal in quantity and variety. Through the help
of a highly conscientious dive team, over 500 trade period artifacts were retrieved from the river bottom while their provenience was carefully maintained. What evolved was a recovery pattern heavily polarized towards one section of the river bank, which supported visual evidence that the former dock or landing of the fort site was probably located in that area. During the week a 500-foot by 140-foot section of the river bottom was contoured.
Immediately upon returning to the Twin Cities, a second, more ambitious Fort Charlotte expedition, was organized for the first week of October with the objective of making a detailed examination of the dock's physical remains in an attempt to pin point its location and define its structural architecture. A 60-foot by 230-foot section of the bank adjacent to and centering on the dock was also contoured. The underwater search was continued in the shallows next to the dock using a standard l0-foot grid and actual "by-hand" excavation. Jean-Francois J. Aubineau, a seasoned instructor for the University of Minnesota Diving Club and a veteran diver of Jacques Cousteau's underwater team, greatly aided the latter expedition by giving a critical analysis of the search techniques and diving equipment utilized.
Future work with the underwater program will involve setting up better laboratory facilities for processing wood, bark, leather, and metal artifacts, refining underwater techniques and enlisting a roster of experienced divers with a working knowledge of archaeological field methodology.
Minnesota Historical Society - Historic Sites Archaeological Survey - 1972
In a program which will ultimately become statewide, a survey of historic sites with an archaeological potential was conducted in portions of six central Minnesota counties by Douglas George and Douglas A. Birk of the MHS's Archaeology Department of the Histori Sites Division. Sites located or otherwise examined represent a wide diversity of time periods and include both prehistoric and historic sites. The survey was aided by the historic research of Susan Zeik, a recent graduate of Southwest State College.
While the primary objective and emphasis of the survey has been to locate, describe, and analyze historic sites, there has been a certain amount of diversification in the areas of studying fur trade period artifacts (in private and county historical society collections), French place names in Minnesota, early canoe portage routes, and heretofore ignored or forgotten fur trade period manuscripts and maps with an eye towards possible editing and consideration for future publication.
Important sites will be recommended for inclusion on either the State and National Registries of Historic Sites.
The CMA's annual spring meeting was held on May 12-14 in Worthington, Minnesota with the Sioux Archaeological Society acting as host. As usual, the attendance was excellent with over 100 people attending. Several sites and areas of interest were visited including Blue Mounds State Park and Pipestone National Monument. The Council for Minnesota Archeology greatly appreciates the efforts of all the people in Southwestern Minnesota who were responsible for making this a very successful meeting.
The University of Minnesota recently received two Carbon 14 dates for the Bartrom Site at Prairie Island. This is an Oneota Site. The two dates are AD 1100 + 55 and AD 1060+ 55.