Local Volunteers Do The Dirty Work

by Annabel Girard

One man drove up because he thought house lots were being sold. Several people were milling around on the picturesque hilltop that had been carefully staked out. Past residents, not future residences, were what brought the people to the hilltop. They are looking for evidence that the hilltop was occupied 12,000 years ago by prehistoric peoples called Paleo-Indians. In addition to the archaeologists at work, over 30 volunteers have pitched in so far to complete the work needed to determine if Paleo-Indians used the site. Artifacts found at the site indicate that Paleo-Indians and Archaic Indians occupied the knoll across from K Mart on the Danville bypass. Paleo-Indians inhabited Kentucky before 8000 B.C. while Archaic Indians lived in Kentucky from 8000 B.C. to 1000 B.C.

The work of the volunteers is serving two purposes - giving them a chance to work at a dig and saving the city of Danville money. Archaeologist Charles Niquette has put a price tag of $32,500 on the work needed to make a preliminary study of the site. The study is required because Danville is using federal money to pay part of the cost of a water storage tower on the site. Niquette told the Danville City Commission that the use of volunteers would cut the cost by 5 percent, or about $7,000.

Money is the furthest thing from the volunteers' minds.Rebecca Conover from Harrodsburg showed up because she's an amateur historian. "My life's ambition was to be an anthropologist or archaeologist," she said as she ran her gloved hand through a pile of dirt that had just been dumped on the screen in front of her.

Carolyn Dillon, who recently moved to Danville from Wisconsin, joked that she would have to be unpacking boxes if she weren't at the dig. She has been fascinated by the way archaeologists "can take a little piece of something and tell something about it."

The volunteer's life is simple and interesting as this reporter found out one afternoon. You screen the dirt for the archaeologists who are carefully skimming the dirt from two-meter squares. "Surgical shoveling" is the way volunteer Glen Taul describes the process. Screening dirt gives the volunteer time to talk with the archaeologist or a fellow screener. The pieces of flint are picked off the screen and placed in a carefully labeled paper bag.

Lee Ann McClain and Doug McKay are archaeologists from Wyoming who came to Kentucky for this dig because snow is still two feet deep back in Wyoming. McKay runs an archaeological consulting business. McClain's life as an archaeologist is so nomadic that her only "home" is a post office box.

That's the kind of thing you find out as your hand crumbles clods of dirt and your palm rubs dirt back and forth so it can sift through the screen. The pieces of flint plucked from the screen were left at the site anywhere from 6,000 to 12,000 years ago by prehistoric Indians. Only the smaller pieces of flint make it to the screen. Anything bigger than an inch is usually found by the archaeologists when their sharpened shovels carve away the earth layer by layer.

Virginia VanHorn and her husband, Maynard, of Gwinn Island came out to dig out of curiosity - a fraw for several of the volunteers - and because they were interested in learning something. Pat Critchfield is digging for practice. She signed up because this summer she is spending five weeks in Israel working on a dig. "I want some practical experience." Mrs. VanHorn is enjoying learning about the prehistoric period and finds a reward in knowing she is making a contribution to increasing our knowledge about the prehistoric Indians. Others like John Rankin know a lot about prehistoric Indians already. He brought out a "Clovis point," a particular style of Paleo-Indian spear point, and stayed to help out.

The volunteers have been organized by Amy Barkman who signed up herself to dig and was put in charge of volunteers by the city. The interest has been so keen that she has a waiting list of 20 names. Everyone from seventh-graders to grandfathers has shown up. Niquette and the other archaeologists are delighted to have the volunteers. "Normally, we don't see or meet anybody. We're usually out in the boonies," Niquette said. "The volunteers are working out great." At the end of work Friday, 26 volunteers had worked 160 hours. More new faces showed up on Saturday, raising the number to over 30. "One of the exciting benefits in the community getting involved is learning about the site," Niquette said.

There is no lack of learners. An archaeologist can usually be seen guiding a visitor from site to site describing the work and what has been found. Two fire pits and a trash pit excavated in one 20-meter square pit caught the eye of Flonnie Pennington of Waynesburg: "Isn't that something." She, her husband and her brother-in-law drove up Friday out of curiosity. "I've always read about (archaeology), but had never seen the work," she said.

Many of the visitors are collectors who have brought their choice prehistoric pieces for Niquette to inspect. One afternoon a farmer, work pants rolled almost to the top of his boots walked over, almost shyly, with a cardboard shoebox tucked under his arm. When Niquette commented that the points were the finest he had seen brought in, the quick smile that flicked across the farmer's face showed he was very glad he had made the trip.

Many times, Niquette can be found perched on the back of a pickup truck pouring over artifacts brought for him to inspect. The bystanders listen eagerly to catch his explanations on how to identify particular points. Niquette is interested in any Paleo-Indian artifacts found in this area. If the owner can document where it was found, Niquette marks it on a map and photographs the piece or pieces. Saturday Dale Pack of Park Hill brought in some of the artifacts he has found while plowing. "I never look for them. They catch my eye and I pick them up," he said. David Huffman of Boyle County has always found artifacts while he plowed. "They slow me down," he said. Out of necessity he found an easier way than climbing off his tractor to check a possible find. He keeps a stick on his tractor that's long enough to reach down and flip over a find to see if it's worth climbing off the tractor to pick up.

One of the collectors came to help. Arnold Patterson, a collector of artifacts, said "I do this every weekend." He wanted to find out how archaeologists go about studying a site. He and his brother, John Glen Patterson, have collected many artifacts in Casey County. After watching the methodical way of the archaeologists, the Patterson brothers were anxious to try those techniques to better document their finds. "These stones go back several thousand years. It proves to you man was here," Arnold Patterson said.