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| 1999 Excavations | 1999 UW-Colleges Archaeology Field Crew |
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| 1999 Excavations | 1999 UW-Colleges Archaeology Field Crew |
The 1999 UW-Colleges Archaeology Field School (Anthropology 299, 3 credits) was sponsored by UW-Marinette this year. The field school ran from May 24th through June 11th, forty hours per week and was directed by Dr. Thomas C. Pleger, UWFox Anthropology; Mr. Nathan Lowrey served as teaching assistant and co-field director. Mr. Lowrey is a Ph.D. student in anthropology/archaeology at American University.
Twelve students participated in the field school this summer. Four were from UWFox, one from UW-Rock, one from UW-Milwaukee, one from UW-Green Bay, and the remainder were UW-Marinette students. The course is designed to provide students with a basic introduction to archaeological field methods including: basic mapping, archaeological survey (Phase I), testing (Phase II), and excavation skills. It was the only Wisconsin field school offered within the UW-System this year.
The project focused on the excavation of a prehistoric Native American village site that has been occupied since 3000 BC. Research at the site has been ongoing since the early 1990s. This year, field work started with a survey of the remainder of the UW-Marinette campus. UW-Marinette will be expanding and state law requires the testing for potential significant archaeological deposits that may be disturbed as a result of the proposed construction. Fortunately for the university and to our surprise, no significant archaeological materials were discovered within the proposed building expansion zones. After the testing of these areas, the field school continued excavations that were started in 1994 at Runnoe Park directly across the street from the campus buildings.
In 1994, a series or Middle Woodland (AD 200-AD 500) and Late Woodland (AD 600-AD 1600) deposits consisting of prehistoric trash features and habitation debris were discovered at 47-Mt-71-R (the Runnoe Park portion of the UW-Marinette campus). Previous work by Pleger indicated that the site also contained materials dating to at least 3000 BC. In 1996, the site was nominated and accepted into the National Register of Historic Properties. The 1999 field excavations identified and excavated additional Middle and Late Woodland materials consisting of broken pottery and stone tools. The artifact concentrations indicate that this portion of the site has been occupied by two distinct small-scale Woodland hunter-gatherer populations. The artifact assemblages suggest that the site was utilized for a series of specialized tasks that may have included the processing of animal hides and fish. Stone tool artifacts consisted of end scrapers, retouched cutting flakes, gravers, and projectile points. Ceramics consisted of two types: a smoothed-over, cord-roughened, course-sand and grit-tempered ware and a cord impressed, cord-roughened ware.
The data is currently being analyzed and will be used by Nathan Lowrey in his dissertation (Dr. Pleger is a member of Lowrey’s committee). It will also contribute to several publications, enhancing our understanding of the late prehistoric period of northeast Wisconsin. Additional field research is being planned for upcoming field seasons.
Excavation photos from the 1994 season.
For more information about Wisconsin archaeology, please visit the UW-Fox Valley Anthropology web site at: www.uwfox.uwc.edu/academics/depts/ant.html.
For more information about the current Archaeology field school, see ANT 370 course description.
Pleger, Thomas C.
1992 A Temporal Analysis of Copper Implements from the Chautauqua Grounds Site (47-Mt-71), A Multicomponent Site near the Mouth of the Menominee River. The Wisconsin Archeologist 73(3-4):160-176.
1998 Social Complexity, Trade, and Subsistence During the Archaic/Woodland Transition in the Western Great Lakes (4000-400 B.C.): A Diachronic Study of Copper Using Cultures at the Oconto and Riverside Cemeteries. Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Pleger, Thomas C., and Nathan S. Lowrey
1995 A Preliminary Report of the 1994 Field Research at the Chautauqua Grounds Site (47-Mt-71), Located Along the Western Shore of Green Bay, Marinette County, Wisconsin. Presented at the 40th annual Midwest Archaeological Conference, Beloit, WI.
1999 A Phase I Archaeological Investigation for Proposed Improvements at the UW-Marinette Campus, Marinette County, Wisconsin, Reports of Investigations No. 345 of the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Stark, A. Peter, Thomas C. Pleger, and Ronald J. Strojny
1999 Speculations On The Uses of Specularite. Fox Valley Archaeology: The Journal of the Robert Ritzenthaler Chapter Wisconsin Archaeological Society. Number 28, pp. 10-31, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.