FARMINGTON – Budding archaeologists and history buffs may have the chance to uncover artifacts from a few hundred, to many thousands of years old, at a volunteer dig hosted by the University of Maine at Farmington Archaeology Research Center on Oct. 4-13.
The dig is open to anyone who wishes to volunteer, but is geared toward those with limited field experience, said research center Director Ellen Cowie. If children attend, they are required to have supervision, she said.
Dig leaders will teach volunteers the details of working within a grid, digging and screening for artifacts, and the careful note-taking and documentation that is essential in archaeology.
Robert Bartone, one of the center’s two principal archaeologists, said people will learn about how archaeologists do their excavations. They’ll also learn about Native American history in the area because “that’s what we’ll be talking about” during the week.
The dig site is on land slated for a new housing development in Turner. During last year’s initial survey of the area, research center archaeologists found artifacts that may hail from as long ago as the Paleo-Indian era, between 9,000 and 12,000 years ago, Cowie said.
“We originally found some (stone) prized during the Paleo-Indian and Woodland periods. There were a couple of characteristics of some of the fragments that suggest it might be related to (that) period. But we might get there and find ceramics (from a later period). We don’t know for sure,” Cowie said. She added that the setting of the site follows a common Paleo-Indian pattern, small in size and featuring a view over the surrounding countryside.
“We don’t fully understand how they lived 10,000 years ago,” she said. “We have the idea that they moved around a bit. I wouldn’t call them nomadic, but I would call them highly mobile. There’s nothing really like it today. These people would have been hunting and gathering.”
Cowie said UMF archaeologists will not know the age of the site until more work has been done. She said it is possible excavations will be going on for the next two years. Tool fragments and flakes were found during last year’s dig, and Cowie said she hopes finds in October will include more tool fragments and fire byproducts, like charcoal, which can be used in carbon dating to determine the site’s age.
People interested in volunteering to help on the dig are encouraged to phone the research center at 778-7012 and ask to speak with Rosemary Cyr, who is coordinating the effort.
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