ARCHAEOLOGY ROAD SHOW A HIT
Thursday, June 1st, 2006 -- 8:51 AM
Audio - 2:30Archaeologists are usually known to dig holes, but they were working to fill them Wednesday night in Neillsville.
?When you look on a map of archaeological sites in Wisconsin, there?s a real black hole in Clark County,? according to Ryan Howell of the Wisconsin Archaeology Society, who conducted the ?Archaeology Road Show? at the Neillsville Public Library.
The turnout exceeded expectations: Howell estimated well over one hundred people attended bringing literally thousands of artifacts for a team of experts to examine ? and then document for posterity.
?People can come in, see displays, bring in artifacts that have been sitting in a shoebox or they found in a field,? Howell explains. ?We?ll date them, record the sites so we can add sites to our database.?
Howell says this year has been a turning point in documenting historic artifacts from Clark County; he estimates the number of arrowheads, birdpoints and other Native American artifacts logged here has tripled.
One of the driving forces behind the renaissance of interest in the area is in the possession of Keith Scearce of Loyal.
The quartz-crystal Clovis Point found about two-miles north of Loyal is estimated to date back some 12,000 years. It?s one of only six quartz-crystal Clovis Points found in the United States and the only one found in Wisconsin, Howell says.
?The name (Clovis) comes from Clovis, New Mexico,? Scearce explains. ?Archaeologists were working in that area and came across this (type) of blade?
?What makes this so rare is this fractures easy ? to make one just under three-inches is hard,? Scearce said pointing to the ancient, jagged white piece.
Scearce has his prized-possession framed separately from the dozens and dozens of other artifacts that he brought to show off. He says there is probably a market for this artifact, but he?s not selling.
?The rarity and the quality often brings in a fair price. I just can?t bring myself to think about selling it,? Scearce says. ?It?s like when you get a Cadillac and you?re the only one in town with a Cadillac ? you feel pretty good.?
Scearce?s Clovis Point was probably used as a spear.
On the Web:
[url=http://www.uwm.edu/Org/WAS/]Wisconsin Archaeological Society[/url]
[url=http://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/]Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center[/url]
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