Archaeologists have discovered artifacts that Native Americans left about 2,000 years ago in Newark, Ohio, adding pottery, fragments of kilns and tools.
“They are beautiful,” said Andrew Sewell, senior historian and Lawhon principal investigator.
Through extensive research and analysis, Sewell decided that a circle of Hopewell’s relatives likely lived at the excavation site in what became the front backyard of a space at the corner of Reddington Road and Thornwood Drive.
The discovery was made at a structure site where staff are structuring a transient bridge. The bridge will allow them to reopen a crossing, the Cherry Valley Road crossing, which closed in October.
The 190-year-old bridge closed on October 5 because engineers deemed it unsafe. The City of Newark had intended to upgrade the original bridge, but the unplanned closure forced an update to plans: Install the temporary bridge to boost traffic as The structure begins on a new bridge and near a highway that is expected to open in 2025.
Before any preparation of the site or structure can begin on the new bridge, the realignment of the pavement and the roundabout, an archaeological survey was carried out. In early 2018, a team of archaeologists from Lawhon
What they discovered sheds new light on the life and culture of the Hopewell Indians who once lived in the area.
Their investigation was required through the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires inspection of such a structure site to determine whether it has historic and/or cultural structures that would otherwise be affected through regulations governing projects involving federal funds. In this case, he did.
The Showman Arch Bridge built in 1833 as an Ohio Canal Aqueduct.
Nearly 10 years before the bridge was closed, archaeologists discovered Hopewell-Native American-like artifacts, but no clinical investigation of the site was conducted until recently.
“It’s a large, multi-stage operation,” Sewell said, describing excavations conducted last year.
His research was divided into phases. First, the team conducted a landmark archaeological survey, with the primary goal of identifying vital homes or ceremonial sites in the area. Their search would lead them to the courtyard of a space at the intersection of Reddington Road and Thornwood Drive, just west of the Old Bridge.
Once the main site was found, the team continued to dig a control pit with hand shovels. They dug small holes 50 feet away, and when spaces of interest were found, the distribution of the holes was reduced to periods of 25 feet, as they pointed to “main occupancy” spaces.
The last step of the first level is a geophysical survey, performed through a magnetic gradiometer. The tool is used to measure fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field, which involve the presence of underground structures, such as mineral deposits or archaeological sites. In this case, Sewell and his team were able to stumble upon the location of the fires because of the contrast between the “burning” soil and the earth’s herbal magnetic background.
After the first phase, Lawhon and Associates drafted a memorandum of understanding.
“A lot of other parties were interested in the project,” Sewell said.
This agreement between the Ohio Department of Transportation, the State and Licking County Historical Societies, and affiliated Native American teams outlines a partnership to address issues similar to the site’s historic preservation and cultural resources. Then phase two began.
Sewell’s team began this larger excavation with a new research practice. Soil samples were taken every 10 feet in the designated area. These samples were then sent to the Ball State University Laboratory of Anthropology for further research. The laboratory made measurements of soil phosphate levels, with maximum concentrations indicating the presence of human activity. The effects of the investigation were conclusive.
“We were excited, knowing we were on the right track,” Sewell said.
A large-scale excavation was then conducted at the site, with control shafts measuring between 3 square feet and rectangles measuring 6 to 3 feet. A total of 24 pits were dug, 12 of which were situated in the front backyard and an equivalent number scattered on the sides and back of the site. The excavation yielded pottery, furnace fragments and stone tools.
The most sensitive on this list were flint tools, also known as “foil cores. “Cylindrical in shape, those flint cores have the scars of small thin sheets that have been cut.
The people of Hopewell, known for their complex flint working techniques, made small flint slats extracted from the quarries of Flint Ridge, east of Newark. Ritual contexts for the decoration of domestic environments.
During the survey, 23 exclusive elements were known and interpreted as cultural relics of the indigenous inhabitants. Among the findings were patterns of polar dots, which indicated the presence of structures, as well as spots related to clay ovens, a primitive cooking method that consisted of digging a hole in the earth, covering it with stones, and making a stove inside.
Archaeologists refer to those structures as villages.
They were similar to others discovered in the area, namely the “Murphy site”, which was studied in the late 1980s before the structure of the Erinwood subdivision along Newark-Granville Road in Granville. This site was also home to the early nineteenth century. farm that moved to the core of the nearby Welsh Hills school building. The distribution of Hopewell artifacts and domestic features at this site was comparable to Sewell’s recent discoveries a mile to the south.
Sewell says it’s vital to gain a deeper understanding of the domestic life of ancient people, as well as perusing giant ritual sites like Newark Earthworks, just a few miles to the east.
“At national sites, we can gain valuable insights into the agricultural, behavioral and kinship circle facets of the Hopewell culture,” Sewell said.
While his fieldwork is complete, Sewell and his team continue to catalog and analyze their findings. Sewell aims to complete his report in the coming months.
“We have a lot of paintings to do and a lot of questions to answer,” Sewell said.
Jack Wolf writes for TheReportingProject. org, the nonprofit organization of Denison University’s journalism program, funded through the Mellon Foundation.