Digging archaeology

It's history revealed in the dirty little details.

So scientists and students huddled on their hands and knees this summer, methodically sifting through the dirt for artifacts.

They searched near the banks of the Mississippi River for shards of pottery, stone tools -- including arrowheads -- animal bones and evidence of houses.

Archaeologists call the site Bremer Village. It's now undeveloped woodland near a portion of the river known as Spring Lake, in southeastern Dakota County. Nearly 2,000 years ago, ancestors of today's American Indians, drawn by the natural springs and rich resources, settled here.

A dozen University of Minnesota anthropology students, along with staff from the Science Museum of Minnesota, excavated the site aiming to dig up more artifacts and eventually more answers about life here before the first European settlers arrived.

"The biggest challenge is we don't have written records from this time period," said Gilliane Monnier, University of Minnesota assistant professor of anthropology. "We are basically piecing together the past from the clues we find in the ground."

The students learned the basics of field archaeology, including how to dig and identify and photograph artifacts.

They used shovels, small trowels, sieves and their bare hands to search for evidence of the past. Ancestors of Indians are believed to have occupied these sites from 200 to 1200 A.D.

"During the earlier periods of occupation, it was small bands, extended families, probably hunter-gatherers, although agriculture may have been practiced," explained Ed Fleming, science museum archaeology curator. "During the later time, it was fairly large-scale agriculture going on in Minnesota. If that was happening here, I don't know."

Most of the artifacts are smaller than a quarter and are difficult to spot with an untrained eye. University of Minnesota senior Julia Ramberg plucked a dime-sized pottery fragment from the dirt she combed through with a trowel.

"Archeology is a very patient kind of profession," Ramberg said. "It's always fun when you feel like you are making progress."

At a nearby dig site, students and staff unearthed an arrowhead along with more than 40 smaller stone flakes.

"Someone was sitting right here and they were flint knapping a stone tool," said university graduate student Paul Dieter.

What do these artifacts tell scientists?

Animal bone fragments and plant material can help determine what inhabitants were eating. Bits of stone provide evidence of migration and trading routes. Several flakes of flint unearthed at the site this summer came from rock found in western North Dakota, Fleming said.

Scientists can carbon date charcoal from fire pits to determine more precisely when humans occupied the site. Scientists examine the decoration and composition of pottery fragments to date the settlements.

This isn't the first time scientists have scoured the banks of Spring Lake. In the 1940s, a young boy collected arrowheads, pieces of pottery and stone tools from the region. He later showed his collection to scientists at the science museum, who excavated the area in the 1950s.

Fleming reexamined those artifacts and research and decided to excavate sites around Spring Lake in 2010 and this year.

Shannon Prather is a Roseville freelance writer.