Posted on 09/03/2003 8:25:36 AM PDT by blam
Posted on Wed, Sep. 03, 2003
ARCHAEOLOGY: Site yields evidence of prehistoric farming on Door County peninsula
Associated Press
GREEN BAY, Wis. Archaeology digs have provided researchers with the first hard evidence of organized, prehistoric agriculture on the Door County peninsula, a Marquette University researcher said.
The site along Wisconsin 57 in the southern part of the county may also give researchers more information on Ice Age glaciers in the bay of Green Bay.
"You don't get many sites like this in Wisconsin archaeology," said James Clark Jr., researcher for the university's Center for Archaeology Research. "We have multiple occupations over thousands of years here."
Crews from Marquette and the University of Wisconsin have accelerated years of digging near the highway in recent weeks, as the state finishes its investigation to expand Wisconsin 57 to four lanes from Green Bay to Sturgeon Bay.
A Marquette crew discovered tiny kernels of burnt corn and a milling stone, which was probably used to grind the corn, buried in sandy soil among artifacts dating to about A.D. 1200.
The corn and the stone, found near Fabry Creek in the town of Union, belonged to American Indians of the "Mero complex" Oneota period from about A.D. 1100 to 1300.
Clark said Oneota Indians once built a semi-permanent village there, and his crew has found evidence of at least one wigwam structure.
They also found piles of chipped stone, broken pots, arrowheads, spear points, burnt wood, bone fragments and dimly outlined trash pits.
Beneath the Oneota artifacts, the crew discovered several layers of older artifacts, each one representing another time period when American Indians occupied the area.
Clark said he believed the earlier occupations date to about 9600 B.C., about 12,000 years ago, because of the style of spear points found in the dig.
Archeologists have been digging through almost 5 feet of pure sand at the site, indicating a prehistoric beach, Clark said.
Lake waters at the time were very different. The shoreline rose and fell, according to the melting and freezing of the glaciers, over hundreds of years.
A thick layer of decayed plants may help determine the last ice retreat, Clark said.
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Yoopers? Hah! Dey jus got lost on dere way to Washington Island.
But ya know, if yer goin to Door County, ya gots to stop at Joe Rouers. I know it ain't in Door County, but in Champion on A in Kewaunee County, but hey! He's got good burgers, damn good burgers. Ya can git em plain, you can git em plain wid onions, you can git a cheeseburger wid onions, and ya can git a cheeseburger plain. Ya, I know it ain't been the same since Helen died, and den dere was da fire, but Joe saved dem big cast-iron fryin pans, so it's sorta like the old place almost, but Joe don't do much frying cept on weekends, and even den, cuz he's pretty damn old, ya know....he grinds the meat special, but he sez it's da pans.
I believe they have been dated, I just can't remember the date. There does seem to be something strange surrounding those copper mines.
Depending on whom you believe.
You can bet Hillary's will be published before too long. Rosie's, too.
But, Vermont cheese makes Wisconsin cheese taste like so much Velveeta.
And no evidence as to WHO the miners were.
Unless you believe in copper-loving lephrechuans.
There's an on-going fuss about what happened to it, yes, an enormous amount of ore that was taken from this site. I've read both sides of this story and each side has good arguments for their view. I lean toward the view that 'over-seas' miners came and took it. (During the European bronze age)
Copper is an essential component of bronze; they didn't call it the Bronze Age for nothing.
The implications for our understanding of ancient history are staggering.
Candidates for this adventure ?
Those mysterious Sea People.
Perhaps. A number of people have been know as 'The Sea People.' Below linked is the widest known 'sea' people. BTW, Phonecian is a Greek word for 'red headed.'
Some people believe, as you put it, "the site [or, the earth] is a few billion years old." Others believe it's in the thousands.
It just depends on whom you believe.
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