Archaeological treasure found Up North
The site and tools found near Walker, Minn., date back 13,000 to 14,000 years -- the oldest on the continent.
By Robert Franklin, Star Tribune
Atop the highest hill in Walker, Minn., archaeologists have found what they believe to be evidence of the oldest human habitation in the state -- perhaps 13,000 to 14,000 years old.
From the rough stone tools that were found, archaeologists are speculating that "we're looking at certainly the relatively earliest occupants of the North American continent," said Matt Mattson, a biologist and archaeologist who worked on the project for the Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program, which is based near Cass Lake.
They would be related to those who, according to conventional wisdom, came across the Bering Strait from Asia, Mattson said.
Britta Bloomberg, Minnesota's deputy historic preservation officer, said it may be among the oldest known archaeological sites in North and South America.
Original article with photos or
Human remains, wood or textiles, if there were any, would have dissolved long ago in the acidic soil. The oldest human remains found in Minnesota belonged to the Browns Valley Man, who lived about 9,000 years ago. His remains were discovered in 1933 in a gravel pit near the town of Browns Valley in western Minnesota.
The stone tools found at Walker could have been used by big game hunters for butchering, chopping or scraping toward the end of the Ice Age.
Mattson speculated that the site could have been used by an extended family of 10 to 15 nomadic people moving through an "oasis," in what is now north-central Minnesota, that was as close as five miles to remaining glaciers.
David Mather, state archaeologist for the National Register of Historic Places, said the find "is something off our radar. We didn't think it was even possible in Minnesota."
What happens next?
One question is whether the site will be preserved. It lies in the path of a road to what Walker Mayor Brad Walhof called a "major expansion" of the city, including a community center, housing and businesses.
An intergovernmental agreement last year found no feasible alternative to the route, and City Administrator Terri Bjorklund said the hilly terrain "makes everything twice as difficult as if you had a flat piece of land." She said a meeting in the next couple of weeks could help "figure out who's responsible for what, and where we go from here."
One option is to delay construction of the road to allow more excavating to be done at the site, said Bloomberg, the state preservation officer.
A city of about 1,100 people, Walker is located about 190 miles from the Twin Cities and is near the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
The site is about 150 feet above Leech Lake. While investigating the path of the road, archaeologists came across a pit they thought might be related to the fur trade, said Thor Olmanson, director of the Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program and tribal archaeologist.
But they quickly discovered that the pit was a 1960s child's play fort, complete with a cap gun and other toys.
Nevertheless, they dug down several feet below the pit's floor, and they found a fragment of stone believed to be from toolmaking. That "was very puzzling," Olmanson said, "so we decided to keep digging to see what was going on there."
An array of objects
In all, archaeologists found 50 or more objects while digging through an area of about 50 square yards, and "we didn't excavate everything," he said. The artifacts ranged from large hammer stones to small hand-held scrapers and included tough silt stone, which resists shattering and could have been used to create sharp edges on other stones.
They found the objects underneath a band of rock and gravel that appeared to have been deposited by melting glaciers and then covered by windblown sediment, Mather said.
Bloomberg said the location of objects below glacial sediments could date the site to as long as 15,000 years ago.
Mather said the site appears to be "much older" than the Clovis era of finely made spear points that defines the paleo-Indian period.
He said the find is "startling enough that appropriate response from every archaeologist and glacial geologist is skepticism." But, he added, a half-dozen archaeologists, soil scientists and others who have examined the site all say the artifacts are genuine.
"[This] could be a real watershed for understanding Minnesota's history," Mather said.
Robert Franklin • 612-673-4543 • rfranklin@startribune.com
By Robert Franklin, Star Tribune
Atop the highest hill in Walker, Minn., archaeologists have found what they believe to be evidence of the oldest human habitation in the state -- perhaps 13,000 to 14,000 years old.
From the rough stone tools that were found, archaeologists are speculating that "we're looking at certainly the relatively earliest occupants of the North American continent," said Matt Mattson, a biologist and archaeologist who worked on the project for the Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program, which is based near Cass Lake.
They would be related to those who, according to conventional wisdom, came across the Bering Strait from Asia, Mattson said.
Britta Bloomberg, Minnesota's deputy historic preservation officer, said it may be among the oldest known archaeological sites in North and South America.
Original article with photos or
Human remains, wood or textiles, if there were any, would have dissolved long ago in the acidic soil. The oldest human remains found in Minnesota belonged to the Browns Valley Man, who lived about 9,000 years ago. His remains were discovered in 1933 in a gravel pit near the town of Browns Valley in western Minnesota.
The stone tools found at Walker could have been used by big game hunters for butchering, chopping or scraping toward the end of the Ice Age.
Mattson speculated that the site could have been used by an extended family of 10 to 15 nomadic people moving through an "oasis," in what is now north-central Minnesota, that was as close as five miles to remaining glaciers.
David Mather, state archaeologist for the National Register of Historic Places, said the find "is something off our radar. We didn't think it was even possible in Minnesota."
What happens next?
One question is whether the site will be preserved. It lies in the path of a road to what Walker Mayor Brad Walhof called a "major expansion" of the city, including a community center, housing and businesses.
An intergovernmental agreement last year found no feasible alternative to the route, and City Administrator Terri Bjorklund said the hilly terrain "makes everything twice as difficult as if you had a flat piece of land." She said a meeting in the next couple of weeks could help "figure out who's responsible for what, and where we go from here."
One option is to delay construction of the road to allow more excavating to be done at the site, said Bloomberg, the state preservation officer.
A city of about 1,100 people, Walker is located about 190 miles from the Twin Cities and is near the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
The site is about 150 feet above Leech Lake. While investigating the path of the road, archaeologists came across a pit they thought might be related to the fur trade, said Thor Olmanson, director of the Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program and tribal archaeologist.
But they quickly discovered that the pit was a 1960s child's play fort, complete with a cap gun and other toys.
Nevertheless, they dug down several feet below the pit's floor, and they found a fragment of stone believed to be from toolmaking. That "was very puzzling," Olmanson said, "so we decided to keep digging to see what was going on there."
An array of objects
In all, archaeologists found 50 or more objects while digging through an area of about 50 square yards, and "we didn't excavate everything," he said. The artifacts ranged from large hammer stones to small hand-held scrapers and included tough silt stone, which resists shattering and could have been used to create sharp edges on other stones.
They found the objects underneath a band of rock and gravel that appeared to have been deposited by melting glaciers and then covered by windblown sediment, Mather said.
Bloomberg said the location of objects below glacial sediments could date the site to as long as 15,000 years ago.
Mather said the site appears to be "much older" than the Clovis era of finely made spear points that defines the paleo-Indian period.
He said the find is "startling enough that appropriate response from every archaeologist and glacial geologist is skepticism." But, he added, a half-dozen archaeologists, soil scientists and others who have examined the site all say the artifacts are genuine.
"[This] could be a real watershed for understanding Minnesota's history," Mather said.
Robert Franklin • 612-673-4543 • rfranklin@startribune.com