Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Students dig for Native American artifacts - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Students dig for Native American artifacts - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: WEST HICKORY — As she troweled through a newly visible layer of earth Wednesday, an anthropology student’s hand brushed across a sharp object.

She had found an intact arrowhead used between 1200 and 1550 A.D. The artifact is one of many the group of Clarion University of Pennsylvania students has found as they slowly piece together the history of the people who once lived in what now is the Allegheny National Forest.

“We are learning how they used the land and how they interacted with other groups,” said Clarion anthropology professor Susan Prezzano.

She said the people who once occupied the area were most likely Iroquoian speakers, but it is still too early in the process to pin down their identity.

The class finished a monthlong excavation season Thursday of a site near West Hickory, about two hours northwest of Pittsburgh in Forest County.