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And that raw fact is significant for Stephen Wagner, the principal investigator of the team of archaeologists who uncovered the artifact at Fort McCoy on May 17.
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Stephan Wagner poses at the archeology site on Ft. McCoy his team is digging . Dick Riniker photo |
But as an archaeologist, he’s interested in much more.
“We appreciate the beauty of the really nice stuff, but everything we dig up has some value in interpretation,” Wagner said. “It’s the context that makes it interesting. It’s all about context.”
Wagner, 33, has worked in archaeology at Fort McCoy since 1999, and been cultural resource manager since 2004.
He’s there due to the National Historic Preservation Act, which mandates federal undertakings take historic properties into account.
His job, which is contracted through Colorado State University, is to make sure cultural properties like American Indian sacred sites and historic buildings are cared for amidst the regular business of the military installation.
For six months out of the year, he leads a team of about six archaeologists in finding land that might yield artifacts, then digging 1-meter by 2-meter rectangular holes about a meter deep.
To date, about 350 archaeological sites are known to be at Fort McCoy, and they’re always finding more.
Wagner has a master’s degree in anthropology from Northern Illinois University. He said understanding how
past people lived relates to understanding communities today.
“Their life ways were different, but the fact that they lived, the fact that they had interaction, the fact that they had culture, we have that, too,” he said. “And it’s largely invisible. You don’t really think about culture when you’re doing stuff.”
Patrick Neumann, 29, the crew chief on Wagner’s team, said Wagner is quiet until you get to know him. Then he’ll talk your ear off, Neumann said, laughing.
Neumann said finding the pot two weeks ago was the first time the team found something that intact.
“People always have kind of an odd view of archaeology,” Neumann said. “They think we’re in the desert or digging up dinosaur bones. Generally, people live where people always have lived — near water and food sources.”
Sarah Durand, a field technician on Wagner’s crew, uncovered charcoal and ash-stained soil when she was digging at Fort McCoy two weeks ago. She’d found a long-buried fire pit.
Then she heard a crunch when she clipped the top of the pot with her shovel.
The team found the artifact buried in its original shape, but fractured probably due to frost or roots.
The pot is one of the top findings ever by Fort McCoy’s archaeologists.
“One of the most common questions you get asked is what’s the coolest thing you ever found,” Wagner said. “Now that answer’s that pot.”
The pieces are now buried under soil in buckets and slowly drying in a lab.
They’ll eventually be carbon-dated, which Wagner believes will reveal the pot to be made 1,600 to 2,500 years ago.
The information will provide more knowledge about the American Indians who lived in the region at the time.
“Context is important to us but at the same time we do like finding cool stuff,” Wagner said. “Who doesn’t? If it’s a beautiful piece of something we’re going to like it because it’s a beautiful piece of something as well as the context it can give us.”
Joe Orso can be reached at (608) 791-8429 or jorso@lacrossetribune.com.
This is not a waste wrote on Jun 7, 2007 11:49 AM: