It was September 2009 when Wes Clarke, archaeologist for Ohio Department of Transportation District 10, received a phone call from a landowner, asking if Clarke would be interested in a prehistoric burial mound located on property being developed in the Devola area.
"Wes was white-faced and sweating when he came into my office and told me about the phone call," recalled Tony Durm, ODOT engineer and Clarke's boss, during Monday's meeting of the Washington County Historical Society.
Clarke's anxiety was understandable as the 2000-year-old mound would have to be removed to make way for a building project. But the property owner wanted to first give Clarke and members of the Washington County Historical Society an opportunity to study and salvage some artifacts from the structure.
"This would only be the second mound in this area that has been academically investigated," Durm said. "The first was in 1999 where the Washington County Library is located - Wes also set that one up."
Due to other obligations, including participating in archaeological digs overseas, Clarke could not begin an excavation of the Whittington Mound in Devola until April, 2010.
He said the mound was named after the former owners of the farm on which the earthwork was located.
"There are almost no mounds being excavated now, due to Native American concerns about disturbing burial grounds and other public issues," Clarke said. "Most digs now only occur on private property like this where the mound may be destroyed for development and we are asked to step in.
"I think this was the right thing to do," he said.
Over a five-week period in April and May 2010 Clarke and approximately 36 local volunteers, including a core group of professionals like Dr. Jarrod Burks, director of geophysical surveys for Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc., and Kathy Wolfe-Crouser who teaches archaeology at Marietta College and Washington State Community College.
Members of Boy Scout Troop 207 and other locals also volunteered for the project.
"We had a wide variety of people who participated," Clarke said. "But I was extremely pleased with the high quality of their work - I think we were able to obtain some very quality information."
Over the five-week period the group was able to explore about one-third of the central section of the 2000-year-old Adena culture mound.
By carefully sifting through the sandy soil, Clarke and his volunteers discovered more than 60 pieces of prehistoric pottery, in addition to concentrations of tools and other artifacts.
But it was the discovery of a handful of human remains that drew the most public attention. The remains were tentatively identified as those of a young child.
"We found some unburned segments of a skull and some teeth," Clarke said. "I had the coroner look at the remains and determined they weren't related to a crime, so we were fairly sure they were prehistoric remains."
He said another small portion of burned human bone fragments - possibly from a ceremonial cremation - were also found at the site.
Clarke said any human remains found in a dig are sent to the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus.
During an interview with The Marietta Times in July, Kim Schuette, spokeswoman for the Ohio Historical Society, said the remains would be included in the society's Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act inventory.
She said the remains would be entered into a database where they could be claimed for repatriation by Native American tribes.
Clarke said the pottery shards and other artifacts are currently being examined by archaeological experts, but will be returned to the Washington County Historical Society.
Ken Finkel with the local historical society said the artifacts will be placed on display at the Campus Martius Museum.
"I did get a signed document from the landowner that anything we found belongs to the historical society, and he had more that he could contribute," Finkel said. "When the artifacts are returned they will likely go on display in a small library room at the museum where they can be stored under lock and key."
Author: Sam Shawver | Source: The Marietta Times [February 08, 2011]