Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Penn State Students Make Big Archaeological Find

LIVE READ:
It’s not often that groups of undergrads get to make big archaeological discoveries. But a group of Penn State students has done just that. WPSU’s Emily Reddy takes us to their excavation site in Huntingdon County.

ON TAPE:
Penn State students headed to the tiny town of Shirleysburg, Pennsylvania to uncover a mystery. Johnathan Burns is the professor in charge.

We didn’t know where Fort Shirley was, we set out to find it and low and behold here it is. It exceeded our expectations for sure. (:15)

Fourteen students are digging in the backyard of a house in Shirleysburg. Historians knew Fort Shirley was located somewhere near here during the French and Indian War. But Burns says the exact location of the fort had been lost until the students hit pay dirt 3 weeks ago.

It was just kind of luck that we dropped one of these test units the right direction.

A test unit is a fancy way to say they dug a small hole. In that hole, they found evidence a big wooden post had been planted there and then burned.

We excavated the rest of that unit and found 3 charred posts in a line and then started to go out from that in either direction. And we’ve been chasing them ever since here. (:09)

What they had found was the wall – or palisade – of Fort Shirley.

British Commander George Croghan built the fort in 1755. Burns says it was one of a line of forts positioned to defend British territory from French attacks.

Basically what was happening in 1754 was the British empire and the French empire started to collide here in Central PA. (:10)

Burns says this fort is a pretty big “find.”
I would say this is one of the most important sites in Huntingdon County and maybe in Central Pennsylvania, other than some of the other forts that were investigated. (:08)

And the technology this group is using is better than in the past.

Our mapping is a lot more acurate. And we’re using finer mesh screens so we’re recovering smaller artifacts than they would have too. (:12)

In addition to a line of posts, students have found a variety of artifacts in the seven large square holes they’ve cut into the lawn.

[water noise – is this prehistoric pottery? I think it is.]

On the other side of a small horse pasture, Jane Skinner is hosing down dirt from one of the holes in a box with a screen for a bottom. She picks through the dirt, looking for artifacts.

[water up]

Skinner was working on the hole where they found the first post.

That was really cool and exciting and it wasn’t a post like you’d have for a fence, it was over 10 centimeters in diameter. (:07)

To clarify, when Skinner and Burns talk about finding a post they don’t mean they’ve found the actual wood. What they’re painstakingly uncovering with hand-trowels is the post-shaped holes in the clay. After Fort Shirley was abandoned, settlers took the posts to build their houses and barns. If they couldn’t get the post out, they burned it so it wouldn’t interfere with plowing and farming.

[water up]

Jane Skinner hopes to do archaeological digs in the Middle East after she graduates from Penn State.

This is just really cool because they’ve known that this fort was here for so long and didn’t know where it was and now we’ve found it. (:09)

Skinner and her sifting partner Colin Rarick have found arrowheads, glass trade beads and other native american ornaments. That’s because indians from a local settlement helped build the fort.

When the sifting screen is almost empty, Rarick spies a tiny round ball.

Slag or a shot? Looks like a really tiny shot… we should bag that separately. See what Dr. Burns says about it first.

Rarick takes the bit of metal across the horse pasture to where Burns is helping another student with his digging.

Neat. Some buckshot. Very nice. They would put a large ball in and dump some shot on that and call it buck and ball so it’s very damaging when they fire it at game or human beings. (:14)

Burns says the students have been good workers.
They came here like blank slates, never having any experience. And they’re one of the best crews I’ve ever worked with actually. (:13)

Burns says this has been a good first experience for the students. The group could have just as easily dug test holes for the length of the six week class and never found the fort. Instead they’ve found 95 feet of the fort’s wall. Burns hopes he’ll be able to bring another group back next year to continue the excavation. I’m Emily Reddy, WPSU.

Back