Courtesy Photo | A feature filled with ceramic pot sherds is shown in April 2015 at Fort McCoy....... read more read more
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Archaeological researchers with Colorado State University’s Center for the Environmental Management of Military Lands investigated a large site near the McCoy/Sparta Airfield in 2014 to evaluate its eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
The “Silver Radio” site was first identified at Fort McCoy a year earlier when approximately 500 artifacts were found in an area encompassing more than 12 acres of land near Silver Creek and Swamp Creek. It has since produced thousands of artifacts.
It earned its unique name when one of the lead investigators dropped a Fort McCoy radio and didn’t notice it was missing until the end of the day, which led to a crew of about a dozen people walking over the more than 60-acre survey area within which the site had been found.
Numerous specimens collected from the site were commonly recognized to be associated with distinct time periods based on varying but consistent stylistic preferences used by Native Americans across the Upper Midwest Region, which generally includes parts of all of the states that border Wisconsin and beyond.
In addition to the large number of artifacts recovered, several archaeological features were identified during the 2014 investigation. A feature, in this context, refers to parts of the archaeological record that are not portable. Seven of these features from the Silver Radio site were identified as dark soil stains which most frequently indicate a fire at a specific location. When properly excavated, an archaeological feature can yield bits of charcoal, which can be dated with a great deal of accuracy. Charcoal recovered from several of these features produced dates ranging from as recently as 50 years ago to as much as 3,000 years ago.
The most interesting and unique archaeological feature encountered at the site yielded charcoal that produced a radiocarbon age dating back more than 1,000 years, but the radiocarbon date was not what captured the attention of investigators.
The archaeological feature was initially observed as a small concentration of prehistoric pottery fragments, or pot sherds, in the corner of an excavation unit. The lead investigators at the site determined that the small concentration of sherds warranted unearthing the adjacent area to see how large the concentration became.
No one on site could have guessed that that the few sherds observed initially were but a small portion of the 1,300 sherds lying in place. All the sherds were painstakingly collected and returned to the laboratory, where it was determined that the total weight of the sherds collected was more than 13 pounds.
The sherds included parts of at least five unique ceramic pots, which were differentiated by decorative motifs placed on the vessel exteriors. Specific vessel types included Shorewood cord-roughened, Windrow cord-impressed, and Kegonsa stamped, all of which were commonly used during the Middle Woodland period (approximately 1,500-2,000 years ago).
The Middle Woodland period is marked by increased use of ceramic vessels for cooking and storing foodstuffs which were becoming more abundant through plant domestication and horticulture. These developments allowed Native Americans of this time to stay in place more than their predecessors, who travelled in large seasonal rounds spanning hundreds of miles. Middle Woodland peoples still travelled large distances, but some of this travel was focused on resource acquisition and trade, as we see much more use of nonlocal raw materials for stone tools. Large concentrations of stone tool debris are somewhat common, and concentrations of stone tools are found with some frequency, but this ceramic feature is the only one of its kind at Fort McCoy.
All archaeological work conducted at Fort McCoy was coordinated by the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.
Visitors and employees are reminded they should not collect artifacts on Fort McCoy or other government lands and leave the digging to the professionals.
Any person who excavates, removes, damages, or otherwise alters or defaces any historic or prehistoric site, artifact, or object of antiquity on Fort McCoy is in violation of federal law.
The discovery of any archaeological artifact should be reported to the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch at 608-388-8214.
(Article prepared by Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.)
| Date Taken: | 01.22.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 01.22.2021 14:10 |
| Story ID: | 387399 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 28 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fort McCoy ArtiFACT: Ceramic vessels, by Aimee Malone, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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