Digging into the past
Finding of ancient tools in Walker could write new chapter in state's prehistory
Why should people care about finding ancient tools in Walker?
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"It's really interesting to go back and see where we all came from," said Thor Olmanson, Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program director who was one of the site excavators. "It would rewrite what we think of glacial Minnesota that people were here and very close to the glaciers and since that time there hasn't been evidence of that found.
"It's fascinating. We are getting interest from all over the U.S. and Canada. It would change a lot of what we know about prehistory in Minnesota."
Excavation sites are marked off atop a wooded hill in Walker. The dig sites are basically in the centerline of a Tower Avenue road extension that would have linked with Highway 371. The city's $1.3 million construction project included water and sewer. The city will complete work done thus far, but has stopped the road project from continuing through what may be a historic site. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Calls to the Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program, based near Cass Lake, are coming from both interested scientists and people who found something in their garden 40 years ago.
The next step is verification of preliminary findings. Determining if the Walker tools may date to a post-glacial period of 13,000 to 15,000 years ago has involved a soil geologist as well as archeologists.
Olmanson said officials are comfortable with their findings, but are seeking collaboration from other experts. Soil samples are being processed. Verification of the find may involve carbon dating if there is sufficient organic material. Another option is a test that collects soil in a light-proof container and uses exposure to ultraviolet radiation to determine the last time the soil particles were exposed to sunlight.
The survey that found the stone tools in Walker was initially for the Walker Area Community Center construction, which is going up about a 100 yards away from the dig site. The survey was required because federal funds were used with the community center project.
Terri Bjorklund (right), Walker city administrator, sat next to Mayor Brad Walhof during the city council meeting Monday night. The council voted to preserve an archeological dig, which may indicate the oldest human habitation discovered in North America. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Phase One of the survey involves a walk-over with shovel tests within a project area. If a site of archeological significance is discovered, recommendations are to avoid disturbing it. Phase Two of the survey involves formal excavation to determine what is there and if it's eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
In Walker, survey site investigators first thought they may have found the remnant of a house - perhaps dating back to the fur trade - on an undisturbed wooded hill. Further excavation was recommended. Flat shovels were used to excavate the site and soils were shifted through a quarter-inch mesh.
What's next?
The Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program will complete a final report on the findings at an unknown time. Officials are seeking collaboration of their initial findings from other experts.
Preliminary findings will be presented at a Council for Minnesota Archeology meeting this month in Mankato.
he Leech Lake Heritage Sites Program, based near Cass Lake, is a for-profit business owned by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. The organization does most of the site survey work in the Chippewa National Forest and just about everything within the boundaries of the Leech Lake Reservation and surrounding state and federal projects.
The site was determined to be a child's playhouse, complete with toys from the 1950s and 1960s. When they went beneath the playhouse's floor depth to make sure they had it all they found something completely unexpected - stone tools.
"It was just unusual," Olmanson said. "I wasn't really expecting to find a prehistoric site."
Walker Mayor Brad Walhof stood earlier this week near one of the excavations in Walker where ancient stone tools were found. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls » Purchase reprints of this photo.
And Olmanson said the location was unusual as well. At 150 feet above Leech Lake, the hilltop is one of the highest points in the city. The stone tools were found about 3 feet below the surface.
"It was puzzling," Olmanson said. But he said he couldn't discredit the find. Excavation went through a layer of light deposits on top of a band of rock and gravel and another layer of coarse sand with large boulders but without much gravel. That's where the cultural material was found.
"It was intriguing and we kept trying to discredit it but couldn't," Olmanson said. Expanded excavation kept finding the same things, just on different terraces.
"We don't know how many artifacts we will end up talking about," Olmanson said. Like the city of Walker the Heritage Sites Program does not have the budget to deal with a find like this, Olmanson said. And work has been disrupted in part by interest in the find itself. "It just kind of exploded and we've been inundated."
Mara Wilson of Nevis is excited about the ancient stone tool site. She talked earlier this week while having dinner at the Lucky Moose, a club located near the dig site. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls » Purchase reprints of this photo.
The Heritage Sites Program was caught up in what may be a find of historic proportions with proof of human habitation here much earlier than previously thought.
Historically, human habitation is close to water. Olmanson suspects that may be one of the reasons this site remained undiscovered. The site's elevation may have been one of the reasons the area didn't erode away.
The land was a meeting point between two glaciers, which then receded. The people who left the tools may have been in an extended family group moving to follow game and seasonal food sources.
One of the questions is what the little specialized pebble tools were used for. A specialist in such tools, Mark Muniz of St. Cloud State University, is focusing on just what caused the wear on the tools, Olmanson said. Whether it was to scrape wood, bone or work with leather, Olmanson said the use persisted. The small distinctive tools are turning up in woodland sites that are 2,000 years old and 8,000 years old.
Debbie Holloway, co-owner of the Walker Bay Coffee Company in downtown Walker, had mixed reactions to the discovery of the stone tools. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls » Purchase reprints of this photo.
In other cases, Olmanson said all the data is collected from an archeological dig and since there may be other similar sites, the dig area in those cases may eventually be destroyed.
"That's one of the problems of this site," he said. "It's the sample of one. We don't have anything to compare it with."
RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.