Proposal for Newark Earthworks Day 2006 theme statement --
Newark Earthworks Day is a program intended as an expression of respect and honor for this sacred Native American place. Built 2,000 years ago by the first peoples of this continent, it is both ancient and vitally alive today.
For modern visitors, we seek a renewed and wider perspective, with respect born of broader understanding, where descendants of the builders will honor the site with integrity. The Newark Earthworks connects Native Nations and newer Americans, past and the present, and both loss and recovery of ancient Native knowledge taking place around and within these architectural marvels.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
For Winter 2006 Denison Magazine "Uncommon Grounds" --
When Brad Lepper called Tod Frolking of Dension’s Geology Department, he was looking for help in a hurry.
As curator of archaeology at the Ohio Historical Society and a regular teacher on campus for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lepper had been called to an excavation site on a Licking County golf course. What began as a new water hazard ended up a major scientific event for 1990, with the most complete mastodon skeleton ever found, and signs on the bones of butchering by human hands, dating to the period just after the last glaciers left central Ohio.
For microbiologists, their excitement owed a debt of gratitude to the care Lepper and Frolking took even in December frost and with a request of the property owner that they complete the entire removal in only two days. Their scientific thoroughness under difficult conditions helped them see and preserve the gut contents of this massive mammal, not only allowing a new look into mastodon diets over 11,000 years ago (cedar twigs and sedge grasses along with seeds of waterlily and swamp buttercup), but led to the "reactivation" in the lab of intestinal bacteria known for a time as the most ancient living organisms known to science, listed for a time in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The recovery of the Burning Tree Mastodon by Lepper, Frolking, and others from the area who came and volunteered made possible a major leap in our understanding of how some of the first residents of Licking County lived and learned.
When Brad Lepper called Tod Frolking of Dension’s Geology Department, he was looking for help in a hurry.
As curator of archaeology at the Ohio Historical Society and a regular teacher on campus for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lepper had been called to an excavation site on a Licking County golf course. What began as a new water hazard ended up a major scientific event for 1990, with the most complete mastodon skeleton ever found, and signs on the bones of butchering by human hands, dating to the period just after the last glaciers left central Ohio.
For microbiologists, their excitement owed a debt of gratitude to the care Lepper and Frolking took even in December frost and with a request of the property owner that they complete the entire removal in only two days. Their scientific thoroughness under difficult conditions helped them see and preserve the gut contents of this massive mammal, not only allowing a new look into mastodon diets over 11,000 years ago (cedar twigs and sedge grasses along with seeds of waterlily and swamp buttercup), but led to the "reactivation" in the lab of intestinal bacteria known for a time as the most ancient living organisms known to science, listed for a time in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The recovery of the Burning Tree Mastodon by Lepper, Frolking, and others from the area who came and volunteered made possible a major leap in our understanding of how some of the first residents of Licking County lived and learned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
