8/19/2010
Artifacts uncovered at project sites illuminate Idaho's past
BOISE - 'The artifacts tell us so much about the lives of the people
who were here before us.'
Every highway has a story behind it. Or beneath it. Why was
it built? Why in that spot? What was
there before? As the Idaho Transportation Department found out, the answers are
often surprising.
Fragments of long-ago cultures often lay dormant for
centuries under ground - until
a new highway project begins, and the dirt reveals hidden treasures. In Idaho,
there were Native American tribes such as the Nez Perce and the Bannock,
Spanish and French explorers, early pioneers, Chinese miners and
railroad workers.
The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 requires that
all federally funded projects, including transportation projects, assess impacts to
historical and archaeological resources that might occur as a result of
construction. In cases where archaeologically significant items are found, the
site often is excavated to recover artifacts and information before the road
project can proceed.
As a result, ITD has uncovered and catalogued thousands of
artifacts from highway projects spread across the state. Click here to access ITD's Facebook page and some photos of various artifacts. Most of the items are
bits and pieces of ceramic bowls and pipes, glass bottles, or Native American
stone tools such as arrowheads, spear points and grinding stones. Often the
items are recovered quickly and do not require significant delays in highway
construction. However, a few major finds in Idaho have produced hundreds of
thousands of items that have required extraordinary attention to detail related
to their extraction and removal.
By 2004, ITD's artifact collections represented excavations at more
than 86 distinct archaeological sites statewide and filled about 120 cardboard
boxes. Until recently, they were stored at ITD's headquarters in Boise. A grant
proposal by State Highway Archaeologist Marc
Munch
resulted in $150,000 in
stimulus funds for the curation of the collections.
"It is the responsibility of both ITD and the Federal
Highway Administration to ensure that any artifacts recovered as part of our
transportation projects are properly curated,"
Munch
said.
Earlier this summer, the artifact-filled boxes were
transported from ITD to three repositories around the state (listed below) to
be catalogued, organized and permanently stored.
- Idaho State University, Idaho Museum of
Natural History
- University of Idaho, Alfred W. Bowers
Laboratory of Anthropology
The grant has been used to catalog the artifacts, and for
storage containers that meet federal guidelines. The target completion date is
the end of 2011.
Glenda King, the curator of archaeology at the Idaho State Historical Society, says the archaeological finds not only will be fully identified
and encapsulated in appropriate acid-free packaging, but will be added to the
state's electronic databases for further study and education.
"The objects, documents associated with their recovery and
analysis, and the electronic information are now part of the Archaeological
Survey of Idaho," King said.
The Survey was created by the Idaho State Legislature in
1990 to ensure that archaeological materials recovered in Idaho do not leave
the state, but remain here within the educational system where they are
accessible to the state's universities and are available for the enjoyment and
education of Idaho citizens, King added.
Munch
plans to create an educational display for the public about
some of the ITD-recovered artifacts. He regularly participates in educational
programs for the Boise and Meridian school districts to provide a show-and-tell
for students to learn about Idaho's rich history through ITD's collections.
"The artifacts tell us so much about the lives of the people who were here before us," Munch said.