June 29, 2004

Students get hands-on dig time

By Bill Choy
Ashland Daily Tidings

At first glance, Christian Solfisburg thought the object he had pulled from the earth was just a piece of rock.

Upon further observation, he discovered it was something much than that - it was a window to another place and time.

The Southern Oregon University anthropology major had found a figurine, probably made by a member of an American Indian tribe more than 1,000 years ago.

The figure had aged pretty well, still intact from the waist up, although its facial features had been removed by the sands of time.

"It was a very neat find," Solfisburg said on Monday, reflecting on his discovery. "It's unusual to find something like this to be in fairly good shape. ... It was very special knowing there's something in your hands that's a piece of the puzzle. Doing the dig and finding these items gives a voice to the past."

This summer, Solfisburg and 11 fellow SOU anthropology majors are participating in a Bureau of Land Management dig of a site believed to have been used by either the Mollala or Takelma tribes about 1,500 years ago.

The site is in the Lost Creek Lake area, located several miles from Shady Cove. Because of concerns of illegal digging, officials requested that the exact location not be disclosed.

With her tools in hand, Celia Moret-Ferguson, an SOU senior anthropology major, carefully cleared the dirt and rock away in the hope of finding more artifacts.

The dig gives these students an opportunity to learn their craft hands on, and help preserve the past. Students have already discovered pieces of ceramics, and several projectile points made from jasper or agate, and what appears to be arms and legs from figurines, said Mark Tveskov, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at SOU.

Finding the figurine on Thursday was quite a find, he said.

"It's very rare to find something that complete in this area," Tveskov said.

What makes the find so unusual is the use of ceramics in Oregon was unique to Indians in the upper Rogue and Klamath rivers.

The figurine's purpose has not been determined.

"It could be everything from a toy to a sacred object," Tveskov said. "We don't really know."

Tveskov believes the site was used as a seasonal camp.

The site has also proved invaluable in showing evidence of how Indians managed the area, particularly with controlled burns, Tveskov said.

He said it appears they consistently burned the area and kept the trees down to foster the growth of oaks that produce acorns.

Once the dig ends next month, the students will examine the pieces by carbon dating in the fall and write a paper on their findings the next quarter.

BLM district archeologist Ann Ramage said the bureau has worked with SOU on dig sites in the region for 10 years.

"They can get out and do field work in a professional setting," she said. "It's not just about going after artifacts and digging them up, it's learning how to do it in a scientific manner."

Ramage said digs like this are vital in understanding how the American Indians of the region lived.

"It's like a skeleton," she said. "This type of excavation helps put flesh on the bones and help us understand them as real people."

Melissa Quesenberry, a junior anthropology major at SOU, said that working at a dig site can't be beat.

"Every day, we're discovering something new," she said. "This is part of our past. It's leaning how people used to live here and learning a little about your history."

Moret-Fergusen was overwhelmed with being able to be part of a professional dig site as a student.

"It's really exciting to experience this first-hand instead of just reading about it in a book," she said. "When you're here, it all starts to make sense. ... I loved it. I've always like to be outdoors and to dig in the dirt."

Being in the middle of a dig site is quite surreal, Moret-Ferguson said.

"It feels like I'm in the middle of those movies I saw as a kid with people digging in a field site like this," she said.

The current site was found by the BLM during a controlled burn.

While it's exhilarating to make these discoveries, there is a major problem in preserving these finds - looters.

At first, it started as a family hobby for those interested in grabbing a piece of history for themselves, but has grown into a profitable business, with many looted items being found on E-Bay or associated with illegal drug activity, Tveskov said.

The problem was extremely bad in the 1990s, Tveskov said, pointing to a number of mounds of dirt in the area, which looters had piled up over the years. He estimated that 75 percent of the site had been destroyed by looters.

"It's a major problem," he said. "You have these artifacts that have sat here for thousands of years that could be decimated in an afternoon."