Recent History of Looking at Deep History

Recent History of Looking at Deep History

We have had a busy summer at the Center with finishing up renovations and outfitting our facility.  By August, we had largely settled in with improvements being completed and unpacking and organizing lab equipment, organizing short-term and long-term research projects and slowly introducing ourselves to volunteers and interested parties.

Our first short-term research project involves the analysis and temporary curation of over 30 archaeological sites from the Morrey Creek drainage in Iowa County, Wisconsin.  These sites were surveyed in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s by the team of researchers working with and for Dr. Robert J. Salzer and his Gottschall Rockshelter project.  The sites were collected, reported to the state of Wisconsin and then were housed with the greater Gottschall Rockshelter materials.  When Dr. Salzer passed away in 2020, these sites needed to be organized, formally analyzed and then will need to be curated in a facility.  Personnel from CWA have been working diligently on documenting the materials and preparing them for their final destination.  Volunteers Scott Weisman, Owen Rhynes and Treyson Thering have been actively working to finish this project which is nearing completion.

Scott Weisman and I have also been working on a long-term project involving an extensive collection of archaeologically surveyed materials dating to the 1920’s-1930’s; the work of Milton Hulburt.  During the early part of the 20^th century, Milton Hulburt conducted rigorous, systematic survey of large tracts of Sauk County, Wisconsin.  He kept surprisingly thorough track of his collections and made detailed notes and maps of his surveys and is responsible ultimately for reporting over 100 archaeological sites.  Mr. Hulburt worked directly with Charles E. Brown and the Wisconsin Archeological Society as part of Brown’s group of individuals who made up the Wisconsin Archeological Survey.  Unfortunately, upon his death in 1963, his collections and notes/maps were dispersed between private ownership (his nephew, David Hulburt), the Wisconsin Historical Society (his formal reports to the Survey) and the Reedsburg Historical Society.  The CWA has been working for years to gather all the information from all the sources so that Hulburt’s surveys can finally be published as a whole, updated with what we currently know about archaeology in Wisconsin.  It is a huge project and one that has taken far too long to complete, but we are in the process now and will hopefully be able to provide the world with a very informative and useful set of publications at the end of the project.

I, under the dual banners of Madison College and the Center for Wisconsin Archaeology, am teaching a Continuing Education course entitled The Archaeology of Wisconsin: Before the Dairyland.  Each Monday night through the end of November, I’m getting together with people who want to know more about Wisconsin’s past.  I am very excited to be able to work with members of the public on a topic that is near and dear to my heart.

I’ve also led a tour for the Madison Parks/Madison FUN Master Naturalist class from Vilas Park to Bear Mound Park where we discussed the amazing pre-Euroamerican village and cemetery complex that was present between Lake Wingra and the well-known bear effigy mound to the north.  This area is now the Henry Vilas Zoo and residential neighborhood, but 1000 years ago, it was part of thriving landscape along the shores of Lake Wingra.

What’s next?  The Center is kicking off a Madison College student research project on the Wingra Watershed including review of previous research, and maybe getting our shoes muddy in the watershed.  On October 24, I’ll lead a tour of the Aztalan site in central Wisconsin (Click here for more information) and on Oct 30th, in a spooky nod to Halloween, we’ll be hosting the first event at the center, a talk, “Vampyres: Fact and Fiction in the Modern Era” (Click here for more information). We’re also working with teachers in the Madison School District to bring an archaeology presentation to groups of fifth graders later this fall.

Finally, I want to take a moment to thank all of the hard work that has been put into the Center so far this year.  The board members (Byron Glick, Michele Gast, Annette Kuhlmann) were outstanding at bringing a fresh perspective and keeping everyone on track.  The volunteers were awesome as well.  Many thanks to Scott Weisman who has shown up almost every day to help with everything from renovations to analysis.  Karen Kettner has brought enthusiasm to some long days.  Hard work from Treyson Thering, Casimer Patek, Owen Rhynes, and Harley Soerfass have all been regulars at one time or another and provided a lot of support for our endeavor.  Thanks beyond words also go to my wife Sara for her patience, her wonderful ideas, her painting prowess, and her ability to make people feel at home in awkward social situations!  Thank all of you for taking a moment of your busy lives to read this! 

There is so much more to come and I hope I will see you at some point here at the Center.