Students Unearth 4,000-Year-Old Artifacts
An archeological excavation by Johnson State College students along the Lamoille River is taking place this summer.
Students demonstrated their work and talked about their findings, which include artifacts dating back 4,000 years — indicating that the site is 2,000 years older than previously believed — and the discovery of remnants of what is believed to be a 2,000-year-old village downstream.
While the project is ongoing, the class opened up the excavation site to the public on July 1, 2010. More than 100 square feet of excavation was open for viewing. Artifacts from the newly discovered village site was on display, and local farmers who have supported the students’ investigations were participants in the project.
This is the second summer that JSC students have explored the Lamoille River as part of an upper-level course called “Unearth the Past: Field Archaeology on the Lamoille.” The Lamoille is Vermont’s least archaeologically studied major river, says project leader and course instructor Corbett Torrence. “Our goal is to put the Lamoille on Vermont’s archaeological map,” he says.
The class is working with local farmers, community members and organizations, as well as the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation, with the goal of contributing to the understanding and preservation of the Lamoille River’s cultural resources.