Archaeological History Unearthed at The Fred Burr Site

 

                                                                       Oxbow Point

I was honored to be invited to participate in the Fred Burr Dig titled 24GN1095 in the final four years of it’s evacuation. The title of this dig indicates that it is the 1,095th registered archaeological dig in Granite County. This probably comes as a surprise to many people that quietly archives have been excavated around the county for many years with little knowledge from local people. A dig has to have the permission of the land owner before it can begin and everyone working at the site including the many archaeology and geology students that received hands on experience sign a form that states they will not disclose the site to anyone. Kind of like “if I tell you I will have to kill you.” I brought four of my great-grandchildren one year and they worked in pouring rain and 100 degree temperatures from 6am until after 6pm for most of a week with Sunday as a day off. Although the work was very hard they were rewarded with a few very nice projectile points. They can now come to the Granite County Museum and point out to their family and friends the artifacts they unearthed. 

This site is located on land owned by Marlene Chor. She is a descendant of the Albert and Josephine Budel family that claimed a homestead on this site in Township 6 about 1910. Marlene grew up hearing family stories about the land being used as a campsite for native Americans and in 1987 an artifact was found on the top of a freshly dug gopher hole. This find led to Professor Jack Schultz from Montana Tech sponsoring an archeological dig at the site in 1989. This “pit” was continued for 2 seasons with the help of archeological students before Schultz moved away. The platted precise dig was not initiated until Daniel Comer Archeologist became aware of the site and began coordinating digs in 2009. The dig covered 10 seasons and always included Daniel, Marlene and Ken Schmidt and his brother Mark. Every piece of bone, pottery, charcoal. lethic and projectile, tool piece or sherd and rock was carefully diagramed, photographed, labeled and all saved, except the hearth stones. This multitude of artifacts was then carefully collated and boxed according to the exact location. all of this is now available to any interested researcher by contacting the Granite County Museum. All of the projectile points and tools plus bones of interest are displayed for the general public. Many of the bison bones displayed are not from the site but from Bison jumps around Montana. The information gleaned from this site has disclosed great information and is preserved to be utilized to answer many more questions, in the following years, as tools are invented to date artifacts more accurately. We know that a number of activities were performed there including faunal processing, manufacture and usage of bone tools, cooking with ceramic vessels, scraping activities, knife work, and hide processing plus projectile point manufacture, re-sharpening and replacement of these tools. The artifacts found include projectile points from many different time periods, knives, scrapers and drills. Also one bone needle was found. Obviously rock was transported from other areas as there is evidence of “Madison Chert”, Eyebrow “Hasmark Chert”, Obsidian, “Avon Chert” and “McLeery Gulch Chert” and totals nine different sources including a light purple chert in limited numbers. The number of hearths revealed demonstrates that this was a very large animal processing site and in all probability was close to a major Bison Jump. We are aware of a number of Ancient Bison heads found in Granite County and they all appear to be of the ancient Woodland Bison adding credence to a local harvest of Bison through out different time periods. A pottery sherd was analyzed for residue in 2013 and was found to contain native grasses and bison protein with maize also present. Maize presence is extremely unusual this far northwest and may mean contact with the Wasatch area of present day Utah, where corn was grown in prehistoric times. 

Radiocarbon samples show that the utilization of the site occurred from as early as 3500 BC to as late as 1850 AD. An intact Oxbow Point found by Dave Klumpar the last day of the dig has a date of use between 2000 and 3500 BC. The ancient history of Granite County can also be appreciated in a Master Thesis by Nancy Flint PhD describing the Weaver site and the Fred Burr Dig Synopsis was published in “Archaeology In Montana”, Vol.62, No.2, 2021 pp.85-99. Please visit the Museum and appreciate our ancient history.