9,000 prehistoric artifacts found along Cedar River

CEDAR RAPIDS - A team of archaeologists unearthed some 9,000 prehistoric artifacts - such as arrows, pottery and evidence of earthen wigwams and hearths - along the east bank of the Cedar River near the African American Museum of Iowa and Masaryk Park.

The materials are estimated to be 2,200 years old - remnants of a small band of woodland people who built temporary shelters on the riverbanks, likely in good weather, said Dave Stanley, chief executive officer, and Joe Thompson, co-principal investigator, at Bear Creek Archeology of Cresco.

'When we start to piece these back together, you can see how they were distributed, the social function of spaces, even gender-specific areas,” Stanley said. 'You can tell where the houses were and how they fit into the pattern of activities.”

The dig was part of historic studies in preparation for a Cedar Rapids flood control system through the area. A crew of a dozen people spent six weeks last fall excavating by hand 400 square meters about 2 feet deep in a grassy section where a building once stood.

The crews found chip stone tools, scrapers, knives and pottery. They also found evidence of hearth pits, domed structures about 8 feet across with a hearth inside likely used for housing, Thompson said.

The residents appeared to be just a few families at a time who stayed for a few months and then moved on. These people lived off the land, Thompson said.

For the housing, physical remains are minimal, but the coloration and texture of soil points to postholes and other clues about what once existed, Thompson said.

The pottery, which he described as 'small globular-shaped cooking vessels” in particular was a significant find.

'This is the earliest pottery you'd find in Iowa,” Thompson said.

Bear Creek has been working in the area since at least 2009 and has found a trove of other material along the river.

Bear Creek has been under a $295,000 contract with the Army Corps of Engineers to survey, dig and test and then recover and preserve artifacts from areas the Corps will disturb as it builds a new system of levees and flood walls.

A model that examines the evolution of topographical features helped Bear Creek zero in on the location to study last fall, Stanley said.

Bear Creek still is cataloging the findings and will submit a final report to the city, Stanley said. While the findings ar

l Comments: (319) 339-3177; brian.morelli@thegazette.com