Students join annual archaeological treasure hunt
By Amy Lavalley Post-Tribune correspondent July 5, 2011 4:02PM
Indiana University South Bend assistant professor in anthropology Josh Wells (left) and professor in anthropology Mark Schurr use a laser transmit to measure distance, angles and elevation at the Collier Lodge dig site in the Kouts area Tuesday July 2, 2011. Tuesday was the first day of the annual archeological dig. | Stephanie Dowell~Sun-Times Media
Learn more
The Collier Lodge archaeological dig continues on Tuesdays through Fridays at the lodge, 1097 Baums Bridge Road, Kouts. Go to www.kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org to learn more.
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Updated: October 31, 2011 10:21AM
KOUTS — More than 30 students and volunteers gathered Tuesday at Collier Lodge for an annual ritual of discovery.
Four days a week through July 22, the group will sift through the layers of soil to find hidden treasures left by riverside residents of long ago.
This is the ninth year for the project, which is sponsored by the Kankakee Valley Historical Society and is spearheaded by Mark Schurr, an associate dean at Notre Dame.
Joining him on-site this year for the first time is also a contingent from Indiana University-South Bend, a group that includes a couple of students from Indiana University Northwest.
Schurr said he first became involved when the historical society acquired the site, and members wanted to know if anything was there as they came up with plans for the land along the Kankakee River. The area was an archaeological site in the 1930s.
Schurr came down for a couple of days to check out the land. Several years later, he’s still coming down, with a growing number of participants.
“It turned into a combination field school and volunteer project,” he said. “There’s a lot of artifacts and there’s a lot of really deep deposits.”
Past finds at the site include a cellar and fireplace from a building that was probably the first one there, though it doesn’t exist in any records. Diggers also have found pre-historic pottery and tools in 600-year-old trash pits.
Tuesday, the group was just getting started, marking off the six plots where the dig will take place and removing grass. Joshua Wells, an assistant professor at IUSB, has known Schurr professionally for several years and looked forward to working with him again.
“This site is a really great educational opportunity for the students. It’s within an easy distance of all the campuses, and it has historical components,” he said.
For IUN students Mollie Morris, a sophomore from Hebron, and Harriett Demetrakis, a senior from Merrillville, the dig offers the chance to learn more about the region’s history, especially since neither was familiar with the site.
Morris, 20, said she didn’t know about the site, and said it was “weird” that other folks don’t know about it, either.
“It’s in our own back yard and nobody is talking about it,” said Demetrakis, 55, a teaching assistant in the Merrillville schools.
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