[For the record, I want to thank the Society for Historical Archaeology for
allowing us to set up an information table at their recent conference in
downtown St. Louis. I'm also grateful to everyone who volunteered to staff the
table instead of going to tailgate parties. For more information about the SHA,
visit http://www.sha.org/ . For more information about the Mound City
Archaeological Society and the Missouri Archaeological Society, visit
http://www.missouriarchaeology.org and click on the appropriate links. -- Greg]

stltoday.com: Archaeologists gather to talk about old times (01/15)
By GLEN SPARKS

St. Louis area is rich in artifacts, experts note

The Indiana Jones stuff just about makes Greg Paulus grimace. So archaeologists
run around the jungle, lifting precious idols from spider-infested caves,
dodging humongous boulders and always carrying a trusty whip, right? Wrong.

So, Paulus felt obligated to state - as most amateur and professional
archaeologists probably do at least a few hundred times a year - that
"archaeology is not about Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. It's not about breaking
into tombs and taking shiny things."

Paulus pleaded his case as he stood just outside Grand Ballroom D on Saturday
afternoon at St. Louis Union Station. The Missouri Archaeological Society was
presenting a series of lectures on the historical archaeology of Missouri.
Paulus is president of the Mound City Archaeology Society, the St. Louis chapter
of the MAS.

Many interesting items lie beneath St. Louis, in part because of this region's
rich history. Paulus distributed brochures that highlighted the Lewis and Clark
expedition, Cahokia Mounds Historic Site and Mastodon State Historic Site.

Nearby, the Society for Historical Archaeology held its annual conference. The
society includes 2,300 people from 25 countries, although most members live in
the United States and Canada. Professors from across these two countries
attended the conference.

Vergil Noble, an archaeologist from the National Park Service's
Midwest Archaeological Center in Lincoln, Neb., headed the national conference.
Timothy Baumann, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of
Missouri at St. Louis, conducted the Missouri lecture program. Every national
conference includes a free local program that is open to the public.

"In archaeology, we try to help people understand their past," Noble said. "That
can also help them understand what might happen in the future. This area is of
particular interest because with Lewis and Clark, it's really the opening of the
West."

Baumann and some of his colleagues at UMSL are working with students in the Old
North St. Louis area to find out more about that neighborhood. Pieces of trash,
furniture, plates and even outhouses are still buried in the ground.

"We can stir this interest in archaeology if we can show the students something
from their neighborhood," Baumann said. "Through archaeology, we can demonstrate
a common past. We're looking into the past, but this is a field that is very
alive."

Archaeologists are interested both in fossils and tools that are thousands of
years old and in much more recent artifacts.

"When a lot of people think of archaeology, they think of ancient Egypt or
Mesopotamia," said Paulus, who lives in the Central West End neighborhood of St.
Louis. "It's much more than that."

Historical archaeology in the United States dates from about 1500, or not long
after Christopher Columbus arrived. The lecturers inside the ballroom spoke on
such subjects as the continuing archaeological research at frontiersman Daniel
Boone's house in Augusta, Mo., and the Civil War battle of Wilson's Creek in
southern Missouri.

Douglas Scott, a lecturer from the National Park Service, told an audience of
about 50 college professors and amateur archaeologists about that battle. On
Aug. 10, 1861, Union and Confederate soldiers fought at Wilson's Creek, a spot
not far from Springfield. Confederate forces attacked three times but could not
break through the Union line. After the final attack, Union Maj. Samuel Sturgis
ordered his troops to retreat.

Archaeologists are finding bullets and other artifacts from Wilson's Creek. They
are discovering that Confederate troops did not shoot just squirrel rifles and
other low-tech weapons; the soldiers fought with some of the era's most
high-tech rifles. By examining the bullets and the old rifles, archaeologists
can learn more about the battle and about the transportation routes that brought
these weapons from the East Coast to the Midwest.

As an amateur archaeologist and a full-time computer programmer, Paulus hopes to
spend more time at sites such as Wilson's Creek. The Mound City group also is
searching for some of the old graves at the Shrine of St. Ferdinand in
Florissant.

"We always work with a professional archaeologist when we go to a gravesite,"
Paulus said. "You don't just want to get a shovel and go digging."

Copyright © 2004 St. Louis Post-Dispatch L.L.C. All rights reserved.

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