Page 8 - RAGBRAI2012

DAY 4 - WEBSTER CITY TO MARSHALLTOWN MILDRED MOTT In the summer of 1938, Mildred
served as field director for an archaeo-
WEDEL logical excavation near Webster City
Mildred Mott Wedel, born in supervised by Charles R. Keyes, a found-
Marengo, Iowa, was one of the first ing figure in Iowa archaeology. The
professionally trained female archaeolo- project, financed by MacKinlay Kantor,
gists in the country. Best known for her Iowa’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
efforts to link historic Iowa tribes with and author of Andersonville and Spirit
archaeological cultures, Mildred became Lake, investigated the Willson Mound
a renowned scholar. Perhaps inspired by Group (13HM1) and the Humble Village
her father, Luther Mott, Professor and Site (13HM2), both Woodland tradition
Director of the School of Journalism at sites in Hamilton County.
the University of Iowa, Mildred seemed
destined for a career in academia. She
majored in history at the University of
Iowa, and in 1934 headed to gradu-
ate school at the University of Chicago
to study anthropology, the first woman
there to receive a fellowship in that field.

MARSHALLTOWN

TROWELS
Just about every archaeologist in this country
owns at least one. The Marshalltown Company,
based in Marshalltown, Iowa, has been manu-
facturing trowels since 1890. Marshalltown
trowels are a preferred trowel for archaeologi-
cal excavation because of their flat base, sturdy
construction, and ease of resharpening.