Page 5 - ImmenseJourney
P. 5
Engagement: Communities Come Together
Before any professional archaeologist ever set a This kind of personal commit- toric period of the southern Loess Hills. The questions
well-worn boot heel in Iowa’s Loess Hills, area ment and continuing interest posed at this event guided subsequent research.
residents, relic hunters, and antiquarians pioneered has inspired many communi-
the region’s archaeology. Landowners and collectors ties to find ways to advance the One of the most satisfying aspects of the Loess Hills
filled boxes and frames with masses of stone points area’s early history and to share project was meeting with landowners and collectors.
and pottery and dug into house depressions and it with others. This is perhaps Farmers proudly shared stone spear points found in
village mounds. The arrival of Charles R. Keyes and nowhere better demonstrated their gardens, while others displayed collections con-
Ellison Orr, appointed to conduct the first statewide than in the replica earth lodge taining hundreds of items families had been accumu-
archaeological survey in the 1920s, elevated these and related artifact exhibits lating for generations. Seasoned
endeavors to site recording. The two relied on local in the Mills County Historical collectors described sites
residents, such as Paul Rowe in Mills County, and Museum in Glenwood. Inspired excavated by amateurs in the
organizations, like the Sioux City Academy of Sci- by the carefully documented 1950s and 1960s, whose previ-
ences, for information about collections and sites. artifact collections of Paul Rowe ous existence was unknown.
These efforts produced a basic understanding of the and his colleagues, such as This information provided clues
area’s prehistory and drew the interest of profession- D.D. Davis, grass roots efforts to find buried intact sites and
als. Later the Sanford Museum in Cherokee and both financed, constructed, helped the archaeologists learn
the Northwest Chapter and the Paul Rowe Chapter and continue to main- how prehistoric people utilized
of the Iowa Archeological Society made significant tain both the earth lodge the landscape. As a result, more
contributions to Loess Hills’ archaeology. and the nearby museum. than a dozen new, possible
Here most of the Rowe lodge locations came to light.
collection, one of the
largest and most com-
prehensive of any from
the central Missouri
valley, is displayed.
Paul Rowe.
Recognizing the valu-
able knowledge and generous enthusiasm of area
residents, the Loess Hills Cultural Resources Study
began with a series of community meetings intended
to outline the project and engage public input. A
community symposium hosted in Glenwood drew
archaeological experts from Wichita to Washington,
D.C., who shared their knowledge of the late prehis-
University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist 3
