NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/708333
Getting the Point Story and photos by Justin Haag bout 10,000 years ago, a man chipped away at a piece of stone with a goal in mind. With each strike, he carefully crafted a tool that would play a critical role in his survival. If his knapping skills were up to par he'd be able to deliver a fatal strike to a bison and help provide nourishment to himself and others in his tribe. That prehistoric hunter would surely be amazed to see his handiwork again subjected to a high level of attention by the scientists on this day who have temporarily set up shop at the Trailside Museum of Natural History at Fort Robinson State Park. No doubt, the modern technology at the Artifact Road Show would look vastly unfamiliar to someone from such primitive times. With high-tech imaging equipment, the researchers are making a three-dimensional digital replica of the artifact and recording all of its vital data. As the artifact arrives along with many other pieces belonging to the collection of a nearby rancher, students use its shape and other characteristics to categorize the spearhead as a Scottsbluff point – one of dozens of different types of projectiles that have been found throughout the High Plains. At another station, laser beams record every dimple and dent on the point and record them to a computer. At another location, a camera records high-resolution photographs. While all that is happening, the rancher is being interviewed at another station. By the time the rancher leaves the building with his collection of artifacts, the researchers will have everything they need to examine this artifact and others into perpetuity and add to an increasing body of knowledge about those who inhabited the Northern Plains and Midwest hundreds and thousands of years ago. The artifact is just one of thousands that have been recorded during the past few years by the Artifact Road Show sponsored by the University of Nebraska Archaeological Field School and the National Grasslands Visitors Center. The road show began in 2013 after conversations between Dennis Kuhnel of the U.S. Forest Service and Dr. Matthew Douglass, a professor of anthropology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They were looking for a way to involve students in research, formalize a documentation process for artifacts and build an oral history for regions of Nebraska and South Dakota. So far, the project has included University of Nebraska students enrolled in the field school, master's degree students and graduates who are employed by the U.S. Forest Service. The concept of the event is similar to the popular PBS television series, "Antiques Roadshow," in which locals bring in cherished heirlooms for appraisal as the show travels throughout the United States. While these archaeologists do not assign a monetary value to the artifacts brought in by collectors and private landowners, they're answering questions about their age and who might have The Artifact Road Show is helping researchers learn more about the distant, and not-so-distant, past of the Great Plains. A process for artifacts and build an oral history for regions of Nebraska and South Dakota. So far, the project has included University of Nebraska students enrolled in the field school, master's degree students and graduates who are employed by 52 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2016 Matthew Douglass and Amy Sobotka photograph a projectile point brought in by a local rancher using a turntable photogrammetry rig. Here the artifact is photographed from multiple angles to allow a 3D reconstruction to be created.