Dig Uncovers Artifacts

FINDS WILL GIVE DETAILS ABOUT LIFE IN CANEHILL

LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Starla Taylor of Fort Smith, left, Hagan Wiggins of Bentonville, and Kimberly Pyszka, an assistant professor of anthropology with Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., sift through soil to look for artifacts from the former Methodist manse at Canehill.
LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Starla Taylor of Fort Smith, left, Hagan Wiggins of Bentonville, and Kimberly Pyszka, an assistant professor of anthropology with Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., sift through soil to look for artifacts from the former Methodist manse at Canehill.

Editor's Note: The community Canehill is written as one word, but the nonprofit organization calls itself Historic Cane Hill.

CANEHILL -- For archaeologists, the boring stuff tells the story.

And Bobby Braly, executive director of Historic Cane Hill Inc., hopes archaeological excavations last week will tell more about the story of the former Methodist manse located along Arkansas Highway 45 in Canehill. Constructed in 1834, the Methodist manse is the oldest building in its original location in Washington County.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but its entry is only two paragraphs long.

"We don't know much about it so that's why we're doing an archaeological survey," Braly said. A manse is the term for a house in which a minister lives.

Archaeologists from Historic Cane Hill, University of Arkansas, University of Arkansas at Monticello and Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., spent last week on site in Canehill. Other volunteers included a 4-H Club from Crawford County, UA students and other groups from northwest Arkansas.

Many of the items found will help provide dates about life in Canehill and those who used the Methodist manse. For example, Braly said, nails change over time. Volunteers have found lots of square-cut nails and that's good because those types of nails were used in the 19th century.

Other finds include broken bottlenecks from the 19th century and pieces of Boonesboro stoneware. A Boonesboro pottery store was open near Canehill during the 19th century. In another area, buried bricks may have been a cistern at one time.

Another signficant find were lots of broken up bricks buried in front of the building and possibly going under the concrete front porch. This points to the possibility of another structure, Braly said.

James Brandon, research station archaeologist with Arkansas Archeological Survey, said archaeology will

General News on 04/01/2015