GAINESVILLE - Amateur and professional volunteers are conducting an archaeological survey of Chicopee Woods Preserve - and have turned up a number of artifacts that are on display at Elachee Nature Center.
Peter Gordon, the Education Director at Elachee, says most come from early 20th century home site that dot the 1,400-acre preserve.
"At those home sites , you'll find things like old tricycles that kids had and dolls and...old automobiles and automobile parts," Gordon said. He also said there is evidence that Native Americans lived in Chicopee Woods 10,000-12,000 years ago.
"We've been find a little bit of pottery and other things that trace back to different eras of Indian occupation, right up to Cherokee times."
Commenting on Sunday's Northeast Georgia This Week on WDUN NEWS TALK 550, Gordon said the work is a cooperative effort of Elachee and the Georgia Mountains Archaeological Society.
The group meets the first Saturday of each month and is joined by members of the Greater Atlanta and Gwinnett SGA chapters. So far, according to Gordon, they have recorded four old home sites and surveyed other areas of the preserve.
He said the work is being supervised by Dr. Jack Wynn, a retired archaeologist who worked with the U.S. Forest Service for a number of years "in this country and overseas, primarily in South and Central America."
To date, he says, they have spent 69 volunteer days working on the survey, including orientation, field work, and laboratory analysis, for a total of more than 254 volunteer hours.
Some of the artifacts that have been uncovered are on display at Elachee as part of the "Waters of Time: The Chicopee Woods Story" exhibit. Gordon says it also includes fossils, photos, and displays portraying the importance of water in the history of Chicopee Woods.
The exhibit traces the importance of water, especially Walnut Creek, in the development and preservation of Chicopee Woods. Beginning with a display of two authentic 14- ft. and 10-ft.fossilized Mosasaur skeletons, continuing through the Ice Age, Native American, Colonial, and 20th Century periods, the "Waters of Time" story will "bring you to the present day and give you a glimpse of what the future holds for the Chicopee Woods," according to the Elachee Web site. Highlights include visual and hands-on activities for children like a dino dig box with real fossils to find, a one-ton petrified log that children can climb on, a real fossil collection, making your own rubbings to take home, and creating forest animal tracks in special nature "goop."
The display is a permanent exhibit and is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission: $3 Adults, $2 Children ages 2-12, children under 2.
Wednesday
October 23rd, 2024
3:25PM
