CHANNEL 44 NEWS

Ancient Artifacts Found During Boonville Bypass Construction

By CHELSEA KOERBLER

Native American artifactss thousands of years old are found on a construction site in Boonville.

Those items were excavated Thursday.

“This area was identified as a potential historical artifact hot spot,” said Jason Tiller with INDOT. 

Anytime INDOT does work on land that could be filled with artifacts, they have archaeologists help them on the project.

That’s exactly what happened along the Boonville Bypass.

“Based on what we found, it looked like it was the remnants of an Indian manufacturing operation,’ said Tiller. 

Pottery sherds, animal remains, and other fragmentary artifacts related to stone tool manufacturing were found at the site in Boonville, dating back to 385 AD.

Tiller with INDOT says this isn’t the first time ancient artifacts have been discovered at a construction site.

He says, this area was a popular place for Native Americans to settle.

“It’s not uncommon to find an arrowhead, small remnants of tools or refuse items,” said Tiller.

While uncommon for construction workers to find, some people in the area are fascinated by the discovery.

“I thought that was pretty cool, to tell you the truth,” said Dick Fischer, Boonville resident. “I’ve never heard of anything found like that before and I wanna learn more about it.”

With what was found, INDOT has to make sure the items weren’t more significant than what they believed.

“We did look at these and found they are of historical significance,” said Tiller. “However, they’re not in the category that it will require us to re plan the route or to do any changes.”

These items have been sent to the Cultural Resources Office for Cataloging, they will determine what to do with them

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