To a layman, most of the artifacts look like gravel. But archeologists can study them to find out more about Native Americans who lived along Delaware River.
View full size A Native American artifact unearthed in an archeological dig near the Scudder Falls Bridge.
Shards of fire-cracked rocks and other artifacts unearthed as part of the Scudder Falls bridge replacement are being sent to museums with the hope they’ll reveal more about how Native Americans lived thousands of years ago.
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission says mandatory archaeological digs in 2010 and 2011 near the bridge over the Delaware River produced 25,000 artifacts that will be preserved and studied.
To a layman, most of the artifacts look like gravel, according to the commission. But archeologists can study them to find out more about Native Americans who lived along the river before Europeans arrived.
“While the archaeological digs did not produce treasures of valuable metals or ancient sculptures on par with that of the Incas or an Egyptian pharaoh, the materials should assist researchers in understanding how Native Americans lived along the Delaware River many centuries ago,” Arnold J. Conoline Jr., the commission’s acting executive director, said today in a press release.
The finds include shards of pottery and a pipe, animal bones and evidence of a hearth.Finds of one dig, including evidence of a settlement that could date to 2000 B.C., were taken to the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. Finds of a second dig, including evidence of a settlement between 1000 and 1500 A.D., were taken to the Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg.
The $328 million Scudder Falls Bridge replacement would turn a 4.4-mile stretch of Interstate 95 between Bucks County, Pa., and Mercer County, N.J., from six lanes to nine to reduce traffic congestion.