Minnesota’s Office of State Archaeology, based at the Fort Snelling History Center, is holding an Archaeology Week, starting Saturday, at sites around the state (pdf).
Among the many events:
- Saturday and Sunday: Minnesota Archaeology Fair at Fort Snelling Visitor Center with poster and artifact displays, demonstrations and activities illustrating and explaining the archaeology of Minnesota. Also artifact identification, and demonstrations of pottery-making and flint knapping.
- Saturday: at the Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site in Cottonwood County, help construct a 2,000- year- old style house based on an ancient dwelling found at the Mountain Lake Site.
- Saturday and Sept. 20: Split Rock Lighthouse parking lot, walk through a mock shipwreck and look for archaeological clues to detect what wreck it is. Then talk with a real underwater diver to learn what it is like to really dive for ships.
- Sept. 20: at Whitewater State Park in Winona County, kids can discover how early Native people lived by examining artifacts from four different time periods, dating as far back as the end of the ice age.
Archaeology Week has been held annually in Minnesota since 1995. The goal is to promote interest in archaeology and an appreciation of the state’s diverse cultural heritage.
