Every so often our youth groups are given the opportunity of a lifetime. This past weekend was one of them. They were invited to be amateur archaeologists for a few days. Here’s an article, submitted by Dr. Cara Blume, reporting on this event:

Early on the morning of May 23, 2001, Vernon Township, [Sussex County] sent a bulldozer to cut a shallow trench across the Black Creek Site—an American Indian settlement that had been repeatedly occupied over some 8,000 years—just two hours before a court hearing on an injunction to prevent any construction on the site.

Thanks to the involvement of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribe, the Black Creek Site was saved from destruction. It has been listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, and is now part of Waywayanda State Park. But the scar left by the bulldozer has remained.

This past weekend, seven members of the tribe’s New Dawn youth group, along with five members of the Little Acorns and six adults, helped to heal this scar.

Led by the tribe’s archaeological consultant for Black Creek, Dr. Cara Blume, they excavated sections of the nearly 300 foot. berm created by the bulldozer. They sifted the soil through screens to recover artifacts from the past and returned the soil to the trench.

Most of the artifacts recovered were stone flakes from making spear and arrow points and other tools or fragments of rock from fire hearths.

The most exciting discovery came at the end of the day on Sunday, when Buggy Durham pulled a complete spear point made about 4,000 years ago from the screen.

The project opened and closed with prayer circles led by John Norwood.

Thanks to the Vernon Historical So­ciety, especially president Jessi Paladini, the group stayed in donated rooms at Legends Resort and Great Gorge Resort. Several members of the society also assisted in the excavations.

For further information, please visit archaeologychannel.org/blackckDesc.html