UA researchers provide look into Trussville stadium site dig
By Gary Lloyd
In a vastly green space behind the Trussville Civic Center, history meets progress.
There’s the gentle flow of the Cahaba River, the longest free-flowing river in the state of Alabama, and the loud rumble of vehicles heading north and south on nearby Interstate 59. There’s a huge civic center sitting on a spot where a bigger dairy farm used to be.
But the most obvious sign of history encountering progress occurred last Thursday. Researchers from the University of Alabama Office of Archaeological Research scraped the surface of muddy soil, searching for artifacts from the late Archaic through the late Woodland periods. They have found arrowheads, man-made pottery fragments and stone-made tools.
At the same time, elementary football players across from the dig site, maybe 50 yards away, discovered the proper way to plant their foot in the ground and cut up field while carrying the pigskin high and tight.
Joel Watkins, left, and another researcher from the University of Alabama dig for artifacts last week at the site where Hewitt-Trussville Stadium will be constructed.
photo by Gary Lloyd
These kids will play in the new Hewitt-Trussville Stadium, which is expected to be constructed and ready for kickoff next August. The archaeologists from UA are expected to finish their dig later this month. The features they find will be taken to Moundville for processing, and the analysis of those artifacts will take several months.
Through starch analysis of artifacts, researchers will be able to determine how old their findings are, what the natives were using to harvest food and animals, what resources were being used and how they were using the landscape.
“If the preservation is there, we can identify it,” said Matthew Gage, director of the University of Alabama’s Office of Archaeological Research.
Gage surmised that there were probably small garden fields throughout the stadium site, with more agricultural areas near the Cahaba River on the lower end of the site.
Gage said the site was originally identified in the mid 1990s as part of a different project. In November 2012, a Phase II testing was performed at the direction of Project Manager Joel Watkins to determine if features were present and whether or not materials were present that would be of interest for research purposes.
Some of the features found during the dig, ranging from projectile points to pieces of man-made pottery
photo by Gary Lloyd
Gage said his first desire is to always preserve an archaeological site, to leave the artifacts buried in the ground.
“But in this case, it just wasn’t possible,” he said. “The stadium has got to go here.”
Gage called the dig a community project, saying Mayor Gene Melton and Hewitt-Trussville High School have been great throughout the process. Science teacher David Dobbs and students have participated. The goal, Gage said, is to give people a greater understanding of who they are. He said he’s talking with city officials about displaying some of the artifacts inside the completed stadium.
“You have to understand your history,” he said. “You’ve got to have a sense of who you are. And this is it. This represents the land before there was Euro-American settlement. It represents the land before we had highways going through. It represents the land before we had football teams practicing.
“But it also gives people a sense of the depth of culture that we have. It’s not just all about football. It’s not just all about getting from Point A to Point B as fast as you can on the highway. It’s about the whole history and pre-history of mankind, and it’s here everywhere. Preserving that is vital.”
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
