How did you spend your last summer vacation?

This summer, why not assist Cincinnati Museum Center in unearthing artifacts from a Native American village site? You can become an archaeologist for a week or more at the Hahn Site, a Late Prehistoric village site in Anderson Township.

The Hahn Site is located approximately 2 miles northeast of the Beechmont Levy (SR 125) and just west of the Village of Newtown at the far end of Clear Creek Park, a unit of Anderson Parks. It lies on a low terrace within the broad valley of the Little Miami River, a State and National Scenic River. Clear Creek Park has drinking water and restrooms.

Preliminary excavations by Peabody Museum at Harvard in 1885 uncovered an array of prehistoric items including flint, stone, bone, pottery, and shell artifacts. And, although little was learned of village layout during those early investigations, surface collections during the 20th century, and the Museum’s work over the last ten years indicate that the initial early 14th century Fort Ancient occupation at Hahn included a circular to oval village with a ring or rings of houses and a central plaza. To date, the Museum’s work has exposed multiple wall trench houses dating to the 14th century, a large middle Fort Ancient (AD 1300-1425) filled depression, a late Fort Ancient (AD 1425-1625) stockade (fence), a ditch to a Hopewell-age (BC/AD boundary to AD 400) circular earthwork, and approximately six dozen pit features (mostly trash-filled storage pits and earth ovens) dating to the late Fort Ancient period.

This adventure is geared towards pre-teens, teenagers, and adults (ages 11-16 must be accompanied by an adult) and offers an opportunity to explore the Hahn Site’s domestic areas, including food storage and cooking pits, and architectural remnants. You will learn standard excavation and recording techniques as you discover more about the Late Prehistory of southwestern Ohio, the development of sedentary agricultural villages, and the importance of the Hahn Site in our understanding of local Fort Ancient-age societies. Your hard work will be rewarded with the thrill of uncovering layers and artifacts from an important period in American prehistory.