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Archeologists discover ancient tools on St. Joseph Ridge

Sisters at St. Rose Convent move in for a closer look at the artifacts after the archeology presentation. Shown from left, Sisters Helen Koopmann, Lucile Schettler (hidden), Florence Marie Veit, Phyllis Ann Hackman and Alice McMullin.

Roughly 10,000 years ago a nomadic Paleo hunter may have dropped or discarded a spear point on top of Irish Hill, near the Villa St. Joseph. In 2003, representatives of the Mississippi Valley Archeology Center found that spear point. This past November the spear point traveled back to the ridge top when it was displayed at a presentation for sisters of Villa St. Joseph.

Vicki Twinde, research archeologist from the Mississippi Valley Archeology Center and UW-L instructor, displayed the spear point as she explained how it was found. The archeology center was commissioned by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to investigate the land on either side of Hwy. 33 before the road undergoes major reconstruction.

Artifacts such as flakes of stone tools were readily found in the surface of fields according to Twinde. These flakes are the stone cast-offs that occur as tools are made. She explained that to find the artifacts, the team dug within a 100 foot area parallel to the highway. Every 50 feet they dug a square patch of soil and sifted it through a ¼ inch mesh screen.

The archeology crew predominantly found flakes of stone tools. The 10,000 year-old spear point is the most significant item found.

The 10,000 year-old spear point found on St. Joseph Ridge is shown at left. The artifact on the right is a flake that was fomred when Paleo hunters were crafting tools.

The shape of the point allowed the archeologists to diagnostically determine its age. Spear points were used by Paleo peoples to bring down wild game. Twinde explained that these people followed their food, and did not do any planting for their subsistence. She also noted that women were partners in the hunt. They would help by driving the animals, netting to capture them and eventually clubbing them to death.

In all, 14 significant sites were found in the Irish Hill survey, seven others were found in 2004 on Middle Ridge. Ten of the sites were considered significant enough to merit additional investigation. Twinde noted that for every hour in the field, students and staff spend roughly three hours in the lab, cleaning recording and analyzing specimens.

Twinde's presentation also included general information on the various people who inhabited this region, along with a brief discussion of the land and animals. She commented that the La Crosse area used to be prairie lands until about the 1850s when Europeans introduced trees to the region.

Twinde had personal connections to her Villa audience. When she was a student between 1990 and 1994, she worked as a dietary aide at the Villa. She gave a similar presentation a few weeks later at St. Rose Convent.

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