HOW TO GO
WHAT: SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park
WHERE: 2301 West River Road, Dayton
HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday, 9 am. - 5 p.m.; Sunday, 12 - 5 p.m.; closed Mondays.
ADMISSION: Adults, $6; seniors, $4; students, 6-16, $4; children under 6 and members are free.
FOR MORE INFO: 937-268-8199 or sunwatch.org
LECTURE SERIES
SunWatch is hosting its 2016 Archaeological Institute of America/SunWatch Winter Lecture Series: Archaeology in the Eastern U.S. All the lectures will be held on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and presented by experts.
Jan. 16: "Resisting Removal: The Archaeology of an 1830s Appalachian Cherokee Farmstead."
Feb. 20: "Fort Ancient Ceramics in the Great Miami River Valley."
March 19: "Early Human Populations in the New World: A Biased Perspective."
April 16: "Buried Traces of Prison of War Communications with Loved Ones During the American Civil War."
“I want visitors to relate to the people who lived here, not as characters in a story, but as real people — as clever, sophisticated and flawed as we are.” — Bill Kennedy, curator of Anthropology, Dayton Society of Natural History
Most of us want to retreat indoors when we reach the shortest day of the year, but not Bill Kennedy, an archaeologist and the curator of Anthropology for the Dayton Society of Natural History.
He’s busy re-framing the roof of the Big House at SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park, where the Fort Ancient people lived along the Great Miami River 800 years ago.
The park is called SunWatch because understanding the solar cycle was critical to survival for the prehistoric dwellers of modern-day Ohio. A structure Kennedy re-roofed last year is called the Solstice House. The shadow of a big pole in the center of the recreated village enters the doorway of the ceremonial Solstice House on the morning of the shortest day of the year. Today, in fact, is the winter solstice; precisely, it occurs tonight at 11:49 p.m.
A few days ago, while Kennedy was re-framing the roof of the Big House, he said the pole’s shadow aligns with the doorway of the Big House on April 29, marking the planting of corn, and 110 days later, on Aug. 14, when the crop would be ready to harvest. Learning that about the Big House was a reminder that after the darkest day of the year, good things are on their way.
Kennedy took time out from his work to talk about the process and importance of restoring the prehistoric structure:
Q: How long have you been working on the Big House?
A: I started gathering materials a year and a half ago. It's a 2,000-man-hour project. I'm about 1,700 hours in. The first 1,000 hours were spent collecting the wood and prairie grass. There are 200 trees in the final product. Almost all the wood came from Wegerzeyn MetroPark. Five Rivers MetroParks has been so supportive and so generous, not only with the material but also with their time and advice.
Q: When will you be done?
A: I'm finishing the framing this week. Then the thatching will start probably sometime in the next two weeks.
Q: Last year we talked to you and William Cahill, who does the thatch work, when the two of you were re-roofing the Solstice House. How much longer before the roof is done?
A: It will take four weeks to install the thatch. William is a "master thatcher" — that's an actual term. What he does is as much art as it is a skill. The Solstice House and the Big House are the first roofs that have ever been done by a professional.
Q: How long will the thatching last?
A: Nothing has ever been done at SunWatch to this standard. I'm guessing 15 years for the thatch.
Q: How long will the frame last?
A: This house is going to outlast me!
Q: What do archaeologists think the Big House was used for?
A: It was a gathering place, much like a town hall or church. Over 100 six-graders can fit in this house. The Fort Ancient people were tiny, the size of sixth-graders. The men were 5 feet 3 inches tall and the women, 5 feet 1 inch.
Q: What's your next project?
A: The North House, but we still need funding — $3,000 for materials. It should happen in 2016. We've already cut the grass for the North House. We're rebuilding the entire village.
Q: And funding for the Big House project came from a $16,000 grant from the Ohio History Connection.
A: Yes. People might think building with natural materials is cheap and easy, but it's not. It's actually very skilled work if you do it right to build something that lasts. It requires a lot of different kinds of knowledge and skills. This is the most ambitious project done at SunWatch to date.
Q: You're very dedicated and passionate about this work. Why?
A: Sunwatch is special. It's the only site like this in the East. Visitors actually go inside these structures made of the same material the people would have had. That's unique to SunWatch. Most other recreated places are educational props made out of synthetic materials.
Q: Andy Sawyer, the site manager here, said SunWatch has always been an experimental construction and its mission is to share with the public what the scientists learn. What do you want visitors to get out of seeing these natural, meticulously made structures?
A: I want visitors to relate to the people who lived here, not as characters in a story, but as real people — as clever, sophisticated and flawed as we are. Without archaeology, we would know nothing about these people. Time would have erased them. I feel that we're un-erasing them.
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