Rocks in a northeast Franklin County development reveal an ancient culture that most likely traveled through the area more than 2,000 years ago.
Construction crews have been busy at work at the corner where Hamilton Road meets East Dublin Granville Road in northeast Columbus. The city is redeveloping 40 acres of fields into a retail area that will include retirement homes and a new road.
But when construction crews started to turn up the dirt a few months ago, they also turned up an ancient story buried beneath the surface.
“We found artifacts,” says archaeologist Justin Zink with Lawhon & Associates located in Grandview. He says his team recovered 170 artifacts from the Hopewell culture dating back more than 2000 years. “[W]e’re talking 100 B.C. to 500 A.D."
His team spent an entire day digging 8 to 10 inch deep holes every 50 feet across 40 acres of field and dirt. What really struck Zink was that almost all the pieces of bladelets were found in one small, half-acre plot.
“That told us that this was an area of concentration, where prehistoric inhabitants would have lived and maybe camped,” Zink explains. “When we started finding tools, that’s when you start to notice maybe people stayed here, rather than passing through on a hunting trip.”
Zink says less than 10% of the projects he works on will lead to any kind of significant find. This latest project, which is partially funded by federal and state dollars, led to artifacts which Zink says are pretty rare for Ohio.
“What’s interesting here is not that this is a scraper, but what it’s made of,” Zink says while holding what appears to be a dark grey-colored rock the size of a palm. “It’s made of rhyolite, which is an exotic material usually from Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and you don’t find that in Ohio too often.”
Zink says that specific discovery solidifies his theory that the Hopewell culture came through this area because they were known for bartering with other cultures along the East Coast.
All 170 pieces have now been cataloged and will either go back to the landowner or to the Ohio History Connection, which acts as the preservation office for the state of Ohio. It champions more than 50 historical sites in Ohio, and archaeologists say if you look hard enough, chances are you will find something dating back centuries.
“We always like to say there are three things you can find in any field in Ohio,” Zink says with a wry smile. “A prehistoric artifact, a golf ball, and a shotgun shell.”
To learn more about the Hopewell Culture, contact the Ohio History Connection.
Click here for more information about the Hamilton Quarter project.
Ohio Archaeological Inventory
