American Indian artifacts unearthed on coke plant site

Fragments found likely will be curated at Cincinnati Museum Center.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer 12:51 AM Wednesday, December 30, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — American Indian artifacts, some of which could date back thousands of years, were found on land designated for a $340 million coke oven facility.

SunCoke Energy Inc., which plans to build the coke plant to supply steelmaking raw materials and electricity to AK Steel’s Middletown Works, uncovered some artifacts while doing preliminary site work, said Mark Holbrook, spokesman for the Ohio Historical Society, which was notified of the finds in October.

The company hired an archeological firm, Cincinnati-based Gray & Pape, to complete excavation of two sites about 125 feet south of Dick’s Creek in Middletown near the Monroe border.

Several hundred prehistoric artifacts were recovered, mostly fragments from arrowheads, spearheads and evidence of stone toolmaking, according to the firm’s report. The items recovered date back to the Archaic and Woodland periods, between 8000 B.C. and 1200 A.D.

The artifacts are similar to those found at another site in Butler County, leading investigators to believe the area was used for tool maintenance and was not an actual American Indian settlement, according to the report.

Items recovered likely will be curated at the Cincinnati Museum Center, which has been designated as the local repository.

While the two Middletown sites could be listed in the National Historic Preservation registry, Holbrook said he did not believe SunCoke was seeking that designation.

“It is up to the property owner to make that application (for the national registry),” Holbrook said. “From the Ohio Historical Preservation Office’s standpoint, SunCoke has complied with all of the procedures of the preservation act.”

Officials from SunCoke did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.

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So a facility that could produce millions of taxable dollars in profit should shut down construction in definitely until someone has decided they are done digging. I don't disagree that these are potentially significant finds to someone, but should the property owner be in jeopardy of losing money because of it?

Jason
10:41 PM, 1/19/2010

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SunCoke is at least admitting the find. Rumors about finds when they built the new super ADM in Iowa went into deaf ears.

Kara
9:31 PM, 1/3/2010

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but won't be recognized or somehting. I dont know but its undervalued and not recgnized. the thing that gets me is the remainding artifacts are going to be bulldozed and destroyed, yet they won't let someone who finds value in this history personally excavate it... so it will be destroyed instead of saved (even if its in someones personal collection or the black market) i dont know just a little backwards!

laura
5:50 PM, 1/2/2010

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I'm sure this is important to Native American's, decendents, and anyone else who cares about history and its preservation. Sadly, there is only so much that can be done. In my Archeaology class we were taught that any bones or artifacts found before 1848? (not sure the date but it was when Native American's were legally recognized as an ethnicity and people of America) are not considered Native American. Which is very sad. So I guess it can date to the archaic woodland what have you

laura
5:47 PM, 1/2/2010

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Unfortunately, there probably won't be further excavation for this site. As it is the property of Ak steel or whoever, they have the right to do what they wish because it is on their private property. I think its great they reported the findings, but I remember learning somewhere that if its public (not sure about private) it is the law they report finding something so it can be further investigated. Looking at all of the comments, I guess it's a matter of what is important to you personally

laura
5:43 PM, 1/2/2010

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