By Bart Moss for the FCT

When many people think of archeology, they think of a fictional Indiana Jones searching for the lost Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail. While genuine archeology is exciting and major discoveries happen all the time, comparing archeology to the Indiana Jones franchise is like comparing being a lawyer or police officer to every episode of Law & Order.

Bill and Jamie Morrow have brought the excitement of archeology to Franklin County, and they are sharing it with local students. The Morrows are conducting an archeological dig at Cypress Cove Farm, the home of Rep. Johnny Mack and Dr. Martha Morrow.

Students, educators and the public have been visiting the site for the past month participating in STEM outreach related to archeology. A special Archaeology Day was also open to the community at large.

“Archeology is an important and unheralded science,” said Jamie Morrow. “Students realize, once they get involved in a dig, how much science, technology, engineering and math is involved. Dig sites are surveyed by hand using precise mathematics; we use drones to fly over the area to make observations; and much more.”

Bill Morrow, who owns Zen Geospatial Solutions, a GIS firm, said students learn that it is not just archeologists who are involved in a dig. “There are biologists, chemists, botanists, GIS mappers, anthropologists, archaeologists and more,” said Bill Morrow. “While in the field they all are involved in the dig. Once back in the lab, they work in their respective fields.”

The area of the dig is located near an ancient water tributary where nomadic groups like the Clovis existed as far back as 10,000 B.C. Artifacts have been found one to two feet deep because the area would flood and the natives would move to higher ground. The sediment would wash over the land, dry out, and they would return. It might be hard to believe, but the natives of Franklin County used to hunt mammoth and mastodon and get chased by sabertooth tigers, explained Morrow.

Aside from school groups, the dig has attracted visitors from all over the state, including the state archaeologist. Guest speaker and digger for the community day was Ben Hoksbergen, the installation archaeologist and cultural resource manager for Redstone Arsenal and president of the Alabama Archaeological Society. He teaches archeology at UAH.

“It is very exciting what they are trying to do here in getting high school students involved in archaeology,” said Hoksbergen. “You learn something new every day about our history, our culture, and you never know what surprises are hiding beneath your feet.”