Two Ball State University archaeologists have been given the opportunity to research the state's largest Native American enclosure and mound through a grant from a division of the Department of Natural Resources.
The site in Winchester, which has been developed into farmland and residential areas, is estimated as being between 31 and 43 acres. However, Ball State's Director of Archeological Resources Management Service Donald Cochran and Assistant Director for Research Beth McCord are currently working with students to study what is left of the overlooked archaeological find.
"There's a lot of destruction that has gone on in the last 150 years," McCord said. "We would like to see how much of it is left."
Albert E. Fudge, a Randolph County farmer, owned the area when University of Chicago anthropologist Frank Setzler came to study the enclosure and mound in the late 1920s. After being permitted by Fudge, who was planning to use a steam shovel to remove the small hill, Setzler excavated what was then a 100-foot wide, 15-foot tall mound.
The mound and its enclosure were eventually plowed. The area was once home to a horse racing track, and it is currently occupied by two roads, a gravel pit, a communications tower, cornfields and more than half a dozen residences.
"For the most part, people have been cooperative," McCord said, "but there have been people making sure we're on the up-and-up."
The researchers are currently surveying the area, looking for rises in elevation to determine the position of the once-standing walls. They also have plans for using radiocarbon dating to determine the age of items found in and around the site.
Cochran and McCord plan on wrapping up their findings by writing a report, creating displays and teaching children about the site. Throughout the research, the two professors will be assisted by Ball State graduate student Brad King and student volunteers enrolled in anthropology and archaeology courses. Both King and McCord agree that the Fudge Site gives students a great opportunity to learn through fieldwork.
The funding for the project came from a $26,850 grant awarded by the Department of Natural Resources' Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.
"This is an external grant coming from federal funds. The state does not have the money for this," McCord said. "It gives a very applied experience for students."
The funding will be used for work-related issues such as pay, but McCord said that they are still limited in the work they can do. She estimates the grant will last until next June.
"You never know what you're going to find planning a budget like this," she said.
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