PROSPECT – Who didn’t want to be an archaeologist when they were a kid?

A group of fledgling Indiana Joneses is getting that chance this week at the first Friends of Fort Knox Archaeology Field School at the Fort Knox Historic Site. And though the search may not be for the Crystal Skull, the dig at the fort is being conducted to solve a local mystery.

Under the direction of archaeologist Peter Morrison, the students at the field school are excavating the site of a building that sits outside the fort proper near the edge of the fort’s northern boundary. The stone foundation of the building had been discovered during previous archaeological work done at the site.

Although the stones of the foundation are easily visible, no one knows what the building might have been used for.

“We’ve been toying with the idea of a field school for several years,” said Leon Seymour, executive director for the Friends of Fort Knox. “We’re interested in telling the story of the lost Fort Knox.”

During the 25 years between 1844 and 1869 that the fort was being built, there were more than 20 buildings scattered around the 120 acres currently owned by the state of Maine as part of the fort complex. There were temporary barracks, mess halls, barns for oxen and stone sheds for shaping the granite blocks for the fort.

“There was a thriving little community here,” Seymour said. “The records are not very exact. We have a general idea of what buildings were here. But for this building, we have no idea what it was.”

The field school started Monday with the students, who paid tuition to participate, clearing the site of trees and brush. That effort uncovered rock divisions inside the main foundations that have posed another puzzle for the dig team.

“We don’t know if those divisions represent divisions within the building itself for different uses or if they are purely structural,” Morrison said.

Items uncovered in the different sections may help determine whether the building had multiple uses, he said.

Early finds from the various pits dug within and outside the foundations have included nails, glass and pieces of crockery and dinnerware, which seem to indicate that the building served as some type of residence. They haven’t found anything yet that definitively identifies how the building was used, Morrison said, and it is unlikely that they will find that one piece.

“We’re dealing with a puzzle with thousands of pieces,” he said. “We don’t often have just one piece that explains everything. And part of the problem is that a lot of the pieces are missing.”

All those artifacts, as well as modern items that have been dumped on the site, are being cataloged as they are found and will be taken to a lab to be analyzed.

The field school has attracted participants of all ages, some local and others from around the country.

“Who didn’t want to be an archaeologist?” said Rebekah Woodworth of Rockport, a facilities manager for a Rockland biotech manufacturing firm. The dig at Fort Knox, she said, was a chance to put pieces of history together, to get a more complete understanding of the period.

Charlie Mock, a paramedic from Holden, and Guy Hamlin, a high school history teacher from Belfast, were working on a pit outside the foundation Wednesday. Mock, a self-described “history geek,” said he was enjoying learning a little more of the history of the place.

“Things don’t just happen; people make them happen,” he said. “The story of the fort is fascinating, and we’re learning more about the people who came here and poured out their sweat to build this place.”

Hamlin said he hopes to incorporate the story of the fort into his American history classes, including possibly involving his students in the dig itself. That was part of the reason Deb Youcis of Bucksport and Ann Marancik of Orland signed up to work at the field school. The two will team-teach a third-grade class next year at the Orland Consolidated School, adapting the fort and its history into a variety of subject areas.

They’re also into the digging.

“It’s the suspense, the fun of finding something and getting to unearth it,” Marancik said.

“The first thing we found was a piece of glass,” said Youcis, who volunteers as a tour guide at the fort. “It was just a tiny little shard, but it makes you want to keep going.”

There’s something about the site that “calls to you,” Marancik said, “and makes you want to find out what people were doing here.”

“There’s a story here,” Youcis added. “We just have to piece it together.”

The field school fits in with the mission of the Friends group to expand the educational and cultural value of the fort, Seymour said. The fort’s grounds hold a number of other potential sites for digs, and Seymour said the Friends group would like to make the field school an annual event.

The field school is divided into two one-week sessions, and there are openings for the second session, which begins Monday. For more information, contact the Friends of Fort Knox at 469-6553.

rhewitt@bangordailynews.net

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