The Minihaha Archives

The site is closed to tours. 

 

What is it?

We're not sure. All we can say is it's a very large concentration of tree branches with beaver gnawing marks on them. In 2002, a test excavation was conducted by Ball State University. Additional excavations by The Minihaha Foundation show the structure to be at least 7 meters by 5 meters, roughly one meter high ( 21' by 15' by 3' ). It's almost one meter below the current ground surface and covered with several well defined soil layers including peat, marl and sand. Looking at the ground contours, it's probably not a dam. One possibility is a beaver lodge, built into the bank of the post glacial kettle pond. It may also be a large concentration of wood from a beaver structure, damaged by natural or human intervention and washed ashore on the East bank of the prehistoric pond.

Beaver Works Carbon Dating Results

A sample of wood from the base of the Beaver Works was sent to Beta Analytics for dating. They use several techniques which include measuring the amount of Carbon-14 remaining in the sample. Their results show the wood from the structure to be 9,640 years old. Beavers are still living in The Buesching Bog. Their dams in the modern drainage ditches keep the excavation flooded, preventing further research. They've lived there at least 10,000 years. We know when we've met our match. The excavation was ended in 2004.

Research Paper Published

This is what it's all about, Research and Education. In 2003, our site was visited by Kerry Walton, an Anthropology Student at The university of Notre Dame. Kerry was given a small sample of the soil and plant material recovered directly from the Beaver Works. She diligently sorted through the material and identified the plants, and one insect, which inhabited The Buesching Bog almost 10,000 years ago. Kerry has graciously given us permission to make her paper available on our web site. It's in Adobe Postscript format. You can click here to view it or download it to your computer. If you incorporate Kerry's results into your own research, please be sure to give her the proper credit.

A few notes on Kerry's paper. She is attempting to establish if the proper wetland conditions existed at The Buesching Bog to accommodate the Giant Beaver (Castoroides ohioensis). The structure under excavation has hundreds of pieces of wood with very clear gnawing marks. All seem to be the size of the smaller species (Castor canadensis). There is one exception. Under very close magnification, one set of gnawing marks seems to have vertical ridges or striations. These would match the teeth of a juvenile Giant Beaver. It will take more research to prove this, but it's a very remote possibility. Just a few miles west of The Buesching Bog, a Giant Beaver leg bone was recovered in the 1990's. This confirms Kerry's observation that the conditions were right for it's subsistence. One final note, while we are flattered, I'm not a professor as mentioned in her paper. I'm just a guy who loves to dig in the dirt. Thanks again Kerry for your excellent paper (JW).

Another formal study of the biological material from the bog was conducted by Dr. Anthony Swinehart from Hillsdale College in Michigan. We'll be posting excerpts from this amazing document over the winter. He and his researchers have identified most plants and small animals living in the bog over the last 11,000 years. It's a wonderful timeline of how Allen County has changed since Glacial Times.

For more information contact John Weddell, johnweddell@att.net.