Anthropology students unearth downtown history

In the 1990 novel “Young Indiana Jones and the Tomb of Terror,” Indy discovers the lost ring of King Tutankhamen, narrowly avoids German spies and preserves the ancient
artifact.

This sense of discovery that inspired junior Brian McConnell to attend the anthropology department’s archaeological dig Tuesday.

“I kind of wanted to be Indiana Jones when I was in preschool, and I guess I just never really outgrew it,” McConnell said. “So, here I am.”

The dig was an effort to conceptualize what an older, more ancestral Bloomington might have looked like, said Cheryl Munson, research scientist and head of the dig. Old medical and whisky bottles, shards of glass and pieces of tile were just a few relics group members said they hoped to find.

“So far, we have found little fragments of a brick,” Munson said. “We have sort of an ad hoc investigation going.”

Munson speculated the brick might have come from the old Monroe County Courthouse building, located on the site and dismantled in 1808. Munson said public “privys,” wells and cisterns were also located in the square.

“We’re not expecting to find treasures,” Muson said. “We’re expecting to find information.”

Sophomore Lindsay Simmons, who also participated in Tuesday’s dig, said it was an opportunity to help discover history about the courthouse.

“It’s experience and lets you help out around Btown.”

­— Nona Tepper