WICKLIFFE CENTER PLANS ARCHAEOLOGY WEEKEND

WICKLIFFE, Ky. -- If digging for pottery shards that may be 1,000 years old sounds like an intriguing way to spend a Saturday, Wickliffe is the place to be this weekend.

The Wickliffe Mounds Research Center will hold its annual archaeology weekend Saturday and Sunday.

Besides digging for artifacts on Saturday, visitors can watch demonstrations of prehistoric crafts both days.

Hours both days are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The center is well-marked and is on the left side of the street after crossing the bridge at Cairo into Wickliffe.

Returning to give demonstrations this year are potter Tamara Beane, finger weaver Susan Wilson, bone, shell and gourd worker Jerry Wilson, hide tanner Ron Webb, copper worker Albert Meyer, flint-knapper Larry Kinsella and storyteller Marilyn Kinsella.

All use the same methods employed by the Mound Builders who lived in the region 1,000 years ago.

Kate Finnearty, a graduate student who works at the center, said visitors will use brushes and dental picks to unearth the artifacts.

"We've been getting a lot of pottery shards and not many points lately."

Saturday may be one of the last chances to see the Wickliffe site excavated. Kit Wesler, the center's director, said its attention is shifting to other sites in Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman and northern Graves counties in Kentucky.

"We'll be preserving the site and analyzing what we've got, rather than continuing to dig," he said.

The center also holds other events throughout the year, including medicinal workshops at various times and performances by the First Nation Dancers in August.

For more information, phone (502) 335-3681.

Admission to the center is $3.50.