June 1, 2016
Digging up the past Lindenwood University archeology students search for the location of the first church built in St. Charles
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By Brett Auten Lindenwood University students are really digging it now that it’s summertime. Literally. The university’s Department of Anthropology and Archaeological Research has started a six-week dig to determine the former location of the first church built in St. Charles. The dig, which began May 19, kick started the department’s 2016 field season and will take place 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at 401 S. Main Street in St. Charles. Historians with an expertise in St. Charles believe that the church was completed in 1791 by the city’s French inhabitants. The project is led by Dr. Steve Dasovich, chair of Lindenwood’s Anthropology Department. The project location is open to the public for viewing only, weather-permitting. In all, eight students are helping Dasovich with the excavation that is spread across private property. Digging, dusting, shaking and sifting is all part of the process. “We are in search mode,” Dasovich said. “They are very eager. The students are trying to find colonial period artifacts and religious artifacts. We have found lots of material from the early 1880s so far but not the type of items that we’re really looking for.” The excavation is all old-school, done usually with just the students’ hands or a hand-held tool like a trowel. Occasionally a shovel will plunge into the soil but they have to be careful using that type of tool because of the damage that can be done to what it lands on. Dasovich and the students aren’t 100-percent certain that they are even in the exact location, but through research feel that they are close to certain as possible. “There are no maps and no descriptions of the church’s location,” he said.
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Cedar Lake Cellars ribbon cutting Photos courtesy Don Adams Jr. Junior anthropology and international relations major Sadie Dasovich (top) makes notes while sophomore anthropology major Alex Snyder (middle) and sophomore anthropology major (with emphasis in anthropology) Gwyneth Vollman dig at 401 S. Main Street in St. Charles to determine the former location of the first church built in St. Charles.
“Historians believe that it was at-ornear this location but it could be under a (nearby) building or sidewalk.” Spending six weeks laboring away at a project only to come up empty is a real possibility but it’s also one of the facts of the profession. “Most projects find nothing,” Dasovich said. “But what we do find, we can map the pieces in a practical aspect. It is like an outdoor laboratory.” Seeing as how the students are on private property, anything they find is not theirs for the taking. Instead, it will be washed, sorted and analyzed at the university over the next two years. “What we find is very fragile and breakable,” Dasovich said. “What these students find, other students will use over the next two years until we have another field class.” The students are in good hands with Dasovich looking over. Dasovich has served multiple elected positions on the board of directors of the Missouri Association of Professional Archaeologists, including being a past president. He has extensive experience in underwater archaeology, having con-
ducted projects in multiple aquatic environments in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Missouri. Dasovich has co-directed battlefield surveys organized by Missouri’s Civil War Heritage Foundation and the American Institute for BattleSee DIG on page 2
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