Mercyhurst team to examine fabric
ERIE (AP) – Mercyhurst University archaeologists are studying what’s believed to be an 800-year-old piece of fabric found encased in dirt near a Western Pennsylvania creek.
The Venango Chapter of the Society of Pennsylvania Archaeologists found the fabric embedded in a 34-inch, 600-pound chunk of dirt last month. It was dug up on private land near Sugar Creek, which flows beside Cooperstown in Venango County.
James Adovasio, who directs Mercyhurst’s Archaeological Institute, says the fabric could be a woven basket or mat, possibly made from vegetable matter that appears to date to 1210 to 1280. If so, that would predate Iroquois Native Americans who were known to live in the area.