Protecting artifacts from I-70 construction at Bentleyville
The Interstate 70 interchange at Bentleyville is to be redesigned. At left is Newkirk Church.
Some of the Indian artifacts found in the area of the Bentleyville interchange of Interstate 70.
Portions of historic Newkirk Cemetery in Bentleyville were likely paved over by Interstate 70 when the highway was constructed in the 1950s.
BENTLEYVILLE – Motorists traveling on two Interstate 70 ramps at Bentleyville are likely driving over graves that were once part of a nearby historic cemetery.
The I-70 westbound ramps were constructed in the 1950s at a time when, unlike today, there were no preservation laws to protect such sites as the Newkirk Cemetery, which straddles Bentleyville and Fallowfield Township, said Howard Pollman, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
“We are using ground-penetrating radar to make sure it doesn’t happen again because there is another ramp going in,” Pollman said Friday as the state Department of Transportation moves forward with a $65 million project that will redesign two back-to-back interchanges in the area.
The cemetery, dating to the early 1800s, is one of two historic sites within the project zone that the PHMC is monitoring.
Pre-construction archaeology surveys unearthed stone artifacts in bordering Somerset Township that suggest American Indians occupied a site near the I-70 east ramps at Route 917 as many as 10,000 years ago.
PennDOT also found what archaeologists call a “layer cake” of evidence of occupation over many years there long before the arrival of Europeans to the continent, including artifacts created in one time period and then reworked for a different purpose in a later era, state records show.
“This is a critical period in regional prehistory that witnessed the emergence of plant cultivation and settled village life,” PennDOT cultural resources professional Ryan A. Rowles wrote in a Dec. 29 report on suggestions for how to deal with the site.
His report is required under state and federal preservation laws when federal highway money is used for projects that impact sites eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. PennDOT must work with the PHMC and other stakeholders, including Indian nations, to mitigate any damages to the artifacts.
The mitigation plan is among a number of issues PennDOT faces as it readies for construction.
It paid Debra Hardy of Rostraver Township $741,653 to purchase the former Newkirk Church, which she converted into the King of the Hill Steak House, PennDOT records indicate. The property was valued at $997,000, but the remaining mortgage and liens or back taxes on the property totaling $260,989 were deducted from that amount, the settlement indicates.
Unlike the neighboring cemetery, the church is not eligible for the National Register, and it will be demolished, Pollman said.
The project also required the purchase of five houses and other slivers of property in advance of construction, PennDOT spokeswoman Valerie Petersen said.
The mitigation plan only relates to a small area where artifacts were discovered and suggests a number of options on what to do with the site, ranging from a complete archaeological removal project to creating an exhibit on Indians at the Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg.
A dig to remove the artifacts is preferred by archaeologists, Rowles said, and it would be the most costly of the options.
Rowles said little is known about the occupants of such prehistoric sites as the one in the project area. He said the tribes are understudied and are considered a “research priority” in Western Pennsylvania.
“We don’t know what was going on about these family groups,” he said.
It’s too early to say what option will be selected for dealing the site, Pollman said.
“It’s very complicated,” Pollman said. “It’s something that is negotiated.”
Sometimes in these situations, Indian nations respond to mitigation plans, and other times they don’t offer any input, Rowles said.
Nekole Alligood, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Nation in Oklahoma, said she prefers to have such sites capped when roads cannot be rerouted.
She declined to comment on the PennDOT mitigation alternatives.
Rowles said the site will be affected because PennDOT needs to construct a new, higher Route 917 bridge over I-70 in the area. Construction is expected to begin in September, and the mitigation plan is not expected to delay the project.
The interested parties have until the end of this month to respond to PennDOT.
Nikki Sheppick, chairman of Charleroi Area Historical Society, said she was disappointed to hear the church will be demolished, as it’s the only surviving historical building along the I-70 corridor in the area the society represents.
“It’s disturbing,” Sheppick said of the large brick church that was constructed about 1840.
In regard to the Indian artifacts, she said the society would support recovering all of them, if they are to be kept and displayed in Washington County.