The Blue Earth County Highway Department had proposed to realign CSAH 9 which would impact2 archaeological sites. A Phase II assessment of these two sites was completed by Impact Services under contract with the Blue Earth County Highway Department. The Malvin Site and the Sternitzke Site yielded over 1200 artifacts and were subject to patterned surface reconnaissance, auger testing, shovel testing, deep coring and excavation. Both sites yielded artifacts to a depth of 1 meter from the surface and appeared to be eligible to the National Register of Historic Places.
Based upon the results of the Phase II assessment, it was recommended that a Phase III data recovery be done at both of the sites. At the Malvin Site, Phase III included the excavation of 26 one meter square units and yielded an additional 900 artifacts. The Sternitzke site yielded 1100 additional artifacts from 10 excavation units.
The two sites represented two distinct occupations utilizing the same lacustrian resource. Both sites occupy what were islands adjacent to present day Loon Lake. The Malvin Site was a single component Middle Woodland occupation while the Sternitzke Site was a Late Archaic to Early Woodland occupation.
 Flags Showing the Location of Surface Artifacts at the
Sternitzke Site, 1994 |
 Crew Members Working the Excavation Units at the Malvin Site,
1994 |
 Crew Members Working the Excavation Units at the Malvin Site,
1994 |
 Crew Members Working the Excavation Units at the Malvin Site,
1994 |
 Excavation Units at the Sternitzke Site, 1994 |
 Crew Members Working the Excavation Units at the Malvin
Site, 1994 |
| A Phase
II Archaeological Investigation of 2 Archaeological Sites on the Proposed
Realignment of CSAH 9, Blue Earth County, Minnesota.
Richard
Strachan, Kathleen
Roetzel and Charles Broste, 1993 The Archaeological Data Recovery of the Malvin and Sternitzke Sites on the Proposed Realignment of CSAH 9, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. Richard Strachan, Kathleen Roetzel and Charles Broste, 1994 |