Milford chronicle., 1933-05-12
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
DELAWARE

sight of the Archaeological Society
of Delaware and its program:
If it is true as has been , said
Happy is that people whose annals
are BRIEF" then the prehistoric in
habitants of this peninsula mus
have been a happy race indeed
They left no written records of theil
stay here. They had no written lang
uage. But fortunately the unwritten
past is not closed book, so. to
| speak, else the story of the earth
itself before the coming .. of men
would not only be unknown but
sealed forever from human ken. To
the geologist, earth formations tell
story of an infinite past. He reads
the riddles of the rocks and dis
closes the romance of the develop
ment of a planet. What earth for
nations are to a geologist, the re-
mains of prehistoric races are to
the archaeologist. ..........- +;
Life is continuous process of
education. One of the purposes OF
education is ito open the eyes OF
the blind" to make it possible, FOR
individuals to see and understand
what otherwise they would neither
see nor understand. Education con-
Germs itself with many different
fields of knowledge, of which one Of
the most challenging and interest
ing is the study of the remains OF
ancient peoples. Written language is
not necessary for the leaving Of
records. As the study of geology
contributes to the story of the earth,
the study of archaeology contributes
to the story of prehistoric man.
Primitive man as we'll as nature
has left behind him in unwritten
form the story of his manner of life
and even to some extent the story
of his philosophy of life. These stor7
les can be read by those who will
take the pains to find and study the
mute witnesses of the past. '.if
Recently there came together in
the library. of the Dover High
School at the invitation of Geiger
Omwake, one of the teachers of that
institution, group of people inter-
ested in collecting Indian relics.
MIR. Omwake at the time had on
display a number of arrowheads
and other stone implements which
he had found in the vicinity of Doe
Ger and elsewhere. William Cubbage
of near Willow Grove had on dis
play a splendid collection which, he
had made from the vicinity of that
place. DR.. J. Alden Mason, curator
Of the Museum of the University OF
Pennsylvania, was present and gave
an interesting talk on the signifi-
canoe of archaeological research
and. gave many important sugges-
tions as to proper methods of car
rying on such work. He also outlln-
ed the steps advisable to be taken IL
the organization of an Archaeologis
cal Society. He showed that the
purpose of such an organization
might be to bring together; the re-
suits of the finds of those interested
and to record the. results of the re-
search of each. He emphasized the
fact that the matter of real impore
tance in such research was not the
making Of collections but the, deter
mination of facts about the life OF
the people who lived here before the
coming of the white man. 30
At this meeting it was determin-
ed to organize a Delaware Archaeo-
logical Society. Temporary officers
were selected and committees APP
pointed for the purpose of effecting
a permanent organization. Mr..
Beers, of Bethel, in Sussex county,
a gentleman in the lumber busl-.
ness in Laurel, who has a remark.
able collection of shis own, invited
the group to have its next meeting
at his home. A much larger group
met in. Bethel on March II aud Ell
fected the present organization with
the following officers: President, H.
Geiger Omwake, Dover; vice presi-
dent for New Castle county, Miss
Anna T. Lincoln, Wilmington; vice
president for Sussex county, Albert
Farley, Georgetown; secretary.
treasurer. Leon deValinger, Dover:
editor, Ralph E. Beers, Bethel.
At this meeting DR.. Mason was
again present and assisted by his
further counsel in the organization.
DR.. Donald A. CadzOw, of the Penn
sylvania Museum at Harrisburg
gave a most interesting talk and
showed moving pictures of some OF
his work on the Susquehanna in
Pennsylvania.
We read with interest the re-
markable archaeological finds in
Yucutan, in Peru, in Ur. in Egypt,
but few of us realize that right here
within a few hundred yards of
where we live there exist opportun-
tiles for similar research which may
be of even more interest to us per-
sonally than the more pretentious
efforts of trained archaeologists. lt
was to get the thrill of some such
research that the writer with Mr..
Omwake recently visited the pos
sible location of an Indian village
or camp site lying east of Dover. A
search Of a wheat field brought to
light quite number of interesting
specimens of Indian handicraft.
Such sites are to be found over
much of the State. One of the pur7
poses of the society is to make a
chart of the location of such sites
in Delaware. 1t is also hoped that
there may be started the nucleus Of
a collection for State Museum and
possible local museums in various
parts of the State.
The place. date, and program Of
the next meeting of the society will
be announced in the near future.
The first issue of the bulletin of the
society will be ready for distribu-