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There's an archaeological dig going on in Lindstrom, only you don't see a whole lot of digging.

The method for identifying potential Native sacred grounds more often in use today involves a hydraulic hammer forcing a core sampling rod about seven feet into the earth. You extract a tubular sample and empty the rod and analyze what you've found in sections. Then you gently go through the stratum (layers) of soils looking for the presence of archaeologic deposits and original soils.

Mike Kolb was seated on his fold-up camp stool, atop the hillside at Chisago Lakes Middle School. He was carefully slicing the compacted dirt tubes laid out on a plywood board in front of him, as traffic on Highway 8 buzzed past his solitary figure.

The likelihood that he'll find a burial mound or artifacts is low, he explains. The general corridor is known for containing Indian burial mounds, but over the years as work has been done widening and improving Highway 8, the locations needing protection are pretty much marked and known to MnDOT.

In this stretch of the route it's a touchy thing, drilling is, due to a jumble of cable television, phone lines and other underground services all along Highway 8, Kolb adds.

He notes in prying apart the sections of soil that even with the rainfall this summer, the dirt is very dry all the length of the sample.

A partner of his in Strata Morph Geoexploration Inc., has the task of setting up and operating the boring equipment which is assembled to hang off a pickup truck bed. The unit punches vertically into the ground at specific gridded locations and delivers metal tubes of earth.

Strata Morph is working along the proposed route of a new bike trail assessing the potential for sacred sites. If a sample reveals the potential for original, undisturbed soils or artifacts, the location is flagged and further work will need to be done.

Kolb also agreed to talk to a group of sixth grade earth science students who simply walked a few feet from class to his research site. What better way to see scientific techniques applied in the field and the day's middle school geology lesson in 3-D?

Strata Morph Geoexploration is based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. It contracts with various agencies and private companies analyzing soils and in this case looking for sites that may contain burial and/or effigy mounds.

The section of city biking/walking trail being constructed by the middle school is part of the 2012 work through Lindstrom on Highway 8. The new segment of trail gets the walkers and bike riders out of the school parking lot onto the trail along the front of the parking lot.

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