In Duryea, 10,000 years of history was dealt a setback in one evening of intentional destruction.
What is believed to be a group of vandals ransacked an archaeological dig overlooking the confluence of the Lackawanna and Susquehanna rivers, upending three decades of work by a combination of professional and amateur archeologists.
Al Pesotine of the Frances Dorrance Chapter of the Society of Pennsylvania Archaeology is saddened by the destruction and perplexed as to the motive.
"Whoever did this, did it with a vengeance - a meanness," he said of the damage to the site known as the Conrail Research Site. "This was not simply knocking things over. If there was a piece of wood, they snapped it in half. We made benches for people to sit on and they tore them apart. They tore down the tarp and cut holes through it again and again."
The damage is believed to have happened Sunday or Monday. The materials lost may have cost a few hundred dollars, but the work involved hundred of hours. Areas where volunteers had been removing soil with makeup brushes were trampled and torn. For a volunteer labor of love that reached back to the earliest humanity in Northeast Pennsylvania, the violence seems misplaced.
Since the early 1990s, the Duryea dig removed and cataloged hundreds of artifacts: knives, points, cutting tools and pottery. The dig was done professionally. The site was gridded and protected from the elements by 30-by-24 foot tarp weather port. Over the years, the site has hosted hundreds of children teaching them about archaeology, history and anthropology.
Recently, a point retrieved at the site was carbon-dated to about 8,000 B.C. The earliest people are believed to have come to the region just 2,000 years prior to that, Mr. Pesotine said. At some point they settled at the location, which offered them a water source, a place to fish and hunt game - either ducks on the river or deer on the banks, he said.
Mr. Pesotine said it will take months of work to get the site back to where it was. But unearthing 12,000 years of history is worth the effort.
"We can't give up on this thing after so much work. Members want to rebuild it," he said. "Mining activity and development has left so few places like this."
The site was saved through the modern era by the rail yard not far away, now known as the Reading and Blue Mountain. The archaeology group has insurance and an easement that allows it to be on railroad land.
Anyone with information about the vandalism may contact Duryea police at 457-1721.
Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com