By Charla Wurm-Adams
cwurm@wbcowqel.com
While many typically do deed and title searches to find out who owned and lived on their property in years past, Jeff Bowen takes his research a step farther – and then some.
Bowen, an Attica resident who has worked for 34 years at the Ohio State Fair Museum, was the guest speaker at the Bucyrus Historical Society Tuesday evening. Bowen has done extensive research on the earliest inhabitants of Wyandot County which he says shows evidence that Sandusky Plains Indians traveled south to hunt and trap.
Now Bowen is turning his attention to Crawford County.
“I’m an archeologist and I’ve been studying Crawford County lately,” Bowen said. “Crawford County is especially interesting because it has one of the concentrations of the spear points from the Ice Age, 12,000 years ago.”
Bowen brought along a collection of artifacts including tools, weapons and clothing. He also discussed the role of Native Americans such as the Iroquois who were key in trading with Europeans. He noted that bones from animals such as the white tailed deer, bear, beaver, otters and elk that contained useful information and the bones were actually used to make tools.
Bowen has reconstructed or restored many items he has found. It took him 35 hours to build a tool similar to an ax used in woodworking or to dig out a canoe back in 7000-8000 BC. Bowen mentioned there are Indian caverns near Cary, Ohio where they found Ice Age animals and spears.