The Thiensville Red Ocher Cache	by David Christensen
Central States Archaeological Societies 2024 October Journal	Charleston, South Carolina

This excerpt from "The Thiensville Red Ocher Cache" published in the 2024 Central States Archaeological Societies 2024 October Journal Read the complete column in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2024 October Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2025

First group of Red Ocher Cultural artifacts found. in March, 1958

 

In March of 1958, a cache of artifacts ascribed to the then poorly understood, Red Ocher Culture, was unearthed. The discovery was made on the property of Mr. Manford Blume by his sons near the town of Thiensville in Ozaukee County,Wisconsin.Ernest Schug, an old-time member of The Wisconsin Archeological Society, owned a sporting goods store in Milwaukee. Mr. Blume, being one his patrons and cognizant of his interest in archeology, made him aware of the find, which Mr. Schug subsequently purchased.

The grouping originally found (Fig. 1) included five “turkey tail” style blades, one contracting stem blade, 43 ovate-trianguloid cache blades, four copper awls, a 3-holed rectangular gorget, four copper beads and one tubular marine shell bead. Many of the artifacts were either encrusted with or had residual amounts of red ocher (powdered iron oxide) on them. Dr. Robert Ritzenthaler, of The Milwaukee Public Museum, upon becoming aware, visited the site. Conducting several test excavations in the area, he failed to produce any additional material.

Several weekends later, additional members of The Wisconsin Archeological Society (Paul Koeppler and Neil Ostberg) paid Mr. Blume’s property a visit Employing a different strategy, they meticulously rescreened the spoil heap of the original excavation. By so doing, they were able to extract an additional twelve of the smaller cache blades, thirteen cubes of Galena (lead ore) as well as a large sum of copper and marine shell beads. Heavy red ocher was present as well on many of the secondary finds.

In 1962, Dr. Ritzenthaler, along with George Irving Quimby, authored “The Red Ocher Culture of The Upper Great Lakes and Adjacent Areas” in Fieldiana Anthropology, published by The Chicago Natural History Museum. This article was an attempt to shed light on this culture and ...

 

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