Boy Scouts earn badges digging up past with YSU

By GRAIG GRAZIOSI

ggraziosi@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

On the site of a long-defunct horse-racing track, a 13-year-old boy began his Saturday by pushing around a $20,000 piece of equipment.

Despite his lack of training – and that the ground-penetrating radar he was guiding was almost taller than he was – the Boy Scout wasn’t at risk of damaging the technology.

Matt O’Mansky, Youngstown State University associate professor and chairman of sociology, anthropology and gerontology, walked alongside the Scout and described how the machine worked.

That was the clean part of the morning. Later, the boys from Boy Scout Troop 46 joined YSU archaeology students down in the dirt while attempting to earn their archaeology merit badges.

The joint learning experience was part of O’Mansky’s four-week summer archaeological fieldwork course.

This year’s iteration of the course centered on the Southern Park Stables near Washington Boulevard and Tod Avenue.

While most of the college students dug test pits – a square hole used as a gauge for determining the likelihood of artifacts in a particular area – a pair of student volunteers joined Tom Delvaux, a YSU adjunct archaeology instructor, to help instruct the Scouts in digging pits of their own.

After teaching the Scouts to mark the perimeter of the pits with string, Delvaux taught the group of 15 how to begin their excavations using a pick ax.

“Tom does great work,” O’Mansky said. “On top of being a great teacher, he’s always involved in community outreach like this.”

Last month, Delvaux and a handful of YSU students led an archaeological dig for a group of elementary-school students at Boardman Park’s Adventure Day Camp.

The Boy Scouts’ archaeological excursion isn’t just an interesting way to pass a summer day, at least not in the mind of the troop’s leader, Rick Wolf.

“The best thing about days like today is that the kids get to actually try out a new skill or a new activity and see for themselves if they’re interested,” Wolf said. “When they get hands-on experience, they can really get a feel for how things work.”

Under the tutelage of YSU graduate student Adam O’Leary, the Scouts meticulously removed layers of dirt from the pit, scooping them out with a metal dustpan.

One of the Scouts at O’Leary’s pit, Corey Cook, 13, of Valley Christian School, had more than a passing interest in the science of man’s material past.

“I wanted to do this because I’m interested in becoming an archaeologist,” he said. “I liked what we did today. I liked learning how they actually do the digs.”

O’Mansky’s students uncovered a horseshoe from the days of the stable’s operation and a piece of worked flint – similar to an arrowhead – from a yet undetermined time period.

Though the Scouts didn’t find any artifacts of their own during their outing, Wolf was confident the boys took plenty away from the dig.

“These guys are from a bunch of different schools. They’re out here socializing, laughing, getting their hands dirty,” Wolf said. “Even if they never do anything with archaeology, they’ll always remember days like today.”