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Archeological
A large collection of Native American stone arrowheads and tools are now on display at the Old School Museum in Winchester. Mary and Kent Coultas of Winchester, loaned 296 stone tools, including arrowheads, axes, hammerstones, drills, knives, and spear points. The pre-historic tools were found by farmers in an area near the Illinois River, just north of Highway 106. The tools represent some of the material culture of almost 12,000 years of people inhabiting this region. The collection is in the process of being identified by Dr. Claire Dappert and her associates.
Mastodon tooth
Also on display is a Mastodon tooth, on loan from Roberta Ryder, which was found near Glasgow almost 100 years ago. Mastodons were large mammals distantly related to the Elephant. They inhabited North and Central American until their extinction about 11,000 years ago, presumably because of pressures from hunting and environmental changes.
In the summer of 2010, the City of Winchester was widening a ditch along Maple Street. The workers found a large deposit of pottery sherds, or broken pieces of pottery. The city contacted the staff of the Old School Museum and Archeologist Dr. Claire Dappert was given permission to conduct a dig in order to assess the significance of the site.
The 1 by 2 meter excavation produced almost 50 buckets of material and the careful process of matching the pieces began. The museum displays the most complete pottery from the excavation, including one of the oldest known stamped pieces of pottery in Illinois.
The pottery kiln was associated with four potters: Robert Harrison from 1830 to 1834, George Ebey from 1834 to 1836, Thomas Killpatrick from 1834 to 1845, and Francis Nash from 1850 to 1860. During the 19th century, 19 known potteries were operating in Scott County, and at least 13 potteries were operating in Winchester.