Science Museum of Minnesota archaeologists found this large pottery vessel in 1953 during excavations of the Sorg site, a prehistoric habitation located on the shore of Spring Lake in Dakota County, Minnesota. The work was part of a three-year archaeological salvage project that resulted in the discovery and documentation of nine prehistoric habitation and burial mound sites around the lake. This pottery vessel is a type specimen called Sorg Banded Dentate. The style is similar to Hopewell culture pottery found along the Illinois River in central Illinois - evidence that the people living along Spring Lake in Minnesota were engaged in a vast network of trade and interaction known as the Hopewell Interaction Sphere.

Several of the objects I have chosen highlight significant archaeological projects of the Museum’s first 100 years. The Spring Lake Archaeology project was the Science Museum of Minnesota’s first major archaeological project. The results of these excavations created a framework for our understanding of Minnesota’s rich native history.
– Ed Fleming, Curator of Archaeology