Excavations on the Ohio River Floodplain
Excavations on the Ohio River Floodplain - Part 1
Shell - Archeology Part 1
Duration: 2:22
Description:
Chris Heitman describes the history of the Shell Polymers Monaca Plant, why it was chosen and the
steps that where made to protect the historic aspects of the site.
[Background Music]
Uplifting, positive music plays
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[GFX]
Part 1: Excavations on the Ohio River Floodplain
[GFX]
All interviews were conducted with 6 feet of distance following CDC guidelines and
recommendations. Interviewee masks were only removed briefly while speaking and placed back
on immediately following the interview conclusion.
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[GFX]
Chris Heitman
External Relations Manager
Non Technical Risk Manager, Shell
[INTERVIEW]
My name is Christopher Heitman. I'm the External Relations Manager for the Pennsylvania Chemicals
Project in Monaca, PA.
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
This project from a construction standpoint started in approximately 2013. This facility, it's a
manufacturing facility for polyethylene pellets, which are he base components of most plastics that are
used in society today.
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
The site selection occurred in March of 2012. Some of the unique aspects of this facility It's on 386 acres
in western Pennsylvania,
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview[INTERVIEW]
it has really good access to rail,
[VIDEO]
Train cars sit on tracks at sunset
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
it's fairly close to the airport,
[VIDEO]
A train crosses over the river on a bridge
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
and it's within 750 miles of 70% of our customer base in this region.
[VIDEO]
Plastic products on a table
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
In 2014, we'd finished our due diligence and started really putting a fine point on some of the risks that
were associated with the project, some of the challenges that we had.
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the river, bridges and Monaca in the background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
And we did identify several archaeological issues.
[PHOTO]
The Horsehead plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Prior to Horsehead owning the facility,
[PHOTO]
St. Joseph Lead plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
it was St. Joseph Lead Company. And back in the older days,
[PHOTO]
A St. Joseph Lead truck in town
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
towns would grow up around these manufacturing facilities.[PHOTO]
A row of houses in ascending order up a hill
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
So Josephtown…
[PHOTO]
A neighborhood in Joesphtown
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
actually grew up around the St. Joseph Lead Company.
[VIDEO]
Tall grass swaying in the breeze, an old wooden shed in the background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Prior to that, it was owned by a family called the Stone family.
[VIDEO]
A cow grazing in a field
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
They had a colonial farm on the site.
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
And then prior to that were of course some Indigenous peoples. So it's all of this tapestry of history that
was on this particular site that created a lot of the challenges that we had…
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
to move forward with construction
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
Early on during the due diligence process, Shell brought in AECOM to help us understand what we were
dealing with from an archaeological perspective,
[PHOTO]
A man working on the archeological excavation [INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
to do the recovery efforts,
[PHOTO]
An excavated hole on site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
to help us identify the exclusion zones, and to do our consultation…
[PHOTO]
Excavated materials set on a table against a ruler for scale.
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
with the State Historical Preservation Office. As we reached out to…
[PHOTO]
Excavated arrowheads from the site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
the State Historical Preservation Office to collaboratively work together to create a plan,
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
which will allow us to not only construct the facility…
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
but also to protect the historical aspects on the site.
[GFX]
Shell pectin appears over the footage
[Music]
Shell sting plays over the pectin
Excavations on the Ohio River Floodplain - Part 2
Shell – Archeology Part 2
Duration: 5:10
Description:
AECOM archaeologist Andrew Wyatt describes what an archaeologist does, why floodplain sites are important
to archeology and what was found on the Shell Polymers site. He describes steps taken to complete the
excavation and how Shell protected the archeological findings on the site.
[Background Audio]
Water running down a stream.
[VIDEO]
Water running in a snow-covered stream
[Background Music]
Slow, melodic music kicks in.
[VIDEO]
The sun shining on a snowy clearing in the woods
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Archaeologists study change in human cultures through time…
[VIDEO]
Forest trees in the evening
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
by looking at material culture,
[GFX]
Part 2: Excavations on the Ohio River Floodplain
[GFX]
All interviews were conducted with 6 feet of distance following CDC guidelines and recommendations.
Interviewee masks were only removed briefly while speaking and placed back on immediately following the
interview conclusion.
[VIDEO]
Projectile points found at the site against a white background
[VIDEO]
Artifacts found at the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
artifacts, buildings, graves,[PHOTO]
A Native American Burial Mound
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
to reconstruct…
[VIDEO]
A projectile point found at the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
how people lived in the past.
[VIDEO]
A densely wooded area from a snow-covered clearing
[Background Audio]
Snow crunching under footsteps
[VIDEO]
Deer tracks in the snow
[VIDEO]
A deer through brush in the woods
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[GFX]
Andrew Wyatt
Senior Archaeologist, AECOM
[INTERVIEW]
I'm Andrew Wyatt. I'm an archaeologist with AECOM.
[VIDEO]
A person digging with a small spade out of focus in the background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
In 2014 and 2015,
[PHOTO]
A man working on the archeological excavation
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover: AECOM performed phase one and phase two archaeological investigations for Shell Corporation…
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
in advance of the construction…
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
of their petrochemicals plant in Monaca, Pennsylvania to assist Shell in complying…
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
with the National Historic Preservation Act, which protects significant archaeological sites…
[VIDEO]
A person inspecting an artifact under a magnifying glass
[VIDEO]
A projectile point found at the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
and things that most Americans would consider…
[VIDEO]
An artifact found at the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
part of American heritage.
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
We found two sites in Shell's project area. Both are prehistoric Native American sites.
[PHOTO]
A sign on the excavating site that reads
“Shell/Franklin
36BV0051
EU 9 BLOCK West Wall Profile
115 CMBD
AECOM 2/11/15”
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
One was previously recorded with the Carnegie…
[PHOTO]
Interior of the Excavated site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.
[PHOTO]
Interior of the Excavated site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
The other site, we found.
[VIDEO]
River Rapids
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
The two sites are located on the floodplain of the Ohio River.
[VIDEO]
Time lapse of clouds moving over the Ohio River
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Floodplains and terra systems…
[VIDEO]
A fish swimming against the current
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
along major rivers and even smaller ones were like magnets to Native American…
[VIDEO]
Moving through the woods
[Background Audio]
Leaves crunching under footsteps [INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
and prehistoric people all over the world. Flood plains are important for archaeologists
because…
[VIDEO]
A small fire burning twigs at night in slow motion
[Background Audio]
Owl hooting
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
when people came to occupy the floodplains,
[VIDEO]
Embers rising into the air at night in slow motion
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Their artifacts and the features…
[PHOTO]
Interior of the Excavated site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
they left behind,
[PHOTO]
Interior of the Excavated site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
you get a layer cake effect.
[PHOTO]
Interior of the Excavated site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
It's called a stratified archaeological site where your earliest artifacts…
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]are at one elevation. More floods come along and deposit soil, and you get a second occupation, a third, a
fourth, a fifth.
[VIDEO]
Water lapping up on a shore
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Floodplain sites like the ones that we worked on for Shell…
[VIDEO]
Projectile points found at the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
give us a really good way to investigate change through time in the way Native Americans lived.
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
Where we excavated was determined entirely by the footprint of Shell's proposed ground disturbance for the
project. is because it would be disturbed by construction at some point.
[PHOTO]
A sign on the excavating site that reads
“Shell/Franklin
36BV0051
EU 9 BLOCK
West Wall Profile
115 CMBD
AECOM 2/11/15”
Then moving down into the dig site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
To excavate the site, we took off the top three feet of soil and got down to the original surface…
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
from about 1,600 1,700, and then excavated in…
[PHOTO]
Interior of the Excavated site
[INTERVIEW]Voiceover:
one by one-meter square units.
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
We went down through these soil straight stratum
[PHOTO]
The interior of the excavation site with a sign that reads
“Shell/Franklin
36BV0051
BLOCK 2
Profile 9
East Half Bisect
In Progress
247 CMBD
AECOM 3/16/15”
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
and screened the soil through quarter inch mesh for standardized artifact recovery. At BV 51,
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
we came away with about 2,800 artifacts.
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
At BV 380, artifact finds were much less dense.
[VIDEO]
An artifact recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Total, in fact, count was around 700 artifacts.
[VIDEO]
An artifact recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
We used both radiocarbon dating in the form of artifacts to give us an idea[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
of what the different occupations at a site date to.
[PHOTO]
The interior of the excavation site with a sign that reads
“Shell/Franklin
36BV0051
BLOCK 2 NE & SE
Feature 9
East Half Bisect
Opening Plan View
244 CMBD
AECOM 3/13/15”
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
The radiocarbon dates from Shell came from charcoal, wood charcoal from hearths.
[PHOTO]
The interior of the excavation site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
What the radiocarbon dating told us
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
is that we had different occupations at the site.
[PHOTO]
A man working on the archeological excavation
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
We had the middle archaic occupation at the maximum depth excavation of BV 51.
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
What we had at BV 380 was…
[VIDEO]
An artifact recovered from the site against a white background [INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
early Woodland artifacts.
[VIDEO]
Artifacts recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Pottery,
[VIDEO]
Projectile point recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Projectile points, chipped stone…
[VIDEO]
Projectile point recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
for making the stone tools. The oldest occupation found
[PHOTO]
The interior of the excavation site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
the radiocarbon dates came back between…
[PHOTO]
The interior of the excavation site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
6,100 BC and 6,000 BC. The two sites…
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
were eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic places because they contained the data in terms of
features, artifacts, and the information potential that, if fully excavated,
[VIDEO]Projectile point recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
could give us new insights on…
[VIDEO]
Artifacts recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
the way Native Americans lived from the Middle Archaic through the early Woodland period. Once they
realized…
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
that both sites were eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, Shell actually…
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
changed the design of the project to limit it’s impacts on both sites. Shell minimized the extent of their haul
road on BV 51…
[VIDEO]
On screen Andrew Wyatt interview
[INTERVIEW]
and made similar changes to their impacts on BV 380 such that they're actually encapsulated now below fill,
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
and thus preserved and available for other archaeologists at some point in the future.
[GFX]
Shell pectin appears over the footage
[MUSIC]
Shell sting plays over the pectin
Excavations on the Ohio River Floodplain - Part 3
Shell – Archeology Part 3
Duration: 1:49
Description:
Chris Heitman describes the steps that were made to protect the historic aspects of the site, collaborating with
the appropriate regulatory bodies and the importance of protecting the history of the site.
[Background Music]
Swelling, Uplifting, music plays
[PHOTO]
The inside of one of the excavated archeological sites
[GFX]
Part 3: Excavations on the Ohio River Floodplain
[GFX]
All interviews were conducted with 6 feet of distance following CDC guidelines and recommendations.
Interviewee masks were only removed briefly while speaking and placed back on immediately following the
interview conclusion.
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[GFX]
Chris Heitman
External Relations Manager
Non Technical Risk Manager, Shell
[INTERVIEW]
In 2014, we had identified some of the early challenges that we had on the site.
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
The archaeological piece was one aspect of that. Once we understood what we had at the site,
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
we worked with the state, who really handles aspects of the National Historic Preservation Act
[PHOTO]
A man working on the archeological excavation
[INTERVIEW]Voiceover:
to work to a solution that we could both embrace.
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
There were several different approaches that were taken depending upon where we were on the site.
[PHOTO]
A sign on the excavating site that reads
“Shell/Franklin
36BV0051
EU 9 BLOCK
West Wall Profile
115 CMBD
AECOM 2/11/15”
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Where we could dig the archaeological pieces up,
[PHOTO]
Interior of the Excavated site
[PHOTO]
Interior of the Excavated site
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
we worked with AECOM to recover those artifacts.
[VIDEO]
An artifact recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Those artifacts are currently being curated in AECOM offices…
[VIDEO]
Arrowheads recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
and will ultimately end up in the state museum in Harrisburg.[VIDEO]
Artifacts recovered from the site against a white background
[VIDEO]
An artifact recovered from the site against a white background
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
In other areas, we protected those assets. We did things like moved our heavy haul road,
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
created exclusion zones on the site where they would not be impacted. And then finally,
some of the areas were capped,
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
so some of the soil that we brought in, we capped those areas. So that they would not be disturbed…
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
by the construction activity. Protecting the archaeological aspects of any project that we approach is important.
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
This project is really a great example of how we worked collaboratively with the regulatory agencies to
understand exactly the issues and…
[PHOTO]
Interior of the Excavated site
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
opportunities that were before us…
[VIDEO]An artifact recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
and then move forward to protect…
[VIDEO]
An artifact recovered from the site against a white background
[VIDEO]
An artifact recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
the archaeological aspects of this project.
[PHOTO]
The interior of the excavation site with a sign that reads
“Shell/Franklin
36BV0051
BLOCK 2
Profile 9
East Half Bisect
In Progress
247 CMBD
AECOM 3/16/15”
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
Because it's not only important to us,
[VIDEO]
An artifact recovered from the site against a white background
[INTERVIEW]
Voiceover:
it was important to the agencies.
[VIDEO]
On screen Chris Heitman interview
[INTERVIEW]
It's also important to the people outside of our gates.
[VIDEO]
Ariel view of the Shell Polymers Plant
[GFX]Shell pectin appears over the footage