Three ancient artifacts - 4,000 to 7,000 years old - have been found by the University of Washington's botany greenhouse, the university announced. One piece is a stone projectile point - a type of spearhead or arrowhead. The other two are fragments of stone tools.
     UW freshman Ellen Van Wyk, who is also a botany greenhouse volunteer, found the projectile point buried by the greenhouse on October 22. The greenhouse staff told the Burke Museum about the discovery. The museum staff then dug three test pits in that area and found the two tool fragments. "This (stone) point is exciting because we know exactly where it was found. Other points in our collection have a vague provenance, such as 'near the fountain.' We can now add to the history of the landscape on which the UW was built," said Julie Stein, the museum's director.
     The discovery site is near a documented Native American trail. The museum has contacted area tribes about the discovery, said university spokeswoman MaryAnn Barron Wagner. The university plans to check out the discovery area more and to survey other parts of campus with pending construction projects for potential artifact sites. People stumbling across a potential artifact site are encouraged to call the museum's archaeology department at 206-685-3849.

Sources: Seattle PI (7 December 2009), Associated Press (8 December 2009)