By Mandy McFarland Staff Writer
PLYMOUTH — Kids and adults alike were invited to dig back into time Saturday when the Marshall County Historical Society hosted “Digging into the Past,” a hands-on celebration of local archaeological and geological history and pre-history.

September is Archaeology Month in the state of Indiana, so to celebrate, museum curator Kate Finney brought in displays featuring ancient-style bows and arrows, fossils, rocks and minerals and bones and teeth from a long-extinct mastodon, discovered just a few years ago beneath a field in Culver.
Property owner John Benedict recalled the day an excavator unearthed the ancient creature while digging a pond near his home.
“It just changes your perspective,” he said. “I grew up on that farm. You realize that’s just a dribble in time compared to what was there.”
According to Benedict, the mastodon dates back at least 12,500 years, toward the end of the last Ice Age.
Tim Manuwal of Plymouth brought with him a display of homemade bows and arrows, similar to what would have been used hundreds — even thousands — of years ago. Manuwal’s display included handmade bows at various stages of production, from a split log to the finished product.
He taught kids how to make strings from the stems of yucca plants. The strings would have been used to fasten stone arrowheads to wooden arrows.
According to Manuwal, the process of making an arrow was long and complicated, requiring the arrow to be perfectly straight. To ensure flight, Manuwal strips and grinds feathers to just the right size and attaches them evenly to the arrow. He then takes a piece of back strap sinew, or a piece of tendon from the back muscle of a deer, and places it in his mouth, using his own saliva to break it down. Then, he can use it to secure the feathers to the shaft. A glue made from pine pitch and burnt eggshell attaches the arrowhead to the other end of the shaft, and sinew string secures it.
“It’s got to be good and solid so that when it hits the hide of the animal it doesn’t twist. It stays there,” Manuwal said.
Other displays included geodes, fossils, corals and more excavated from around Marshall County.
“We wanted to talk about not just an archaeological dig but how that turns into history and pre-history,” Finney said.
This was just one of several interactive activities the museum has planned for its 50th anniversary year.
“We’ve been trying to do something each month,” Finney said.
Ronald Leichty, president of the board of trustees for the historical society, felt that the display fit well with the role of a historical society within the community. A historical society, he said, does not simply interpret history, “We verify the history of the area.”
For October, the museum will feature “The Spirits of Marshall County,” featuring live re-enactors portraying the spirits of famous Marshall County figures.
While space is limited, tickets will go on sale soon, with proceeds going back to the historical society.