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Mayor Brad Walhof said the site where the tools were found needs to be protected, which could change or cancel a $1.3 million road project. But he also sees it as a possible tourist draw to an area mostly known for its fishing.
The archaeological find, widely publicized two weeks ago, is in the path of the planned route of a street that would lead to a community center under construction. The road would connect Highway 371 on Walker’s southeast side to the community center, and it also would connect to future residential and commercial development.
Questions, including what should happen to the site and the road, were to be discussed Friday by city, state, federal and archaeological officials meeting in Walker.
Initial plans called for recovery of material from the site before a road could be built. Because of steep terrain, rerouting the road didn’t seem feasible.
“We didn’t know what we were going to find,” said Britta Bloomberg, deputy state historic preservation officer. Now, she said, it’s a “common sense thing” to reconsider rerouting the road and preserve the site so that archaeologists could study it with “different insights and new technology.”
Walhof said he expects the City Council to make a decision Feb. 5.
On the other hand, many people have expressed interest that “maybe more would like to come and see” the ancient tools, Walhof said, saying perhaps an interpretive center could be included in the community center, which will include an ice arena, gym, fitness center and Boys and Girls Club.
Until now, the state’s earliest evidence of human habitation was the remains of Browns Valley Man, found in 1933 near that western Minnesota town and estimated to be 9,000 years old.
The Walker tools are considered by experts to be at least 13,000 to 14,000 years old. That would make them far older than most finds of prehistoric remains in North America. But more research needs to be done to allow firm conclusions, experts have said.
