Some of these artifacts, dating back 6,400 years, have just gone on display at the Saratoga Historical Museum.

More than 30 years ago, Saratoga High School freshman Frank Dutro discovered these artifacts on Sixth Street and Big Basin Way. Dutro lived nearby and had been picking up bits and pieces over the years.

"This is the first time the items have been on display. They are on long-term loan at the museum through the courtesy of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, modern day descendants of the early inhabitants of Saratoga," said April Halberstadt, curator of the museum.

All these years, the items had been in storage in the archeology department of San José State University.

"The items have been in storage because no institution came forward to offer to display them," Halberstadt said.

She said that the museum had been looking for an opportunity to get the items displayed. "We had been looking for an opportunity to display the local materials and we are extremely pleased to be able to share these important items with the local residents," she said.

Dutro has recently relocated to Saratoga after living in Southern California for 20 years.

He said that he was inspired to look for Native American artifacts after talking to a man who had seen them around Big Basin Way. "If he could look for stuff, I could look too, nosy guy that I am," Dutro said.

Gradually, he learned to distinguish between an ordinary piece of rock and a valuable artifact.

In 1972, Dutro took his collection to a meeting of the Saratoga Historical Foundation. The members of the foundation were amazed to see his collection.

An archeology team was quickly assembled right after that to help excavate the site. A construction project was scheduled to begin on the property soon and there was very little time left.

During the excavation, scores of other artifacts were recovered. Four Native American burial sites were also discovered at the location.

"You could say that I was the local junior archeologist for a while," he said.

The excavation committee concluded that the area might have been a cemetery for Native Americans.

The most common artifacts found were grinding stones. Projectiles, hammer stones, mortars, pestles and some stone balls were also found.

Dutro said that he was overjoyed that all the artifacts he had helped find so many years ago were finally going on display.

"Hopefully there will be some research to go along with the display, so that some life can be breathed into these artifacts," he said.

Dutro is hoping that some of the local schools will actively work to teach local children the history of Saratoga. "It would be great if the local kids could get connected with some of the history of the area they are living in," Dutro said.

The museum has already arranged for a local expert, Malcolm Toriumi, to visit local schools and talk about the exhibit and current archaeological research. Additional study materials to supplement the exhibit are being developed by Toriumi and Alan Levanthal, an archeologist with San José State University.

"I get my sense of history from the insatiable curiosity that I have," Dutro said. He said that he got interested in the history of Saratoga after reading a history book about the region. Dutro is on a sabbatical right now and has worked with visual effects and computer graphics in the past.

Dutro hasn't stopped looking though.

"I am always looking. My radar is always on. You never know what you will find."