Archeology Events in Illinois for Sept. 2018

(info borrowed from a friend…)

Monks Mound, Cahokia, IL ~2000 (Photo: Chiara De)

September 2018 Illinois Association for Advancement of Archaeology Events

September 4, 7;00 PM

Illinois Valley Archaeological Society Lecture

“Excavation of a Langford Tradition house from Noble-Wieting, McLean County, Illinois”

Dr. G. Logan Miller, assistant professor of anthropology at Illinois State University

During the Mississippian period (1000-1400 AD) the largest prehistoric North American city existed right here in Illinois. The rise and fall of Cahokia reverberated throughout eastern North America, resulting in many population movements and new ways of life in the region. Archaeologists refer to the new lifeways in northern Illinois at this time as the Langford tradition. While most major Langford sites occur along the upper Illinois River and the Chicagoland area, one site that does not fit the pattern is the village of Noble-Wieting in McLean County. Since the early 1900s archaeologists have puzzled over the site’s anomalous nature. Over the past two years Illinois State University and the Illinois State Archaeological Survey returned to this important site to learn more about what drew people to the area. This presentation covers what a recently excavated house structure can tell us about this enigmatic village.

Dr. G. Logan Miller’s research and publications cover topics related to lithic technology and Midwestern prehistory. He has directed archaeological field schools in Illinois and Ohio.

Dickson Mounds Museum Auditorium

The Illinois State Museum—Dickson Mounds is located between Lewistown and Havana off Illinois Routes 78 and 97.

http://www.experienceemiquon.com/…/excavation-langford-trad…

September 10, 7:00 PM

Three Rivers Archaeological Society Lecture

“Archaeology of the Founder’s Family: Investigating the Home of Minerva Peet Fuller”

Dr. William Green

In 2006, Beloit College students, faculty, and staff and community volunteers exposed and excavated part of an 1840s-1850s house site at the parking lot behind the college’s Guest House. The house belonged to Minerva B. Fuller and was home to Minerva, her son Charles, and a Norwegian immigrant young woman named Julia. We recently discovered that Minerva was the sister of Beloit College founder Stephen Peet: her full name was Minerva Beulah Peet Fuller. This presentation summarizes the documentary record and the archaeological findings—structures, pit features, artifacts, and animal bones—and discusses the site’s significance in terms of campus archaeology and family, college, and community history.

Room 102, Godfrey Anthropology Building (Logan Museum),
Beloit College,
Beloit, Wisconsin

Thursday, September 20, 2018 – 7:30 PM

South Suburban Archaeological Society Lecture

“Rising Up From Indian Country: The Battle of Fort Dearborn & The Birth of Chicago”

Ann Keating, PhD, Professor of History at North Central College

In August 1812, under threat from the Potawatomi, Captain Nathan Heald began the evacuation of 94 people from the isolated outpost of Fort Dearborn to Fort Wayne, hundreds of miles away. The group included several dozen soldiers, as well as nine women and 18 children. After traveling only a mile and a half, they were attacked by 500 Potawatomi warriors. In under an hour, 52 members of Heald’s party were killed, and the rest were taken prisoner. The Potawatomi then burned Fort Dearborn before returning to their villages.
Dr. Keating situates this event within the context of several wider histories that span nearly four decades and will tell a story not only of military conquest but of the lives of people on all sides of the conflict. She will highlight such figures as Jean Baptiste Point de Sable and John Kinzie and will demonstrate that early Chicago was a place of cross-cultural reliance among the French, the Americans, and the Native Americans.
The speaker’s most important contribution to scholarship has been as co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Chicago (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2004), a print and online project.

Marie Irwin Community Center (MICC)
​18120 Highland Avenue,
Homewood, Illinois
http://southsuburbanarchsociety.weebly.com

September 15, 8:30 AM Starting time

East Central Illinois Archaeological Society Event

Illinois Archaeological Survey Annual Conference

Presentations include current research and specialized topics in prehistoric and historical archaeology.

As the Illinois Archaeology Awareness initiative observes: “People have lived in Illinois for over 10,000 years, but only a portion of that history is known from historic documents. Celebrate some of the significant archaeological discoveries and projects that have aided in reconstructing and preserving the history of Illinois since it became a state in 1818.” Paper presentations are 15 minutes in length. Poster presentations will be displayed throughout the day. Beverages and snacks will be provided by the Conference Center throughout the day. Free parking.

Hilton Garden Inn Conference Center, 1501 S. Neill St.,
Champaign, Illinois
https://ilarchsurv.org/news/6631557

September 30, 3:00 PM

Chicago Archaeological Society Lecture

“Woodland Communities in the Mississippi River Valley, Southeast Iowa”

Dr. William Green
In 1990-1994 and again in 2016, fieldwork at Gast Farm in southeast Iowa documented well-preserved Middle Woodland (Havana-Hopewell) and Late Woodland (Weaver) communities. Aerial remote sensing, geophysical survey, deep coring, controlled surface collections, and excavations identified hundreds of features as well as plowed-down mounds and entire community plans. This presentation focuses on changes and continuities in community organization, technology, subsistence, and regional relationships between ca. 200 B.C. and A.D. 600.

Bill Green is the director of the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College in Wisconsin. Bill grew up in Chicago and got into archaeology in 1970 in Pike County, Illinois. After doing field schools in England and Israel and graduating from Grinnell College, he returned to Illinois to work on surveys and excavations in Fulton, Peoria, and Schuyler counties. He then entered graduate school in anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and became a staff archaeologist at the Wisconsin Historical Society. He earned his doctorate in 1987 with a study of Late Woodland cultures in western Illinois, and he served as the State Archaeologist of Iowa from 1988 to 2001. His research interests range widely across Midwest and Plains archaeology and ethnobotany.

Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Avenue,
Evanston, Illinois

FRIENDS OF THE IAAA SEPTEMBER LECTURES

September 5, 7:00 PM

Illinois State Museum Lecture

“Saving the Heart of the World: Emergency Stabilization of Double Ditch Indian Village State Historic Site”

Brooke Morgan, Curator of Anthropology, Illinois State Museum

Double Ditch Indian Village State Historic Site is a large Mandan earthlodge village located on the Missouri River about eight miles north of Bismarck, North Dakota. Mandans lived in the village for nearly 300 years (AD 1490-1785) and were the center of an expansive trade network. Ditch enclosures, earthlodge impressions, and large midden mounds are well-preserved to this day, and the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As a result of catastrophic flooding of the Missouri River in 2011, Double Ditch started eroding and human remains were uncovered. In cooperation with the Three Affiliated Tribes, the State Historical Society of North Dakota undertook a bank stabilization project in 2016 to prevent further erosion and preserve this incredible site for future generations.
Illinois State Museum Auditorium
Springfield, Illinois
http://www.illinoisstatemuseum.org/…/saving-heart-world-eme…

September 5, 7:00 PM

Mound City Archaeological Society Lecture

Lessons on Breaking New Grounds in South American Archaeology

The Loro ceramic style of south coastal Peru c. 650–1000 CE has received little scholarly attention because it had been considered the hallmark of the defeat of the Nasca culture. Deborah Spivak will present an overview of her interdisciplinary research on Loro ceramics, particularly focusing on the challenges of excavation and data collection.

AT&T Foundation Multipurpose Room Museum, Missouri History Museum

Forest Park, St, Louis, Missouri

http://mohistory.org/…/lessons-on-breaking-new-grounds-in-s…

September 6, 6:00 PM

Allerton Park and Retreat Center Lecture

“The 2017 and 2018 Archaeological Investigations at Robert Allerton Park”

Allerton Mansion
515 Old Timber Road,
Monticello, Illinois
https://www.facebook.com/events/1847436785371505/\

Looking down from Monks Mound (Photo: Chiara De ~2000)

September 30, 3:00pm

Milwaukee Society AIA Lecture

“The Middle Mississippian Colony at Trempealeau”

Ernie Boszhardt, Independent Scholar

Coinciding with the dawn of the Middle Mississippian Culture at the ancient city of Cahokia nearly 1,000 years ago, a group canoed over 500 miles up the Mississippi River to establish a settlement at Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Antiquarian records alluded to distinct platform mounds and exotic ceramics, but only recently has the age, extent, and purpose of Trempealeau’s very early Mississippian expression been thoroughly explored. Ongoing excavations since 2010 have revealed that the Cahokians carried ceramic vessels and a variety of flint stones from their homeland along with their architecture and religion to this far-flung yet short-lived outpost; and why they came to Trempealeau.

Robert “Ernie” Boszhardt is a Wisconsin archaeologist with over 40 years of experience. His research has focused on the unglaciated Driftless Area of western Wisconsin where he has studied and written extensively about nearly all aspects of that region’s archaeological heritage, including Paleoindian, Hopewell, Effigy Mounds, Oneota, rock art, and most recently Middle Mississippian. He currently is co-owner of Driftless Pathways LLC. with his wife Danielle Benden who together direct the Trempealeau Archaeology Project.
Boszhardt-authored books on the Trempealeau research and regional rock art will be available for purchase and signing at the tal

Sabin Hall Room G90 on the UWM Campus (3413 North Downer, corner of Newport and Downer Avenues)
https://aia-milwaukee.uwm.edu/lectures/

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