 |
|
|||||
| Dig The past |
||||||
| Archeology museums, sites offer clues to ancient life | ||||||
| Published: May/Jun 2002 |
||||||
Preserved in archeological sites and museums in the region, these remains offer a window to the past, an understanding of what has happened here and how people have lived since the dawn of time. These sites help illuminate the murky and unwritten history of the region's early inhabitants dating back 10,000 years, from enormous Ice Age mastodons to highly sophisticated Native American civilizations. To glimpse the past, visit this small sampling of sites, some of which feature excavations in progress. Exhibitions of animal bones, a variety of artifacts, dioramas, mounds and re-creations of ancient villages help visitors explore the mysteries of ancient America. City of the Sun Just east of St. Louis, the remains of the most sophisticated native civilization north of Mexico are preserved at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Because of its importance to our understanding of North American prehistory, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the site a World Heritage Site in 1982. At its peak occupation, the once-flourishing Mississippian civilization covered six square miles and had about 20,000 residents. According to archeological finds, the city was inhabited from about A.D. 700 to 1400 and served as the center of an enormous trade empire distinguished by social and political activity. Houses were arranged in rows around open plazas, and agricultural fields surrounded the city. Cahokia once had as many as 120 earthen mounds, but erosion and farming took their toll and now 69 are preserved within the 2,200-acre site. The mounds were used primarily for ceremonial functions. The centerpiece of Cahokia is Monks Mound, covering more than 14 acres at its base and rising 100 feet about the Illinois Plain to the Mississippi Flood Plain. Visitors can climb steps to the top of the mound to get a birds-eye view of the region. The site has drawn interest since the late 1800s, when a Belleville dentist hired surveyors to map the site. Excavations and tests throughout the last century have uncovered many details about the once-vibrant city that was abandoned before the first Europeans arrived. Within the Interpretive Center are many relics that have been recovered from the site, with exhibits that explain how the Mississippian Indians lived. There's also a 15-minute orientation show and a life-sized, walk-through diorama of Cahokia as it was 900 years ago. During the summer, from mid-June through early August, archeological excavations are held at the site, and visitors are allowed to watch the archeologists at work. For details about the excavations or about the site, call (618) 346-5160, or visit www.cahokiamounds.com Nile of North America With more than 10,000 years of human occupation and thousands of recorded archeological sites in a 4,000-square-mile area surrounding the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, the region has been referred to as the “Nile of North America.” Preserving many of the artifacts found in the region is the Center for American Archeology in Kampsville, Ill., located north of Grafton. Founded in 1953, the center's mission is to discover and disseminate the unwritten story of earlier Americans’ lifeways, accomplishments and changing natural environment. Housed in a historic general store on scenic Highway 100, the center presents artifacts, exhibits and displays that depict what life was like in the lower Illinois valley 10,000 years ago. It also explains archeological research methods to the uninitiated. In addition to its exhibits, the center offers field schools and educational outreach programs to foster interest in archeology. High school students and adults can immerse themselves in all aspects of archeology, including excavation and analysis of artifacts. Participants become active members of a research team. For those who don't have a week or more to spend, the center will hold its annual Archeology Day on June 29. Adults, children and families can experience a full day or archeological excavations, demonstrations, displays and lectures that showcase regional prehistory, prehistoric technologies and more. Registration will began 8:30 a.m. at St. Anselm’s Church Hall in Kampsville, and activities will continue through 4 p.m. The public also is invited to bring in artifact collections for identification by staff archeologists from 9 a.m.–noon. Then on July 20, children of all ages can participate in Junior Archeologist Day, featuring a full day of hands-on activities that will provide information about ancient people of the region. Activities include making stone tools, pottery, weaving and more, as well as a visit to an excavation site. The visitors’ center season runs from April 26–Nov. 3. Hours of operation are noon–5 p.m. Sunday through Friday and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday. For details about the special events or field schools, call (618) 653-4316, or visit the Web site www.caa-archeology.org. An Indiana Angel For more than 1,000 years, southwestern Indiana has been home to many Native Americans. From A.D. 1100 to 1450, a town along the northern bank of the Ohio River was occupied by people of the Middle Mississippian culture. Known as Angel Mounds, the site was once the largest town in Indiana in its era, with as many as 3,000 Indians living there at its pinnacle. Because Angel Mounds was a chiefdom, the home of the chief, it was the regional center of a large community that grew outward from it for many miles. Native Americans from a 70-mile radius probably traveled to the site to attend ceremonies and political events, join war parties and to trade goods. Like at Cahokia, the Mississippians here constructed mounds, which served as platforms for important buildings and as the sites where ceremonies and rituals were held. They also built a stockade around the town for protection. Today those mounds remain as part of Angel Mounds State Historic Site, which is recognized as one of the best-preserved prehistoric Native American sites in the country. Located in Evansville, the site recently underwent an extensive renovation program that included stabilizing some of the 11 mounds in the site. Through the years, excavations of the mounds have offered glimpses into the highly developed culture of the site’s early inhabitants. Artifacts discovered in the mounds are on display in the Interpretive Center, which was renovated and expanded last year with more space for new exhibits. For more details about the site, call (812) 853-3956. Or visit the Web site www.angelmounds.org. Prehistoric beasts At the end of the ice age that occurred from 35,000 to 10,000 years ago, the Midwest was home to animals such as giant ground sloths and hairy, elephant-like mastodons. Paleontologists theorize that the area south of St. Louis was once swampy and contained mineral springs. The animals that came to the springs may have become trapped in mud, preserving their bones for future generations. Bones of mastodons were discovered in an area near Kimmswick as early as the 1800s. Later excavations of the Kimmswick Bone Bed, as it became known, generated interest around the world. When the construction of Interstate 55 threatened the site, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources purchased 418 acres of land to preserve the area in 1976. Within the new Mastodon State Historic Site, the department sponsored several excavations shortly thereafter. But it was a 1979 study by paleontologist Russell Graham of the Illinois State Museum that revealed the first solid evidence of the coexistence of humans and the mastodon in eastern North America. Graham found a stone “Clovis” type projectile point in association with mastodon bones, which was an astounding discovery proving that the lives of Native Americans and mastodons once intertwined. Today, visitors to the park can walk a trail that leads to the site where the bones and artifacts were found. There’s also a museum that displays bones, tusks, teeth and human artifacts found there. A full-size replica of a mastodon skeleton highlights the exhibits. For details, call (636) 464-2976, or visit www.mostateparks.com online. Whether you’re on the trail of ancient beasts or prehistoric peoples, the Midwest offers sites where you can delve into the past. Dead men and beasts tell no tales, but what they left behind speaks volumes. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Copyright © 1999 - 2007 AAA Traveler Magazine | 12901 N. Forty Dr. | St. Louis, MO 63141 |
