• Shell tool

    Sep 9, 2019 1:45 pm by Tricia Barker
    Both sides of a shell tool, which may have been used to decorate a ceramic vessel before final firing. The tool was found at a site in Cook County earlier this year.

    Both sides of a shell tool, which may have been used to decorate a ceramic vessel before final firing. The tool was found at a site in Cook County earlier this year.  

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    • Both sides of a shell tool, which may have been used to decorate a ceramic vessel before final firing. The tool was found at a site in Cook County earlier this year.

    This shell tool, which may have been used to make decorative designs on a ceramic vessel prior to final firing, was found during a recent dig in the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC).

    The site was a large Native American farming village and is the “type site” for the “Huber Cultural Phase” (ca. AD 1450-1640).

    Staff from the Northern Illinois Field Station, along with volunteers, collaborated with FPCC to investigate and restore the site in June. Native habitat restoration together with careful removal of underbrush across the archaeological site area can create sightlines to aid in the monitoring of the site by Forest Preserve staff and stewards and therefore discourage looting activity. ISAS and FPCC have used this approach on other parcels throughout the preserves.

    In addition to the shell tool, archaeologists found stone tools, ceramic vessel fragments, and bone and shell tools, including a bone needle. 

    Read more about this investigation and restoration project.