American Bottom Field Station (ABFS)
ABFS fieldwork during the month of February was extremely limited due to winter weather. No archaeological surveys were completed, however crew were able to revisit several previously reported mound and burial sites in St. Clair and Madison Counties. In addition they documented and recorded two new burial sites. This includes the Caseyville Cemetery and Mound site, a previously unreported prehistoric mound site covered by a still active nineteenth century Euro American cemetery and the Moore Cemetery, a nineteenth century family plot. The remainder of time was spent on analysis and writing for excavations at 11LW374 in Lawrence County. Upcoming fieldwork is planned for March in Randolph, Perry, Madison, and Union Counties.
Central Illinois Field Station (CIFS)
CIFS continues to facilitate infrastructure improvements across Illinois. Archaeological surveys conducted in Edgar and Washington counties (IDOT Districts 5 and 7, respectively) resulted in two compliance reports submitted by CIFS to IDOT in February. Two more reports concerning projects completed in Carroll and Douglas Counties (Districts 2 and 5) are nearly finished. In all, these projects resulted in the identification of forty-four new archaeological sites and the revisit to three previously recorded sites. In addition to preparing equipment for the coming field season, CIFS has begun preparing for upcoming work on two new small projects in Cook and DuPage Counties (District 1), and a large-scale survey for proposed improvements to Interstate 80 across Grundy, Kendall, and Will Counties (Districts 1 and 3).
Northern Illinois Field Station (NIFS)
NIFS staff continued work on a number of older ATSR reports for projects completed several years ago in Ogle (11OG234) JoDaveiss (11JD778), and Will (11WI1163) Counties. The draft technical report for the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) survey in Jackson Park was also completed and submitted to IDOT for review. NIFS revisited 3 sites and identified another 4 new sites as part of the OPC project, including the site of the large garbage incinerator associated with the 1893 World’s Fair. The snow and ice is quickly receding up north, so we are beginning the fieldwork for about 10 projects on our to-do list in Districts 1 and 2. NIFS also plans to begin monitoring work in late March/early April along Gear Street in Galena’s National Historic District.
Western Illinois Field Station (WIFS)
WIFS staff has been involved in artifact inventory, analysis, and report writing, as well as updating box inventory information for curation. However, our crews also made several forays outside to take advantage of periodic nicer weather to complete gridded surface collections at the Old Delhi and McChesney North sites in Jersey and Henderson counties, respectively. We also knifed through the waning winter foliage to complete some revisits to well-known mound groups like Gibson in Calhoun County.
