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  • two ISAS staff examine an artifact

    ISAS staff help Forest Preserve District of DuPage County

    Nov 29, 2021 2:30 pm

    A few months ago, a visitor found an interesting stone at Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville. They took pictures and alerted Forest Preserve District staff, who reached out to the Illinois State Archaeological Survey for their perspective. 

  • (Left to Right) Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery founders Leslie Cooperband, Wes Jarrell, and ISAS staff Madeline Evans and Mike Smith holding artifacts. 

    Identifying artifacts at Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery

    Jan 24, 2022 8:00 am

    ISAS volunteers Mike Smith and Madeline Evans were able to visit Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery in Champaign this past December to assist the owners in identifying a collection of artifacts that came into their possession as they expanded their farm operation.

  • horse femurs found on a river bank

    Trained eye IDs animal bones

    May 3, 2022 8:00 am

    Earlier this year, ISAS received some photos the submitter believed were from a bison. The bones in all of these photos are actually from a horse. Steve Kuehn, an ISAS zooarchaeologist, notes two elements show distinct traits that separate horses from bison and cattle.

  • Anthropology professor Lisa Lucero and her colleagues are working to capture the history from Maya ruins before they are plowed under.

    Agricultural activity threatens Indigenous history in both Belize and Illinois

    Jul 7, 2022 8:00 am

    State Archaeologist Tim Pauketat reflects on a recent blog post from his colleague Dr. Lisa Lucero, which shows that Belize and Illinois share an unfortunate problem: agriculture puts Indigenous artifacts and history at risk. 

  • IFR students excavating at a 14th-century village during the first half of their six-week field school.

    2022 Field School uncovers pre-contact 14th century village

    Jul 22, 2022 1:30 pm

    Dr. Tamira Brennan, section head of curation at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, recently completed a six-week archaeological field school in southeast Missouri. Hosted by the Institute for Field Research (IFR) in partnership with Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO), Field School students travel from all over the U.S. to participate in hands-on research.

  • Photo (left to right): John Sullivan '23, Mathew Ragonjan '22, Elise Griffin '24, Devin Nessler '24, Monika Poudel '25, John Alexander Schone Scobbie (Archaeological Specialist), Erin Hughes (Research Archaeologist), James Pisell (Staff Archaeologist). July 2022.

    Jacksonville lab tour

    Aug 3, 2022 1:00 pm

    Members of the Illinois College summer student scholarship cohort met with staff from the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) at the Western Illinois Field Station in Jacksonville, Illinois. Staff members John Alexander Schone Scobbie, an archaeological specialist, Erin Hughes, research archaeologist, and James Pisell, staff archaeologist, shared an overview of the mission and services of the ISAS and led a behind-the-scenes site tour.

  • Vegetables harvested from the WIFS garden.

    The past feeds the present

    Aug 15, 2022 8:00 am

    The WIFS Macomb Fieldstation is currently home to the ISAS flotation laboratory, where flotation samples from projects across the state are processed. Leftover sediments have been repurposed in the on-site staff vegetable garden, once again enriching the local soils for a new food crop.

  • Participants working on pieces from mock excavations

    FPCC groups learn more about Cook County archaeology

    Aug 17, 2022 8:00 am

    ISAS staff recently conducted four days of training and outreach activities to introduce several Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC) resource management groups to the archaeological history of the Cook County Forest Preserves.

  • A 2022 IFR field school student rehouses archaeological materials to prepare them for permanent storage.

    Counting on the future to save the past

    Oct 11, 2022 8:00 am

    When one thinks of excavations taking place in the blazing summer sun, most people don’t realize how much discovery occurs in the cool, dark collections spaces that curators like Tamira Brennan, section head of curation at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) and her colleagues care for.

  • Large erosional gully at an archaeological site in St. Clair County, Illinois

    Climate change threatens to erode Illinois' archaeological record

    Dec 12, 2022 9:15 am

    Large swaths of the state—areas where the soil is easily eroded, where farm field slopes are particularly steep, and where there are many cultural sites of historic significance—are poised to suffer significant impacts in the coming decades. And with every fraction of an inch that washes downstream, the farmer’s plow goes a little deeper each year.

  • NIFS staff member Allison Densmore shows George Johnson how researchers are using his donated collections for a research project on the distribution of projectile points in Illinois. Photo credit: Clare Tolmie

    George Johnson donation: projectile points with a lasting impact

    Feb 8, 2023 8:30 am

    Our Northern Illinois Field Station (NIFS) recently had a friendly visit from a familiar face – George Johnson!  Johnson, who donated an important projectile points collection to ISAS many years ago, stopped by to donate more artifacts to his collection. Johnson's donated collection is a major hotspot on the projectile points database.

  • Aerial photo showing the McKeown (11WT33) site area taken with a drone. The site extends along the ridge in the bottom center of the photo to the woodlot in the top right. View to the southwest. Photo credit: John Lambert.

    ISAS collaborates with landowners in Whiteside County to document pre-contact village site

    Aug 2, 2023 8:00 am

    The Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) recently collaborated with landowners in northwest Illinois to investigate a pre-contact village and associated mound using non-invasive geophysical survey. Originally recorded in 1961 as a Late Woodland site, a brief revisit to the McKeown site in 1974 showed that the site actually dates to the Upper Mississippian Langford Phase and contains not only a mound, but intact house pits and other features.

  • Assortment of projectile points collected by Ed Duling spanning nearly a 10,000 year period of time.

    Ed Duling arrowhead collection donation

    Oct 10, 2023 1:30 pm

    Ed Duling's lifelong passion for collecting Native American artifacts has found a lasting legacy at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS). His collection, painstakingly gathered over decades, is more than a mere assortment of arrowheads; it’s a testament to the rich tapestry of our heritage. Inspired by his unwavering dedication, his family, Sheryl Ketner and Noelle Walton, made a heartfelt decision – to contact ISAS to preserve their father's legacy and share it with the world.

  • test trenches

    ISAS supports Arthur Johnson Foundation’s mission of ‘hope, vision, and positive direction.’

    Mar 15, 2024 2:15 pm

    The Illinois State Archaeological Survey recently assisted with an archaeological survey for the new Arthur Johnson Foundation Center in East St. Louis, Illinois. The Foundation’s mission is to “give hope, vision and positive direction to our youth through the medium of athletics” and to rebuild inner-city communities by inspiring youth and assisting families experiencing crises.