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  • a large carved limestone disc

    Carved limestone disc

    Jun 29, 2018 10:00 am

    During the month of June, field crew from the American Bottom Field Station (ABFS) of ISAS carried out pedestrian surveys in southern Illinois for a proposed interstate reconstruction project. One of the site areas investigated contained numerous Mississippian artifacts including hoe fragments and shell-tempered pottery. 

  • This bone needle was found during a recent dig in the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC).

    Bone needle

    Jul 22, 2019 10:30 am

    Staff from the Northern Illinois Field Station, along with volunteers, recently collaborated with the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC) to investigate and restore a large Native American farming village last month. Bone needles and ceramic vessels were found during this recent dig.

  • Archaeologists found this bone awl (made on a white-tailed deer metatarsus) in Stephenson County.

    Bone awls

    Jul 30, 2019 10:00 am

    Archaeologists from the Northern Illinois Field Station recently recovered two bone tools from a small site in Stephenson County.

  • shell pendant

    Bone and shell tools provide food for thought

    Feb 4, 2021 9:00 am
  • black and white clock

    A word about dating

    Jul 19, 2021 8:00 am

  • August 2018 Field Notes

    Jul 31, 2018 2:45 pm
  • Stone tools that are suggestive of generalized Archaic period (probably 3,000 or more years old) use of the area where they were located – one is a drill or perforating tool and the other may be a reworked knife form.

    Archaic stone tools and Late Woodland ceramics

    Jul 22, 2020 9:45 am

    A Facebook message from a citizen scientist with a keen eye in Henderson County revealed an impressive assemblage of artifacts.

  • Stoneware elbow pipe in a person's palm

    American Bottom Field Station investigates homestead

    Apr 24, 2019 2:15 pm

  • Allerton Cemetery Workshop

    Aug 28, 2019 12:45 pm
  • 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. 

  • ISAS staff excavating the Deer Shed Bluff site

    A glimpse of an antebellum tavern on the Mississippi River

    Nov 22, 2021 10:00 am

    In 2019, the Illinois State Archaeological Survey encountered a pre-1850 historic site on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River as part of a bridge replacement project conducted by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Wedged between a gas pipeline and a modern highway right-of-way was a remarkably well-preserved footprint of an early 19th century structure, and as well as a rich deposit of material culture associated with what turned out to be tavern-keeping.

  • Agate Basin point (PaleoIndian type) recovered by our Western Illinois Field Station.

    Agate Basin point

    May 30, 2018 3:00 pm

    The June 2018 artifact of the month is a beautiful Agate Basin point (Paleoindian type) recovered by our Western Illinois Field Station.

  • John Lambert works to recover text from a heavily eroded and weathered gravestone.

    3D scanning of a weathered stone grave marker at Allerton Park

    Feb 4, 2020 2:00 pm
  • 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.

  • a 1943 German Reichspfennig (“imperial penny”)

    1943 German Reichspfennig

    Feb 4, 2019 9:00 am

    Last fall, while investigating an Archaic period site northwest of Macomb, an unexpected artifact was recovered from the plow zone: a 1943 German Reichspfennig (“imperial penny”). How this foreign World War II-era coin ended up in a US agricultural field far from any residence is puzzling and may never be known with certainty.