Illinois State Archaeological Survey

blog posts

• Study of pipestone artifacts overturns a century-old assumption

  Dec 18, 2012 10:15 am

  In the early 1900s, archaeologist William Mills dug up a treasure-trove of carved stone pipes that had been buried almost 2,000 years earlier. Mills was the first to dig the Native American site, called Tremper Mound, in southern Ohio. And when he inspected the pipes, he made a reasonable—but untested—assumption. The pipes looked as if they had been carved from local stone, and so he said they were. That assumption, first published in 1916, has been repeated in scientific publications to this day. But according to a new analysis, Mills was wrong.

• The Zimmerman Site Re-examination of Materials (2010)

  Dec 11, 2012 12:30 pm

• A Visit to the Holy Family Church

  Oct 11, 2012 12:30 pm

• Archaeology at the Site of Fort de Chartres III (November 2011)

  Oct 11, 2012 12:30 pm

• Researchers find evidence of ritual use of 'black drink' at Cahokia

  Aug 6, 2012 10:15 am

  People living 700 to 900 years ago in Cahokia, a massive settlement near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, ritually used a caffeinated brew made from the leaves of a holly tree that grew hundreds of miles away, researchers report.

• Experts reveal new images, analyses of Spurlock Museum mummy

  Oct 18, 2011 10:15 am

  A team of medical experts and researchers will present new findings on the Spurlock Museum mummy at a symposium at the museum on Nov. 2. Sarah Wisseman, the director of the Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey and the author of "The Virtual Mummy," led the effort and will introduce the event.