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Archaeological Survey

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  • Tamira Brennan standing in front of the experimental archaeological excavation site.

    Excavating my own archaeology

    Oct 29, 2024 9:00 am

    Tamira Brennan, a research scientist and section head of curation at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, led University of Illinois students in excavating a structure she originally built over two decades ago in an experimental archaeology course. The project models ancient techniques and emphasizes the importance of artifact curation, addressing a national "curation crisis." The hands-on experience aims to inspire students in cultural heritage preservation.

  • MCJA cover crop.

    New issue of MJCA, guest edited by ISAS' Dr. Clare Tolmie, explores the archaeological record of the Chicago region

    Jul 25, 2024 8:00 am

    Hot off the press!

    Past and present ISAS staff have authored papers in the recently issued Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology (MCJA) on the pre-contact and contact era archaeological record of the Chicago region, guest edited by Dr. Clare Tolmie, ISAS Northern Illinois Field Station Coordinator.

  • Submerged bow of the ship on a lakebed

    Illinois’ first submerged cultural resource: the Solon Johnson wreck of 1887

    Apr 26, 2024 10:45 am

    Researchers from the Prairie Research Institute collaborated to document Illinois' first submerged cultural resource: the Solon Johnson shipwreck. Discovered by ISGS chief scientist Steve Brown during a bathymetric data collection project off Illinois Beach State Park, the shipwreck represents a significant find in Lake Michigan's maritime history. With assistance from ISAS researchers, the wreck's identity as the Solon Johnson, lost in 1887 during a storm, was confirmed. The discovery underscores the importance of documenting and preserving underwater cultural heritage.

  • Heavenly history and the moon

    Mar 19, 2024 8:45 am

    From Ohio's lunar-aligned monuments to Cahokia's sacred rituals, journey through time to explore the profound connection between humanity and the cosmos, culminating in the anticipation of the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. 

  • ISAS to lead “Field to Lab” summer program

    Mar 5, 2024 4:00 pm

    Illinois State Archaeological Survey curation section head Tamira Brennan and senior collections specialist Sara Pfannkuche will be leading an intensive, multi-week and experiential summer curatorial program in collaboration with the Institute for Field Research.

  • Preventing Roadblocks: PRI Keeps Illinois on the Straight and Narrow

    Jan 31, 2024 8:00 am

    With the help of Prairie Research Institute scientists, transportation agencies are building Illinois roads in compliance with state and federal regulations, while preserving Illinois’ physical, biological, natural, and cultural resources.

  • James "Jimmy" Burns

    Remembering James “Jimmy” Burns

    Nov 10, 2023 3:45 pm

    It is with profound sadness that we share the news that James “Jimmy” Burns passed away on November 7, 2023. Jimmy was a consummate field archaeologist who worked extensively across the Midwest, Far West, and Southeast over a 40-year career in both cultural resource management and academic settings. Above all, Jimmy was the best friend a person could be and he will be missed forever across ISAS, PRI, and beyond. 

  • Pallets of flotation samples in plastic bags

    Flotation for the Future

    Oct 11, 2023 1:30 pm

    A massive archaeological site in St. Clair County, Illinois, was excavated by ISAS for the Illinois Department of Transportation between 1998 and 2007 to make way for a new bridge over the Mississippi River. ISAS archaeologists excavated some 7,000 discrete “features,” locations of trash-filled storage pits and houses, among other things, near the banks of the Mississippi River.

  • microphone

    Third annual Intersections of Indigenous Knowledge and Archaeology Speaker Series

    Mar 10, 2023 2:30 pm

    This spring the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will hold its third annual virtual speaker series featuring Native scholars and leaders. The Intersections of Indigenous Knowledge and Archaeology series is intended to center Indigenous voices, increase awareness of the deep Native histories of the Eastern Woodlands, and amplify the experiences and research of Indigenous scholars and leaders. 

  • In 2021, ISAS tested a non-invasive technique called electromagnetic induction (EMI) on Mound 37 at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, Illinois. Using EMI, ISAS was able to detect the architecture of Mound 37 and confirm that the mound was circular in shape. Monks Mound, the largest Indigenous earthwork in the Americas rises prominently in the background.

    ISAS awarded $100,000 grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities

    Dec 13, 2022 1:45 pm

    The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded $100,000 to the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) for a two-year noninvasive geophysical survey of 24 mounds at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site and three surrounding mound sites.

  • Archaeologist Marie Meizis of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey uses a magnetic gradiometer. Photo credit: Matt Dayhoff, Peoria Journal Star

    Seeing an Indigenous settlement

    Dec 12, 2022 8:00 am

    ISAS helped researchers from the University of California-Santa Barbara and Northern Illinois University conduct a geophysical survey at the Heldenmeyer settlement, which was home to two different cultures, people from historically distinct western and northern Illinois regions. Archaeologists can tell this based on the varieties of broken pottery cookware found on the site’s plow-churned surface. This makes it historically and culturally unique, a place in need of documentation and preservation. 

  • ISAS staff Patrick Green, Christian Hasler, and Mike Smith and UIUC archaeology graduate student, Em Shirilla volunteered to host an archaeology tent and atlatl-powered spear throwing demonstration during the Family Campout event at Allerton Park and Retreat Center in Monticello, Illinois.

    ISAS presents at Allerton Family Camp Out

    Nov 3, 2022 10:45 am

    ISAS staff Patrick Green, Christian Hasler, and Mike Smith and UIUC archaeology graduate student, Em Shirilla volunteered to host an archaeology tent and atlatl-powered spear-throwing demonstration during the Family Campout event at Allerton Park and Retreat Center in Monticello, Illinois.

  • The Peoria Business Committee stands in front of Monks Mound, L to R: Treasurer Hank Downum, Chief Craig Harper, Second Councilman Kara North, Third Councilman Isabella Clifford, Second Chief Rosanna Dobbs, and Secretary Tonya Mathews

    ISAS hosts Peoria Tribe visit to Cahokia Mounds

    Jul 22, 2022 8:00 am

    Earlier this summer, ISAS helped host the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma Business Committee when they visited Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site. The Peoria Business Committee is the Peoria Tribal Government and visiting members included: Chief Craig Harper, Second Chief Rosanna Dobbs, Secretary Tonya Mathews, Treasurer Hank Downum, Second Councilman Kara North, and Third Councilman Isabella Clifford.

  • Caitlin Rankin conducting wetland sampling

    North ‘plaza’ in Cahokia was likely inundated year-round, study finds

    Jul 21, 2022 8:15 am

    The ancient North American city of Cahokia had as its focal point a feature now known as Monks Mound, a giant earthwork surrounded on its north, south, east and west by large rectangular open areas. These flat zones, called plazas by archaeologists since the early 1960s, were thought to serve as communal areas that served the many mounds and structures of the city.

    New paleoenvironmental analyses of the north plaza suggest it was almost always underwater, calling into question earlier interpretations of the north plaza’s role in Cahokian society. The study is reported in the journal World Archaeology.

  • Researchers on a boat

    Research fieldwork comes with safety challenges

    May 31, 2022 8:45 am

    Prairie Research Institute (PRI) researchers and technicians may not know exactly which hazards they’ll face when they conduct fieldwork to study the natural world. What they do know is that there are plenty of dangers to prepare for as they start another field season.

  • Elizabeth Watts Malouchos (left) and Alleen Betzenhauser (right) map a Mississippian structure at the Pfeffer site in the region outlying Cahokia in 2008.

    ISAS experts co-edit Reconsidering Mississippian Communities and Households

    Jun 30, 2021 8:00 am
  • microphone

    Virtual speaker series features Native scholars and leaders

    Feb 23, 2021 2:30 pm

    This spring the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will hold a virtual speaker series featuring Native scholars and leaders. The Intersections of Indigenous Knowledge and Archaeology series is intended to center Indigenous voices, increase awareness of the deep Native histories of the Eastern Woodlands, and amplify the experiences and research of Indigenous scholars and leaders. 

  • Smoke from May 31, 2013, the first day of the Thompson Ridge fire in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. This fire grew to an area of over 23,000 acres and engulfed much of Wâavêmâ (Redondo Peak), a mountain held sacred by the people of Jemez Pueblo.

    Exploring historic fire ecosystems

    Feb 22, 2021 11:30 am
  • Illinois Archaeological Predictive Model screenshot

    Archaeological predictive model helps Illinoisans balance growth with preservation

    May 22, 2020 9:45 am

    The Illinois State Archaeological Survey offers a GIS-based tool that draws on more than a century of data to predict the probability of encountering an archaeological site in any 2-acre section of Illinois. Land owners, developers, preservationists, and other Illinoisans can use this tool to proactively assess and protect archaeological resources while enabling sustainable development. 

  • corn stalk

    Cahokia's rise parallels onset of corn agriculture

    May 14, 2020 8:45 am

    Corn cultivation spread from Mesoamerica to what is now the American Southwest by about 4000 B.C., but how and when the crop made it to other parts of North America is still a subject of debate. In a new study, scientists report that corn was not grown in the ancient metropolis of Cahokia until sometime between A.D. 900 and 1000, a relatively late date that corresponds to the start of the city’s rapid expansion.

  • Mike Farkas, Michael Aiuvalasit and Tim Pauketat walking amid bare trees

    Rediscovering a path to the Milky Way

    May 6, 2020 8:15 am

    PRI archaeologists investigate "borrow pits," where the people of Cahokia extracted much of the soil used to build their famous mounds. The scientists are beginning to think these ponds held more meaning for the original city builders than archaeologists once assumed. They also hope to study another overlooked feature of the city of Cahokia: a causeway that cuts through the site.

  • Mary King, Mary Simon, and Kimberly Schaefer examining a possible wooden mortar

    Deciphering the culture found in prehistoric plants

    Feb 5, 2020 12:30 pm

    Archaeobotanists at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey study ancient plant remains with the goal of understanding how humans used plants in the past. 

  • Rebecca Barzilai

    Reading history in the soil

    Jan 28, 2020 12:15 pm

    Postdoctoral researcher Rebecca Barzilai describes mapping and collecting soil samples from the floor of a religious shrine in Greater Cahokia, an ancient Native American settlement on the Mississippi River in and around present-day St. Louis.

  • map of Illinois featuring locations of archaeological sites

    Archaeological predictive modeling app offers clues for future development

    Aug 15, 2019 10:15 am

    Drawing on data from more than 53,000 pre-Columbian, Native American archaeological site locations, John Lambert and the Illinois State Archaeological Survey are using GIS-based tools, statistical analysis, and over a century of archaeological work in Illinois to build the Illinois Archaeological Predictive Model (IAPM). The free IAPM is a resource for the public, landowners, state agencies and legislators, and archaeologiststo help protect and preserve Illinois' archaeological resources and promote sustainable development.

  • man at lectern smiling, gestures with one hand

    Pauketat to lead Illinois State Archaeological Survey

    Feb 18, 2019 9:45 am

    Timothy R. Pauketat, a University of Illinois professor of Anthropology, is the new director of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS). Pauketat has been a visiting research scientist at ISAS since 2016.

  • ISAS Story Map re-envisions Greater Cahokia

    Jul 30, 2018 8:00 am

    Archaeologists and researchers from the University of Illinois have spent over a century studying Cahokia, North America’s first native city. For the first time, this wealth of knowledge about Cahokia has being used to create a Story Map entitled, Re-Envisioning Greater Cahokia. Staff from the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS), a division of the Prairie Research Institute, are responsible for turning the data, maps, text, and rarely seen images into the one-of-a-kind Story Map.

  • Archaeology returns to Allerton

    Jun 28, 2018 10:15 am

    The Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) will again partner with Parkland College to bring archaeology to Allerton Park for the second year in a row. This year the Parkland College field school will be led by ISAS research archaeologist and Parkland College instructor Dr. B. Jacob Skousen.

  • ISAS Featured on STORIED

    May 23, 2018 10:00 am

    Cahokian figurines featured on STORIED.

  • ISAS grants will support research projects for 2 U of I students

    Dec 8, 2017 2:45 pm

    The ISAS Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials (ATAM) Student Mini-Grants in Archaeometry are intended to assist U of I undergraduate or graduate students conduct archaeometric studies related to MA or PhD theses or capstone projects. 

  • Science in support of the Forest Preserves of Cook County developing the Natural and Cultural Resources Master Plan

    Jan 12, 2015 10:15 am

  • Study of ancient dogs in the Americas yields insights into human, dog migration

    Jan 7, 2015 1:45 pm

  • Native American city on the Mississippi was America's first 'melting pot'

    Mar 3, 2014 9:00 am

  • Study of pipestone artifacts overturns a century-old assumption

    Dec 18, 2012 9:00 am

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

    Aug 6, 2012 9:00 am