 The Morton Village, a prehistoric Native American site, dates to
about A.D. 1350. Work at the site, which began in 2008, is a joint
venture of Dickson Mounds Museum and Dr. Jodie O'Gorman of Michigan
State University, with the cooperation of The Nature Conservancy.
The site is located on land at the north end of the Conservancy's
Emiquon Preserve, about 2 miles northeast of the museum.
Excavations that began May 22 and run through June 30 are being
conducted by the Michigan State University Archaeological Field
School and Dickson Mounds staff. Numerous houses as well as many
storage and cooking pits have been found. Recovered artifacts
include pottery, arrow points and stone hoes. Remains of plants and
animals used for food are also common.
The Morton Village contains evidence of use by two groups that
archaeologists refer to as Mississippian and Oneota. Indians of the
Mississippian culture lived in the area for several centuries,
starting about A.D. 1000; their living sites and cemeteries are
common in the region around Dickson Mounds. Oneota is a cultural
tradition centered in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and northern
Illinois. However, in the last 25 years several large villages and
cemeteries belonging to the Oneota tradition have been identified in
the Dickson Mounds area.
The research at Morton Village seeks to understand why Oneota
groups expanded into the region, how they adapted to the new setting
and the nature of the relationship between Oneota and Mississippian
groups. Previous excavations at other sites have shown that the two
groups may have sometimes conflicted violently, but evidence
uncovered at Morton Village indicate Mississippian and Oneota people
may have lived at the site together.
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The Second Sunday Science Lecture Series is a collaborative
effort of the Emiquon Partnership, Dickson Mounds Museum, University
of Illinois at Springfield's Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon,
The Nature Conservancy, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
The Illinois State Museum -- Dickson Mounds is located between
Lewistown and Havana, off Illinois Routes 78 and 97. The museum is
open free to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Tours
and special programs are available for groups with reservations. For
more information call 309-547-3721 or TTY 217-782-9175. or visit
www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/dickson or
www.experiencedicksonmounds.com. Also check out weekly updates
on Facebook at "Illinois State Museum -- Dickson Mounds."
[Text from file received from
Dickson Mounds Museum]
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