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ENGAGING THE PUBLIC
Having made its mark with the investigation of the Koster site, the Center for American Archeology continues to thrive.
By Kerry Elder
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In 1953,archaeologists Stuart Struever, Robert Braidwood,Melvin Fowler, and Howard Winters formed Archaeological Research Incorporated.This organization,which gained national recognition because of its excavation and interpretation of the famous Koster site in Illinois from 1968 to 1979, underwent several name changes before becoming the Center for American Archeology (CAA).
The CAA is a nonprofit organization specializing in archaeological research, education,cultural stewardship,
and public outreach.It’s located 270 miles southwest of Chicago and 80 miles north of St.Louis in the lower Illinois River Valley, one of the richest archaeological regions in the United States.The CAA boasts a computer center,an artifact repository, a 15,000-volume archaeological library, and a number of research associates.
In conjunction with Northwestern University, it conducted investigations at the Koster site,during which millions of artifacts were recovered.Over 10,000 years of human occupation was recorded at the site,with 26 separate living horizons defined.Major villages existed at Koster during 3300,5000,and 6600 B.C.Archaeologists found evidence of the earliest house structures in North
In the CAA’s Past Lifeways Program, students learn about ancient technologies by replicating the techniques that produced them. (Top) A student makes a stone tool during a flintknapping session. (Middle) These basswood strips are dyed with sumac, producing a rich berry color. The strips are then used in a basketry session. (Bottom) These students learn how to use an atlatl, an ancient spear thrower.
America,one of the earliest domesticated dog burials in the New World (5000 B.C.),and extensive trade networks that stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.These excavations demonstrated the importance of multidisciplinary research by employing geomorphology and paleobotany in archaeological interpretation.
The magnitude of the
The CAA’s Visitor Center and Museum are located in the historic Kamp store, which was built in 1902 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Thousands of visitors pass through its doors each year. The CAA has hosted an annual Archeology Day since the mid-1980s. Families with young children frequently attend.
Koster discovery and the subsequent publicity brought the excitement of archaeology to the general public.The site attracted more than 10,000 visitors annually, and archaeologists and volunteers worked side by side on one of the most fascinating excavations of the century. People ranging from 8 to 80 years old took part in the excavations.The rural town of Kampsville in west-central Illinois,home to 450 people,was transformed by an influx of researchers, students,media,and interested observers into a bustling place. To accommodate the additional 260 students and staff working at Koster, the CAA purchased numerous facilities in the town to house their offices, storage, laboratories, and lodging, and Kampsville became its home.
By documenting archaeological sites throughout the lower Illinois River Valley for 50 years,the CAA has played an important role in the region’s cultural resource management.Through its Contract Archeology Program,the CAA has participated in numerous cultural resource surveys.Surveying and testing areas of proposed development can identify archaeological resources prior to destruction.The late 1970s’ Central Illinois Expressway project was a leading example of the benefit of cultural resource surveys.The CAA discovered and excavated more than 600 archaeological sites prior to construction of the expressway. However, in recent years the Illinois legislature mandated that state contracts go to the lowest bidder or to an in-house agency—in this case the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program.Because the CAA incurs high overhead costs to maintain their staff and equipment,it’s unable to compete for these contracts.As a result,its Contract Archeology Program has been significantly downscaled.
Doug Charles,the CAA’s director of research,says his organization wants to do more contract work.But given the change in state law, the CAA is redefining its research agenda, focusing on education and research unrelated to cultural resource management. He called this change “a return to our roots,”a reference to the years spent at the Koster site.Public education is therefore becoming an integral part of the organization’s mission.The CAA emphasizes hands-on learning and offers various educational programs for students in elementary school through college.“We believe that students will better engage, and subsequently appreciate,the rich tapestry of prehistoric peoples and cultures in our region through learning by doing,” says Mary Pirkl,the CAA’s director of education.
Elementary school students are introduced to the skills,knowledge,and technology of prehistoric people through the CAA’s Past Lifeways Program.This program provides experiential educational activities such as basketry, ceramics, flintknapping (stone tool making),village reconstruction,horticulture, fire making,and weaving.
Students from all over the world have participated in the CAA’s adult and junior field schools,in which excavation and laboratory methods are taught. Under the supervision of instructors, the students are responsible for excavating portions of a site and recording their findings.Students pursue original research projects supplemented by lectures and discus-
The Smiling Dan site, a deeply stratified Middle Woodland village, was excavated by the CAA’s Contract Archeology Program between 1979 and 1983.
sions of theories and methodologies.In 2003,students attending the 36th Annual Bioarcheological Field School will document and analyze structural details and various artifacts while working at Mound House,a 2,000-year-old Middle Woodland site owned by the CAA.The field school is headed by Jane Buikstra of the University of New Mexico,a renowned archaeologist who is president of the CAA’s board of directors.
Over the summer, the CAA will offer Envisioning the Past through Archeological Eyes,a special in-residence program for teachers.The program,funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities,will introduce 25 teachers to the history and theory of archaeology through class time,site visits,and fieldwork. The teachers will work to develop a comprehensive catalog of archaeological resources for all 50 states that will be available on the Web.
Since the mid-1980s,the CAA has hosted an annual Archeology Day.“We invite anyone who is interested in archaeology to come tour our facilities,visit our archaeological excavation site,and participate in a number of different activities designed to illustrate the diversity of what we do,”says Pirkl. Last year’s festivities included lectures,site tours,artifact identification, flintknapping demonstrations,and special children’s activities.
Though located in a rural area,the CAA has a national membership, and it endeavors to serve a region extending from St.Louis to Chicago, according to Executive Director Cynthia Sutton.Charles says the CAA encourages archaeologists unaffiliated with the organization to take an interest in the region and develop their own research projects.“We would like to see Kampsville and the CAA serve as the base of operations for such projects,” he says,“and in particular we would like to see a reinvigoration of research focused on the very rich archaeological resources of the area.The Lower Illinois River Valley region has long been known as an important center for prehistoric archaeology, but what is rarely appreciated is how much historic archaeology is also preserved.”
The CAA wants to initiate a research program concerned with the ecological history of the area. The program would address the interaction between people and the environment over the millennia.“This region has seen early Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers, the independent domestication of plants,the rise of maize agriculture,European colonization,and the industrial revolution,” Charles observes.“Because so much of the region is still devoted to agriculture, there has not been the kind of destruction of sites one often sees in other areas.”
This is another example of how the organization strives to fulfill its mission to discover and disseminate the story of this area’s early inhabitants
KERRY ELDER is the Special Projects Director of The Archaeological Conservancy.
