Greetings!

Exciting things coming up! Archaeology at the Collier Lodge! The Kankakee Valley Historical Society will hold an archaeological orientation session on May 8 at the Kouts Library (101 E. Daumer) from 1:30 – 3:30. Dr. Mark Schurr, Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame will discuss the basics of working at an archaeological site. KVHS members will be able to work this year’s field school at the Collier Lodge site! Dr. Schurr will cover the work plan, ask people to indicate when they plan to work on the project so we can figure out the work flow, and talk about what the different activities will entail. We will also talk about what personal equipment to bring (mainly leather work gloves and clothes and shoes that can get really dirty). This is a chance for the public to actually be a part of an active archaeological investigation! As I mentioned earlier only KVHS members and University of Notre Dame students will be able to work the site, but non-members will be able to watch the work in progress. This is a rare opportunity for the public to view the process of an actual archaeological project being worked. Dr. Schurr will also identify any artifacts that are brought in during the orientation session at the library. If you are not yet a KVHS member there is a membership application at the end of this message for you to send in.

During the 2003 investigations, a site grid was established and tied to a high quality map of the site that had been prepared recently by a professional surveyor. Shovel probes were placed across major axes of the site at 5 m intervals and three lines of probes were completed. The shovel probes produced an unusually rich archaeological assemblage. In addition to the expected modern or recent items such as fragments of asphalt shingles, round nails, bottle caps, and various bits of plastic, historic ceramics dating as early as A.D. 1780 - 1830 (for a rim sherd from a blue-edged pearlware plate) were also collected. This style of rim is characteristic of the Removal/Pioneer period in the region when Euroamericans were rapidly displacing Native Americans during the early portion of the nineteenth century.

Upper Mississippian sherds were found in several of the shovel probes, including one very large rim sherd with an everted rim and broadly trailed decorations that is similar to the types Koshoning Bold (Hall 1962) or Fifield Bold (Faulkner 1972), a style characteristic of the early Upper Mississippian period prior to about A.D. 1300. The recovery of such a large sherd (approximately 10 cm wide) suggests that prehistoric features may be present at the site. Visit Dr. Schurr's website to view further information on the 2003 field school at the Collier Lodge site: www.nd.edu/~mschurr/removal_project.htm.

The 2004 investigations will better delineate the character of the archaeological deposits at the Collier Lodge site. The ultimate purpose will be to determine if intact cultural deposits that would make the site eligible for the State and National Registers are present. The investigations proposed for 2004 will be designed to:

1. Extend the geophysical surveys to the south and east of the area covered in 2003, and to include resistivity surveys in addition to magnetic ones.

2. Gather additional transit data to accurately map features present at the site not yet incorporated into the site map (such as an outhouse, other outbuildings, vegetation, and local topography).

3. Continue the shovel-probing grid at 5 m intervals as necessary to determine the spatial limits of the site.

4. Conduct limited test excavations to assess the depth, degree of stratification, and dates of archaeological deposits in the midden area of the site.

The field work will be conducted between June 14 and July 2, 2004. Personnel for the project will consist of a field crew of students enrolled in the Archaeology Field School at the University of Notre Dame. Members of the KVHS will assist the Field School. KVHS members will paired with student teams. They will begin by assisting with screening (both dry and water screening), flotation, helping with transit survey and remote sensing, and artifact processing (cleaning, identifying and inventorying artifacts), and will take on additional tasks as they are trained.