Dickson Mounds
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| Dickson Mounds | |
|---|---|
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Nearest city: | Lewistown, Illinois |
| Added to NRHP: | May 05, 1972[1] |
| NRHP Reference#: | 72000457 |
| Governing body: | State |
Dickson Mounds is a Native American settlement site and burial mound complex near Lewistown, Illinois, is located in Fulton County on a low bluff overlooking the Illinois River. The site is named in honor of chiropractor Don Dickson, who began excavating it in 1927 and opened a private museum on the site.[2]
The Dickson Mounds Museum is a museum erected on the site in 1972 by the U.S. state of Illinois describes the life cycles and culture of Native Americans living in the Illinois River valley over a period of 12,000 years since the last Ice Age. The museum is part of the Illinois State Museum system.[3]
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[edit] Native life site
While the members of most hunter-gatherer cultures travel extensively or even practice a nomadic lifestyle, the exceptional productivity of the Illinois River valley in fish, shellfish, and game made it possible for semi-permanent settlements to develop. Archaeological examination of these sites have generated significant insights into the living conditions of Native Americans over time and the levels of technology they possessed.
A large parcel of the adjacent river bottomland is undergoing preservation and ecosystem restoration as part of the Emiquon Project. The Emiquon wetlands generated much of the food eaten by the people who lived on or near this blufftop site.[citation needed]
Some of the people who lived here were actually buried in Dickson Mounds itself. Their skeletons were excavated and displayed to the public from the 1930s until 1992, when the burial display was resealed.[2]
After the sealing, the museum was renovated as a series of galleries that attempt to portray the history of the site. For example, the River Valley Gallery exhibition attempts to depict indigenous life patterns here since the close of the last Ice Age, while the Reflections on Three Worlds Gallery exhibition attempts to describe how scholars have used archeological findings to generate inductive evidence on the residents' life and culture.[3]
[edit] Commemoration
The site was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1972.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
- ^ a b History. History of Dickson Mounds Museum webpage (apparently no longer supported as images missing). State of Illinois. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ a b Welcome to the Dickson Mounds Museum. State of Illinois. Retrieved on 2008-05-05. Note: This website mistakenly asserts that Dickson Mounds is a National Historic Site.
[edit] External links
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