- Dickson Mounds
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Dickson Mounds
Nearest city: Lewistown, Illinois Governing body: State NRHP Reference#: 72000457 Added to NRHP: May 5, 1972[1] 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. It is a large burial complex containing at least two cemeteries, ten burial mounds, and a platform mound. Dickson Mounds was founded by 800 CE and were in use until after 1250 CE. The site is named in honor of chiropractor Don Dickson, who began excavating it in 1927 and opened a private museum that formerly operated on the site.[2]
The Dickson Mounds Museum is a museum erected on the site in 1972 by the U.S. state of Illinois; it 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]
Contents
Native life site
Ogden-Fettie Mound Group
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] In 2009, an excavation by Michigan State University turned up shards of pottery, arrowheads and the foundations of houses and other structures that date back to about 1300 CE.
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 in a controversial move the burial display was resealed due to Native American concerns.[2] It is estimated that there are at least 3,000 burials at this site. The earlier burials were in mounds, while later burials were in cemeteries.[citation needed] "One group of four Mississippian people buried together appear to have been sacrificed at the Dickson Site" (Archaeology of Native North America, 2010, Dean R. Snow, Pennsylvania State University)
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]
Commemoration
The site was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1972.[1]
See also
- List of Hopewell sites
- List of Mississippian sites
- List of burial mounds in the United States
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ a b "History". State of Illinois. http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/dickson/history.htm/. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
- ^ a b "Welcome to ISM Dickson Mounds Museum". State of Illinois. http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/dickson/. Retrieved 2009-10-21.Note: This website mistakenly asserts that Dickson Mounds is a National Historic Site
External links
Coordinates: 40°21′02″N 90°06′57″W / 40.3506°N 90.1159°W
Hopewellian peoplesWoodland period · List of Hopewell sites · Mound builder (people) · List of archaeological periods (North America)Ohio Hopewell Beam Farm · Benham Mound · Cary Village Site · Cedar-Bank Works · Dunns Pond Mound · Ellis Mounds · Ety Enclosure · Ety Habitation Site · Fort Ancient · Fortified Hill Works · Great Hopewell Road · High Banks Works · Hopeton Earthworks · Hopewell Culture National Historical Park · Indian Mound Cemetery · Keiter Mound · Marietta Earthworks · Moorehead Circle · Mound of Pipes · Nettle Lake Mound Group · Newark Earthworks · Oak Mounds · Perin Village Site · Portsmouth Earthworks · Seip Earthworks and Dill Mounds District · Shawnee Lookout · Tremper Mound and Works · Williamson Mound Archeological District
Crab Orchard culture Goodall Focus Goodall Site · Norton Mound GroupHavana Hopewell culture Albany Mounds State Historic Site · Dickson Mounds · Mound House site · Naples Mound 8 · Rockwell Mound · Sinnissippi Mounds · Toolesboro Mound GroupKansas City Hopewell Marksville culture Miller culture Point Peninsula Complex Swift Creek culture Etowah Indian Mounds · Leake Mounds · Kolomoki Mounds Historic Park · Miner's Creek site, · Nacoochee Mound · Swift Creek mound site · Yearwood siteOther Hopewellian peoples Armstrong culture · Copena culture · Fourche Maline culture · Laurel Complex · Saugeen Complex · Old Stone Fort (Tennessee)Exotic trade items Related topics · Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley · Black drink · burial mound · Calumet (pipe) · Effigy mound · Hopewell pottery · Horned Serpent · Eastern Agricultural Complex · Underwater panther
Pre-Columbian North AmericaArchaeological cultures North American pre-Columbian chronology – Adena – Alachua – Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) – Baytown – Belle Glade – Buttermilk Creek Complex – Caborn-Welborn – Calf Creek – Caloosahatchee – Clovis – Coles Creek – Deptford – Folsom – Fort Ancient – Fort Walton – Fremont – Glades – Glacial Kame – Hopewell (List of Hopewell sites) – Hohokam – Leon-Jefferson – Mississippian (List of Mississippian sites) – Mogollon – Monongahela – Old Cordilleran – Oneota – Paleo-Arctic – Paleo-Indians – Patayan – Plano – Plaquemine – Poverty Point – Prehistoric Southwest – Red Ocher – Santa Rosa-Swift Creek – St. Johns – Steed-Kisker – Tchefuncte – Tocobaga – Troyville
Archaeological sites Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville
Miscellaneous Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther
U.S. National Register of Historic Places Topics Lists by states Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • WyomingLists by territories Lists by associated states Other Categories:- Havana Hopewell culture
- Middle Mississippian culture
- Mounds in the United States
- Native American museums in Illinois
- Museums in Fulton County, Illinois
- National Register of Historic Places in Fulton County, Illinois
- Protected areas of Fulton County, Illinois
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