MONMOUTH, Ill. — The Marseton 2 site in
neighboring Mercer County will be subject the first archaeology lecture of
the new academic year at Monmouth College on Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the
lower level classrooms of the Huff Athletic Center.
Entitled “The Weavers – Wasn’t That a Time: Recent
Investigations at a 1,600-Year-Old Village in Northwest Illinois,” the
talk will be delivered by Richard Fishel, the senior staff archaeologist
with the Western Division of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological
Research Program (ITARP).
ITARP investigations in the fall of 2003 at
Marseton 2 involved the complete excavation of an artifact-laden cultural
midden (refuse area) buried beneath 2-4 feet of flood deposits. Other
excavations at the 17-acre village site from the Weaver Age (circa 250-600
A.D.) have yielded hundreds of projectile points, near-complete ceramic
vessels and copper beads and awls.
Involved in archaeology since 1981, Fishel
received his bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Western Illinois
University in 1985 and a master’s degree in that subject from Southern
Illinois University in 1990. His primary research interests are the late
prehistoric (post-1000 A.D.) cultures of the Upper Midwest region of the
United States.
Sponsored by the Western Illinois Society of the
Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the MC Classics Department,
the archaeology lecture series is free and open to the public.
