Modoc Rock Shelter
Modoc Rock Shelter | |
Location | Randolph County, Illinois, USA |
---|---|
Nearest city | Modoc, Illinois |
Coordinates | 38°03′46″N 90°03′49″W / 38.06278°N 90.06361°W |
Architect | Natural Feature |
Architectural style | Prehistoric Erosion |
NRHP reference No. | 66000328 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966[1] |
Designated NHL | January 20, 1961[2] |
The Modoc Rock Shelter is a rock shelter or overhang located beneath the sandstone bluffs that form the eastern border of the Mississippi River floodplain at which Native American peoples lived for thousands of years. This site is significant for its archaeological evidence of thousands of years of human habitation during the
Description
The site has over 28 feet of sediment that contains artifacts. Evidence from the site, including four separate periods of Archaic occupation and one of a later period, suggests that the cultures of the
Archaeological history
The Modoc Rock Shelter site was discovered in 1951 by amateur archaeologist Irvin Peithmann, who is known for teaching himself about the customs of Native Americans by living among them. Peithmann had observed artifacts on the surface under or near the bluff at the Modoc site following road grading activities that resulted in the removal of sterile fill covering the buried prehistoric materials. He informed Dr. Melvin Fowler, then at the Illinois State Museum, about his discovery resulting in the ISM conducting major excavations at the site in the 1950s and 1980s. Modoc was the first site in Illinois and one of the first in eastern North America at which deeply stratified Archaic deposits had been discovered. If not for Peithmann observing artifacts at this location following the road grading, the location of this deeply stratified site would have remained unknown. Melvin Fowler believed, undoubtedly correctly, that numerous other buried bluff base Archaic sites similar to Modoc existed on the Mississippi River floodplain.[4] Peithmann became bitter over the years regarding what he perceived as a lack of recognition by professional archaeologists over his discovery of the site, although Melvin Fowler clearly acknowledged Peithmann and credited him with the discovery of the site in his 1950s publication on Modoc Rock Shelter [5]
See also
- List of archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Illinois
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Randolph County, Illinois
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ^ a b "Modoc Rock Shelter". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
- ^ "Illinois State Museum". Retrieved October 11, 2011.
- ^ Melvin Fowler, personal communication to Mark Wagner, 1980
- ^ Irvin Peithmann, personal communication to Mark Wagner, 1980