August Virtual Speaker Series: Time Travel and Transformation in the Lower Illinois Valley
Jason King, PhD, Executive Director of the Center for American Archeology

Join us for the August speaker series to learn about the Native American people who lived in the Lower Illinois River Valley during the Middle Woodland period. The Lower Illinois River Valley is the final portion of the Illinois River from roughly Meredosia to the confluence of the Mississippi River and Illinois River. During Middle Woodland/Hopewell times, indigenous people in the Lower Illinois Valley built hundreds of mounds on the bluffs and in the river valley. Dr. King will discuss who is buried in the Middle Woodland/Hopewell mounds, the reasons why some individuals are buried in the way they were, and why the mounds were built as they were.

Middle Woodland is an archaeological time period from roughly 50 BC to AD 400. The culture associated with this time period is often referred to as Havana culture. Hopewell artifacts, such as carved animal shaped pipes and vessels with images of birds on them, are a suite of artifacts found during this time period associated with Havana sites. These artifacts are frequently interred to their dead and Dr. King will discuss why they take the form they do and why they’re found where they’re found.

Jason King is Executive Director of the Center for American Archeology in Kampsville, IL. He received his BA from the University of South Carolina, and his MA and PhD from the University of New Mexico. Jason’s first experience in Illinois archaeology was in the University of New Mexico/Center for American Archeology field school at the Mound House site in 1999. Since 2001, he has directed CAA fieldwork at several sites.

Register here for the virtual program on Zoom.