2008 Woodie Awards
Playing in the dirt
Anthopology students dig for a tower at Cahokia Mounds, find an ancient wall instead
Sydney Elliot
Issue date: 7/16/08 Section: News
Senior anthropology major Liz O'Malley loves to play in the dirt.
That is what she has been doing for the past eight weeks as part of an SIUE field class that participated in the excavation at Cahokia Mounds historical site in Cahokia, which ended Friday.
"I want to keep doing archaeology, which is what I am going to keep doing once I graduate," O'Malley said. "I just want to keep playing in the dirt."
O'Malley, along with many other SIUE students, has been participating in an archaeological dig under the surveillance and help of professor Mary Vermilion, who is an archeology professor at the University of Missouri St. Louis, Washington University and St. Charles Community College.
Throughout the past eight weeks, students, volunteers and Vermilion have been excavating what they think was the north wall of the palisade, which ran the perimeter of what once was the original area the people inhabited by the people of the ancient city.
Junior anthropology major James Powers said the last eight weeks have been both exciting and tiring.
"It's exciting because you find stuff that no one has ever known about that can change their perception or idea about the people that were here," Powers said.
Vermillion said the area around Cahokia Mounds has been under exploration for decades, but excavators decided to look for the north wall because of a line they noticed in a photograph of the site.
"A white line was noted in the aerial photograph running diagonally, and whenever you see something like that, some geometric form is in the soil, it is probably man-made," Vermillion said.
A palisade had been built around the central area of the original site and four bastions, or towers, were supposed to have been built. The four types of bastions the archaeologists were looking for were a circular bastion, a square bastion with a closed back and two square bastions with open backs.
Last season one more bastion was discovered, so the students were in search of the circular bastion not too far from the last one unearthed. While they did not find the bastion, it has been confirmed that the excavated area is a portion of the north wall of the palisade.
That is what she has been doing for the past eight weeks as part of an SIUE field class that participated in the excavation at Cahokia Mounds historical site in Cahokia, which ended Friday.
"I want to keep doing archaeology, which is what I am going to keep doing once I graduate," O'Malley said. "I just want to keep playing in the dirt."
O'Malley, along with many other SIUE students, has been participating in an archaeological dig under the surveillance and help of professor Mary Vermilion, who is an archeology professor at the University of Missouri St. Louis, Washington University and St. Charles Community College.
Throughout the past eight weeks, students, volunteers and Vermilion have been excavating what they think was the north wall of the palisade, which ran the perimeter of what once was the original area the people inhabited by the people of the ancient city.
Junior anthropology major James Powers said the last eight weeks have been both exciting and tiring.
"It's exciting because you find stuff that no one has ever known about that can change their perception or idea about the people that were here," Powers said.
Vermillion said the area around Cahokia Mounds has been under exploration for decades, but excavators decided to look for the north wall because of a line they noticed in a photograph of the site.
"A white line was noted in the aerial photograph running diagonally, and whenever you see something like that, some geometric form is in the soil, it is probably man-made," Vermillion said.
A palisade had been built around the central area of the original site and four bastions, or towers, were supposed to have been built. The four types of bastions the archaeologists were looking for were a circular bastion, a square bastion with a closed back and two square bastions with open backs.
Last season one more bastion was discovered, so the students were in search of the circular bastion not too far from the last one unearthed. While they did not find the bastion, it has been confirmed that the excavated area is a portion of the north wall of the palisade.
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