University News

WIU to Co-Host 2019 Mississippian Conference July 27

July 15, 2019

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LEWISTOWN, IL – Western Illinois University and the Illinois State Museum will co-host the 2019 Mississippian Conference from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, July 27 at the Dickson Mounds Museum.

Admission is $5 and can be paid upon arrival at the conference. The event is open to the public. Registration is from 8:30-9 a.m. and presentations begin at 9 a.m. Light refreshments will be provided and lunch options are available in Havana and Lewistown from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Presentations by archaeologists about their research and excavations related to the Mississippian culture will be given throughout the day. Excavation sites include Cahokia, Dickson Mounds, Kincaid, Star Bridge, Orendorf, Orr-Herl and Ten Mile Creek (also known as Hildemeyer). Discussion topics will include excavation updates; new views provided by LiDAR laser remote sensing, drone imagery and geophysical surveys; new analyses of artifacts from old collections; and the latest perspectives on the spread of Mississippian culture into the Late Woodland populations of the Central Illinois River Valley, based on almost nine decades of archaeological study. 

The Dickson Mounds Museum exhibits 12,000 years of human history in the Illinois River Valley, focusing on the nearby Woodland and Mississippian mounds. The Mississippian cultural tradition thrived from around AD 1000 to 1400 in the Midwest, and was characterized by large permanent agricultural settlements, often with a number of platform temple mounds arranged around plazas, and smaller moundless villages scattered around the larger sites.

The subject matter will be of interest to the general public, students and professional archaeologists.

The Dickson Mounds Museum, part of the Illinois State Museum system, is located between Lewistown and Havana off Illinois Routes 78 and 97. The museum is open free to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day. For more information, visit illinoisstatemuseum.org.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing