CARLOCK — An “Antiques Roadshow” of sorts took place recently at the ParkLands Foundation’s Chinquapin Bluff Nature Preserve. But these “antiques” were thousands of years old.
They were artifacts left behind by indigenous people who lived in the Mackinaw River Valley and surrounding areas as much as 10,000 years ago.
Archaeologist Michael Wiant, former director of the Illinois State Museum at Dickson Mounds, presented a program on “Indigenous Culture in the Mackinaw River Valley" on Oct. 9 and identified the origin of artifacts brought by people to the presentation at a smaller gathering the day before.
“These things tell the story of the people who’ve been here in the past,” said Wiant, an Illinois State University graduate.
“There’s a remarkable story in this river valley about humanity — human beings who knew this landscape and survived for thousands of years,” he said.
“Most of what the past looks like is a jigsaw puzzle,” he said.
The trick is putting the pieces together without knowing what the final picture should look like. Sometimes a new piece can change the whole picture.
Last month, archaeologists in White Sands, New Mexico, found human footprints in sand deposits carbon-dated to at least 24,000 years ago, much longer ago than humans were believed to be in that part of North America, said Wiant.
Closer to home, a number of Native American and paleo-Indian sites have been found in the Mackinaw River Valley, he said. Among them is what’s known as the Mackinaw Cache, a place where raw materials for making tools had been gathered.
Such caches were important because appropriate rocks needed for tools, including arrows and spear points, were not easily found in the area. Therefore, Wiant explained, when suitable material was discovered or obtained in trade, it was put to use or stored to be used later.
You may have walked over one of these pieces of the past without even realizing it.
Travis Wuethrich, who lives near Secor, has been hunting arrowheads since 2016. It’s a family tradition. His parents and brother have found them.
“Keep your eyes on the ground,” he said. “The slower you go, the better.”
His advice is to look for shapes or colors that look out of place, including edges, tails and tips.
“Once you find one, you always want to find another one and another one,” said Wuethrich. “It’s addictive.”
Shawn Hoeft, who lives between Bloomington and Danvers, also brought along artifacts that her husband’s grandfather, Lyle Hoeft, had collected.
“I knew that we had something, but I didn’t know what it was,” she said.
Wiant said it is important to write down where artifacts are found and whether others are found with them. You may say you’ll never forget, but Wiant said your heirs need to know that information.
Past president Jessica Chambers said the ParkLands Foundation plans to take information from Wiant and others and make it available on the organization’s website, parklandsfoundation.org, and put it on signs at Chinquapin and other relevant preserves.
Wiant said protecting places such as Chinquapin Bluffs not only preserves natural areas, it also preserves the area’s heritage and cultural record.
“Every one of us is still connected to nature in many of the very same ways that ancient people were. … In order to keep the ecosystem — the world — working in ways that we need to have it work for our own survival, we need places like this,” said Wiant.
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Archaeologist Michael Wiant holds up an artifact that could be as much as 10,000 years old during a discussion of indigenous people of the Mackinaw River Valley.
A Campsville barb, estimated to be about 3,000 years old, was among artifacts identified by archaeologist Michael Wiant at a discussion of indigenous culture.