Whole Indian civilizations prospered in our metro area
thousands of years ago. And present-day kids can get involved
now in archeological studies of those long-ago times.
Dr.
MAC and his messy desk |
All they have to do is visit Dr. MAC at his MAC Quest website.
The MAC Quest Program is on the internet and it's got
tons of information about civilizations that thrived here
up to 12,000 years ago. You can even learn how to make flint
arrowheads and tools the way the ancients did.
Then, kids at one local elementary school are among filming
teams planning to enter the first annual Mound City Archaeology
Film Festival this fall.
And you can view a 30-minute documentary on an archeology
channel titled "Uncovering Ancient St. Louis."
Groups are seeking volunteers to help preserve and protect
remaining examples of Indian burial mounds dotting the metro
area.
There's even a locally-written book, "A Guide to Chesterfield's
Ancient History," which explores the past 10,000+ years
of the Chesterfield valley in western St. Louis County along
the Missouri River.
The author of the book is Mark W. Leach of Chesterfield,
who first got interested in archeology 13 years. That's
when his youngest son found an Indian arrowhead while they
were hiking along a creek behind the family home in Chesterfield.
Mr. Leach said, "I thought the arrowhead was probably
about 300 years old. But, an archeologist told me it was
probably 3,000 to 4,000 years old."
He said, "I had lived in this area all my life and I had
no clue about all this. My only experience had been a school
trip to Cahokia Mounds in Illinois when I was a fifth grader."
Since then, he's immersed himself in a study of the history
of early civilizations that populated this area as a natural
meeting place.
(Young
Saint Louis.com featured a story about an archeological
dig in the Chesterfield Valley last September. To view that
story, click
here.)
For kids just getting started with their interest in ancient
Indian cultures, Mr. Leach suggests checking in with Dr.
MAC on the internet. (The cartoon character's name stands
for Missouri Ancient Cultures.)
(To access the MAC Quest Program go to: http://www.associations.missouristate.edu/mas/macquest/
index.html.)
One of the first things on the website is an explanation
of the various prehistoric periods involved in the local
archeological history. Those periods start with the Paleoindian
Period, which was 9,500-8,500 BC. Those periods that extend
forward to the Mississippian Period (1,000-1,400 AD) were
all before any European settlers ever got this far into
the continent.
Then, there are detailed descriptions of excavations of
four sites in the Chesterfield area.
A
model of the River Bend first home |
They include the Martens Paleoindian Site (9,500-8.500
BC period; the Hayden Late Archaic Site (3,000-600 BC);
the River Bend Late Woodland Site (300-800 AD) and the River
Bend Estates and River Bend East Mississippian Site (1,000-1,400
AD)
One of the most interesting parts of Dr. MAC's website
is the "messy desk" section. That's a collection of miscellaneous
information on various archeological and early-Indian resources.
For instance, there is a section called Plant Tamers.
This is a discussion of the various factors involved in
changing Indians from "hunter-gatherers" into farmers. That
changed the Indians from nomadic tribes in search of wild
game to stationery inhabitants who tended their crops.
There's also a section that explains the Missouri Mound
Adoption Project. That's a group of professional archeologists
and volunteers who band together to try to preserve examples
of Indian burial mounds that haven't been leveled during
more recent development projects.
You might like to get involved in one of these groups
that's working on preserving an Indian mound near where
you live. For instance, Mr. Leach is a member of a group
seeking to preserve what is known as the Blake Mound.
There's another listing on Dr. MAC's "messy desk" that
has a description and pictures of a unique Indian weapon
called the "atlatl." This is a launching tool that allowed
Indians to throw spears up to 100 yards with accuracy.
Larry
Kinsella, modern-day flintnapper |
You'll also get to meet a modern-day "flintnapper." Larry
Kinsella from Illinois offers classes to show how the Indians
were able to shape their flint arrow and spear heads and
tools.
There's even a video clip of Mr. Kinsella at work shaping
flint tools.
Here are some other programs to give you background on
archeological activities in this Missouri-Illinois area:
*You can access a 30-minute documentary film for free
entitled "Uncovering Ancient Saint Louis." There are two
ways to find the film.
Visit http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/video/
uncovancstlouis.html.
Or get there through Google by typing in "archeological
channel." Then, scroll down through the videos listed in
the "video" tab.
The 1st annual Mound City Archaeology Film Festival will
be held at the Missouri History Museum next September. Student
film teams are pairing up with archeologists to film 7½-minute
films on specific archeological sites.
Mr. Leach said teams from several colleges and universities
are going to enter.
But, at least one elementary school class is planning
to enter. That class is from the Rockwood School District's
Center for Creative Learning, a gifted program.
After checking out these sources, you'll probably be interested
enough in archeology to do some exploring of your own.
