Sabin Hall, Room 149, UWM Campus

Over 20 Years of Archaeological Investigations at Macktown: What We Currently Know

Systematic professional archaeological investigations began at the Macktown Historic Site (11Wo256) – a on-again/off-again prehistoric campsite and village, a Euro-American village site from 1838 to 1850, and a 20th century golf course and forest preserve – in 1993 when Midwest Archaeological Research Services, Inc. (MARS) first completed a Phase I survey of the archaeological district. Since that time, numerous field schools and cultural resource management projects have looked at specific areas of the site, dating to both the prehistoric and historic time periods. The 20 plus years of archaeological study has better helped archaeologists identify the changing lifestyles of people from 8,000 BC through the mid-19th century who occupied Macktown, which sits at the confluence of the Pecatonica River with the Rock River in north-central Illinois. This presentation will discuss the history of archaeological excavations at Macktown, archaeological findings from that research, and what we can say about the people who lived at the site.