- Mississippi and Illinois Rivers
- Prehistoric Overview
Four major prehistoric cultural periods are recognized in the upper Mississippi River Valley. Each succeeding period exhibits increased cultural sophistication. Twelve thousand years ago, small bands of Paleo Indians, also known as Big-Game Hunters, lived in small and temporary camps along the margins of retreating glaciers. Archaeological evidence of this period is sparse, limited primarily to surface finds of projectile points.
The next cultural era, the Archaic period, lasted from 8000 BC to 1000 BC Analysis of remains from this period indicate that the culture developed a settlement and subsistence pattern adapted to a forest environment. Hunting and food collecting depended on forest resources. The people were more sedentary than the Paleo Indians. Mound building began towards the end this period. The Eastern Archaic culture is considered by some to be the first indigenous New World cultural development.
A clear distinction between the Eastern Archaic cultural period and the subsequent Woodland culture (1000 BC to 1400 AD) does not exist. The Woodland peoples lived in semi-permanent settlements, practiced horticulture, made pottery, and built numerous mortuary mounds.
The Mississippian culture, 800 AD to 1500 AD, overlaps the Woodland period. Intensive horticulture, large population centers, and religious cults associated with crop and human fertility are noteworthy elements of the Mississippian culture. The Cahokia Mounds city and culture, near present day Collinsville, Illinois, originated, prospered and ultimately disappeared during this period. European settlement in the region began during the later part of this period.
The Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site is the largest Mississippian site as well as archaeological site in North America. At it's zenith, around 800 years ago, the site covered more than five square miles and contained more than 120 temple mounds. The base of Monks Mound, the largest surviving mound at the site, is larger than the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt. Around 1200 AD, Cahokia is estimated to have contained between 10,000 and 20,000 residents. The site was supported by a number of smaller mound complexes.
- Historical Overview
The region’s prehistoric and historic development is primarily linked to the river floodplain and adjacent uplands. The rivers provided water, fish and wildlife, and trade-route corridors for prehistoric peoples and early explorers. In addition, people used the river corridors for settlement, trade, and political boundaries for pioneers and settlers. Present uses of the river and their floodplains consist of industrial activities, commercial fishing, navigation, recreation, and educational opportunities. Numerous historic locations through-out the area represent the various river-oriented historical phases.
Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were the first Europeans to record explorations in the region. A large stone cross, located on Route 100 near Grafton, Illinois commemorates this event as the first entrance of European explorers into Illinois. They traveled with Native American guides in canoes, and repeatedly encountered Native American groups camped along the Mississippi River. The legendary Piasa monsters, painted on bluffs between Alton and Grafton, Illinois, were first recorded by Marquette.
Lewis and Clark left on their historic exploration from Wood River in 1804. Today, several memorials and markers commemorate this event. The Mississippi River became increasingly important for trade and transportation as settlers from the east began to converge on the Mississippi Valley following the return of the explorers in 1806. The well-known frontiersman, Daniel Boone, and Zebulon Pike, the explorer, influenced settlement of the area. Pike County, Missouri, is named for Zebulon Pike, and several historic sites in western St. Charles County are associated with the Boone family. Trade, agriculture, and migration to the area continued to increase in the 19th century. European immigrants, particularly German and Irish, settled here. In the 1840s, great numbers of farmer immigrants traveled into the region by wagon and boat. Ferries were established at several river crossings, and St. Louis became a center for navigation, trade, industry, education, and politics throughout the nineteenth century.
During the 18th and early 19th century, a thriving fur trade was the dominant commercial activity on the Mississippi, Illinois, and Missouri Rivers. Canoes and dugouts were vessels of choice for the fur trade. River craft were designed with minimum draw to avoid the problems of changes in river depth, shifting sandbars, rapids, and hidden snags. Keelboats, flatboats, Mackinaws, and pirogues were used in conjunction with the canoes and dugouts during the later part of the period.
The arrival of the steamboat at St. Louis in 1817 began the colorful steamboat era that peaked in the "Golden Age of the Steamboat," 1840-1860. The small river towns became agricultural trade centers and steamboat landings.
The first Federal efforts to improve navigation on the Mississippi River were carried out from 1878 to 1907. A four and one-half foot channel was engineered by dredging, contraction of the river by closure of chutes, revetment work, reservoirs, and wing dams that directed the flow of water into narrow channels. The channel was subsequently deepened to six feet, and in the 1930s, the modern diesel towboat began to replace the paddlewheelers.
With the development of locks and dams, and the nine-foot channel in the 1930s, river commerce on the Upper Mississippi became more economical than land traffic. Welded steel barges and powerful diesel towboats were introduced in the 1940s to transport coal, raw materials, manufactured goods, grains and raw materials used in food processing.
- Archaeological Resources in the Project Area
In Missouri and Illinois, the greatest concentrations of archaeological sites are found in the river corridors which are the most fertile and accessible areas. The Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries constitutes an area of great archaeological potential, based on a large number of physiographic and ecological features. Following the adoption of horticulture around 1,600 years ago, the region experienced a significant population increase.
Professional surveys conducted along the Mississippi, Illinois and Kaskaskia Rivers has identified thousands of prehistoric archaeological sites. Evidence of prehistoric cemeteries, burial mounds, temporary camps, farmsteads and village sites are found in significant numbers throughout the study area.
More than 8,000 prehistoric and historic sites are known to exist in the study area, including more than 65 archaeological and historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places. Major concentrations of archaeological sites have been identified near three types of land features: (1) the confluences of the Mississippi with major tributaries such as the Illinois, Salt, Missouri, Meramec and Kaskaskia Rivers; (2) sand ridges and terraces in the Mississippi floodplain; and (3) blufftops and their slopes.
Since the early 1970s, with the passage of NEPA, full-time archaeological research has been conducted in the project area. During this period researchers have uncovered literally thousands of archaeological sites with the location of thousands of others presently unknown. All sites are believed to have originated during the previous 13,000 years.
Thousands of studies and reports exist in academic and agency files which document the existing state of knowledge of cultural resources in the project area. All Project development and management plans have to be sensitive to the fragility of these cultural resources and should incorporate measures to protect and conserve them.
- Historical Properties Legislation and Corps Compliance
Selected laws and executive orders relating to archaeological resources include:
1906 - Antiquities Act (16 U.S.C. 433) 1935 - Historic Sites Act (16 U.S.C. 461-467) 1960 - Reservoir Salvage Act (PL 86-523) 1966 - Historic Preservation Act (PL 80-915) 1971 - Executive Order 11593 1978 - American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) (42 U.S.C. 1996) 1979 - Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) (16 U.S.C. 370) 1980 - National Historic Preservation Act, (16 U.S.C. 469-470) [Amended the 1966 Historic Preservation Act] 1990 - Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3001-3013) In accordance with these authorities, archaeological investigations are undertaken for projects that have the potential of disturbing the ground surface.
The operation and maintenance of navigation on the river(s) creates a number of potential concerns in preserving cultural resources. These concerns pertain to development induced by the presence of the waterway, and to channel maintenance activities.
Continued transformation of existing private shoreline land uses to industrial uses can be expected. Exact locations for development cannot be predicted, but any substantial land-use change may affect unknown cultural resources. Prior to developing shorelines, a 404 and/or Section 10 permit from the Corps of Engineers must be obtained. The Corps can require an archaeological survey to be performed by the applicant as a prerequisite to obtain a permit in areas where ground disturbance has the potential to damage significant archaeological remains.
Channel maintenance activities such as dredging and bank stabilization operations also have the potential of damaging important archaeological sites. Dredging operations rarely utilize land disposal areas, and therefore rarely require cultural resource compliance concerns. However, the construction of dikes and placement of riprap along the shoreline can adversely affect cultural resources. An established procedure is in place to perform archaeological surveys in areas prior to construction. If sites are located, appropriate testing, evaluation, and compliance procedures will be followed before construction will occur.
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- Prehistoric Overview