|
By JON MUSGRAVE
Staff Writer
CARBONDALE (February 8, 1996) - Two Southern Illinois archaeologists
believe they have found a connection between some ancient rock art
sites and stoneforts and the system of early trails and roads used
by prehistoric Indians. The husband and wife team, Mark Wagner and
Mary McCorvie, have been studying two general types of rock art
and the region's ancient stoneforts. The first type of rock art
is rock paintings which are known as pictographs, and the second
type is rock carvings known as petraglyphs.Wagner is director of
the Center for Archaeological Investigations at Southern Illinois
University. McCorvie is staff archaeologist for the Shawnee National
Forest. The two have noticed that rock art that has religious symbolism
is usually found in remote hidden places while other art,especially
rock carvings of footprints are found close to the old trails. Footprint
Rock in Johnson County is one of the best known sites, but other
footprints can be found in other places. One on Sugar Creek just
outside Creal Springs was a tourist attraction back when the springs
made the city a resort town. Wagner said earlier scientists believed
that these footprints were formed when an Indian had stepped in
mud that later hardened into rock. Wagner and McCorvie aren't sure
what the footprints were supposed to represent, but they're found
along the same ancient trails as many of the stoneforts along the
ridge of the Shawnee Hills. When the first settlers came to Southern
Illinois, they followed the existing trails that had originally
been laid out by the Indians. Since trails couldn't go up rock walls,
the routes were laid out to cross the hills only at certain places.
One of the best remembered spots is a place called Moccasin Gap
south of Ozark. McCorvie said that the stoneforts were not placed
on the highest hills, but on the foothills north and south of the
ridge. Both she and Wagner pointed out that although they're call
"stoneforts", there's no evidence that they were necessarily
used as forts. "The stoneforts were normally high isolated
bluffs," Wagner explained, "They're called forts, but
we don't have any indication that they were used as such."
The best known stonefort is the one that gave the village of Stonefort
its name. It is located about three miles east of the village. Early
settlers found walls of an enclosure that were still six feet tall.
Up until a few decades ago, residents believed the fort had either
been built by the Spanish explorer Hernado de Soto or the American
Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark. At least one early Spanish
map shows an ancient fort on the Salinas (Saline) River in Southern
Illinois. McCorvie says the stone walls are much older than that
and may date back to the Middle Woodland period which could make
them 2,000 years old. Even then, archaeological digs have provided
items that prove those early residents of Southern Illinois were
part of an extensive trading network. The two scientists believe
that the trading network followed the trails in Southern Illinois
that later became the early pioneer roads centuries later. Wagner
suggested that the stoneforts could have existed to possibly control
the trade goods that passed through the area. McCorvie thinks that
the forts could have simply been community sites. Another one of
the stoneforts that show evidence of being more than a simple enclosure
is Millstone Bluff in Pope County. This is also the only prehistoric
site in the region that is on the National Register of Historic
Places and is interpreted with a walking trail and signs. Besides
the remains of a rock wall, the Forest Service has discovered the
building sites, ancient graves and a collection of rock paintings
that may have some religious connotations. Millstone Bluff is open
to the public and is located off of Route 147 about a mile west
of the intersection with Route 145. The couple's work is part of
a third wave of discovering ancient Indian sites. The first wave
took place when the first pioneers reached the region. Early local
histories written in the last century would mention a site that
many of which can no longer be found today. The second wave took
place during the 1930s through 1950s when the Shawnee National Forest
was developed and people were able to explore the ancient hollows
and rock shelters. Like the first wave, these scientists recorded
their discoveries. Yet even so, many can't be found. "It's
important that we find them, because we have a number of sites that
were recorded in the '30s and '50s and we don't know where they're
at now because the people who found them are dead," Wagner
said. "For years, there was only 17 known sites [in Southern
Illinois], yet across the river in Missouri they had several hundred
sites," Wagner added, "Within the last few years we've
probably added 20 additional sites." Recently, Wagner said
that new sites were being discovered at places where there had already
been a lot of work done. Two examples he gave was Cedar Lake and
another rock shelter location. He said that when Cedar Lake was
built there were extensive archaeological studies conducted, yet
within the last few years one of his former students was fishing
near the shore when he noticed something. When he took Wagner to
see it they realized it was a rock carving a few feet above the
water line. The rock art was located above a rock shelter which
is now underwater. Wagner said while visiting another rock shelter
he was told about he noticed a dark area in the back of the shelter.
Walking through it he discovered he was in a room with about an
eight foot ceiling. Around the room were a dozen faint carvings
of a winged bird man often found at religious sites. One of the
biggest problems the couple have found is what they call mindless
vandalism. Ever since the pioneers arrived people have either tried
to remove the rock art, carve their own initials over the art, or
in the case of scientists earlier this century, destroy the original
art in an attempt to save it. In the last case Wagner used the example
of Buffalo Rock in Johnson County and Fountain Bluff in Jackson
County. At Buffalo Rock there is a painting of a buffalo. Wagner
believes that the original painting was done sometime after 1650,
which is about the year scientists believe buffalo arrived in Illinois.
It was certainly painted before the earliest settlers arrived. However,
Wagner has found at least two references of the buffalo being repainted
by someone after it has faded. While Wagner said this destroys the
original art and any chance of scientists learning anything about
the original color, he said at least the recent painters were using
natural materials. That can't be said at Fountain Bluff where one
of Wagner's predecessors at SIU repainted some fading rock art with
yellow house paint.
While presenting a lecture on rock art at a Sierra Club meeting
Thursday, Wagner stressed how much even making chalk outlines can
damage the chance of further scientific study. McCorvie noted that
damaging or robbing archaeological sites on federal lands is prohibited
and persons doing so can be prosecuted, fined and even put in jail.
Artifact hunting on private lands can also be against the law. Without
the property owner's permission a person can be tried for trespassing,
criminal damage to property and theft. More serious state charges
can be filed if the site includes any human burials.
The preceding article was printed in the Saturday, Feb. 10, 1996,
edition of the Harrisburg Daily Register.
Back
|
