October 2018: Dr. Dana Bardolph, “Mounds, Missionaries, and Merchants: Cahokian Cultural Influence in the Central Illinois River Valley”

Sunday Oct 28, 2018 at 3pm

Dr. Dana Bardolph, Hirsh Postdoctoral Associate, Cornell University

Mounds, Missionaries, and Merchants: Cahokian Cultural Influence in the Central Illinois River Valley

Long before Columbus reached the Americas, Cahokia, located eight miles outside of modern day St. Louis, was the biggest, most cosmopolitan city north of Mexico, with a larger population than London in A.D. 1250. The political consolidation of this complex Mississippian polity had far-reaching impacts on indigenous groups throughout the Late Prehistoric Southeast and Midwest, from Missouri and Illinois to Minnesota and Wisconsin. This talk will present data from the 2018 archaeological investigations at the newly discovered Fandel Mounds site, located near Upper Lake Peoria in Central Illinois. The earliest Mississippian mound center in the Central Illinois River Valley known to date, Fandel was pivotal in the early history of Cahokia’s connections to an emerging 11th century northern frontier.

Unless otherwise noted:

• Lectures are on Sundays at 3PM
• Lectures are held in Spiro Hall, Room 2, Wagner College, 631 Howard Avenue, Staten Island NY.
• Free parking is available in the first Campus Road lot (accessed by turning onto Campus Road from Howard Avenue and turning left at first parking lot).
• The lower entrance to Spiro Hall adjoins the parking lot. Please enter directly from the parking lot.
• Meet the speaker over coffee and cake following each lecture. Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) lectures (September and March) are free and open to all.
• Archaeology Society of Staten Island (ASSI) lectures are free for ASSI and AIA members, students 22 years or younger and Wagner faculty and staff. (Please show ID)
• Others may attend ASSI lectures for a suggested $10.00 donation or may join ASSI at the door.

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