Ancient Fermilab:The Mier Collection of Native
American Artifacts
Native American Cultural Chronology
• Paleoindian – 12,000 – 10,000 years ago• Archaic – 10,000 – 3,000 years ago• Woodland – 3,000 – 1,100 years ago• Mississippian – 1,100 – 700 years ago• Late Prehistoric – 700 – 329 years ago• European Contact – 329 years ago
Archaeological sites at Fermi
National Accelerator Laboratory
Mier Collection Artifacts
• Paleoindian 5/2%• Early Archaic 86/26%• Middle Archaic 83/26%• Late Archaic 86/26%• Late Archaic/Early Woodland 17/5%• Late Woodland 3/1%• Mississippian/Late Prehistoric 45/14%
Cultural Context of the Meir Fermilab Collection
An overview of cultural periods illustrated with artifacts from Native American sites in Illinois.
Paleoindian
Paleoindian spear points
A Paleoindian family
Mastodon hunters
Archaeological sites near
Nelson Lake
Archaic
Early Archaic spear points
Archaic Grooved Axes
Archaic dart points
Hunting with an atlatl
Gathering seeds and collecting
fish
Woodland
Harvesting Squash
Middle Woodland Pot
Middle Woodland
Platform Pipe
Dongola chert disks
Mica
Woodland Copper Adze
Middle Woodland
Platform Pipe
Woodland village
Mississippian
Mississippian arrow points
Mississippian hoe
Cultivating corn outside a
Mississippian village
Mississippian Birger Figurine
Mississippian marine shell
maskette
Mississippian wooden mask
Mississippian town
Late Prehistoric
Late Prehistoric Oneota pot
Late Prehistoric Oneota fish
lures
Late Prehistoric conflict
European Contact
French crucifix
European glass beads
Historic Village
In 1845, 12,000 years after the arrival of their ancestors, the
last Native American tribe in Illinois was forcibly removed .
Today, although all of the tribes once-
resident in Illinois live elsewhere, thousands of Native Americans call Illinois home.