From Kaskaskia to Sangamo: February 2012

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Digging at Fort de Chartres 2011

I thought I’d begin this blog with a bit of news. Last November, Dr Margaret Brown and I led a small crew to the site of what we now believe to have been the third of four incarnations of “Fort de Chartres”, constructed by the French near the Mississippi River (near the old French town of Prairie du Rocher, Illinois) in 1732. In just six days of digging, we managed to expose portions of the fort’s north east bastion – deep trenches that supported the palisade walls, and two pit features containing a range of artifacts used inside the fort during the 1740s and early 1750s. The sample is one of our best glimpses into life at the fort (and the surrounding community of Chartres) during the heyday of the French colony in Illinois.

The site is located near the reconstructed remains of the fourth (and final) Fort de Chartres - this one made of stone during the 1750s. It was abandoned in 1771, and was partially rebuilt as a state historic site during the mid 20^th century.

I will feature some of the artifacts found at Fort III in upcoming posts. We also shot a little video of the November excavation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-uXGvxZYsw

About the "Illinois Country"

The “Illinois Country” was the name used by the French to refer to a large region located south of Lake Michigan, surrounding the confluences of the Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers. The name referred to the indigenous residents of the region – the Illinois Tribe – who moved to the region around 1600. The central portion of this region became the State of Illinois in 1818.

French traders and priests were aware of the Illinois region by the 1640s. The French Canadian priest Father Jacques Marquette established a mission among the Illinois in the 1670s, and the legendary explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle built the first fort in the region in 1680.

The Illinois Country became a French colony in 1717, and was home to several French trading and agricultural villages, as well as Fort de Chartres on the Mississippi. The British arrived in 1765, and British merchants affiliated with Benjamin Franklin were selling their wares in the old French towns when George Rogers Clark captured the Illinois County for the Americans in 1778.

Illinois was the scene of rapidly expanding frontier agricultural settlement by 1800, and the last frontier settlements reached northern Illinois by the 1840s. The well-known “Sangamo Country” frontier (in central Illinois) was home to a young Abraham Lincoln.

Historical archaeology has been practiced in Illinois since 1918 – some of the earliest in the country. Both research-based and salvage-oriented excavations have examined dozens of sites spanning the French, British, and early American periods.