resources & links
The Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) investigates, preserves, and interprets the archaeological heritage of Illinois. ISAS expertise and data assist Illinois communities, businesses, institutions, and people in making informed decisions about management and preservation of our irreplaceable cultural heritage.
The Forest Preserves of Cook County, with nearly 70,000 acres, is one of the oldest and largest forest preserve districts in the United States. Its mission is “To acquire, restore and manage lands for the purpose of protecting and preserving public open space with its natural wonders, significant prairies, forests, wetlands, rivers, streams, and other landscapes with all of its associated wildlife, in a natural state for the education, pleasure and recreation of the public now and in the future.”
Preserve History Archaeology
The job of the Illinois Historic Preservation Division is to protect the state’s historic resources and promote them so that the public enjoys them and learns from them.
Illinois & Wisconsin
Fluted Point Survey
The Illinois and Wisconsin Fluted Point Survey is a public outreach and education project aimed at preserving the early archaeological record by documenting Clovis, Folsom, and other Paleoindian projectile points in public and private collections. To report a point or learn more, visit us today!
Explore the Ice Age Midwest
Plants and animals of the Pleistocene
This site provides information about the Wisconsinan glaciation, also known as the “last Ice Age” in the Midwestern U.S. Here, you will find information about the plants and animals that lived in the Midwest between roughly 110,000 and 13,000 years ago. You will also learn more about what glaciers are, how they operate, and how they change the landscape. Finally, you will learn more about how scientists reconstruct the past using evidence from fossils, isotopes, plant remains, and changes in the landscape.
Illinois Archaeological Survey
The Illinois Archaeological Survey is a society of professional archaeologists, and other technical professionals, dedicated to identifying and preserving important archaeological resources throughout the state of Illinois.
Backyard Paleo
Mammals, landscapes, extinctions…not necessarily in that order
The Real Monsters of the Midway: Mammoths and Mastodons of the Chicago Region
The southern Lake Michigan basin contains some of the highest concentrations of ancient Mammoth and Mastodon fossils!