BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com
Mahomet, Ill. – The Archaeology Lecture Series, which started in early April, will come to an end this Sunday when archaeologist and museum educator Valerie Hall presents “A Material World: Artifacts, Their Stories, and the People They Represent.”
The fourth lecture in the series will run from 7-9 p.m. on Sunday, May 19.
“It seems like these lectures have gone from the broad to very personal,” Hall said.
Eve Hargrave from the Illinois State Archaeological Survey talked about archaeology in Illinois on April 7. Then Steve Keuhn presented “Native Americans and Europeans in Illinois: 12,000 Years of Living Off the Land.” On May 5 Mahomet resident and retired Parkland professor Len Steele talked about the history of Mahomet and the Nine Gal Tavern.
Hall will focus on what archeologists call small finds. She will present items of adornment that human beings choose to present themselves to the public. Hall said buttons, jewelry, toys and religious medallions can tell about a culture’s belief systems or way of living.
Part of the Museum of the Grand Prairie’s collection includes scrapbooks and loose pictures which represent African American History in Champaign County from Doris Hoskins.
“It give us a personal connection to these things,” she said. “The museum’s mission is to educate the community and preserve and curate our heritage. When people are making those personal connections they see the importance of preserving that heritage.”
The maps, documents and journals put the small pieces together so that we can see the bigger picture of the past. Hall said that the items which are generally classified as garbage can give us a sense of how people were living their lives.
In American history, women, minorities and children were underrepresented as white, educated men provided much of the writing.
According to Hall, archeology 100 years ago, was a top-down approach where archeologists looked for big site and notable events. Over the last 50 years, the focus has switched to a bottom-up approach. The focus has become the everyday person, especially with the civil rights movement and the feminist movement,
On Sunday Hall will talk about how toys have documented parenting styles since the seventeen century.
“In the seventeen and eighteenth century, parents didn’t encourage make-believe play,” she said. “In the nineteen century it becomes a more appropriate thing. We see things like Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and soft cuddly toys.”
Hall noted that children then had more chores than children today. They also played with miniature irons or saws as an introduction to their responsibility when they were older.
“We often think of the study of the past as something we are far removed from,” she said. “Archeology can have a social impact too with some of these groups that weren’t represented in our history.”
Hall has been at the Museum of the Grand Prairie since August.
The Museum of the Grand Prairie will hold their first Archaeology Camp for children in grades 1-5. During the four day camp children will learn about archeology through ethical issues, historical context and specializations in archeology.
On the third day of camp, they will dig at the Night Gal Tavern, then wash the artifacts on the final day of camp.
To find out more information about the archeology lectures of educational opportunities visit ccfpd.org.
