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I 52 A Retrospective Look The landscape of the Carrier Mills Archaeological District looks quite different now than it did on that cold, snowy Christmas Eve of 1977 when Southern Illinois University archaeologists completed test excavations at the Black Earth site. The low ridges where Middle Archaic hunters and gatherers and Mississippian gardeners once lived are now part of the new Peabody Coal Company mine that supplies coal to power companies and other industries throughout the Midwest. Even though the sites are now gone, the extensive archaeological program conducted by Southern Illinois University preserved much of the information contained in these sites for future generations. The Carrier Mills archaeologists are confident that they have a good understanding of the way of life of the people living along the Saline River during much of the past ro,ooo years. The artifacts and other cultural materials produced by the Carrier Mills work are stored or curated at Southern Illinois University where they can be studied by archaeologists in the years to come. The Carrier Mills Archaeological Project is officially completed, but the potential to learn much more still exists. The successful completion of the Carrier Mills Archaeological Project demonstrates the benefits of cooperation between those groups favoring the preservation of significant cultural resources, represented by Southern Illinois University, and those favoring economic and industrial development, represented by Peabody Coal Company. The spirit of cooperation that developed between these two organizations prevented an issue that could have grown into a major source of disagreement and discontent from ever developing. Instead , the agreement that was reached served the interests of both parties and provided the archaeological community and the general public with a much better understanding of how southern Illinois' past inhabitants lived. New information about life along the Saline River during the prehistoric and early Historic periods was obtained by using modern scientific techniques in the field and laboratory and employing highly trained specialists to analyze the data and interpret the results . All of the research was conducted within the framework of a well-conceived research plan that targeted those aspects of prehistoric life to be investigated and specified how to collect the required data. Good archaeological research requires a lot of time, pa- tience, attention to detail, and hard work, but the benefits are obvious. Unfortunately, many southern Illinois archaeological sites are "excavated" by people who have not received the necessary training to do the job properly. Some of these people dig at archaeological sites just to add to their personal artifact collections; others loot sites to obtain artifacts that they can sell to other collectors. Some artifact collectors are unaware of the damage they do or the amount of information they destroy by pursuing their avocation; others, motivated by monetary gain, simply do not care. Those who are seriously interested in learning more about the prehistoric people of southern Illinois can do so by taking archaeology classes offered by universities and community colleges or by enrolling in an archaeological field school where they can learn about proper field and laboratory techniques from trained instructors. People who dig archaeological sites just to get the artifacts destroy information that might tell an archaeologist something new and interesting about southern Illinois' past. Archaeologists are often asked about the "best" or "most significant" thing they find during the excavation of a site. Many times, the thing the person asking the question regards as significant or best is quite different from that identified by the archaeologist. For most archaeologists, the most important part of a project is usually not the most beautiful or most exotic artifact recovered but the information that reveals something new about the diet, technology, health, or social organization of a sites' past inhabitants. The work at Carrier Mills revealed many new facts about prehistoric life in southern Illinois. One of the most significant aspects of the project was the thick Middle Archaic midden deposit found at Area A of the Black Earth site. Its significance is based on several factors. First, the meter-thick deposit was largely undisturbed by plowing or other modern activities because it was protected by overlying deposits. With the exception of artifacts from intrusive pits dug by Woodland period inhabitants, all of the artifacts from the midden zone were attributable to Middle Archaic activities. This enabled archaeologists to study many aspects of Middle Archaic life that could not be investigated at sites with mixed cultural deposits. Second, because the midden zone was deposited over a nearly r,ooo...

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