Research

Noble Wieting is a Langford village with an open plaza and central mound. Previous excavations uncovered evidence of contemporaneous Mississippian and Langford tradition occupations at the site. Using extensive geophysical survey and targeted excavations, our project aims to evaluate the spatial and temporal relationships between these two complexes through the lens of community and coalescence.

This is first and foremost a student centered project. Learn how to get involved in archaeological fieldwork at Noble-Wieting.

Read about the latest findings at Noble-Wieting here

The Crane and Loy sites are two Middle Woodland habitation sites on the lower Illinois River tributary of Macoupin Creek. The sites were extensively excavated in the early to mid 1970s by Ken Farnsworth and the Center for American Archaeology. Ken, Brad Koldehoff, and I (and any interested students) are working to analyze and publish the materials from these excavations to illustrate more about daily life during the time of Hopewell ceremonialism.

While other materials were certainly used as well, the vast majority of tools recovered from Clovis sites are made of chipped stone. Ongoing work, in conjunction with  numerous colleagues, is aimed at further understanding Clovis lifeways through the examination of stone tool function throughout the lower Great Lakes. Many of the artifacts we have analyzed for this project have been donated by non-archaeologists.