Rediscovering Life on the Old Frontier Along the banks of the Little Calumet River the
Mississippians reached the end of their world

The attraction of the Mississippians is arguably pre-eminent from among pre-Columbian cultures north of the Rio Grande. The 2011 CAS Summer Safari to Aztalan, Wisconsin explored one of the culture's frontier sites and the CAS will embark on an armchair safari to a closer site when Ms. Melissa Baltusescorts the group to another Mississippian frontier settlement identified by the Illinois State Archaeological Survey as the Joe Louis Site. Hidden away within the confines of the Cook County Forest Preserves along the Little Calumet River, the small site is one of a handful of Upper Mississippian villages excavated in the Chicago area. Ms. Baltus reminds us that amidst the constant growth and development of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, the forest preserve systems of northern Illinois continue to provide protection not only for natural resources, but archaeological resources as well. CAS members may recall Fred Christensen's October 2011 presentation detailing the Fort Dearborn Massacre and the disappearance of all archaeological evidence of the fort. But checking the Forest Preserve District of Cook County for information about its archaeological holdings can be an unrewarding exercise. A Codex web check of Forest Preserve archaeology only uncovered a reprinting, under the auspices of then Cook Count Board President George Dunne, of a 1977 article on "Illinois Archaeology" and nothing about ongoing or recent archaeology in Chicago or Cook County. Melissa Baltus will share with her CAS audience information about recent Chicago archaeology.