Now in our burgeoning suburban enclaves, bulldozers and backhoes growl and roar where the soft step of moccasins once prevailed.
And in the mechanical cacophony, a struggle between conscience and commerce is joined. It is this: How much money and effort should go into preserving and studying what previous cultures left behind?
Do we ignore these opportunities for bonding with our predecessors, or do we mine them for their human richness, knowing as we do that our presence is equally temporal?
The dilemma is brought into focus in the Indian arrowheads that have been found by the thousands across Illinois. Scattered by their makers and users like petrified seeds of the past, the pieces of crafted stone have become symbols of the conflict in the existing climate of suburban sprawl.
The archeologist says the arrowhead is invaluable if it leads to the professional excavation of a prehistoric site, therefore adding to our fragmentary knowledge of earlier cultures. The developer says the arrowheads can mean thousands of dollars in delays and costly surveys to determine the archeological significance of a planned project area.
The collector says you cannot judge an arrowhead monetarily because its true value is in the thrill of finding it and realizing that it was last touched by someone from an ancient and mysterious culture. The artifact dealer says an arrowhead is worth anywhere from $1 to hundreds of dollars, depending on its style, age and authenticity.
These divergent views shaped the laws that require archeological surveys in advance of housing or commercial developments, road building or municipal projects that change the landscape. Patterned after the Federal Historic Preservation Act, laws were passed in Illinois in 1990 that gave state agencies the power to deny construction permits if archeological interests were not served.
Briefly, the law says that in areas of “high probability” for archeological sites-along rivers, for example, or where sites have been previously reported-a preliminary survey must be done. Developers are responsible for hiring the archeologists and paying for the survey.
Said archeologist Rochelle Lurie of Midwest Archeological Research Services in Harvard: “This is usually quite inexpensive for a developer. It means only hiring an archeologist to walk over an area if it is plowed field, or to conduct shovel tests if it is wooded.”
If nothing is found-no stone chips, pottery shards or implements such as arrowheads-the archeological interest is written off. If artifacts are found, however, a more exhaustive survey may be required in which deeper holes are dug to sample what is at the site. This, in turn, could lead to a full-scale scientific “dig,” to be completed before the site is disturbed. All costs are borne by the developer. An alternative-and one that is more likely, Lurie said-is for a project to be changed to preserve the archeological site for future study.
Archeologist Doug Kullen of Patrick Engineering in Glen Ellyn did a study several years ago showing there were 7.9 archeological sites per square mile in the six-county Chicago metropolitan area. This adds up to 28,700 sites, of which 10,900 had been destroyed by 1980, according to Kullen’s estimate. A site is defined as a place where at least three artifacts are found.
A list of sites is maintained by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency in Springfield, and this list grows as additional sites are reported. Maps showing high probability areas also are distributed by the agency, and that is a contentious issue for home builder organizations.
Mark Harrison, executive vice president of the Home Builders of Illinois, said maps were supposed to be issued at a scale of 1:500,000 but were instead issued at a 1:100,000 scale. The larger scale, Harrison says, shows too much detail and therefore enlarges the “high probability” areas that a developer must consider.
Tom Emerson, chief state archeologist, said that while the mapping data is generated on maps of the smaller scale as specified in the law, the information is distributed to local agencies at the larger scale.
“Using the 1:500,000 scale means that the map of an entire county would only be about 5 inches by 5 inches,” Emerson said. “This is a ridiculous scale if you are trying to read the landscape.”
Harrison said his organization has complained to the governor’s office about the issue, and Emerson counters that his agency has responded with an explanation of why the larger scale is used.
Said Roger Gatewood, owner of Westfield Homes in Gurnee and president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago: “If a developer has to sift through all the cornfields, it can be very costly.
“The archeology requirement can be a serious impediment,” Gatewood said, “and could cost millions of dollars, particularly if it causes significant construction delays.”
The wait for archeological surveys to be done and the subsequent findings were a factor in stopping a development on Lake Michigan bluffs in Waukegan, according to Glenn Christensen, a Waukegan landscape architect. In 1991, archeologist Lurie conducted a survey on property owned by Drobnick Realty of Waukegan and found the site to be “undisturbed,” meaning that it had not been plowed. This is a rare circumstance and makes an area more valuable for study. Lurie found stone chips when holes were dug every 50 feet or so on the site. She estimated the site to be at least 3,000 years old.
Jay Drobnick, who owns the real estate company, said that a pending sale of the 31-acre parcel fell through partly because of the delay. He said the state then expressed interest in buying the site to preserve it but could not come up with the money to close the deal.
Lurie, one of five archeologists doing contract work in northeast Illinois, said that the cost of archeological surveys is “peanuts” to a developer. “They know about the law and they can plan for the surveys in advance,” Lurie said. “And in most cases a compromise can be worked out between the developers and archeological interests.”
Whatever the cost of a survey, Harrison and Gatewood said it should not be borne by the developers, who then pass it on to the buyers of new homes.
“If the public wants this kind of thing done,” Harrison said, “then the cost of it should be acknowledged by the public and paid for from tax dollars.”
Harrison also suggests that there may be a conflict of interest in archeologists deciding that further surveys are required and then doing those surveys themselves. Lurie said, however, that archeologists have too much to do to make work for themselves.
“Some developers are very cooperative and will go out of their way to protect an archeological site,” Lurie said. “Others would bulldoze anything if there were no laws.”
Charles Sharp, vice president of Phoenix Developers in Joliet, said he is not against archeological research but believes the cost should be borne by the taxpayers. As he spoke, Sharp stood in the midst of a “dig” that he is paying for on a development next to the Du Page River in Channahon.
“This could cost us over $100,000,” he said, gesturing to where a four-man archeological crew excavated pits at the site of a 1,200-year-old Indian village. Heading the crew was Joseph Craig of Hanson Engineers in Springfield.
“This is an outstanding site,” Craig said, “and it is giving us the kind of cultural information that has never been found before.”
Craig said the clustered pits he and his crew are excavating to a depth of four or five feet apparently were used for storing corn.
“Ultimately the pits were used for garbage disposal,” Craig said, “so what we are finding-pieces of implements, bone and pottery shards-gives us a lot of information about how the corn-culture people lived.”
All the material found by Craig’s crew is cataloged by location, and after further study some of it will end up as display in a planned community museum in Channahon, Sharp said.
In a case near St. Charles, the St. Charles Park District had to change the layout of an athletic field complex when an arrowhead was found.
Dennis Ryan, superintendent of parks for the district, said the fluted point was found on property the city was leasing from the Department of Corrections west of town.
“If the arrowhead had been found in the middle of the project, it might have posed a more difficult problem for us,” Ryan said, “but it was off to one side, and we simply rearranged the athletic fields to leave the area of the arrowhead undisturbed.
“There was some cost because of the delay that resulted,” Ryan said, “but I think this procedure is a good one if it prevents the destruction of something worthwhile.”
