<< Our Photo Pages >> Modoc Rock Shelter - Cave or Rock Shelter in United States in Great Lakes Midwest
Submitted by bat400 on Tuesday, 16 October 2007 Page Views: 6723
Natural PlacesSite Name: Modoc Rock Shelter Alternative Name: 11RA501Country: United States Region: Great Lakes Midwest Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Village: Modoc, IL
Latitude: 38.062470N Longitude: 90.0637W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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bat400 has visited here
Shallow caves and shelters are seen all along limestone bluffs that rise up to 80 feet above the Mississippi floodplain in Randolf County, Illinois. One of these shelters near Modoc Illinois has been periodically used by humans for the last 9000 years.
The rock face above the shelter shows the smoke stains of fires in the last century, but digs carried out by the University of Wisconsin confirmed that the stone tools periodically found there are part of a history stretching back to hunters after the last Ice Age. Successive flooding of the Mississippi continued to bury levels of animal bones and stone tools until levees were built on the Mississippi to protect a wide flood plain. Over 25 feet of sediments were examined.
Carbon dating of bone and carbonized plant from hearths confirmed the age of the site use. There are several published articles on the food remains (small mammals and shellfish abound) and what it says about the people using the site.
You can carefully park on the edge of the Illinois State Road 7 (Bluff Road) to view the rock face and read interpretive markers describing the finds. The actual alcove were excavation took place was only a few feet high in the post levee time period and even this has been partially filled in with topped with soil to protect the site for possible future examination. Similar shelters (and much larger ones) can be seen along the road. Many of them are used by modern locals to store equipment and provide protection for their homes and outbuildings - some of which are built with the bluff forming the back wall. Modoc Rock Shelter is a National Register of Historic Places site.
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