Ancient burial ground hides in plain sight near Caterpillar Mossville plant
Ask Dean is a Journal Star column focusing on all things Peoria: its history, mysteries, quirks and culture. Send your questions to dmuellerleile@pjstar.com.
Question: There are a series of mounds that sit alongside Illinois Route 29 as you pass by Caterpillar’s Building AC outside of Mossville (just north of the stoplights, between Building AC and Illinois Route 29). What are the mounds? Are they a Native American burial site? Or just landscaping? — Tom Day
Answer: There's little indication to drivers speeding down Route 29 that four small, unnatural humps on the floodplain are parts of a prehistoric burial ground.
But they are indeed Native American burial sites, though their exact number is uncertain and their documentation is inconsistent.
Dickison Mounds
The Illinois River Road website identifies these as the Dickison Mounds, a group of Havana Hopewell culture burial sites dating to the Middle Woodland period from 200 B.C. to A.D. 400. (These are different from Dickson Mounds, though spelled similarly.)
The website lists 12 such mounds, adding, "Two of the mounds were in the right-of-way of a Route 29 realignment. Both were excavated in 1940 by the Illinois State Museum and the University of Chicago. The remains of several adults and children were found in a log tomb located at the center of one of the mounds. Among the artifacts found in the tomb were flint blades, shell beads, freshwater pearls, animal jaws, black and grizzly bear teeth, and the beak and talons of a bird."
Peoria newspaper accounts offer confirmation and some minor contradiction.
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From the archives
A 1936 Peoria Journal-Transcript article about the Peoria Academy of Science headlined "A Preliminary Survey of the Indian Sites of the Peoria Region" mentions "11 mounds on Route 29 between Rome and Mossville." The story calls the location "the most widely known of the prehistoric sites of the county" and mentions landowner Bruce Dickinson, spelled with an "n." (Nearby Dickison Run flows between Rome and Mossville.)
In 1940, the Journal-Transcript reported on "the excavation of the Dickison mounds on route 29 above Mossville." The article added, "The site consists of 12 mounds arranged roughly in a double row, paralleling the Illinois river. Two mounds lying in the path of the newly constructed double highway were totally excavated and a third, was trenched." The larger excavated mound was reported as measuring 100 by 95 feet with a height of 12 feet. "Each pit contained a number of skeletons with some remaining burial goods," the story continued, among them pearls and bear teeth.
A 1957 Journal Star "Man About Town" column commented on the "most significant discovery in history about the Hopewells" made recently at the "new Caterpillar Engine plant site." The column added, "Three Indian burial mounds were uncovered by accident when earthmoving machines were grading the area. ... Some 40 Indians were buried in the mounds." The column cited an archaeologist who said the bones were "at least 2,000 years old and ... the earliest evidence of the Hopewell culture." Referring to the site as the Dickison mounds, the column added, "It seems only fitting that the world's greatest earth mover would encounter the great mound builders culture." The column mentioned 10 more mounds in a wooded area about half a mile north of the first three.
In 1965, the Journal Star reported that "Hopewell Indian mound sites were found near Mossville in 1940 during construction of Rt. 29 by (Works Progress Administration) workmen and three were excavated in 1957 when construction began on Caterpillar Tractor Co.'s Mossville plant."
Finally, a Journal Star Hotline column in 1993 addressed the same site:
"Hotline: About 150 yards north of the Caterpillar Inc. Mossville plant is a mound that was an Indian burial ground found in 1957 when the plant was being built. Was any excavation done on this site? What tribe? How large, etc.? — J.P. of Edelstein
"J.P.: There was excavation at that site. The area excavated was traced back to the Havana-Hopewell time period around 2,000 years ago. No tribes have been identified with that time period because it was so long ago, said Duane Esarey, collections manager at Dickson Mounds Museum.
"... There was also a large excavation at that site in the 1940s when Route 29 was constructed. ... Some materials from that excavation are on display at Dickson Mounds."
All of this corroborates the Illinois River Road web page, though the exact number of mounds at the Dickison site remains uncertain, as do some details about the excavations.
The Dickison Mounds are located on private property. Motorists are asked to view them as they drive by.
Whether it's a person, place or product, send your "Whatever happened to ...?" and "Wasn't there a ...?" questions, comments and suggestions to dmuellerleile@pjstar.com. Please put ASK DEAN in the subject line.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: What are those mysterious mounds near Mossville Caterpillar plant?
