| After several minor explorations of a preparatory nature, I became launched upon my five years of Fisher site excavations in 1924. [Note - George, Sr.'s grandfather, Col. Daniel Alexander Robertson, had excavated Indian burial mounds many years before in St. Paul, Minnesota - George, III.] |
| The Fisher site,
about 18 miles southwest of Joliet, Illinois, on the DesPlaines River,
comprised about 10 Indian mounds and 50 large saucer-shaped depressions
or"Pits." A thousand or so Indians were buried in this
area. I had a helper, Albert Tennik, and at times another, Thomas
Dudley. This exploration aroused much interest among laymen and
scientists both. |
| Soon after the
World War Armistice was declared in 1918, I made numerous attempts to
interest professional scientists in the Fisher site but failed. I
presented it as a venture of great promise, although lacking in showy
material. But scientists were shy of it. Northern Illinois
was not a promising region for any outlay of time and money. All
begged to be excused and wished me luck. The now much condemned
"looting" of Indian mounds by "amateurs" had not then come into vogue,
and mine was not considered an unholy venture. |
| However, I had
no desire to tackle the job alone. I had no intention of tackling
it at all. But the gradually increasing threat of
destruction of the site for commercial purposes finally proved too much
for me, and I began to dig in 1924. Once started, I kept at it,
because what I found was most unusual; and I stopped only when I was
driven out by the new owners - Congress Construction Company of
Chicago. This was in 1929, and the gravel on the site was
earmarked for construction of the Dresden Dam. |
| But meanwhile I
had secured a vast quantity of human skeletons, clay pots, and
artifacts of stone, bone, copper and shell. I worked carefully
and accumulated an extensive record of notes, maps, photographs,
drawings and observation on everything I saw or found. Every one
of the thousands of relics was marked to correspond with the place
where it was found. I worked fast at the top and slow at the
bottom, where I began to find things. Although an amateur, I
could see what was to be done and how to do it. |
| This Fisher
exploration attracted a good deal of attention at the time for many
reasons. I found successive tribal occupancies by observing
stratigraphical changes in the soil. The human burials on the
Lower Levels were crouching Long-Heads without relics. Those of
the Middle Level were extended Broad-Heads with many relics. Some
mounds were older than others. One was Post-European with White
Man's objects, the first ever found of this kind. The "Pits"
revealed many features of housing and domestic life. The Fisher
site told a long and complete story of aboriginal civilization. |
| Scientists began
to take notice. Dixon
of Harvard was the first. He got
others going. We had many visitors. The University of
Chicago asked to take part. Their parties worked under my
direction. |
| When I was
ejected from the Fisher site in 1929, I soon undertook another
exploration on the Adler site on the southern outskirts of
Joliet. There were 8 mounds; one large and 7 small ones. I
used men from the University of Chicago in addition to my stand-by
Albert Tennik. We found quite a lot, different in type from what
we had found at Fisher's, and a good deal less of it. |
| By this time, my
house and office were crammed with the fruits of all this digging and
my records of it. The records, as I knew, were of prime
importance. The University of Chicago was very anxious to have
the material, and inasmuch as it had all come from near their doorstep,
they got it, gratis. For this they made me an honorary Research
Associate in the Department of Anthropology. I was invited into
their councils and soon became aware that the Fisher exploration had
given the Department a great impetus. |
| In 1930 I was
invited to visit their exploration of the Jay Morton and other sites in
Putnam County. I spent a week there. My scheme of records
seemed to have become popular. They were not finding much, and I
was invited to join in the afternoon I got there. So I joined in
and got two fine clay pots in half an hour. I will never forget
the general consternation that ensued. I dug fast where there was
no danger of doing harm but was gentle where I had to be. |
| It was the fast
part that caused the trouble. On top of that, I scorned the
orange sticks and camel's hair brushes and used a steel point and whisk
broom. I was never asked to repeat; in fact I was requested not
to. I could do the job well enough in my own way but not in their
way. By that time I was aware of the fact that digging up Indians
had become big business and was done according to much ceremony and
ritual. |
| If I had been
more learned and of the school teacher type, I might have taken the
rising wave of commercialism more seriously; and possible have gotten
in on it. There was money in it for the higher ups and jobs for
the lower downs. I had given the whole thing a big push. I
could see that; and in case I saw wrong, I was told so many times by
the customers - the new students. Quite a business had resulted
in the name of education, which proceeds on the basis that anything we
don't know is worth knowing. |
| Perhaps I was
unfitted by temperament to go through the tedious process of excavating
an Indian mound with an orange stick and camel's hair brush. It
may even be that I am wondering in my crude amateur way what does it
all amount to anyhow. However. I am not too dumb to see that
there is money in it, as there generally is for a time at least in any
newly developed business. But I confess that it was hard for me
to take it all seriously, and so my part in it became little or nothing. |
| The doings in
Putnam County were published very fully by the University of Chicago,
and a copy was sent to me. It announced that, "in 1925, the
University of Chicago started an archeological reconnaissance of
Illinois." There was a footnote to the effect that there had been
two local investigations by professionals in 1881-2 and that Warren K.
Moorehead, another professional, had done some investigating, but that
was all. The University of Chicago was on the march, and that was
the big news. I began to wonder a bit. The Fisher
investigations begun in 1924 were often referred to as a "major
exploration," and by scientists, too. They came in great number
to see me and what I was doing. Most of them praised the
work. Then again, there was Dan Dickson near Lewiston. He
opened up a mound on his farm and put on a show of 190 dead Indians
with all their pots and things around them. He made a good job of
it. Neither Dickson or I got a hand. The "reconnaissance"
announcement ignored us entirely; and the fact is that either job,
Dickson's or mine, made their first "reconnaissance" job look pretty
sick by comparison. We were a bit short on the ritual and the
technical terms, but we got the stuff and all there was to be learned
from it. |
| The
"reconnaissance, etc." opening was very bitter towards "amateurs" and
"looters." That is where the rub comes. Dickson and I were
"amateurs" and, therefore, "looters." We stood without the
charmed circle. Neither one of us had ever learned from a doctor
or professor how to dig up dead Indians. No semesters nor
seminars were chalked up to our credit. We didn't have union
cards. |
| And yet in many
ways I have not been treated as an amateur in a derogatory sense.
The young men, in particular, and even some of the older professionals,
have treated me with greater consideration than I probably
deserve. I had my way of doing things and got results. They
were very outspoken about that. I never criticized their methods
nor ever made any effort to foist mine upon them. I think that
the older men were apprehensive that I might do so, being well aware
that I was not impressed by the new, laborious technique, ritual and
terminology which was fast becoming the basis for higher archeological
education. In all this I was nevertheless a bad example to be
followed in the present set-up. |
| In 1925 while I
was excavating at Fisher's, the University of Chicago was doing the
same near Galena, Illinois. I went up there in the Fall with my
wife for a week and saw the scene of activities after the University
had spent a season. All that they found was a much dilapidated
skeleton which they called, "Oscar." But they accomplished much
in the practice of technique and proper methods; so I was told. |
| Several years
later I secured permission from the cemetery trustees of the Oakwood
Cemetery, authorizing the University of Chicago to excavate the big
mound there. The exploring party found so many human skeletons
that the work was finally stopped by several owners of adjoining burial
lots who feared that some of their relatives might be dug up by
mistake. The mound was then about 3/4 explored. Practically
no artifacts were found. I watched the progress of the work and
saw practically nothing of particular interest. To me it appeared
that very little had been accomplished that could be considered
worthwhile. |
| In
1940 or
thereabouts, the University of Illinois and Illinois State Museum
jointly secured permission to explore the Fisher mounds. This was
getting back into my old bailiwick. WPA [Works Projects
Administration - George, III] were secured to do the
work.
A
boys' CCC [Civilian
Conservation
Corps - George, III] camp
established
close by was engaged in chopping down trees, clearing land and doing
other useful work. I was invited by some of the party to
"co-operate," whatever that might mean. |
| I was engaged at
that time in another exploration of my own about 5 miles down the line,
in the strip mines west of Wilmington, but I often stopped at Fisher's
going to and fro between Joliet and Wilmington. Work began on one
of the "Pits," which I had partly excavated long before. There,
the party came upon "post-holes," marks in the soil indicating the
former presence of upright wooden poles which were the framework of
Indian houses or shelters. Hunting for "post-holes" was then a
very important part in midwest exploration, and the finding of those
post-holes created no end of excitement. The job was so
cautiously done that there was no time to complete it that season. |
| In the meantime,
CCC boys stumbled upon human skeletons in what I had called the "Gravel
Mound" group. Albert and I had done some exploring there, but
having had our fill of human skeletons, we had decided to leave that
portion intact. But the CCC discovery put an end to that, and the
WPA moved in. I judge that 150 or so human beings were buried
there. There were some clay pots and bone relics, also a few
flint artifacts and a little copper. These and the black earth
filled-in graves were much heralded as new discoveries of great
significance, although it seemed to be the same later Pre-European
culture of my "Upper Level." |
| The Joliet
newspapers always consulted me about the numerous important
"finds,' and I found that rather embarrassing. I enthused as
much as I could, but the reporters could not seem to find much news in
it, and neither could I. I did try to interest them in the orange
stick technique, but that fell rather flat. I wasn't news. |
| Evidently, the
discovery of the mound was to my discredit. The powers that were,
suspected that I was holding out on them. My advice was asked
very frequently, but invariably when I suggested one course to pursue,
an opposite course of exploration was followed. They wanted to
find some of the "concealed Long-Heads," that had caused so much
speculation during my explorations. Several areas between the
"Two
Big Mounds," "EM" and "WM," were staked out. "Had I dug there ?"
"No." "Were they promising places to dig ?" And when I
again said, "No," and suggested digging somewhere else, they followed
their hunch and dug anyhow, finding nothing. "How about Mound EM;
did you leave anything there ?" When I answered, "Yes, a few,"
they wouldn't dig. One of the young students in charge became
impatient and asked me to pick a spot for him. I did, and he took
one of the WPA and sailed in. Next day, he was glum. They
were in a fine place, but the boss got wind of it and made them fill
the hole up again. |
| I was finally
consulted about the small "Southeast Mound SE." This purely
Post-European mound, the first one ever found with both aboriginal and
White Man's relics, had received national publicity. I advised
them to pass this one by. I had gotten about all there was in
it. So they dug there with a vengeance. Some 14 men spent
nearly two weeks on it, mowing it down with jack-knives and dust
brushes. The take consisted of several bones of a human foot,
bits of a skull as I remember, and parts of an infant with a few china
beads. The WPA were bored with the whole thing, and disgruntled
with me, thinking that it was all my fault. So I kept away from
the place and went about my own business. |
| As I look back
upon my archaeological activities, it seems as though what I got out of
it all was mainly the satisfying of consuming curiosity. I hunted
for novelty and found it. Coupled with this was healthful outdoor
exercise and mental relaxation. In this I do not belittle the
attention and consideration shown me by many people, laymen and
scientists both. I made many new friends. The bulk of my
Fisher and Adler collections was presented to the University of
Chicago, where it still figures prominently in the newly revived
teaching of mid-west archaeology and anthropology. In return I
was given the honorary position I have held for over 12 years. I
have been admitted into the councils and welcomed as a guest member of
the Faculty. My appreciation of all this is unquestioned. |
| But, as far as
my own personal satisfaction is concerned, it seems to me that I might
have done better. Professionals have profited by it, but their
number is comparatively small. Laymen or people in general should
have been given first consideration. When my Fisher diggings were
widely publicized, the interest of laymen predominated over the
interest of scientists 1000 to 1. The public is not interested
particularly in higher learning, but it is interested in things that
attract their attention, particularly in things that are unusual.
Anyone more gifted than I in the art of holding and moulding public
interest could have done much better with all the stuff that I
accumulated. |
| When I presented
my Fisher and Adler collections to the University of Chicago, I assumed
that a part of it would at least be conveniently arranged so that the
public could see it. That never happened. The material was
placed for study only and was buried forever, as far as the public was
concerned. |
| In 1929-1930
while considering the disposal of my collections, I had talks with
several Joliet men who asked me if I was considering keeping these
things in Joliet. I made it very clear to them that, with my
collection as a starting point, a museum of this region might be built
up that would interest our local population and outsiders both, not a
general museum, but one restricted to Joliet and vicinity. My
collection could be a starting point, and I would do all I could to add
to it. The idea met with general approval, but it was up to me at
that point to campaign and arouse public interest. It could have
been done, but I was not qualified for such a task, and nobody else
chose to undertake it. And so that idea went by the board.
Had it been acted upon, nothing could have given me greater
satisfaction from then until this day. |