Bones are 1,000 to 6,000 years old

The human skeletal remains found almost a year ago along Ill. 2 north of Oregon date back at least 10 centuries and possibly far longer.

Dawn Cobb, Human Skeletal Remains Protection Act Coordinator for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, said Jan. 26 that scientists at the University of Illinois, Champaign, have determined the skull, pelvic bone, and femur uncovered last March belonged to a male, 30 to 45 years old, who lived between 1,000 and 6,000 years ago.

"The remains are probably an archaic individual or from the the Late Woodland period," she said.

The archaic time frame dates back from 1,000 to 6,000 years ago, Cobb said, while the Late Woodland period was from 250 to 1000 AD.

The bones were uncovered March 9, 2011 by a team of archaeologists doing research in the 5,000 block of North Ill. 2 before the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) began road construction there in early April.

The bones were found at an archaeological dig being conducted by the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) in a farm field, approximately 60 feet from the west side of the road.

ISAS, which is affiliated with the University of Illinois, has been hired by IDOT to locate sites of archaeological value in construction zones, so that artifacts and human remains can be removed and preserved.

The bones were removed from the dig site and taken to the University of Illinois for further study and a possible determination of the age.

Cobb said U of I archeologists were unable to determine many details about the person the bones came from because no artifacts were found buried with him.

"It was not a definitive as you would hope for," she said. "No diagnostic artifacts were found with the remains. Not all civilizations buried their people with artifacts."

The findings also did not reveal whether or not the man was native to the area.

"Archaic people tended to be nomadic. By Late Woodland they had settled down in villages, so it's hard to say," Cobb said.