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Koster: Americans in Search of Their Prehistoric Past
Voted "one of the 100 best sci-tech books of the year" by Library Journal when 1st published, Koster: Americans in Search of Their Prehistoric Past is the extraordinarily well-told story of the long-term excavation of a deep Archaic site in the Lower Illinois Valley that pieces together a fascinating picture of the earliest known settlers in the Western Hemisphere. The Koster site in Kampsville, IL, is considered one of the most important archeological treasures in North America. Hundreds of students, archeologists, botanists & geologists worked to explore the many layers of this remarkable settlement. From clues as small as pollen grains, mussel shells & animal bone fragments unearthed at the Koster farm, they have been able to solve many intriguing mysteries about these earliest Americans-what they ate, how their tools were made & used, what diseases plagued them & how they built their homes. Koster is a highly readable true-life adventure that offers clear, take-the-reader-along explanations of the thought processes involved in generating & testing hypotheses & inferences from available data.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
290 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 18, 2023
Archeology dig near Kampsville, Illinois in the 1970’s uncovered multiple occupations dating back 7,000 years. Fantastic book-especially fascinating because it is close to where we live. Highly recommend,
September 2, 2023
Written in 1970 (thus slightly outdated in some of its techniques and attitudes), still a fine introduction to archeological methodology, and a good overview of research into the Koster site, a dig uncovering Native American artifacts which have dated back several thousand years.
January 6, 2020
4.5 on this nonfiction book! If you are into archeology and Native American culture you will enjoy this one! Cheers my friends!
April 30, 2015
When I was in high school in White Hall, Illinois, I was vaguely aware there was archaeological digging going on in the county. With no further information, and no internet, I was curious, but there didn't seem to be any way to learn more. Our dad took us to see some Indian mounds, but with no interpretive center, again there seemed no way to learn more. It was frustrating, but actually there wasn't a lot more known then anyway.
In 1966 I married, graduated college, and left the state. Just in time to completely miss a 9 year excavation digging down through well over 8000 years of prehistory, pretty much in the backyard of my home town.
Struever writes a quite readable, informative book about the various layers of habitation found at this site in Lowilva, as he calls the Lower Illinois Valley, and what they imply for the customs and lifestyle of the inhabitants.
For example, farming was only relied on the last 1000 years more or less, when the population seems to have increased enough to over-strain the bountiful resources of the region that had allowed people to easily gather crops in abundance. Moving to farming greatly lowered the lifespan and health of the people. A lesson for our times.
There was little genetics change over the millenia. The same genetic populations came and camped or lived there, time after time. No big invasions, no influx of dissimilar peoples. Why war over territory when there is enough for all?
My thanks to the unknown donor who brought this book to the thrift store. The internet has been a boon in answering questions I had had long ago and thought I would never be able to have answered. But for these answers I went back to my old standby, a book.
In 1966 I married, graduated college, and left the state. Just in time to completely miss a 9 year excavation digging down through well over 8000 years of prehistory, pretty much in the backyard of my home town.
Struever writes a quite readable, informative book about the various layers of habitation found at this site in Lowilva, as he calls the Lower Illinois Valley, and what they imply for the customs and lifestyle of the inhabitants.
For example, farming was only relied on the last 1000 years more or less, when the population seems to have increased enough to over-strain the bountiful resources of the region that had allowed people to easily gather crops in abundance. Moving to farming greatly lowered the lifespan and health of the people. A lesson for our times.
There was little genetics change over the millenia. The same genetic populations came and camped or lived there, time after time. No big invasions, no influx of dissimilar peoples. Why war over territory when there is enough for all?
My thanks to the unknown donor who brought this book to the thrift store. The internet has been a boon in answering questions I had had long ago and thought I would never be able to have answered. But for these answers I went back to my old standby, a book.
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March 17, 2014Felicia Antonelli Holton, AB'50, and Stuart Struever, PhD'68
Authors
From our pages (Spring/86): "The authors use the Koster site in Illinois, which dates back to 7500 B.C., as a model to show how American archeologists are attempting to bring science into their methodology. Analysis of the findings from Koster revealed that Amerindians were living in settled communities much earlier than had been assumed. In 1979 Library Journal voted this book 'one of the 100 best sci/tech books of the year.'"
Authors
From our pages (Spring/86): "The authors use the Koster site in Illinois, which dates back to 7500 B.C., as a model to show how American archeologists are attempting to bring science into their methodology. Analysis of the findings from Koster revealed that Amerindians were living in settled communities much earlier than had been assumed. In 1979 Library Journal voted this book 'one of the 100 best sci/tech books of the year.'"
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews