The Daily News-Tribune: Stuart Struever presents "Buried Kaskaskia"

              1955
THE DAILY NEWS-TRIBUNE



Tale of 'Buried Kaskaskia' Is Exciting Local Detective Story
Some incident, no matter how trivial it may have seemed at the time, no matter how lost or forgotten it may be in the present, occurred a number of years ago, that was the spark of interest that led a youthful Peruvian into the work and study of archaeology.

Whatever that incident may have been, it was fortunate especial for the several hundred persons who taxed the facilities of the Hotel Kaskaskia's Red Room and Matthiesson Room last evening for the delightful and unique program, Buried Kaskaskia, presented by Stuart Struever.

Struever's intense and dynamic interest in his subject, and the evident personal knowledge about archaeology, added greatly to the factual, fascinating presentation.  No finer compliment could have been accorded the young man, in this preview showing, than the attentiveness shown and the grand ovation given him, by the capacity audience.

The two-hour program was punctuated by a brief intermission which signalled a transition from Struever's broad introduction into archaeology and the preparations for the local excavations and explorings, into the second phase of the program in which the search and partial restoration of Fort St. Louis is recalled and detailed.

The exciting detective story of the search, and of the painstaking but revealing identification of relics, was as ably reconstructed by Struever's presentation, as was the fort atop Starved Rock by the archaeological expedition.  It was pointed out that the Starved Rock area is quite generally accepted as the richest and most promising section of the entire United States for such exporation and possible restoration of earlier man.

While the endeavors and investigation of the group in the locality of Starved Rock dealt mainly with the popular legends of the French and Indians, remains have been found and recorded there of races and societies dating back over 7,000 years, some 50 centuries before Christ.  This early civilization of Archaic man indicated that he was quite similar to the popular conception of the European cave man, but that he was quite similar to the popular conception of the European cave man, but that he was possessed of the same brain capacity of man today, though in a cannabalistic society.

The expedition which was to scientifically delve into the summit of Starved Rock was led to that site by the detailed descriptions of the location of Fort St. Louis.  As the digging and investigation progressed stop that prominence, the theories and hopes of the group were slowly but undeniably borne out.  The work presented a striking parallel with the archaelogical diggings in Egypt, and, as orally illustrated by Struever, were no less romantic or exciting, if perhaps a bit less dramatic than the tales of the pyramids and tombs of ancient Africa.

The speaker noted how historical document is coordinated with archaeology, and showed an historic oddity when he stated that the work dealing with such centuries-old peoples and culture was done in conjunction with the Atomic Energy commission, as one of the techniques developed by the commission concerning the rate of disintegration as integrated with age, was put into use and study by the expedition.

The area audience was impressod the Illinois valley, and became more familiarized with such names as the Illinois, Iriquois, Pottowatami, Hopewell, and of La Salle and Father Marquette, who converted 15,000 Indians in one instance.  Early evidences of man were unearthed at Starved Rock, Buffalo, the river bluffs on the north bank of the Illinois and on the Danner and Healy farms near Ottawa.

Struever makes extensive use of colored slides, maps and diagrams in illusrating Buried Kaskaskia and the impression is easily gained that the listener is there with the expedition, from the very first shovelful of unearthed history, through the tedious but rewarding piecing together of relics and remains, and finally to the finished work and the knowledge of accomplishment and success.

Archaeology seeks to reconstruct the daily life of past civilizations—the economic life, travel, food, seasonal existence, and all of the things that make up the customs and mores of an ancient society.  It is done not simply for the glory of discovery and excitement of investigation, but in the hope that in the reconstruction of the past, a greater insight may be found in the present, and a consistency by which the future may be judged.

Struever will present a repeat performance of Buried Kaskaskia next Friday evening at 8 p.m., again at the Kaskaskia hotel, as a result of popular demand and the large audience in attendance last night.



Digging Up Kaskaskia's Past
THE REDPATH BUREAU
Kimball Bldg., Chicago 4, Ill.


Figure


The buried past of Mid-America, unearthed and unraveled by archaelogists, will be revealed for the first time in a lecture by Stuart Struever in Hotel Kaskaskia March 18.  That's Struever, second from the right, at work atop Starved Rock several years ago.  His Buried Kaskaskia talk, illustrated with colored pictures, shows how scientist, historian, photographer and artist piece together bits of evidence as they are unearthed and collaborate to reconstruct a fascinating story.



The Indians Which Roamed Illinois Valley Were Talented and Shrewd, Morris Lions Club Learn
The Indians that roamed the Illinois River valley hundreds of years ago were not crude but were talented and shrewd, Stuart Struever, Peru, a young anthropologist who has spent several summers digging in the area at and surrounding Starved Rock State Park near Utica told members of Morris Lions club Thursday night, backing up his statement with more than a hundred authentic slide pictures.

Struever who holds a masters degree at Harvard and is now working on his doctors degree at University of Chicago, was introduced by Steve Benz, program chairman.  He told of his work with a group of about 15 anthropologists during the period 1946–1951 digging for traces of the old village of Kaskaskia and Fort St. Louis, both of which were found along the Illinois river west of Ottawa.

TO A CERTAIN extent their findings blasted a story that has been taken authentically for years as to how Starved Rock got its name.  The story that many people were starved there by bands that surrounded the rock and cut off their water supply did not hold water Struever said, but that it was possible a few people had met death there in that manner.

The speaker showed how the group had started their digging on top of Starved Rock that originally was cup shaped but over the years had leveled off with a deposit of earth about six feet deep in the middle.  Digging is very carefully done, in se five feet square and never than six inches deep at a he said, and close study 



SPONTANEOUS ACCEPTANCE
by adults and students

During the past two years, BURIED KASKASKIA has been presented in both castern and midwestern states.  Each presentation is molded to fit each type of audience, and the program has found equally spontaneous acceptance among adult and student groups.  The first programs, even when given in an area remote from the diggings, met with immediate acclaim, suggesting a universal interest in the subject matter.

From New Hampshire through Ohio and Illinois … high school, college and public groups have enjoyed this unique program.  Their response has prompted the present series to student groups in the actual geographical area of the story.

In addition to the fascinating material with which he works some degree of the success of 

DR. FRANCIS KARNEY COLBY JUNIOR COLLEGE NEW LONDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE

…fascinating program.  A superb experience for the students, one they will not loose, ever



Archeologist to Reveal 'Buried Kaskaskia' Story

A young archeologist from Peru has chosen his home community to begin a series of Illinois public lectures revealing a way of life that has gone on for more than 7,000 years on the banks of the Illinois river.

He is Stuart Struever, who will guide his audience on an archeological expedition revealing the hitherto unknown story of the Upper Mississippi Valley, centering around historic Starved Rock.  His lecture at 8 p.m., March 18 will be in the Hotel Kaskaskia's Red room, La Salle.

Buried Kaskaskia will be a unique presentation in that the material used in it has never been published and is not available anywhere else.  The drama of discovery is made real in Buried Kaskaskia through colored film, done in the same manner as Life Magazine's The World We Live In series.

Struever's archeological work in this area was done under the direction of Richard S. Hagen, archeologist and historical consultant for the state of Illinois, who had charge of the recent Lincoln home restoration.  The party which unearthed Fort St. Louis and, the Kaskaskia village in which Father Marquette established the first Christian mission west of the Alleghenies, was under the direction of the Illinois State museum and the State of Illinois Department of Public Works.

The fascinating procedures by which archeologists discover facts of the past will be a part of

STUART STRUEVER
 Struever's presentation, beginning with early documents and maps and ending with the reconstruction of the entire lives and daily habits of persons living thousands of years ago.

Struever says Buried Kaskaskia is not simply a history but is oriented to be of wide general interest.

The lecture has been given many times in New York state, New Hampshire and Ohio, and Struever has given an abridged version to some private groups in this community.  Advance reservations may be made by mail to Peru Post Office Box 127, and some tickets will be placed on sale in business places.



A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE A PROGRAM THAT IS DIFFERENT
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS about early American colonial and pre-historic life which have remained locked in the earth for centuries are discovered for the first time in the findings unearthed and reconstructed by the BURIED KASKASKIA expedition.  A vast new area of pioneer-colonial history heretofore revealed solely in the sketchy, contradictory reports of the participants themselves is now clarified.

In BURIED KASKASKIA Mr. Struever presents a moving drama of early life outside the thirteen original colonies … a story that often surpasses that of the Puritans and Independence Hall.

To analyze the scope of this unique program is to set a limit on Mid-West history.  The following topics, however, will give you an indication of what is in store for you:

How the first French colonial blue-coats lived in the wilderness

Location, design, and appearance of famous Fort St. Louis

What happened to the Indians after contact with the French

Location and appearance of the tremendous village of the Illinois

Father Marquette's establishment of the first Christian mission in the wilderness empire

The conversion of 5,000 Indians in one mass ceremony

Discovery of approximately 7,000 years of Indian inhabitation on one small piece of ground

The truth of the Starved Rock Legend

The religion of the great Illinois nation as rediscovered and pieced together from diggings in Indian cemeteries and villages

Life in a French fort in 1682

A typical Indian lodge, 300 years old, discovered in a serene cornfield along the banks of the Illinois River

THE REDPATH BUREAU
Kimball Bldg., Chicago 4, Ill.

Educational and Entertaining
…For Students and Adults