BYRON – The Byron Forest Preserve District will be hosting their fifth and final lecture of its 2020 Winter Lecture Series on Sunday, March 8 starting at 2 p.m. at the Jarrett Prairie Center Museum, 7993 North River Road in Byron.
Ferrel Anderson, co-founder of the Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology and President of the Quad Cities Archaeological Society, will present a program on the archaeological findings regarding the people of the Sauk Nation.The geographical and spiritual center of Black Hawk and the Sauk people was their village named Saukenuk and graveyards at the mouth of the Rock River near the present day Quad Cities.
Black Hawk, in his autobiography, stated that he returned to Illinois in 1832 in protest of the 1804 treaty, an action that precipitated the Black Hawk War. Anderson will describe his efforts to locate at least three sites of the Saukenuk village occupied in the 100 years that the Sauk resided in the general vicinity of the lower Rock River valley. Using historical records and archaeological evidence, this effort has been successful in locating the location of the Saukenuk village occupied immediately before the Black Hawk War, 800 acres of Sauk and Fox agricultural fields, and several grave yards. He will also discuss the events and political climate that led to the war, and its final results.
This lecture is free and no advance registration is required to attend. For more information contact the Byron Forest Preserve District at 815 234-8535, Ext. 200. The 2020 Winter Lecture Series is co-sponsored by Exelon Generation Byron Station and the award winning Jarrett Prairie Center Museum.
