Student sketch of mastadon |
While Whiteside County was still covered by glaciers, about 23,000 years B.C., human arrived from Siberia over a land bridge off Alaska. These early wanderers traveled southward in pursuit of big game like hunting, fishing and gathering food to survive. Archaeologists believe this region was a vast, thinly populated hunting ground for thousands of years. |
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A mastadon jaw and tooth were found south of Prophetstown, and an entire front skull, including tusks, was found in the mastodon, mammoth, and elk. As the weather warmed and glaciers receded 10,000 years ago, some moved into our area, Prophetstown gravel pit. The jaw is on display at the high school and the skull at Augustana College. |
| Mastadon tooth found south of Prophetstown |
Artifacts such as
the stone spear points found in this area date as far back as 10,000 to
6,000 B.C. By 8,000 to 1,000 B.C., mastadon and other big game
were no longer surviving in northern Illinois, so early people learned
to hunt small game, fish, and gather seeds and berries. The Archaic Indians
developed smaller spearpoints, mortars and pestles, weaving utensils,
awls, axes, knives and drills.
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