{"nrhp_refnum":"72000457","name":"Dickson Mounds","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Off CR 4","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lewistown","county":"Fulton County","state":"IL","lat":40.34976069450008,"lon":-90.10700164045765,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-05-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Prehistoric","Education"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An archaeological site near Lewistown, Fulton County, Illinois, made up of a prehistoric burial mound and four associated village or camp sites, covering about 80 acres in total. It is owned by the Illinois State Museum and dates to about A.D. 1000.","why_significant":"Few sites are known to hold as many burials as this one, with over 1,000 recorded. The skeletal remains and artifacts yield information on the social, religious and technological aspects of the culture. The associated village and camp sites span several thousand years of prehistory, from Archaic to Mississippian.","narrative":"Dickson Mounds is an archaeological site near Lewistown in Fulton County, Illinois. It centers on a prehistoric burial mound and four associated village or camp sites known as Eveland, Pond, Dickson Camp and Myer/Dickson, together covering roughly eighty acres. The mound once stood about ten feet high and now rises about five feet above the surrounding ground, since much of it has been excavated. Over 1,000 burials have been recorded, a number few sites can match, and many others were destroyed earlier in the twentieth century by building projects and relic collectors. The skeletons and artifacts supply evidence about the social, religious and technological life of the people who lived here around A.D. 1000. The village and camp sites reach back several thousand years, from Archaic to Mississippian times. Excavations at the Myer/Dickson site found thirteen structures and about 300 storage or refuse pits. A museum building now covers 234 burials left in place for public viewing.","period_of_significance":"Pre-Columbian; specific date ca. A.D. 1000","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Partially excavated, with condition marked fair. About one-fourth of the mound remains unexcavated. A new building has been erected over 234 burials left in place for public exhibit. The site is used as a museum.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.81671-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/8928/28892857/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/72000457.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000457/0fbd65fb86-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000457/0fbd65fb86-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"MattHucke","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dickson-museum.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">MattHucke</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dickson-museum.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892857","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickson_Mounds","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5273799"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/fulton-county/dickson-mounds-72000457/"}