Tag: CAAKampsville

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Flood Update

It’s been one week since our post announcing the museum’s closing as a result of flooding. At the time, none of our buildings were affected, but NWS predicted the flood to crest at 37.5 ft. We closed the museum and began preparing for high water immediately.

The river is currently at 37.85 ft.

Flood stage and prediction as of 3:30 pm at the Hardin gauge.

Our hope is that this is the beginning of the end of the 2019 flood, however it is possible that the rivers could begin to rise again. Here are some pictures of what’s happening in Kampsville:

  • Back door of the Museum on Saturday, 4 May 2019.
  • Lost Crops Garden, Saturday, 4 May 2019.
  • Tepen building on Saturday, 4 May 2019.
  • A view of Kampsville from the Greene County landing for the Kampsville Ferry on Monday, 5 May 2019.
  • Looking south down IL-100, Monday, 6 May 2019.
  • Maynard and the Museum, Monday, 6 May 2019.
  • Maynard and the Museum, Wednesday, 8 May 2019. The flood at or near 37.82 ft.
  • Looking north on IL-100 on Wednesday, 8 May 2019. The flood is at or near 37.82 ft.
  • The Tepen building (left) and flotation shed (right) on Wednesday, 8 May 2019 on Wednesday, 8 May 2019. The Lost Crops Garden is between the two and underwater. The flood is at or near 37.82 ft.
  • The old university lab/museum/mess hall on Wednesday, 8 May 2019. The flood is at or near 37.82 ft.
  • The Kampsville Inn, Wednesday, 8 May 2019. The flood is at or near 37.82 ft.
CAA Museum and Maynard building during the 2019 Flood on Monday, 6 May.

The current prediction is for the flood to hang around for a few days and then begin to drain. The Mississippi River at Grafton has already crested and is draining…for now.

Let’s hope it continues to do so!

The Center for American Archeology is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We depend on your generosity to fulfill our mission.

Please show your support by becoming a member or donating today.

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Christ Light of Nations 8th Graders enjoy a Past Lifeways Field trip

During some rainy wet flood weather, the Christ Light of Nations 8th graders brought their warm smiles and creativity to our Past Lifeways experience. They enjoyed working with local clay to make coil pots and flintknapping. We enjoy having this great group with us each year.

  • Making coil pots
  • Working the clay to make it just right
  • Coil pot making is crowning success
  • Flintknapping
  • Christ Light of Nations 2019

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Rogers Park Past Lifeways Program 2019

Rogers Park Montessori enjoyed a multi-day Past Lifeways program during some very wet spring weather. They ate the first meals cooked in our new kitchen and made stone tools, clay pots, baskets, and pictographs. Students used our newly updated Archaeological Scene Investigation to learn about prehistoric cultural periods, worked on our ongoing village construction project, and created their own stories as part of our storytelling experience.

  • Storytelling Fun
  • Baskets are Fun!
  • Getting to the Point
  • First meal from our new kitchen!
  • Enjoying a hot meal
  • Digging into Prehistory
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It’s Flood Season ☹️

Notice: Our museum will close at 5 pm on May 1 in preparation for significant flooding in Kampsville. It will remain closed until further notice. 

Other scheduled CAA activities and programs are unaffected at this time.

Floods are a fact of life when you live in a river valley. The Illinois River has been out of its banks for a few weeks now, though not enough to impact our buildings and programs. That is going to change during the next few days.

The National Weather Service is predicting the Illinois River will reach 37.5 ft by next week as measured at the Hardin, IL, gauge. That means the flood will enter the museum. Floodwater enters the museum around 36.5 ft.

NWS flood prediction, 1 May 2019. No fun.

This will be the fifth time the river has flooded the museum since 2013. We hope the prediction is wrong and the museum will stay dry. Failing that, we hope the flood is brief. As of this post, the prediction at the downstream Grafton gauge near the confluence suggests the rivers may drain relatively soon. But, we’ve been misled before.

In the meantime, no other activities or programs are cancelled. Enrollments are open for programs and limited scholarship funds are available. Don’t miss out!

The Center for American Archeology is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We depend on your generosity to fulfill our mission.

Please show your support by becoming a member or donating today.

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Jane Buikstra Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences!

Dr. Jane Buikstra, CAA President and newly elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Congratulations to Jane Buikstra on her election to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences! Jane is a member of the 239th class of new members being recognized for their achievements in science, the arts, government, and other fields. She will be inducted October 11-13, 2019 at in Cambidge, MA.

The Academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock, and others who believed the new republic should honor exceptionally accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good. The Academy’s dual mission remains essentially the same 239 years later with honorees from increasingly diverse fields and with the work focused on the arts, democracy, education, global affairs, and science.

“With the election of these members, the Academy upholds the ideals of research and scholarship, creativity and imagination, intellectual exchange and civil discourse, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge in all its forms,” said President Oxtoby.

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony in October 2019 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and join the company of Academy members elected before them, including Benjamin Franklin (elected 1781) and Alexander Hamilton (1791) in the eighteenth century; Ralph Waldo Emerson (1864), Maria Mitchell (1848), and Charles Darwin (1874) in the nineteenth; Albert Einstein (1924), Robert Frost(1931), Margaret Mead (1948), Milton Friedman (1959), and Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966) in the twentieth; and more recently Antonin Scalia (2003), Michael Bloomberg (2007), John Lithgow (2010), Judy Woodruff (2012), and Bryan Stevenson (2014).

Source: 2019 Members Announcement Press Release

Congrats Jane on this impressive accomplishment!