Did you have a permit to remove 30,000 cubic feet from monks mound? Was the archaeology of this volume of the mound really overlooked for the sake of "archaeological integrity"?
Yes The Cahokia Mounds Site had legal authorization to do the slump repair project. Authorization was received 3 weeks prior to start of field work, after more than two years of engineering, geotechnical, geoarchaeological, and archaeological studies of the slump failure. The project was classified as an emergency repair. The repair was performed at the exact same location as a repair completed in 1988, so about 90% of the soil removed in August 2007 was the new (clean non-archaeological) fill brought in during the 1988 repair. The slump was repeatedly failing on a "slickenside" surface that started about 15 feet below the flat top of the mound and curved down and then out towards the base. The project was classified as an emergency repair because rain erosion was eating its way to the top of the mound at the head of the slump. The geotechnical consulants reported that once erosion at the top of the slump got to the flat top of the mound it would turn into a ravine and grow very rapidly and be nearly impossible to repair without massive damage to the mound. Professional archaeological mapping and sampling of the exposed mound surfaces under the slickenside was done. Results will be presented at several local and regional professional archaeology conferences this fall. These presentations will be the first documenation about the archaeology that can be referenced.
- I finally got a response to my FOIA request about this "repair". The legal boss said “No permit is required when they are working on their own property.” They are going to send me a letter saying the same thing.