‘Artifact Day’ planned at Fort Massac State Park

An “Artifact Day” is planned Saturday, March 14, at Fort Massac State Park in Metropolis.

The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. “Artifact Day” is sponsored by the Kincaid Mounds Support Organization, KMSO.

The day will offer an opportunity to view and discuss relics from the past.

Collections which are scheduled to be on display include Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian artifacts from KMSO members and other area collectors.

For those who have found artifacts and want to learn more about them, archaeologists and collectors are scheduled to be available to identify pieces.

Guest speaker Dr. Brian M. Butler is scheduled to present a program at 1:30 p.m.

Butler’s presentation is titled “Citadels of Ritual and Power in Prehistoric Southern Illinois.”

The talk will compare the principal settlements and their social and ritual importance of the Late Woodland and Mississippian periods.

His talk will include Cypress Citadel and Kincaid Mounds.

Butler is from the Center for Archaeological Investigations at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, emeritus.

No registration is required to attend the program. For more information, contact the visitors center at Fort Massac State Park, phone 618-524-4712.