Peter Geraci is an archaeologist specializing in prehistoric hunter-gatherer economics, lithic analysis, GIS, graphic design and public outreach. Supervisors: Robert Jeske
The Belrose Farms Archaeological Project is a multi-year effort to document the cultural resource... more The Belrose Farms Archaeological Project is a multi-year effort to document the cultural resources of the farm and to engage the public through volunteer opportunities. Limited survey has provided a wealth of new information about the property's history.
Disseminating reliable information and data is a critical component of an effective risk communic... more Disseminating reliable information and data is a critical component of an effective risk communication and community engagement strategy to combat any pandemic. During the current public health crisis, many agencies and media outlets are reporting health outcome information based on the overall population of Chicagoland geographic regions. The current study demonstrates that by not accounting for the significant loss of life in Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF), commonly quoted public health outcome indicators are likely to be inaccurate. Identification of regions with high levels of mortality and infection is a prerequisite for an effective mitigation strategy to protect the public and allocate resources. The common practice for visualizing pandemic information is to rely on overall population loss figures and ratios. The current study demonstrates that by doing so, the spatial distribution of Chicagoland critical areas is likely to be distorted. In the current crisis, inequitable p...
Considering the potential for widespread adoption of social vulnerability indices (SVI) to priori... more Considering the potential for widespread adoption of social vulnerability indices (SVI) to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations, there is a need to carefully assess them, particularly for correspondence with outcomes (such as loss of life) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Public Health GIS team developed a methodology for assessing and deriving vulnerability indices based on the premise that these indices are, in the final analysis, classifiers. Application of this methodology to several Midwestern states with a commonly used SVI indicates that by using only the SVI rankings there is risk of assigning a high priority to locations with the lowest mortality rates and low priority to locations with the highest mortality rates. Based on the findings, we propose using a two-dimensional approach to rationalize the distribution of vaccinations. This approach has the potential to account for areas with high vulnerability char...
During the ongoing public health crisis, many agencies are reporting COVID-19 health outcome info... more During the ongoing public health crisis, many agencies are reporting COVID-19 health outcome information based on the overall population. This practice can lead to misleading results and underestimation of high risk areas. To gain a better understanding of spatial and temporal distribution of COVID-19 deaths; the long term care facility (LTCF) and household population (HP) deaths must be used. This approach allows us to better discern high risk areas and provides policy makers with reliable information for community engagement and mitigation strategies. By focusing on high-risk LTCFs and residential areas, protective measures can be implemented to minimize COVID-19 spread and subsequent mortality. These areas should be a high priority target when COVID-19 vaccines become available.
The Kautz Site (11DU1) is a multi-component archaeological site located in the DuPage River Valle... more The Kautz Site (11DU1) is a multi-component archaeological site located in the DuPage River Valley in northeastern Illinois. It was inhabited at least six different times between the Late Archaic and Late Woodland periods ca. 6000-1000 B.P. The site was excavated over the course of three field seasons between 1958 and 1961, but the results were never made public. This thesis seeks to document the archaeology of the Kautz Site in order to better understand the site’s economic history. An environmental catchment analysis was conducted to evaluate the level of time and energy needed to acquire important resources like water, food, wood, and chert. A macroscopic analysis of the lithic assemblage provided information about the lithic economy at the site. The results of the landscape analysis suggest that the site was located in an economically efficient location, however the macroscopic analysis suggests that a source of raw materials for chipped stone tools was not easily accessible and as a result the inhabitants practiced a number of common adaptive strategies to cope with resource scarcity.
Although the trowel is considered to be the quintessential tool of archaeology, an underappreciat... more Although the trowel is considered to be the quintessential tool of archaeology, an underappreciated and equally important tool every archaeologist should keep in their toolbox is public outreach and discourse. Public outreach can take many forms e.g. newspaper articles, lectures, museum displays; however these efforts can be one-sided with information primarily flowing from the archaeologist to the public. In this paper I argue that public outreach can benefit the archaeologist as well as the public. Throughout Phase One investigations of the Illiana Corridor I incorporated traditional outreach techniques including articles and presentations with in depth landowner and local collector interviews. The results of these efforts were wide ranging and led to a better informed community with a renewed sense of place in their local history as wells as a better informed archaeologist rich with new data, friends, and purpose.
A common problem in archaeology is the constant shortage of time, money, and personnel necessary ... more A common problem in archaeology is the constant shortage of time, money, and personnel necessary to process the extraordinary amount of artifacts that accompanies the excavation of heavily occupied prehistoric sites such as Cahokia and Koster. The debitage excavated during the 1974 University of Illinois-Chicago field school on the bluff crest of Starved Rock, 11LS12, has been sitting in storage awaiting analysis for nearly 40 years. Through the use of popular analysis strategies including mass analysis (Ahler 1989), attribute analysis (Andrefsky 2005), and raw material identification (Ferguson 1995) questions regarding raw material preference, core reduction strategies, and site disturbance can be answered. The results indicate that there are two local raw materials that were used proportionally more than others, and that bifacial core reduction was the primary reduction strategy. Due to the limitations on sample size only a small portion of the excavated area can be discussed with any validity, necessitating future investment of time, money and personnel to this task.
Attribute analysis of the lamellar blade assemblage recovered from the Buried Gardens of Kampsvil... more Attribute analysis of the lamellar blade assemblage recovered from the Buried Gardens of Kampsville (TBGOK) has provided information regarding manufacture, use, and discard patterns practiced by Havana Hopewell people living in the Lower Illinois River Valley. Microwear studies provide valuable data regarding the function of Hopewell blades. However those studies are very time-consuming and require unique skillsets and expensive equipment. The attribute approach taken here provides basic information about the size, shape, and condition of the lamellar blades as well as the raw material chosen for tool production. The results of this approach suggest that blades were not necessarily the end production of blade production. People appear to have broken whole blades into smaller work units, and modified them through retouch for specialized tasks. It also appears that they chose several specific types of Burlington chert and used varying degrees of heat treatment in the production of blades.
The Bottlemy site (11MH495) is a well-preserved Late Woodland period site located in the remote u... more The Bottlemy site (11MH495) is a well-preserved Late Woodland period site located in the remote uplands of northeastern Illinois. The site contains two horizontally discrete occupations: an emerging Late Woodland component (A.D. 425 ± 20) confined to the lower portions of an undisturbed A horizon, and an early-to-mature Late Woodland component (A.D. 870 ± 15) within a 10 cm-thick buried A horizon. Shallow features and artifact concentrations contain diagnostic ceramic and lithic materials in association with plant and animal remains. Although a handful of Late Woodland sites have undergone subsurface testing in the area, few of these have contained many intact features to speak of and none have contained an intact buried living surface as is present on the Bottlemy site. Information recovered from the site thus far suggests that while ceramic and lithic tool assemblages changed markedly within a 500 year period (from the emerging to mature Late Woodland periods), subsistence patterns may have remained relatively unchanged for groups living in this region.
The Belrose Farms Archaeological Project is a multi-year effort to document the cultural resource... more The Belrose Farms Archaeological Project is a multi-year effort to document the cultural resources of the farm and to engage the public through volunteer opportunities. Limited survey has provided a wealth of new information about the property's history.
Disseminating reliable information and data is a critical component of an effective risk communic... more Disseminating reliable information and data is a critical component of an effective risk communication and community engagement strategy to combat any pandemic. During the current public health crisis, many agencies and media outlets are reporting health outcome information based on the overall population of Chicagoland geographic regions. The current study demonstrates that by not accounting for the significant loss of life in Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF), commonly quoted public health outcome indicators are likely to be inaccurate. Identification of regions with high levels of mortality and infection is a prerequisite for an effective mitigation strategy to protect the public and allocate resources. The common practice for visualizing pandemic information is to rely on overall population loss figures and ratios. The current study demonstrates that by doing so, the spatial distribution of Chicagoland critical areas is likely to be distorted. In the current crisis, inequitable p...
Considering the potential for widespread adoption of social vulnerability indices (SVI) to priori... more Considering the potential for widespread adoption of social vulnerability indices (SVI) to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations, there is a need to carefully assess them, particularly for correspondence with outcomes (such as loss of life) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Public Health GIS team developed a methodology for assessing and deriving vulnerability indices based on the premise that these indices are, in the final analysis, classifiers. Application of this methodology to several Midwestern states with a commonly used SVI indicates that by using only the SVI rankings there is risk of assigning a high priority to locations with the lowest mortality rates and low priority to locations with the highest mortality rates. Based on the findings, we propose using a two-dimensional approach to rationalize the distribution of vaccinations. This approach has the potential to account for areas with high vulnerability char...
During the ongoing public health crisis, many agencies are reporting COVID-19 health outcome info... more During the ongoing public health crisis, many agencies are reporting COVID-19 health outcome information based on the overall population. This practice can lead to misleading results and underestimation of high risk areas. To gain a better understanding of spatial and temporal distribution of COVID-19 deaths; the long term care facility (LTCF) and household population (HP) deaths must be used. This approach allows us to better discern high risk areas and provides policy makers with reliable information for community engagement and mitigation strategies. By focusing on high-risk LTCFs and residential areas, protective measures can be implemented to minimize COVID-19 spread and subsequent mortality. These areas should be a high priority target when COVID-19 vaccines become available.
The Kautz Site (11DU1) is a multi-component archaeological site located in the DuPage River Valle... more The Kautz Site (11DU1) is a multi-component archaeological site located in the DuPage River Valley in northeastern Illinois. It was inhabited at least six different times between the Late Archaic and Late Woodland periods ca. 6000-1000 B.P. The site was excavated over the course of three field seasons between 1958 and 1961, but the results were never made public. This thesis seeks to document the archaeology of the Kautz Site in order to better understand the site’s economic history. An environmental catchment analysis was conducted to evaluate the level of time and energy needed to acquire important resources like water, food, wood, and chert. A macroscopic analysis of the lithic assemblage provided information about the lithic economy at the site. The results of the landscape analysis suggest that the site was located in an economically efficient location, however the macroscopic analysis suggests that a source of raw materials for chipped stone tools was not easily accessible and as a result the inhabitants practiced a number of common adaptive strategies to cope with resource scarcity.
Although the trowel is considered to be the quintessential tool of archaeology, an underappreciat... more Although the trowel is considered to be the quintessential tool of archaeology, an underappreciated and equally important tool every archaeologist should keep in their toolbox is public outreach and discourse. Public outreach can take many forms e.g. newspaper articles, lectures, museum displays; however these efforts can be one-sided with information primarily flowing from the archaeologist to the public. In this paper I argue that public outreach can benefit the archaeologist as well as the public. Throughout Phase One investigations of the Illiana Corridor I incorporated traditional outreach techniques including articles and presentations with in depth landowner and local collector interviews. The results of these efforts were wide ranging and led to a better informed community with a renewed sense of place in their local history as wells as a better informed archaeologist rich with new data, friends, and purpose.
A common problem in archaeology is the constant shortage of time, money, and personnel necessary ... more A common problem in archaeology is the constant shortage of time, money, and personnel necessary to process the extraordinary amount of artifacts that accompanies the excavation of heavily occupied prehistoric sites such as Cahokia and Koster. The debitage excavated during the 1974 University of Illinois-Chicago field school on the bluff crest of Starved Rock, 11LS12, has been sitting in storage awaiting analysis for nearly 40 years. Through the use of popular analysis strategies including mass analysis (Ahler 1989), attribute analysis (Andrefsky 2005), and raw material identification (Ferguson 1995) questions regarding raw material preference, core reduction strategies, and site disturbance can be answered. The results indicate that there are two local raw materials that were used proportionally more than others, and that bifacial core reduction was the primary reduction strategy. Due to the limitations on sample size only a small portion of the excavated area can be discussed with any validity, necessitating future investment of time, money and personnel to this task.
Attribute analysis of the lamellar blade assemblage recovered from the Buried Gardens of Kampsvil... more Attribute analysis of the lamellar blade assemblage recovered from the Buried Gardens of Kampsville (TBGOK) has provided information regarding manufacture, use, and discard patterns practiced by Havana Hopewell people living in the Lower Illinois River Valley. Microwear studies provide valuable data regarding the function of Hopewell blades. However those studies are very time-consuming and require unique skillsets and expensive equipment. The attribute approach taken here provides basic information about the size, shape, and condition of the lamellar blades as well as the raw material chosen for tool production. The results of this approach suggest that blades were not necessarily the end production of blade production. People appear to have broken whole blades into smaller work units, and modified them through retouch for specialized tasks. It also appears that they chose several specific types of Burlington chert and used varying degrees of heat treatment in the production of blades.
The Bottlemy site (11MH495) is a well-preserved Late Woodland period site located in the remote u... more The Bottlemy site (11MH495) is a well-preserved Late Woodland period site located in the remote uplands of northeastern Illinois. The site contains two horizontally discrete occupations: an emerging Late Woodland component (A.D. 425 ± 20) confined to the lower portions of an undisturbed A horizon, and an early-to-mature Late Woodland component (A.D. 870 ± 15) within a 10 cm-thick buried A horizon. Shallow features and artifact concentrations contain diagnostic ceramic and lithic materials in association with plant and animal remains. Although a handful of Late Woodland sites have undergone subsurface testing in the area, few of these have contained many intact features to speak of and none have contained an intact buried living surface as is present on the Bottlemy site. Information recovered from the site thus far suggests that while ceramic and lithic tool assemblages changed markedly within a 500 year period (from the emerging to mature Late Woodland periods), subsistence patterns may have remained relatively unchanged for groups living in this region.
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Cahokia and Koster. The debitage excavated during the 1974 University of Illinois-Chicago field school on the bluff crest of Starved Rock, 11LS12, has been sitting in storage awaiting analysis for nearly 40 years. Through the use of popular analysis strategies including mass analysis (Ahler 1989), attribute analysis (Andrefsky 2005), and raw material identification (Ferguson 1995) questions regarding raw material preference, core reduction strategies, and site disturbance can be answered. The results indicate that there are two local raw materials that were used proportionally more than others, and that bifacial core reduction was the primary reduction strategy. Due to the limitations on sample size only a small portion of the excavated area can be discussed with any validity, necessitating future investment of time, money and personnel to this task.
Cahokia and Koster. The debitage excavated during the 1974 University of Illinois-Chicago field school on the bluff crest of Starved Rock, 11LS12, has been sitting in storage awaiting analysis for nearly 40 years. Through the use of popular analysis strategies including mass analysis (Ahler 1989), attribute analysis (Andrefsky 2005), and raw material identification (Ferguson 1995) questions regarding raw material preference, core reduction strategies, and site disturbance can be answered. The results indicate that there are two local raw materials that were used proportionally more than others, and that bifacial core reduction was the primary reduction strategy. Due to the limitations on sample size only a small portion of the excavated area can be discussed with any validity, necessitating future investment of time, money and personnel to this task.