Images of excavated burials at Dickson Mound site in Lewiston, Illinois.
Biographical/Historical note:
Paul Zakoian (ca. 1934-1999) was a photographer, sculptor, and educator at the Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago, Illinois. He joined the US Navy during the Korean War, training as a photographer and serving on the carrier USS Philippines. When he returned to the United States, he studied sculpture and photography at the Institute of Design. His photographs have been exhibited widely in Chicago and the American Midwest and published in periodicals, including the Chicago Tribune and New York Times.
Dickson Mounds is a large burial mound complex near Lewistown, Illinois. In 1927, chiropractor Don Dickson began to excavate the mounds on his family farm, joined by University of Chicago archaeologists in the 1930s. Instead of removing the bones from the graves they excavated, Dickson and the archeologists left the bones and associated objects in situ for viewing, first in a private and then a public museum. Amid controversy, the state closed the burial to the public on April 3, 1992, out of respect for the descendants of the source communities.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 99-26
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photographs of the Dickson Mound Site held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 8.
