Mark's Relics Site

My name is Mark Hanft and I am from Central Illinois. I have collected Indian relics from plowed fields in the Illinois counties of Coles, Fayette, and Shelby for almost thirty years. I have reported over 100 sites, from the Paleo era through the Mississippian, to the Illinois Historical Preservation Agency. My area of collection encompasses the floodplain of the Kaskaskia River, bluff edges of the Kaskaskia River and the dissected uplands in Fayette and Shelby counties, glacial lakes in Fayette County, and prairie potholes along the edge of the Shelbyville Moraine, the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin glacier, as well as a small collection from the Embarrass River bottom in Coles County.

The purpose of this site is to make available to anyone interested in the prehistory of Central Illinois the knowledge I have aquired over nearly thirty years of systematic collecting. All artifacts pictured are personal finds, nothing has been purchased. Many of these sites are no longer farmed and a number of them are in danger of being destroyed. As a responsible collector I feel I have a responsibility to make the information I have available to all who are interested.