Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
IN-1: Innovation 1

The Cultural Resource Sustainability Program (CRSP) under the direction of Michele Lorenzini, uncovered artifacts on previous archaeological sites that were deemed destroyed. These artifacts, with notes and historical papers related to the sites, have been permanently preserved, and are now available for the scientific community to enhance knowledge of prehistoric conditions. The CRSP surveyed the entire core of a site that was originally cleared by the Illinois Historic Preservation Association and was used in the 1980s. The sites were deemed no longer useful to university activities. As part of Lorenzini's CRSP work, materials (artifacts, notes and associated documents) have been curated at the Illinois State Museum. The articles came from the Meeks site (Sid's field schools in the 1980s,) and had previously been left to sit. Bringing the articles into curation, as well as the creation of an archaeological site on state land, result in contribution to empirical knowledge of the state's prehistoric history. Working with Dr. Randall Pearson of SIUE Geography, Lorenzini was able to contribute working knowledge of archaeological sites to Pearson's GIS SIUE project. In addition, the SIUE Emergency Management and Safety department has coordinated with Cultural Resource Management (CRM) and helped SIUE remain in compliance with Federal and State laws regarding cultural resources over recent years. The CRM course provides on-site training in an archaeological survey of land on the campus. To the knowledge of Dr. Michele Lorenzini, there are no other universities offering a similar program for hands-on study held outside the classroom.

The course 476 CRM which has been taught 3 times up through March 11, 2015, with 6 phase I archaeological surveys conducted on the campus, resulted in saving the University a total of $9600 minimum. This improves the University's capacity for longterm planning, and gives students a competitive edge with essential job training.