Mill Creek, IL

Mill Creek chert is a type of chert found in Southern Illinois and heavily exploited by members of the Mississippian culture. Artifacts made from this material are found in archaeological sites throughout the American Midwest and Southeast. Mill Creek is named for a village and stream near the quarries, Mill Creek, Illinois and Mill Creek, a tributary of the Cache River. Mill Creek's local map joins its older history to the places and landscapes that still shape the town today, all within the wider Illinois setting.

The local scoop is how Mill Creek's history still shows up in the places people visit, work, learn, and meet. The chert was used extensively for the production of utilitarian tools such as hoes and spades, and for polished ceremonial objects such as bifaces, spatulate celts and maces. Chert is a siliceous stone, a variety of quartz similar to flint but more brittle. Mill Creek naturally occurs as large, flat, elliptically shaped nodules in creek beds, and sometimes as hill-top residuum.