BLOOMINGTON – An archaeologist has offered details of what excavators found last summer when they were working near the McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington.

Archaeologists in July unearthed part of the footprint of the 1836 courthouse where experts said Abraham Lincoln worked as an attorney. On Saturday, Floyd Mansberger of Fever River Research of Springfield said archaeologists from the firm found clues to the footprint of a jail and the old courthouse. The Bloomington Pantagraph reported they also found fragments of artifacts, like whiskey bottles, ink bottles and pipes.

Mansberger said crews found the jail’s cellar and discovered it was a 20-by-40 feet structure with a kitchen.

The archaeological work was done in advance of construction on a tourism center at the site.

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Information from: The Pantagraph, http://www.pantagraph.com