Illinois Archaeology

During the last few decades, archaeological investigations at 11 early Late Woodland Weaver sites in the LaMoine Valley of west-central Illinois have produced a wealth of data regarding Weaver chronology, lithic and ceramic manufacture, settlement and subsistence practices, and external relations. This article summarizes those data, the synthesis of which allows for the proposal here of two new Weaver phases, Camp Creek and Crooked Creek.

The Fisher phase is an Upper Mississippian cultural manifestation primarily located around the base of Lake Michigan in northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana. Fisher ceramic wares have long been recognized in the region by their unique blend of both Oneota and Fort Ancient stylistic attributes and the predominance of cordmarking on ves-sels' exterior surfaces. Until recently, however, few detailed analyses of ceramic assemblages illustrating regional and chronological variation within what we recognize ceramically as the " Fisher phase " have been available. Over the course of the last two decades, new data has emerged from central Indiana, additional AMS and 14 C dates have been obtained from sites in both Illinois and Indiana, and modern attribute analyses have been conducted on many old and new Fisher phase ceramic assemblages. These data are brought together here to provide an updated understanding of Fisher phase ceramic variation from the early thirteenth through the fifteenth century A.D. across the region.

The view that there is a continent-wide Archaic stage leads only to the collecting of type fossils and contributes little to the understanding of the types of variation among these hunting-and-gathering societies and the reasons for the variations.

Much of what is known about the Indigenous city of Cahokia, located in and influential on the North American midcontinent during the eleventh through fourteenth centuries AD, derives from decades of salvage, research, and CRM excavations in the surrounding American Bottom region. We use this robust dataset to explore patterns of building conflagration that suggest these practices of burning were part of pre-Mississippian traditions that were bundled into new Cahokian landscapes during the early consolidation of the city. These bundled practices entangled sources of power that were at once political and religious, thus transforming the practices and meanings associated with terminating building use via fire. Mucho de lo que se conoce sobre la ciudad indígena de Cahokia, ubicada en el medio continente norteamericano durante los siglos XI al XIV dC, deriva de décadas de excavaciones de rescate, investigación y CRM en la región circundante de América. Utilizamos este sólido conjunto de datos para explorar patrones de conflagración de edificios, lo que sugiere que estas prác-ticas de quema fueron parte de las tradiciones pre-Mississippian que se incluyeron en los nuevos paisajes de Cahokian durante la consolidación temprana de la ciudad. Estas prácticas agrupadas enmarañaron fuentes de poder que eran a la vez políticas y religiosas, transformando así las prácticas y los significados asociados con la terminación del uso del edificio a través del fuego.

Please see my newer papers that are peer-reviewed publications:
"Creation to Rhythm: An Ethnographic and Archaeological Survey of Turtle Shell Rattles and Spirituality in the United States" published by Journal of Ethnobiology (https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-39.3.425)
"An Experimental Study of Turtle Shell Rattle Production and the Implications for Archaeofaunal Assemblages" published by PLOS ONE (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201472)
"Identifying Turtle Shell Rattles in the Archaeological Record of the Southeastern United States" published by Ethnobiology Letters (https://doi.org/10.14237/ebl.8.1.2017.979)

Abstract:
Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina) remains are frequently recovered from archaeological sites across the Southeastern United States. Typically they are counted as food refuse; however, ethnographic and taphonomic data suggest box turtles may have functioned as rattles. Rattles were made using modern box turtle shells, and examined for manufacturing marks, use-wear, and breakage patterns. The information gained from the experimental studies was compared to archaeological turtle remains from two Mississippian Period sites. We determined that box turtle remains cannot always be classified as food refuse. Instead taphonomic history and contextual associations must be taken into account in functional interpretations.

The examination of prehistoric faunal assemblages has traditionally focused on dietary patterns, resource exploitation, and ecological reconstruction. Only limited attention has been given to the ritual use of animal remains. In the American Bottom, despite an abundance of archaeological sites and assemblages, few studies have explored this aspect of Native American ritual behavior. This article provides an overview of Late Woodland, Terminal Late Woodland, and Mississippian ritual use of bone and shell in the American Bottom and considers broad patterns of animal part use and changes in use over time. Using approaches formulated within social zooarchaeology, examination of this aspect of ritual behavior provides further insight into human-animal relations during the late prehistoric period.

Early projectile points from Midcontinental North America vary significantly in size and shape. Understanding the functional and stylistic aspects of this variability on a large spatial scale is a precursor to using this class of artifacts to evaluate and refine models of the social interaction of early hunter-gatherers in this region. Metric data from a sample (n = 1771) of Early Paleoindian (ca. 11,050-10,800 RCYBP), Late Paleoindian (ca. 10,300-10,000 RCYBP), and Early Archaic (ca. 10,000-8000 RCYBP) projectile points are analyzed to partition elements of functional and stylistic variability. Changes in the coefficient of variation of specific attributes are compared to expectations about how functional and stylistic variability should be manifest in these tools. Variability in hafting width and thickness appear to be constrained by functional considerations. The mixture of variables most closely related to hafting width shifts during the transition from lanceolate to notched points.

The Logan Museum of Anthropology houses thousands of objects from Illinois archaeological sites. While many objects have useful associated documentation, some collections lack contextual data. Provenance investigations can restore provenience information, making neglected or forgotten collections useful for current and future research. Provenance research also provides insights about the history of archaeology and the construction of archaeological knowledge. Recent study of Middle Woodland collections from the Baehr and Montezuma mound groups in the Illinois River valley exemplifies the value of analyzing collection histories.

Isotopic analyses of human remains have been used to gain insights into aspects of subsistence and provide insights into mechanisms behind changes in material culture. Midwest archaeologists have used them to track major shifts such as the introduction of maize and associated changes in social organization. However, these destructive tests can create ethical and legal issues concerning the treatment of human remains. The Canine Surrogacy Approach (CSA) is the use of domestic dog remains as a proxy for human remains. Dog isotope values generally mirror their human companions', thereby circumventing the need to destroy human remains without sacrificing scientific research. This paper addresses the efficacy of CSA in the western Great Lakes.

Relatively little is known about the archaeology of the upland area situated between the Lower Illinois River Valley and Northern American Bottom of western Illinois. However, several recent IDOT-sponsored projects have afforded the opportunity to gather baseline information about local Late Woodland cultures. As part of one modest-scale road-widening project, a portion of the Wedding site was excavated, producing over 70 pit facilities. This paper focuses on a preliminary analysis of the two structures excavated at the site, which appear to differ somewhat from roughly contemporaneous residential buildings in the American Bottom. Our research suggests that the character of the Wedding site structures, as well as variation in the point and pottery styles, denote the presence of a distinctive social group within the greater terminal Late Woodland Bluff tradition from the Illinois/Mississippi/Missouri River confluence area.

The Titterington Horizon of western Illinois is comprised of multiple phases, each of which may represent a different contemporary group within this region. The Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa was home to one or more groups of these Titterington Horizon peoples who utilized large hafted bifaces that exhibit broad percussion flaking and a low incidence of heat treatment. In this article we offer a general discussion concerning Quad Cities Titterington materials, beginning with a review of the environmental setting of the Quad Cities area, then summarize two recently excavated sites, Billboard Flats (11HY289) and Crosstown Road (11RI693), and explore how these contribute to our understanding of the Titterington Horizon of the Prairie Peninsula.

The Marseton #2 site is a Weaver ring midden in the
Mississippi Valley of Mercer County, Illinois, that was buried
by a catastrophic flood event a few centuries after the site
had been abandoned. Analysis of the more than 740,000
ceramic items from the village provides insights as to
Weaver interactions with other non-Weaver early Late
Woodland groups of the region. While the presence of non-
Weaver ceramics at the village might represent trade items,
or vessels manufactured by potters peacefully or forcibly
brought to the site, it is suggested that a non-Weaver
household producing Levsen-like ceramics was coexisting at
Marseton #2 alongside multiple Weaver households.

This paper assesses our current understanding of the native use of the major mid-continental United States pipestone quarries based on over two decades of research. Our studies indicate that combining chemical and mineralogical techniques such as shortwave infrared spectroscopy (SWIS), thin-section petrography, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have identified pipestones with similar chemical compositions containing distinctive mineralogical suites (often including berthierine, kaolinite, dia-spore, muscovite, and pyrophyllite). This research has identified unique mineral compositions at known quarries such as catlinite, Ohio Feurt Hill, Baraboo, and Barron pipestones, as well as identifying previously unknown quarries of Sterling Illinois pipestone, Cahokia Missouri flint clay, and Portsmouth Ohio Claystone. These discoveries have led to a major shift in interpretations of Cahokian and Hopewell pipe exchange. Further examination of native ethnographic quarry use

This paper employs concepts from Bourdieu’s theory of social fields and contemporary research on transnationalism to explore the complicated history of population movement, culture contact, and interaction that fueled the origins of Mississippian society in the greater Cahokia area and closely related socio-political developments in the Central
Illinois River Valley (CIRV) of west-central Illinois.We offer a new take on Mississippian origins and the history of culture contact in the CIRV, arguing that interregional simultaneity and inter-group collaboration played an important part of the early processes of Mississippianization in the North American Midwest. By decentering Cahokia in our
explanation of Mississippian origins in the greater Midwest, we argue for a long-term persistence of traditional pre-Mississippian practices in the CIRV region, beginning with the first documented engagement among Cahokians and Illinois Valley groups in the early eleventh century until the beginning of the thirteenth century AD.

Nearly three decades of archaeological work at the East St. Louis Precinct have repeatedly demonstrated that much of this Mississippian site has survived the effects of urbanization and industrial development. Historic period excavation and filling have reshaped and obscured the prehistoric landscape, complicating the delineation of the site boundaries and identification of mounds, plazas, and habitation areas. Therefore, predicting the archaeological potential of any part of the site has been difficult. This paper examines this issue using an archaeological survey conducted for the MetroLink St. Clair County extension in East St. Louis. Systematic trenching established a boundary for a small portion of this buried site. The survey also revealed an association between sandy or silty soils and Mississippian occupation and no evidence for occupation of areas with clayey soils. Comparing these findings with those of the subsequent data-recovery investigations shows that systematic sampling is effective for detecting buried prehistoric deposits in East St. Louis, but it is less useful for characterizing such deposits and predicting their distribution across landforms.

The actual French settlement of Illinois began long after the arrival of the first French traders, explorers, and priests. To date, archaeological projects have investigated 10 eighteenth-century French domestic sites in Illinois, all of which postdate 1730 and most of which also straddle the British and early American periods. Six of those sites have been
investigated in the last 10 years, and these recent studies have produced some of our most significant feature and artifact samples to date. Presented below is a summary of the general
character of French domestic sites in Illinois.

Analysis of Mississippian mortuary data from seven sites in the Central Illinois River valley indicates that a particular suite of grave goods are found with children less than eight years of age. These items include shell beads, marine shell pendants, and antler bracelets. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric data suggest that these patterns may be related to commonly held notions of personhood in the Eastern Woodlands and eastern Plains. It is suggested that around the age of eight, Mississippian children began the process of becoming fully constituted “persons.” Beads may have been included with young juveniles to protect them on their journey to the afterlife and to confer group membership on those who were not fully constituted members of society.

Recent examination of zooarchaeological remains from the Olin (11MS133) and Russell (11MS672) sites in Madison County, Illinois, provides important data on Moorehead phase faunal exploitation in the northern American Bottom. Both assemblages are from upland sites, a type of locality often overshadowed by floodplain sites, with their more abundant deposits of Late Woodland through Mississippian faunal remains. Although similar in many respects, comparison of select Mississippian assemblages from this region illustrates a number of differences in resource exploitation and procurement practices, which likely reflect shifts in environmental conditions and regional relationships.

Archaeological investigations at the late prehistoric Janey B. Goode site (11S1232) in southwestern Illinois resulted in the recovery of over 5,400 domestic dog (Canis familiaris) remains, representing over 100 individual animals. The substantial size of this well-preserved faunal assemblage allows for a detailed study of Native American dogs during the Late Woodland Patrick phase (A.D. 650-900), Terminal Late Woodland (A.D. 900-1050), and Mississippian (A.D. 1050-1400) periods in the American Bottom. One aspect of this on-going, multifaceted research project is the documentation, analysis, and interpretation of prehistoric trauma and pathologies. This article presents a preliminary summary of the dog paleopathology evidence obtained thus far from the Janey B. Goode site.

"The adoptions of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the American Midwest remain critical lines of inquiry as the articles in this volume of Midwest Archaeologial Conference Inc. Occasional Papers amply demonstrate. Here I provide a critical assessment of current lines of investigation of crop adoptions and agricultural evolution. I argue that three changes are needed in order to build clearer understandings of these important issues: (1) the fuller integration of biological and social theories, (2) the adoption of probabilistic methods, and (3) the use of multiple lines of evidence."