ai n nTROduction to the libben site by Thomas R. Pigott Phalanx Mills, Ohio

The Libben Site was primarily a Late the end of the dig, which was then followed of six additional individuals. Some of these Woodland cemetery located on the north up to disclose an important and unforeseen appear to be quite bizarre to our modern bank of the Portage River in Ottawa County, discovery that would have otherwise been Western sensibilities. Dr. C. Owen Lovejoy Ohio, approximately four and one-half miles missed. No graves were revealed in this of Kent State University and his associates upstream from the river’s mouth at Port scraped area, but it did reveal long straight have published a number of papers dealing Clinton on . The lower reaches of lines of postmolds to be discussed below. with other aspects of the physiology, pathol- the river are basically a long embayment of Prufer, who had undertaken the second ogy and demography of the burial popula- the lake and it is still half a mile wide in front season of excavation with the goal of 100% tion, which Prufer claimed to be the largest of the site. The site was discovered late in recovery, estimated that the excavated area discrete prehistoric population excavated in the 1966 field season by Orrin C. Shane, encompassed 85% to 90% of the available the United States. III, then a doctoral candidate at Case Insti- site. Romain (1979), taking into account A substantial amount of cultural material tute of Technology, who was doing field unexcavated areas, land lost to erosion by was also retrieved during the excavations. survey in the area at the behest of Dr. Olaf the river and a set-aside along the river’s Prufer reported that he counted the pot- H. Prufer. Shane found human bones on edge required by the landowner, Arthur Lib- sherds recovered from the site in 1970–71, the surface and, recognizing the potential ben, to protect against future erosion, cal- stopping when he reached 75,000 but of the site, notified Prufer, who immediately culated the excavated area as being 66% of estimating the total to be in the vicinity of gathered a small field crew to conduct test the original site, with 12% of the site having 80,000. He commented that the extreme excavations, during which several burials been washed away. fragmentation of the ceramics gave them were uncovered. Prufer then organized and The skeletal remains of “about 1,300” the appearance of having been “trampled.” conducted a full summer field season of (Meindl, Mensforth and Lovejoy, 2008) There are approximately thirty-five complete excavation with a crew of twenty-five from human beings, of both sexes and ranging in or nearly complete ceramic vessels extant April to September of 1967, followed by a age from unborn fetuses to the elderly, were from the excavations, most of which accom- second full season in 1968 with a crew of disinterred. Most of the graves were shallow panied burials, as well as some 2,400 rim- sixty-four, supplemented at times by oth- and so highly concentrated over much of the sherds that were primarily from non-burial ers. He sought financial backing for the dig site that many of them had been disturbed or disturbed contexts. Only a very few shell- but was unsuccessful in obtaining it, so prehistorically by the intrusion of later burials tempered potsherds were recovered; 99+% Prufer paid for the excavations out of his into earlier ones. The first known historical of the ceramics recovered from the site are own pocket; neither federal nor state gov- disturbance to the site was from the peach from grit-tempered Late Woodland vessels. ernment funds were involved. orchard mentioned by Sarge Smith. The I was only peripherally involved in the While he didn’t know it at the time of the orchard was gone by the 1960’s, but Prufer ceramic analysis and can only give my excavations, Prufer reported that he later reported that the excavators encountered impressions, not a statistical analysis. There learned that his good friend, Arthur George concentrations of peach pits and root molds are at least eight thick, interior-exterior cord- “The Old Sarge” Smith (1891 - 1964), a where the trees had stood. Later the site marked Early Woodland rimsherds repre- well known and highly respected amateur was used to grow annual grain crops, which senting a minimum of two vessels. There archaeologist (Prufer delivered the eulogy disturbed more of the burials. are a few rimsherds, probably less than a at his funeral), had previously conducted The vast majority (93.6%) of the bodies hundred, whose only decoration is cord- excavations at the site. Sarge knew the site for which the mode of burial could be deter- marking over the entire exterior surface, that as the Montgomery Burial Site and reported mined had been laid out in an extended should date to the earliest part of the Late that it was located in “a semi-abandoned position, primarily on their backs. Other . There is also an interest- peach orchard” on a “sand knoll” beside the modes of interment are represented by 41 ing group of 46 small pieces of fired clay, all Portage River. “One Sunday morning early in bundle burials (4.4%), fourteen flexed burials less than an inch and a quarter in maximum June, 1917,” he and a companion conducted (1.6%), and four cremations (0.4%). Other dimension, with most being less than an an expedition to the site on horseback from than the cremations and bundle burials, inch. A few pieces look as if they could have nearly Camp Perry, where they were serving only articulated remains, although they need been daub, but most of them seem to have in the U.S. Army with an artillery unit in train- not have been complete skeletons, were been symmetrically shaped, although it is ing for World War I. They found bones on the assigned numbers and tallied as part of the hard to say to what end. Two appear to be surface and excavated seven graves. Arti- 1,300 burials. Nearly 22% of the numbered rather elegant representations of the heads facts, including projectile points, a crushed burials were described as disturbed and did and necks of birds. ceramic “cup”, a complete clay elbow pipe not have a burial mode assigned to them. The vast majority of the pots that were left and marine shell ornaments, accompanied Whether from being thrown out prehistori- at the Libben Site, however, bear some form three of the burials. Some of these artifacts cally, plowed out historically, or disturbed by of decoration, the style of which is quite dis- are illustrated in Smith’s report of the exca- woodchuck or other burrowing, a large num- tinctive and impressive. The decorations are vation published in the Ohio Archaeologist in ber of “stray” skeletal elements were recov- much more elaborate, even ornate, in com- 1964, shortly before his death. ered in the dig. Romain (1979) reported that parison to the plain, utilitarian look typical Romain (1979) reported that the excavated these bones came from an additional 170 of the Late Woodland ceramics from north- area of Prufer’s digs covered 30,000 square people, bringing the total number of bodies eastern Ohio with which I am more familiar. feet, breaking it down to 22,300 sq. ft., or represented by the human remains exca- Not having seen such, to me, exotic pot- 892 five-foot-square excavation units, man- vated from the site closer to 1,500. tery before and knowing that it came from ually excavated, with an additional 7,700 sq. Romain, in his 1979 masters thesis on the a cemetery, I wondered upon first sight if it ft. immediately to the north of the manual subject, also details an interesting number might be mortuary made to be used excavations examined after being scraped of post-mortem skeletal modifications on for honoring the dead. by a bulldozer. My understanding is that this forty-five of the numbered burials as well Switching from archaeology to art for a resulted from the accidental discovery of as on an additional sixty-three “scattered moment, most of the decoration on the postmolds during the backfilling process at skeletal fragments” representing a minimum ceramics is geometrical, and if the designs

50 Ohio Archaeologist 51 Vol. 61, No. 4, Fall 2011 have meaning, we are incapable of discern- Palaeo lanceolates; a cache, likely the a stockade. What was being interpreted as ing what it is. There is one pot, however, smallest cache on record, of four Turkey- a stockade consisted of long straight lines whose decorations convey meaning to me. tail fragments, each manufactured from a of postmolds. However, according to Prufer, It spoke of death and despair, the emptiness different piece of Wyandotte chert (Indi- the postmolds were only three inches or so that can wash over one in the immediate ana hornstone); nineteen corner-notched in diameter and were spaced a foot or two aftermath of a loved one’s death. This nearly points; eleven side-notched points; fifteen apart. Revisiting the data in the 21st century, complete vessel (Fig. 1) was decorated with stemmed points; and 100 non-diagnostic Prufer’s opinion was that their interpretation what I interpret to have been four stylized fragments, consisting of as a stockade “doesn’t make sense.” human faces, one of which has been lost. 46 tip fragments, 32 mid-sections and 22 They were much more likely to have been Fig. 2 illustrates the remaining three. They basal fragments. There are 113 bifaces; 94 the walls of what were, perhaps, one or more face outward on castellations opposite each splitting wedges (piece esquillées); 31 drills, charnel houses. They are very reminiscent of other on the rim. The experience of art is one of which might be better described as the long “enclosures” revealed by excava- subjective, but to me they are very evoca- an eccentric; 3 hafted scrapers; 17 unifa- tions at the Younge Site, a partially exca- tive of death and mourning, while bearing cial endscrapers; 11 unifacial sidescrap- vated Late Woodland cemetery in a faint resemblance to the face in Edvard ers; 16 gravers; 260 utilized or retouched reported by Emerson Greenman in 1937. Munch’s painting, The Scream. The word flakes (which Prufer preferred to refer to as The Younge Site and the Libben Site share macabre comes to mind. This pot accom- “expedient tools”); and a bladelet or two. many similar, indeed identical, cultural traits. panied a 36-year-old man into his grave. A Michael Tallan reported in 1977 that there The Younge Site excavations revealed post- rimsherd from a different pot was recovered were 8,711 pieces of debitage recovered in molds outlining two of these structures, both that has a similar motif (Fig. 3). This face is the excavations. about 25 to 30 feet wide, with one being 585 on a hemispherical protrusion just below the In the ground and polished stone cat- feet long and the other 252 feet long (Green- rim that probably served as a lug. It is listed egory, there are nine complete celts and/or man, 1937). Greenman cited early historical as coming from a burial for which I have no adzes and eighteen fragments, one of which reports by Cadillac, Lalemont, and Charle- information. The faces on both pots were may have come from an axe. Additionally, voix of the Hurons, Iroquois and Nipissing very simply formed by pushing a few holes there is one very thin slate “gorget” that is erecting such large buildings. They used into damp clay. To my eye, that simplicity about 75% complete and covered on both them to temporarily house the bodies of the captures death and grief to powerful effect. sides with fine line geometrical engraving. dead and host ceremonies honoring them Analyzing the ceramics from the site was Then there are two small, flat polished slate before their mass burial in a large pit, dug a daunting task that defeated more than fragments without engraving; two small for the purpose, during periodic gatherings one researcher over the years and was polished disks; three fascinating little fine- or festivals known as Feasts of the Dead, never successfully completed. They exhibit grained sandstone abrading stones, each which were held every eight to twelve years. a great deal of variation in decoration that, having a unique shape; two slate knives; two Jesuit missionaries living among the native per Prufer, defied conventional analytical iron pyrite fragments; two grinding stones; peoples of the Great Lakes in the 17th cen- schemes. There are repetitive patterns and one stone bead; and a few unidentifiable tury reported that they held their dead in designs in the decorations, but they are exe- fragments and items of unknown usage. great regard, keeping their bodies with them cuted with a great deal of variation. When Red ochre was also found in at least two, near their homes until it was time to take seeing groups of these rimsherds spread and yellow ochre in one, of the Early Late them to the Feast of the Dead. Mound burial out on a table, one’s first impression is that Woodland graves. demonstrates that Early and Middle Wood- no two are exactly the same. Prufer said that One copper awl, excavated by Prufer him- land peoples of the Great Lakes area also when one sees a Hopewell pot, one knows self, and one copper bead were also recov- had great regard for their dead. The Libben that it is a Hopewell pot, and when one sees ered from the site. Site cemetery lies halfway along the time a Fort Ancient pot, one knows that it is a Fort Historic items extant in the collection are line between the two. Mortuary practices Ancient pot – both cultures had decorative one coin, three buttons, four gunflints, ten changed over time, but it isn’t too hard to motifs that they “stuck with.” He ventured brass shotgun shell casings, thirteen kaolin imagine that some thread of belief and con- that the Libben potters lived in a more egali- pipe fragments, 93 pieces of ceramic crock- tinuity of ritual practices concerning life and tarian society where there was no “Grand ery, 133 fragments of various glass items death traveled through time with the people. Snapdragon” to tell them, “This is the way (including one glass ), 164 pieces of The postmolds don’t fit the known models we decorate our pots,” and so could experi- various metal items and 284 ceramic china for a defensive stockade or for a domicile. ment and express themselves more freely. fragments. Prufer mentioned a memory of In our culture, the building standing next to Twelve complete smoking pipes and 206 some “silver tinklers” from the site, but they the graveyard is usually a church. We don’t fragments of broken pipes are extant. All of could not be located. know what it was at the Libben and Younge the complete pipes were found with buri- Over 45,000 mammal bones (from which Sites, but it was something that wasn’t typi- als. Nine of them are grit-tempered ceramic 23 species were identified), over 5,700 bird cally found in a village. elbow pipes, while three are made of stone. bones (from which 28 species were identi- There is scant direct or conclusive evi- Several of them bear decorations, includ- fied) and an estimated 250,000 fish bones dence for a village at the Libben Site. Some ing one uniquely shaped stone pipe that (including ten identified genera), were recov- postmolds were recorded, but beyond the has what appears to be a lizard engraved ered from the site (Harrison, 1978). Charred walls just discussed and what was appar- on its surface. The fragments of broken plant remains of corn, hickory, acorn, rasp- ently some type of shelter built over one pipes, 120 stem fragments and 86 bowl berry, smartweed, dock, hackberry, cheno- grave containing multiple individuals, they fragments, were scattered across the site; pod, grape and foxtail were also identified did not reveal individual structures but were, eleven came from grave fill. They were all (Harrison, 1978). according to Prufer, “random.” There were made of grit-tempered ceramics except for The extant collection of artifacts recov- so many burials in such close, indeed over- one stone bowl fragment and one shell- ered from the excavations contains over 450 lapping, proximity to each other that it was tempered stem fragment. pieces of bone, 79 pieces of antler and 2,711 assumed by those interpreting the excava- Chert items extant from the excava- items manufactured from marine shells. that tion in the 1960’s that the graveyard had tions include 101 Late Woodland projec- are the subjects of the reports for which this continued to expand until it ultimately cov- tile points, consisting of twelve Jack’s introduction was written. ered and obliterated the evidence of the vil- Reef Corner Notched points, two Rac- What has been written to date on the Lib- lage. Perhaps, but negative evidence is poor coon Notched points and 87 triangles. ben Site reports the occupation of the site to proof. Some 115 features, primarily pits, but There are 155 presumably earlier projectile have been that of a stockaded village. There also a few hearths and small sheet middens, points extant. Among them are six Late is no evidence in the existing site records of were recorded for the excavations. Some of

Ohio Archaeologist 52 Vol. 61, No. 4, Fall 2011 53 these may well have been created as part of recovered from the site were found with of the site at Kent State University. These a village occupation, one or more of which the bodies in the graves, leaving sixty-two, covered smoking pipes (Morgan, 1971), could have occurred at the site over time. assuming that they weren’t from disturbed ceramics (Fossett, 1975), flint (Tallan, 1977), Alternatively, some of the features may graves, to potentially represent the non- floral and faunal remains (Harrison, 1978), have resulted from repeated occupations mortuary-related occupation of the site. If and skeletal modifications (Romain, 1979). of the site for periodic hunting and/or fish- all of the 115 features excavated at the site However, as time marched on bearing life’s ing expeditions by people whose perma- were part of this village, wouldn’t a village of vicissitudes with it, the vision of a final report nent residences were elsewhere. The site people who, for the whole village over the faded and fell by the way. fronted on the Portage River and produced course of 250 years, dug on average one In March of 2007, feeling the heavy hand direct evidence of the bounty of its fisheries. pit or created one firehearth every two years of mortality pressing on him and having the Lovejoy recalled “a lot of fish pits” at the site, and lost or discarded on average one pro- Libben Site as his only unpublished exca- while Prufer reported that there were “mil- jectile point every four years make for a poor vation, Olaf started to gather the material lions” of still slimy and smelly fish scales in village? Not to mention the lack, or dearth, together to write the final report. He envi- the pits, way too numerous, not to mention of such domestic tools as hammerstones, sioned it being published in book form and disgusting, to save; only a handful, now hav- pitted stones and grinding stones in the invited me to create the illustrations for the ing the appearance of dry curled fingernails, extant inventory. book. I imaged most of the diagnostic pre- seem to have been curated. On the back Of course, it is entirely possible that the historic artifacts from the site (skipping the side of the site, away from the river, was an site served all of the suggested functions, “75,000” ceramic body sherds) and became area that was still swampy when the excava- and more, over time. Very little in the archae- heavily involved in other aspects of the tions were conducted in the 1960’s and was ological record is self-evident; nearly every- project as well. Olaf eventually asked me likely much more so before the Great Black thing is subject to interpretation. The data to write two chapters for the book, cover- Swamp, which is what this area of north- from the Libben Site excavations is very ing items from the site that hadn’t previ- western Ohio was known as in the 18th and much open to interpretation, and “the truth” ously been analyzed and reported: first the early 19th centuries, was drained. It covered is hard to find. When trying to read the evi- bone and antler tools and weapons from the an extensive area and carried a rich and dence unveiled by archaeology, what may site, and then items fashioned from marine diverse biota that would have been available appear to be the obvious truth may, in truth, shells. These chapters were written during for human exploitation, which is also amply be a direct lie. The truth is, that beyond the the winter of 2007-2008. I was then asked demonstrated by the faunal remains recov- sure knowledge that a lot of people were to write a third chapter on the flint artifacts ered from the site. While the site produced a buried there and disinterred centuries later, from the site and was well into that when large amount of ceramic and faunal remains, we really don’t know much at all about what work on the book came to an abrupt halt the balance of the inventory shows took place at the Libben Site. with Olaf’s death on July 27, 2008. sparse evidence of either activity, village life Five charcoal samples from the site were “This is like Christmas!” Linda Spurlock, or hunting and fishing. submitted for radiocarbon dating. The who was to be co-author of the book, said What is unquestioned is that Libben was results were A.D. 720 ± 105, A.D. 865 ± 120, as we opened box after box of Libben Site the site of a cemetery. Prufer mused that it A.D. 955 ± 110, A.D. 1280 ± 85, and A.D. artifacts to gaze upon what lay within for the could have served as a regional cemetery for 1310 ± 104. It is not entirely clear what these first time. I put that here to illustrate that it several nearby villages. Father Jean Brebeuf, dates tell us about the occupation of the site. was a treat just to have the opportunity to a Jesuit missionary, attended a Huron Feast Prufer pointed out that they do not date the see and work with these exotic items. How- of the Dead in 1636. He reported that hun- site, but only five discrete occasions when ever, my real motivation and pleasure in this dreds of people from several related tribal someone had a fire burning there. It was not project came from working with Olaf, not villages gathered at a location chosen strictly clear from the records I saw what, if any, arti- from the project itself. I miss our camarade- for the purpose. People set up camp and the facts were associated with the radiocarbon rie. As it turned out, he waited too long to festivities lasted for ten days. We’re not deal- dates. Prufer had arranged for additional start and so didn’t live long enough to finish ing with exactly the same circumstances at radiocarbon dating directly from the bones the Libben Site book. But from my perspec- the Libben Site, but the overabundance of of individuals selected for their accompany- tive, publication of this article and the two ceramic vessels and smoking pipes at Lib- ing or other criteria that should that follow, added to the five master’s the- ben in comparison to the dearth of hunting, be more enlightening. He was also having ses on different aspects of the site that he fishing and other domestic artifacts would some of the organic material recovered by supervised, fulfills what Olaf considered to seem to indicate something other than a water screening or flotation from a couple be one of the primary obligations of his pro- standard village occupation. We don’t know of the larger pits at the site analyzed. The fession – if you dig it up, publish it. To quote that similar gatherings to honor the dead project ended before the results of either of him directly concerning the Libben Site, took place at the Libben Site, but a congre- those efforts became available. “The important part now,” he said, “Is just gation of hundreds or even dozens of par- Much more obviously could be, and has to get the information out there so it can be ticipants involved in feasting, ceremonies, been, written about the site. Approximately used.” While it may not be as widely distrib- games, contests and other social activities, thirty works – academic papers, journal or uted as he would have liked, he did, after all, particularly if lasting for several days and magazine articles and one newspaper article bring into existence a substantial record of repeated periodically over time, could have – have been written over the years on differ- the Libben Site, his last unpublished exca- produced the volume of cultural remains ent aspects of discoveries from the Libben vation, before departing this life himself. recovered from the Libben Site quite as eas- Site excavations. From the beginning, Prufer There you have a brief overview of the ily as a village occupation would have. had envisioned a final report covering all Libben Site, one of Ohio’s most produc- Based on demographic analysis, Meindl, aspects of the site. He saw getting a handle tive and interesting, but least well known, Mensforth and Lovejoy (2008) propose a on the voluminous amount of material to be archaeological excavations, written to pro- continuous village occupation at the Lib- reported as the main obstacle to publica- vide context for the reports that follow on ben Site lasting for 250 years. Thirty-nine tion. He attempted to do that by supervising the bone, antler and shell artifacts recov- of the Late Woodland flint projectile points several master’s theses on different aspects ered from the site.

52 Ohio Archaeologist 53 Vol. 61, No. 4, Fall 2011 B ibliography: Meindl, Richard S., Robert P. Mensforth and C. Romain, William Owen Lovejoy 1979 Archaeological Evaluation of Magico- Fossett, Ruthann 2008 “The Libben Site: A Hunting, Fishing, and Ritual Evidence Through Analysis of 1975 An Attribute Analysis of Pottery from the Gathering Village from the Eastern Late Biocultural Variables: An Investigation of Libben Site. Unpublished master’s thesis, Woodlands of North America. Analysis Mutilated Skeletal Elements from Libben. on file at Kent State University. Kent, OH. and Implications for Palaeodemogra- Unpublished master’s thesis on file at phy and Human Origins.” Chapter 9 in Kent State University. Greenman, Emerson F. Recent Advances in Palaeodemography, 1937 “The Younge Site, an Archaeological Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel, ed. Springer Smith, Arthur George Record from Michigan.” Occasional Con- Press, . 1964 “The Montgomery Burial site near La tributions #6, Museum of Anthropology, Carne, Ottawa County, Ohio.” The Ohio University of Michigan. Ann Arbor. Morgan, Nancy C. Archaeologist, Vol. 14, #3. 1971 A Formal Analysis of the Pipes from the Harrison, Mary Lou Libben Site. Unpublished master’s Thesis Tallan, Michael L. 1978 The Taphonomy of the Libben Site, Ottawa on file at Kent State University. Kent, OH. 1977 An Analysis of the Flint Artifacts and County, Ohio. Unpublished master’s thesis Debitage from the Libben Site, Ottawa on file at Kent State University. County, Ohio. Unpublished master’s thesis on file at Kent State University. Kent, OH.

Figure 2 (Pigott) Images of all three of the remaining human face adornos on the vessel.

Figure 1 (Pigott) Grit-tempered ceramic vessel from Figure 3 (Pigott) Three views of a stylized human face adorno or lug from another ceramic the Libben Site, hearing stylized human face adornos, vessel recovered at the Libben Site. reported to have been recovered from the grave of a 36-year-old man.

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