Discover Illinois Archaeology

ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION FOR ADVANCEMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY ILLINOIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY Discover Illinois Archaeology

Illinois’ rich cultural heritage began more collaborative effort by 18 archaeologists from than 12,000 years ago with the arrival of the across the state, with a major contribution by ancestors of today’s Native Americans. We learn Design Editor Kelvin Sampson. Along with sum- about them through investigations of the remains maries of each cultural period and highlights of they left behind, which range from monumental regional archaeological research, we include a earthworks with large river-valley settlements to short list of internet and print resources. A more a fragment of an ancient stone tool. After the extensive reading list can be found at the Illinois arrival of European explorers in the late 1600s, a Association for Advancement of Archaeology succession of diverse settlers added to our cul- web site www.museum.state.il.us/iaaa/DIA.pdf. tural heritage, leading to our modern urban com- We hope that by reading this summary of munities and the landscape we see today. Ar- Illinois archaeology, visiting a nearby archaeo- chaeological studies allow us to reconstruct past logical site or museum exhibit, and participating environments and ways of life, study the rela- in Illinois Archaeology Awareness Month pro- tionship between people of various cultures, and grams each September, you will become actively investigate how and why cultures rise and fall. engaged in Illinois’ diverse past and DISCOVER DISCOVER ILLINOIS ARCHAEOLOGY, ILLINOIS ARCHAEOLOGY. summarizing Illinois culture history, is truly a Alice Berkson Michael D. Wiant

IIILLINOIS AAASSOCIATION FOR CONTENTS AAADVANCEMENT OF INTRODUCTION...... 2 AAARCHAEOLOGY Founded in 1969, IAAA unites all persons CULTURAL SEQUENCE AND interested in the archaeology of Illinois, and PEOPLING OF NORTH AMERICA...... 3 encourages site preservation and scientific study of our prehistory and early history. www.museum.state.il.us/iaaa THE CULTURE HISTORY OF ILLINOIS . . . . .4

IIILLINOIS AAARCHAEOLOGICAL THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES...... 18 SSSURVEY An organization of professional INVENTORY OF archaeologists founded in 1965, IAS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES...... 25 documents, interprets and seeks to preserve the archaeological record of Illinois. www.illarchsurvey.org ILLINOIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AN ENDANGERED CULTURAL RESOURCE...... 26

DISCOVER ILLINOIS ARCHAEOLOGY includes RESOURCES FOR FURTHER material originally published in Illinois Antiquity, the quarterly publication of the Illinois Association for Ad- EXPLORATIONS ...... 27 vancement of Archaeology. First Printing, 2001, Second Cover illustration by Andy Buttram. Courtesy of the Dickson Printing 2004, Third Printing 2009. Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. copyright 2009 3 Discover Illinois Archaeology

CULTURAL SEQUENCE AND PEOPLING OF NORTH AMERICA This series of cultural periods and sub-periods, defined by archaeologists, is based on similarities and differences in artifacts and inferences about past lifeways. This chronology changes occasionally as a result of discoveries and ongoing study. Age here is expressed as years before present, which is defined as AD 1950, the standard for radiocarbon dating.

NATIVE AMERICANS WHERE DID THEY COME FROM AND WHEN DID THEY ARRIVE?

To the best of our knowledge, people first arrived in the western hemisphere during the last Ice Age, when land connected the continents of Asia and North America. Current research suggests that Asian people may have arrived in North America as early as 17,000 years ago. They resided in present-day Alaska for a period of time before moving to locations throughout the western hemisphere. A new theory, based on similarities of some artifacts, suggests the possibility that people also migrated from Europe to North America, but at this time there is little supporting evidence for this idea. Archaeologists and other scientists continue to study artifacts and the context of their deposition, DNA, and linguistic evidence to learn about this topic. By doing so, they expand our understanding of human history and the circumstances that encouraged the development of culture. Discover Illinois Archaeology 4 THE PALEOINDIAN PERIOD

Unlike most other parts of the world, the state had retreated northward, and spruce who frequently moved through areas to in- North and South America were not inhab- and pine forest and parkland had replaced tercept herds but apparently rarely settled ited until late in the Pleistocene Epoch, or Ice glacial tundra. into any given area long enough to locate, Age. These earliest Americans are the an- explore, and routinely use these natural shel- cient ancestors of the Native Americans CLOVIS CULTURE ters. Clovis sites are typically found on promi- encountered by European explorers. When Clovis points are found across the United nent, well-drained landforms, such as bluff and how Paleoindians arrived, and from States and are distinctive because of their tops and high terraces, that provide a com- where, are questions that continue to be lanceolate shape and long flakes, or flutes, manding view the surrounding area. Such chipped into the base, or locations were good spots not only for moni- haft element. Clovis toring the movements of herds but also for points were hafted on short gathering together dispersed family groups. wooden or bone foreshafts Little is known concerning the social that were in turn lashed to and ritual life of Paleoindians. Because the main spear shaft. groups moved frequently, they did not rou- These stone-tipped spears tinely bury their dead in cemeteries — people were propelled by hand, who died were probably buried nearby, soon perhaps with the aid of an after death. There are indications that some atlatl, a handheld hooked male hunters were buried with new, freshly- stick that increased the chipped spear points that are much larger power and distance the than normal-size points used on hunting spear travels, in effect ex- spears. Based on studies of hunting groups tending the reach of the thought to be similar to Paleoindians, widely- thrower’s arm. The Clovis scattered Paleoindian groups likely met on a tool kit typically includes seasonal basis at particular, well-known ren- end scrapers and side dezvous locations. These multi-band gath- scrapers, beveled flakes of erings would have been held for social and stone used to dress hides ritual activities, the formation of alliances and work bone and other between bands, the initiation of young people materials. into adult status, the selection of marriage Clovis hunters were partners, feasting, and the sharing of infor- organized into small, mation and knowledge about hunting prac- highly mobile family tices and the location of good chert sources groups that hunted a vari- and hunting grounds. ety of large and small ani- mals. While there is little CLOVIS IN ILLINOIS evidence of their use of Typical Clovis sites in Illinois are small wild plant foods, it is hard scatters of stone tools and chipping debris. to believe that they did not Often the bulk of material found on take advantage of these Paleoindian sites consists of chert (or flint) resources. At the chipping debris, the waste products of tool Illustration by Andy Buttram. Courtesy of the Dickson Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. Kimmswick site, south of manufacture and maintenance, or St. Louis, Missouri, re- resharpening. These artifact scatters repre- debated because information is limited. Most searchers from the Illinois State Museum sent the durable remains of brief campsites, scientists had believed that Paleoindians unearthed Clovis points and other stone tools but some scatters could be the remains of kill entered North American across a land bridge in direct association with the bones a mast- sites such as that at Mastodon State Park. between Siberia and Alaska that formed odon. These forest-dwelling elephant-like Larger campsites and quarry-workshop sites during the Ice Age when vast quantities of creatures died out with a number of other are less common but no less significant. ocean water were locked into glaciers, caus- large mammals at the close of the Ice Age. Workshops are spots near chert outcrops ing a drop in sea level. However, recent Along with mastodon bones, the remains of where stone tools were manufactured. We discoveries have led some researchers to other animals, such as the ground sloth, were know that Clovis groups were highly mobile believe that Paleoindians arrived by boat found at the site. In addition, modern game because at these workshops we find heavily and that they initially settled along coastal animals, such as the white-tailed deer, were resharpened, or expended, Clovis points areas, eventually migrating inland. also recovered. made from non-local cherts. Workshops are Based on the repeated discovery of dis- From other Paleoindian sites across also important because they contain unfin- tinctive chipped-stone spear points called North America, we know that bone and ished tools that were broken or rejected Clovis points, which were first discovered in ivory were worked into tools. The discovery during manufacture, and these items pro- the American Southwest amidst the bones of of bone needles indicates that animal hides vide unique insights into Clovis technology. extinct Ice Age animals, archaeologists know were fashioned into tailored clothing, foot- Workshops were also “classrooms” for teach- that by about 12,000 years ago small bands wear, bags, and other items. Hides were ing youngsters tool-making skills. of hunters lived in the region now known as probably used to cover portable shelters like Large campsites, some encompassing Illinois. By this time, the massive continen- wigwams or conical tents. Rock shelters and several acres, are places on the landscape tal ice sheets that had once covered much of caves were seldom visited by Clovis groups, that were periodically revisited because they 5 Discover Illinois Archaeology were adjacent to ideal hunting grounds, such nual rounds, moving as much as 480 to 640 more intensively, but also existed in larger as wetlands, salt licks, and stream crossings. km (300 to 400 mi.) between chert sources in numbers. While additional research is nec- They were also ideal spots for bands to southern Illinois, northern Illinois, western essary to bolster these interpretations, there Illinois, and eastern Indiana. is considerable evidence of Dalton groups representing the first populations to have DALTON CULTURE truly settled into southern Illinois, especially The groups that made Clovis the Mississippi Valley and its tributaries. By points and later styles of fluted points, “settling in,” we mean they explored and such as Cumberland, were replaced used the landscape (and it various resources) by or incorporated into groups that with greater intensity than ever before. Clovis made Dalton points. Dalton groups groups, in contrast, appear to have moved were adapted to the developing, es- through the region more rapidly, less fre- sentially “modern” climate and moved quently, and in smaller numbers, probably northward in tandem with the spread following herd animals and apparently reus- of deciduous woodlands. Evidence of ing specific locales and resources. this woodland adaptation is found in The settling-in process was triggered the appearance of the chipped-stone during the close of the Ice Age (about 9,000 adze, hafted onto a short L-shaped years ago) when temperate, deciduous forest handle and used to make dugout ca- expanded northward up the Mississippi Val- noes, wooden bowls, and other uten- ley into Illinois. With the retreating conti- sils and equipment. Dalton groups did nental ice sheets, Clovis groups were repeat- not trek hundreds of miles to hunt or edly faced with new and dynamic climatic retool, and they hunted modern game conditions, coupled with often rapid shifts in animals, like white-tail deer, because plant and animal communities, which con- mastodons and other large Ice-Age tributed to large-mammal extinctions. Dalton mammals were extinct. Dalton popu- groups probably moved northward into Illi- lations were the first groups to settle nois in tandem with the change in plant and into the landscape, routinely using animal communities. Dalton groups were caves and rock shelters and local chert very successful at carving a foraging lifestyle sources. Moreover, they were the first out of these developing, expanding wood- to establish formal cemeteries and lands. New woodland habitants harbored systems of ritualized exchange. These seasonally predictable resources, such as Clovis and Dalton points and scrapers from Illinois: a, Clovis point (little exchange networks facilitated the for- nuts, white-tailed deer, squirrels, and other use wear); b, Clovis point (heavily used and resharpened); c, Dalton point mation of alliances with neighboring game. Developments in Illinois during the (note beveling along right-hand blade edge); d-f, endscrapers; g-h, side scrapers. Drawings courtesy of the Illinois Transportation Archaeologi- groups. The inter-band alliances following Archaic periods are, in large part, cal Research Program and the Wisconsin Archeological Society. helped to mediate potential conflicts built on the foraging lifestyle Dalton groups and food shortfalls stemming from the carved out of the newly emerging deciduous congregate, owing to their proximity to over- less mobile Dalton lifestyle. woodlands. land trails or to prominent landmarks. These large sites, such as the Mueller site in St. DALTON IN Clair County in southwestern Illinois, are ILLINOIS typified by tools made from non-local cherts. The differing pat- More than 200 Clovis tools have been col- terns of chert procure- lected at the Mueller site. All but a few are ment evident in Illinois made from a single non-local raw material – between Clovis and Attica chert from the Wabash Valley in Dalton populations in- Indiana. At the Bostrom site, also in St. Clair dicates that Clovis County, large numbers of Clovis tools were groups were more mo- also recovered, but they are made from a bile, traveling hundreds wide assortment of non-local cherts. The of square kilometers Bostrom site appears to be a well-used hunt- each year to hunt and to ing camp, possibly a gathering place for retool at select chert groups coming from different directions, sources. Dalton groups, obtaining chert from a variety of sources. In on the other hand, ap- contrast, the Mueller site appears to be a pear to have operated campsite that was repeatedly visited by a within much smaller Paleoindian points from West-Central Illinois. Courtesy of the Dickson Mounds branch of single group that periodically traveled across annual ranges (perhaps the Illinois State Museum. Photograph by Micheal Brohm. Illinois from the Attica chert source to the 50-100 sq. km or 20- 40 Mississippi Valley. sq. mi.), and there is strong evidence of Brad Koldehoff While chert may have been exchanged ritualized exchange between Dalton bands, Illinois Transportation Archaeological Re- between individuals in different bands, this which probably took place at multi-band search Program kind of exchange does not easily explain the gathering places. In contrast, there is little University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign overwhelming pattern of non-local chert use, evidence in Illinois of Clovis ritualized ex- as evidenced at workshops and at campsites change. John A. Walthall all over Illinois and Indiana. In fact, differ- In southern Illinois, Dalton sites typi- Illinois Department of Transportation ences in cherts found at Clovis sites suggest cally outnumber Clovis sites, indicating that that Clovis groups followed seasonal or an- Dalton groups not only used the landscape Discover Illinois Archaeology 6 THE ARCHAIC PERIOD

The end of the Ice Age in Illinois led to Illinois. moving to another location. The choice of an abrupt environmental change. The warmer Archaeologists have identified more site location, often on high river terraces or climate encouraged the growth of new plants, than 8,300 Archaic Period sites in Illinois. upland areas adjacent to wetlands, was based and in many areas deciduous trees replaced These include small, temporary campsites on seasonal availability of resources. Some spruce and pine. Ice-Age mammals became that may have been used by hunters and of the temporary locations later became vil- extinct, and Paleoindian people had to alter gatherers in search of game or plant foods to lages where Archaic people lived for ex- their way of life and adjust to a changed collect, as well as larger villages that were tended periods. environment. This new way of life, named the location of long-term or repeated occu- Few excavations have taken place at the Archaic Period of Native American cul- pation. Such sites are identified by the Early Archaic sites in Illinois. The Modoc presence of certain chert pro- Rock Shelter, located at the edge of the jectile point types, including Mississippi River floodplain in Randolph a variety of stemmed and County, was occupied by Archaic peoples notched chipped-stone tools for more than 6,000 years. Excavations that functioned as spear there in the 1950s produced charcoal that points and knives. Stone was used for some of the first radiocarbon tools at Archaic sites are of- dating in eastern North America. At the ten made from nearby chert Koster site in Greene County, excavations in sources, indicating increas- the 1970s revealed a series of stratified occu- ing familiarity with the re- pations spanning the Archaic period. Early sources available in certain Archaic occupations there included some of locations. Grooved axes the oldest evidence in North America of the made from ground and pol- use of ground stone manos, metates, and ished igneous rock are also pestles for food preparation, the establish- associated with the Archaic ment of a cemetery for deceased members of period. More perishable ar- the community, and the presence of domes- tifacts made from animal ticated dogs. bone and mussel shell are Information on what Early Archaic Illustration by Andy Buttram. Courtesy of the Dickson Mounds branch of the sometimes found in Illinois, people may have looked like, and how long Illinois State Museum. but wooden items, plant fi- they lived is sketchy because few skeletons ture, began around 10,000 years ago and bers, and animal hides that would have been from this period have been studied by oste- lasts until 3,000 years ago. The Archaic is used extensively throughout prehistory are ologists. The Archaic people averaged divided into three sub-periods: Early (10,000 rarely preserved except as pieces of char- around five feet tall and lived for 25 or 30 to 8,000 years ago), Middle (8,000 to 5,000 coal. years. While they had relatively few dental years ago), and Late Archaic (5,000 to 3,000 cavities because their diet was a healthy years ago). EARLY ARCHAIC HUNTERS AND mixture of foods with relatively little sugar, Climatic changes during the Archaic GATHERERS a comparatively large number of Archaic Period affected the types of plant and animal Early Archaic people hunted animals as people had bone fractures and arthritis. resources in Illinois. At the beginning of the diverse as white-tailed deer, elk, bear, cot- During the Early Archaic Period, hunters Archaic, the average annual temperature was tontail rabbit and turkey. Wetland areas continued to use spears for hunting. Use of cooler, and there was more precipitation. adjacent to lakes and marshes in the uplands the atlatl or spear thrower included placing Ice-age mammals such as the mastodon, were favored resource areas, as were the weights on the atlatl shaft, probably improv- mammoth, and peccary were extinct by the major river valleys. In addition to hunting, ing its balance, as well as serving as ritual beginning of the Archaic Period, replaced Early Archaic people gathered plant foods objects. Lanceolate projectile point types in by animals new to Illinois, such as the white- as an integral part of their diet. Roots and the Early Archaic lack the distinctive flute tailed deer, raccoon, and opossum. A vari- tubers were available in early spring. Dur- associated with the Paleoindian Period. ety of amphibians, reptiles, fish, and mus- ing the summer, berries and other plants sels, along with migratory waterfowl, be- could be harvested, while in the fall, nuts MIDDLE ARCHAIC PERMANENT came common. The cool, moist climate of such as walnut, pecan, and hickory were an SETTLEMENTS the Early Archaic gradually changed so that important source of protein and fat. The eastward expansion of the prairie by 5,000 years ago, the average annual tem- There are many more recorded Early from the Plains began around 8,000 years perature and precipitation were similar to Archaic sites in Illinois compared to ago with a warmer, drier climatic pattern. present-day levels. In central Illinois, Paleoindian sites, suggesting a substantial This notable shift, named the Hypsithermal changes in weather patterns transformed the increase in population. Most Early Archaic Interval, resulted in a climate slightly warmer, deciduous forests of the Early Archaic to a sites are small, with few artifacts. Following with less precipitation than that found in landscape of vast prairies with forests bor- a settlement pattern similar to that of the Illinois today. With fewer resources avail- dering ponds, streams, and rivers. Forests Paleoindian Period, groups of Early Archaic able in the uplands, the focus of prehistoric persisted throughout the Archaic Period in people, perhaps only ten family members, settlements shifted from generalized use of southern Illinois and portions of northern lived at the sites for a short time before upland areas to the major river valleys, which 7 Discover Illinois Archaeology offered abundant and diverse resources. axe or adze. Igneous or metamorphic rock the first time, they supplemented their diet Instead of living primarily in short-term was pecked away and shaped into a rough with cultivated plant foods. For example, occupations, Middle Archaic people situ- form that was finished and polished with an sumpweed (Iva annua) seeds at the Napo- ated base camps at the edge of the flood- abrasive material like sandstone. Large leon Hollow site, located on the Illinois plain, where a variety of seasonal resources igneous grinding stones or metates found at River in Pike County, were much larger than Middle Archaic sites those found today in nature, indicating that demonstrate both the they were cultivated. Sunflower, goosefoot, extensive processing and squash were also cultivated in the Late of nuts and other Archaic Period. plant materials, and In the Late Archaic, elaborate artifacts the sedentary nature found in the graves of some people suggest of the occupations. that these individuals had a special status, perhaps as group leaders, hunters, or spiri- LATE ARCHAIC tual leaders. The types of artifacts included REGIONAL in the graves are finely made axes, some of DEVELOPMENTS copper, finely crafted spear points made During the Late from non-local chert, marine shell, and pol- Archaic, villages ished stone atlatl weights. Red ochre made with increased popu- from ground hematite was sometimes lations continued to sprinkled over the human remains and arti- be located near a va- facts. This distinctive Red Ochre mortuary riety of food re- complex, originally defined by archaeolo- sources. Some settle- gists working in the central Illinois River Archaic diorama, Peoples of the Past exhibit. Courtesy of the Illinois State Museum. ments, such as the valley, occurs across the southern Great Riverton Culture Lakes region at the very end of the Late could be reached without having to move the communities along the Wabash River in Archaic period. settlement location. Migratory waterfowl, southeastern Illinois, may have had as many The seven-thousand year span of the fish, freshwater mussels, turtle, marsh roots as 200 residents. Archaic period includes several trends in and tubers, and seeds from wild plants could There is little evidence for trade during cultural adaptations, including an increase all be found in the floodplain, while nearby the Early and Middle Archaic periods. Non- in population, settlement of larger villages upland forests supported white-tailed deer local items, such as unusual chert for stone over increased periods of time during certain and offered protein-rich nuts for harvesting. tools, found on early sites in Illinois prob- seasons of the year, exploitation of aquatic Evidence for this change in prehistoric ably were acquired as people moved from resources in floodplain environments, de- resource exploitation patterns has been found place to place. In con- at sites in Illinois. In some areas, Middle trast, by the Late Ar- Archaic people concentrated on aquatic re- chaic period, materials sources, especially in the warm-weather were obtained through months. Archaeologists found evidence at trade from a variety of the Koster site that people built shelters with places. Long-distance large support posts as early as 5000 B.C. In trade now included ma- addition, abundant pits, some used for pro- rine shell from the At- cessing hickory nuts, large quantities of burnt lantic and Gulf Coasts, limestone and fire-cracked rock, and numer- hematite and magnetite ous chipped-stone and ground stone arti- from the Ozarks, cop- facts indicated a permanent settlement. per from the Lake Su- Koster also had a cemetery where deceased perior region, galena members of the community were buried. from the Upper Missis- The spear points or knives for the Middle sippi Valley and south- Archaic include large, side-notched points eastern Missouri, and and artifact types that are specific to certain distinctive chert types Archaic artifacts from the Sampson collection, Knox and Fulton Counties, Illinois. Courtesy of the Dickson Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. regions. Exploitation of an increased vari- from areas of the Mid- ety of resources resulted in the use of a west outside Illinois. Use of large spear velopment of specialized stone and bone greater variety of ground-stone and bone points or knives continued, but smaller dart tools and ceremonial objects, and the use of implements and chert tools, such as rough points made during the Late Archaic could horticulture to supplement hunting and gath- bifaces or “preforms,” choppers, end and fly farther and more readily penetrate an ering. side scrapers, drills and flake tools. A animal. The use of specialized ground-stone chipped-stone chert tool would have been and chipped-stone tools continued in the Michael D. Wiant used to cut and shape deer bone implements Late Archaic, reflecting the increased ex- Dickson Mounds Museum used in sewing and weaving, as well as to ploitation of regionally available animal and make bone and shell ornaments. In compari- plant communities. Alice Berkson son to chert tools, ground-stone tools re- Late Archaic people relied on hunting Public Service Archaeology Program quired many hours of effort to make a single and gathering like their predecessors, but for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Discover Illinois Archaeology 8 THE WOODLAND PERIOD

The Woodland period in Illinois prehis- the south (Black Sand culture) made tempo- populations made the lower Illinois Valley tory was an era of growing population and rary settlements in Illinois. At this time, an ideal setting for the growth and develop- increasing cultural complexity that witnessed Prairie Lake villages disappear from the ment of Illinois Middle Woodland commu- important changes in social and religious archaeological record, along with associ- nities and elaboration of social and political systems, long-distance trade and communi- ated Red Ochre mortuary ceremonialism systems associated with Hopewellian ritual cation, and the fabric of everyday life. The and trade. In southern Illinois, the earliest and trade. period began with the regional appearance Woodland pottery is associated with small The first evidence of pioneer of pottery vessels and of small, shifting Crab Orchard culture settlements. Because Hopewellian Middle Woodland settlement groups of hunters and gatherers. It ended of stable subsistence adaptations in this re- (in the northern lower Illinois valley) seems gion, Crab Orchard cul- to be a single river-edge mortuary/ritual ture remains persist into locality, surrounded by several single-house- Middle Woodland hold to small-hamlet sized habitations. Sub- times. sequently, floodplain Hopewellian mounds and ritual centers were established at ap- HAVANA proximately 15-20 km (9-12 mi.) intervals HOPEWELL along the river. Each floodplain ritual pre- CULTURE cinct was associated with larger bluff-base In the central Illi- villages (of perhaps 25 to 30 people) having nois valley, the arrival adjacent bluff-top mounded cemeteries, per- of Marion peoples may haps indicating separate subsistence territo- have minimized Black ries. Large populations of deer, fish, mus- Sand occupations and sels, and migratory waterfowl were exploited. sparked interaction with Middle Woodland communities also appear residents, perhaps in- to have practiced an early form of horticul- cluding participation in ture in selecting certain edible seed plants a late form of the Red for cultivation, including a variety of nut Ochre mortuary cult. crops and starchy and oily annual seed plants This may have led to such as knotweed, goosefoot, marsh elder, the local development and sunflower. Squash, gourds, and little of an Early Havana cul- barley were also grown, along with a small Illustration by Andy Buttram. Courtesy of the Dickson Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. ture and the fluores- amount of tobacco. While the earliest se- cence of social, politi- curely-dated contexts for corn are from A.D. with large-village sedentary agriculturalists cal and ritual complexity that are the hall- 500-600 (after Middle Woodland), some who used the bow and arrow for hunting and marks of Middle Woodland times. researchers have contended that there were for territorial defense. The “Havana” culture derives its name Middle Woodland experiments in corn- from the present-day town of Havana, situ- growing. LATE ARCHAIC TO WOODLAND ated on the banks of the Illinois River in the Initially, Illinois Hopewellian develop- TRANSITION central valley at the site of a major Middle ments were thought to have been fueled by The Early Woodland period is some- Woodland village and mound group. The direct trade with Hopewellian centers in times called “Late Archaic with pots.” How- term “Hopewellian” is used to underscore Ohio. But recent studies have shown that ever, in the Illinois/Mississippi River the similarities of Middle Woodland trade while some materials, such as obsidian, Knife confluence region, the cultural shift between goods and mortuary ritual to artifacts and River chalcedony, mica, and marine shells Terminal Archaic and Early Woodland mortuary activities discovered at a mound/ were transported great distances, most were groups appears to be rapid and pervasive. earthwork on Capt. M. C. Hopewell’s farm made or acquired nearby. Elaborately deco- This suggests more complex population in- in south-central Ohio. rated pottery vessels, pipestone animal-ef- teractions took place, not simply the addi- Rapid central Illinois valley culture figy platform pipes, lead ore, and colorful tion of clay-pot cooking technology to Ar- change resulted in early Havana sites and cherts appear to have originated in or near chaic lifeways. The principal Terminal Ar- artifact assemblages by about 200 to 150 Illinois. Given the similarities in Hopewellian chaic bluff-base occupations, called the Prai- B.C., followed by development of extensive ritual practices between south central Ohio rie Lake culture, have substantial villages mound building and participation in and the Illinois Valley, it is a near certainty with associated cemeteries. Early Wood- Hopewellian mortuary ritual by around 100 that communication existed on several lev- land sites are usually small and imperma- B.C. to A.D. 1. At this time, Middle Wood- els. The focus of this interaction may have nent, often located in large floodplains, and land settlements spread south into the lower been different in adjacent regions and likely lacking evidence of associated burials or Illinois valley, following an apparent exo- changed through time. Gatherings at sacred mortuary activity, but they contain frag- dus of Black Sand people 200 years earlier, Hopewellian sites probably reinforced group ments of the first Native American hand- eventually filling its drainage with over 350 solidarity through shared mortuary ritual, made pottery in Illinois. From around 600 to settlements, and more than 300 mound groups seasonal earth-renewal fertility rites, and 200 B.C., pottery-making people from the and a variety of small mortuary-related sites. communal feasting. Such ritual events likely Great Lakes region to the north (Marion The richness of its natural resources and the also helped validate territorial, leadership, culture) and from the Mississippi Valley to departure of preceding Early Woodland and marriage claims, while encouraging 9 Discover Illinois Archaeology wide-ranging trade in everything from food- associated with the Hopewellian communi- white-tailed deer, and at the margins of their stuffs to exotic ritual materials. cation and exchange network. regional territories, it was used against hu- While the most extensive and complex From a subsistence and settlement per- mans to emphasize territorial claims and to populations of Middle Woodland consum- spective, the Weaver culture inhabitants of discourage other transgressions. There ap- ers in Illinois are clearly those of the lower Illinois appear to be the children and grand- pears to have been substantial population children of expansion, not only in major river valleys Hopewellians. How- but also encompassing larger secondary ever, it has been dif- stream systems, with over 200 late “Jersey ficult to separate the Bluff” phase habitation sites and more than two cultural groups 300 burial Late Bluff mounds known from for study, because Macoupin valley alone. During this period, they often occupy the individual health and life expectancy dete- same sites and there riorated with increased dependence on maize appears to be less than in the diet. Late Woodland cemeteries show a 100-year gap be- limited evidence for social hierarchies, and tween Havana and few burials contain grave offerings beyond fully-developed occasional cordmarked pottery vessels and Weaver assemblages simple clay or limestone smoking pipes. (ca. A.D. 350-450). Because of the filling of the landscape The period of culture and the rapid development of regional cul- change may have ture traditions, Bluff culture Late Wood- been a fairly orderly land groups were faced with the necessity to Middle Woodland artifacts from the central Illinois River valley. Courtesy of the Dickson one. Some early defend regional boundaries or accept as- Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. Weaver culture ves- pects of dissimilar nearby cultures. This is and central Illinois River valleys, important sels seem to be copied from earlier Middle particularly apparent in the lower Illinois “gateway” trade and ritual centers and their Woodland ceramics, both in their shapes Valley, whose numerous post-A.D. 1000 surrounding village clusters are found as far and in the cross-over use of design ele- Jersey Bluff phase occupants resisted Ameri- north as the Albany site (Whiteside County) ments. However, mortuary ceremonialism, can Bottom Mississippian acculturation for and as far south as the Twenhafel site (Jack- as measured by grave offerings and distinc- at least 200 years, except at some larger son County). Havana culture settlements tive mound structure, all but disappears. By valley-trench occupations where elements and evidence of Hopewellian ritual have mid-Weaver times, comprehensive regional of Mississippian mortuary ceremonialism also been discovered along other river sys- social change had already occurred, but were integrated into local burial traditions. tems throughout the northern two-thirds of archaeologists cannot yet provide an expla- Thus, a 1500-year period that began the state, including the Kankakee and Wabash nation for this change and Havana Ware pottery vessel from the Dickson Camp with mobile, extended- River valleys. Notably, Middle Woodland the disappearance of site, Fulton County, Illinois. Courtesy of the Dickson family groups of Early residents of much of the Mississippi valley Hopewell. The earliest ap- Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. Woodland floodplain from the American Bottom to the Iowa River pearance of maize agricul- hunter-gatherers, later were more marginal participants in ture and first use of the bow saw small Middle Hopewellian interaction, as were southern and arrow occur in the final Woodland hamlets Illinois late Crab Orchard groups and early century of large-valley where people pursued Steuben communities in northern Illinois. Weaver occupations. intensive harvest-col- Such groups may have played an important Late Woodland sites lecting of renewable role in the Late Woodland cultural shift that are numerous throughout natural resources, occurred after the elaborate Hopewellian Illinois after A.D. 700. practiced seed plant trade and ritual system unraveled and disap- They are called the Bluff horticulture, and par- peared from the archaeological record at culture in the southwest- ticipated in the elabo- about A.D. 350-450. ern part of the state, rate Hopewellian mor- Dillinger in southern Illinois tuary ritual associated LATE WOODLAND and Maples Mills, Bauer with long-distance trade There are rapid regional culture Branch, and Langford in the and social interaction. Fi- changes, including artifact assemblage central and northern areas. Sites nally, Late Woodland time changes, and a shift in settlement patterns from this period have been most saw the development of corn ag- leading to Late Woodland cultures around extensively studied along the major riculture, the arrival of bow-and- A.D. 350 to 650. Several contemporaneous river valleys, particularly in the Ameri- arrow technology, and the establish- early Late Woodland cultural groups are can Bottom, where there is a smooth transi- ment of large Bluff culture villages. At named White Hall, Weaver, Steuben, and tion from Late Woodland to “Emergent about A.D. 1000, a sometimes-violent clash Rosewood for their ceramic styles. They Mississippian” communities after A.D. 850- of lifestyles resulted from the development abandoned the decorative ceramic diversity 900. The most substantial of these sites of Mississippian towns and ritual systems in of Middle Woodland times in favor of a appear to be much larger than the largest the American Bottom. comparatively homogeneous group of Havana and Weaver culture settlements, cordmarked jars. Distinctive Middle Wood- with perhaps 50 to 100 residents, hinting at Kenneth B. Farnsworth land projectile point styles and diagnostic a developing political complexity not re- Illinois Transportation Archaeology chert tools like lamellar blades vanished flected in their mortuary sites. The bow and Research Program, University of Illinois from the tool kit, as did the trade goods arrow was an efficient weapon for hunting Urbana-Champaign Discover Illinois Archaeology 10 THE MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD

At the end of the first millennia, Illinois MISSISSIPPIAN ORIGINS allowed the towns to exist. The farms typi- was the scene of tremendous social and Between about A.D. 600 and A.D. 1000, cally included one or two buildings (each political transformations, resulting in the Late Woodland societies in the rich flood- about 3.6 m x 4.5 m or 12 x 15 ft.) made of creation of what archaeologists call Missis- plain of the American Bottom had become upright poles interwoven with branches. sippian. The Mississippian period is distin- increasingly more sedentary and were living Both their roofs and walls were covered with guished by the appearance of characteristics in many small communities spread across rain-repellent thatch. These were the resi- found in complex societies, such as large the region. They had perfected a system of dences of Cahokian farmers as well as their population clusters, some verging on urban maize agriculture and become dependent on main storage containers. Food and tools centers, monumentally scaled architecture, it. This lifestyle had led to increased num- were stored in the eaves of the houses and in maize and starchy seed agricultural systems, bers of people and larger and more orga- storage pits dug in the house floor or in the hierarchical organization, recognizable eth- nized villages. Socially and politically, these surrounding yard. Archeologically, such nic diversity, and a rich array of accompany- people could be characterized as “tribal” in farm sites produce the broken remnants of ing political and religious symbols. nature, with patterns of informal leadership utilitarian pottery jars and bowls, stone hoes, Mississippian material culture and tech- and kin-dominated relationships. small chert cutting and scraping tools, and nology, while it differed in detail, shared At about A.D. 1050 this all changed. plant and animal debris – the stuff of every- many similarities with that of the preceding Within an archaeological “blink-of-an-eye” day life in the Cahokian world. Late Woodland period. Mississippians the lifeways of American Bottom popula- The evidence that may provide the most hunted, fished, and fought with the bow and tions were transformed. The people aban- insight into these changes relates to the emer- arrow. The main agricultural implements doned their scattered villages and clustered gence of significant social divisions within were stone hoes made from southern Illinois into one of several large temple mound and Mississippian societies. The large mounds Mill Creek chert, along with digging sticks. plaza centers. Subsequently, single-family of the centers were platforms for the homes The vast majority of raw material needs households re-occupied the countryside. The of the leaders and the temples of the gods. influence of the We now see the presence of a segment of mound centers may society, referred to by some as nobility, that have attracted is intimately associated with spiritual, po- peoples from outside litical, and social power, and which is spa- the area who were tially segregated from those who comprise ethnically different the vast majority of the population. No- from the Cahokians. where is this separation more clearly indi- Massive temple and cated than in the Cahokia Mound 72 mortu- burial mounds, huge ary, where several burials show evidence of wooden post-circles a ceremony that involved the sacrifice of and large temples many followers and war prisoners. Such were built in these burials also included elaborate shell capes, new population cen- hundreds of arrows, chunky stones, mica ters. These monu- and copper. ments were distrib- The leaders of Cahokia were respon- uted about a central sible for organizing large communal feasts plaza and surrounded and celebrations of religious and political by multitudes of events, which were a major factor in main- houses organized taining group solidarity. They also enhanced into discrete neigh- and formalized intricate religious practices Illustration by Andy Buttram. Courtesy of the Dickson Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. borhood clusters. that included priests, temples and a rich art Abandoning a tradi- that focused on aspects of life renewal, fer- were obtained from nearby regional re- tion of diverse pottery designs, a new ho- tility, and, later, warfare. These depictions sources, with the Ozarks providing the main mogenous shell-tempered ceramic style was included some of the most spectacular im- source of white cherts, galena, copper, red adopted, including many new vessel forms ages produced in native arts, such as the red flint clays for figurines, minerals, and crys- such as water bottles, shallow plates and stone goddess figurines of Cahokia. Very tals. As in earlier times, a limited number of pans, cup-like beakers, and salt-processing likely the same class of people were also the objects, such as seashells or mica, continue pans. Even the basic houses they lived in war leaders in the numerous conflicts that to be brought from distant sources. Corn and changed from single-post to wall-trench con- characterized the Mississippian period. Such many domesticated native plants provided struction. war parties may have traveled long distances their main foods but wild animals, espe- overland or along the rivers in large fleets of cially fish and deer, were important supple- CAHOKIA LIFEWAYS dugout canoes to attack the palisaded vil- ments. One of the earliest, most impressive With the emergence of Mississippian lages of their neighbors. and influential centers of Mississippian cul- society we see a real dichotomy in peoples’ ture appeared in the American Bottom near lifestyles. The towns became the residences MISSISSIPPIAN INFLUENCES East St. Louis. Now known as “Cahokia,” of religious and political leaders, crafts spe- To a large extent, the cultural history of this massive political and cultural center and cialists, and their supporters. The country- Illinois beginning a thousand years ago is the adjacent mound centers at St. Louis, East side also contained the homes and temples intimately tied to the social and political St. Louis, Mitchell, and Pulcher served as of some leaders, but most of their followers trajectory of the Mississippian peoples of the catalyst for change across much of the probably lived in the surrounding rural areas Cahokia and the American Bottom. state and the midcontinent over the three on farmsteads or in hamlets. These farms Cahokia’s influence through warfare, and centuries of its existence. were the homes of small family groups who political, social, and economic interactions were the primary producers of the maize that with its neighbors had a profound, but un- 11 Discover Illinois Archaeology even, influence on the configuration of the sippian peoples and those of the American “chiefs,” northern Mississippian societies late prehistoric cultural landscape. In Illi- Bottom, indicating independence from were less stratified and more egalitarian in nois we see evidence of cultural change Cahokian control. nature than those at Cahokia, probably as a directly related to Cahokia among the people result of the relatively small populations and who live in the valleys of the Illinois, Apple, MISSISSIPPIAN IN THE ILLINOIS their location in a frontier. Kaskaskia, and Vermilion rivers. The lower RIVER VALLEY A similar pattern of interaction is found Illinois River valley appears to have been The most thoroughly studied groups of in the upper Illinois River valley. Around occupied contemporaneously by scattered northern Mississippians are the peoples who 900 years ago, a new cultural pattern arises Mississippian groups and fairly dense popu- lived in the Spoon River and adjacent central in the valley north of the Big Bend near lations of Late Woodland peoples in the 11th Illinois River valleys. During the 12th to 15th Starved Rock State Park. The new culture is and 12th centuries. It is possible that the centuries, at least seven major fortified temple referred to by archaeologists as the Langford lower valley was actually a buffer zone towns were built there. These villages carry Tradition and emerges out of the interaction between the American Bottom and central on the general patterns of American Bottom of Late Woodland groups with the new Mis- Illinois River valley groups, suggesting a Mississippian life, but one adapted to the sissippian chiefdoms of the central Illinois less than friendly relationship. differing social and political realities of the River valley, changing their lives dramati- northern regions. cally. The previous Late Woodland people While villages of lived in small, widely scattered camps, grow- 300 to 500 resi- ing some corn, hunting elk, but living a fairly dents are often laid mobile lifestyle. While the Late Woodland out in an orderly people may have traded and even intermar- fashion about a ried with the Mississippians, we see an in- central plaza, small creased level of violence in the central and platform and burial upper Illinois River valley during this pe- mounds, as well as riod. The Langford people clustered to- farmsteads, are lo- gether in large villages, perhaps with a cen- cated outside the tral open plaza, and often accompanied by a villages. They communal burial mound area. They also used the same tools modified their pottery vessels to more closely as their more resemble those of their Mississippian neigh- southerly rela- bors and became more dependent on corn tions, although agriculture. This material culture and Artist's rendering of Settlement D at the Orendorf site, Fulton County, Illinois. Drawing they had ties to the lifestyle has been labeled Upper Mississip- by Kelvin Sampson. Courtesy of the Upper Mississippi Valley Research Foundation. west that led to the pian by archeologists to distinguish its blend replacement of the of Late Woodland and Mississippian char- Mississippian groups also appear in the stone hoes with those made from bison scapu- acteristics. Black Bottom on the Ohio River and in the las. They were farmers, hunters, and fishers By 600 years ago, Mississippian culture Wabash River valleys but Cahokia does not who, based on excavated animal and plant disappears from the American Bottom and strongly influence these people. They were remains, lived in a very productive environ- areas to the north such as the Illinois River firmly tied to the Mississippian cultures of ment. Because of excavations at Dickson and the Apple River valleys. There have Indiana and Kentucky. The largest of these Mounds and the Larson and Orendorf vil- been suggestions that small, but significant, early river towns was Kincaid, located on lages we know much about the shifts in climatic conditions, increased inter- the border of Massac and Pulaski counties. health, lives and deaths of nal disputes and external warfare, or deterio- Here, in a fortified town containing nineteen these early natives. We ration of local environmental conditions platform and mortuary mounds organized know, for example, Duck effigy bowl from the Vandeventer around two ceremonial plazas, resided the that while the people site, Brown County, Illinois. Courtesy people of the most powerful southern Illi- were fairly healthy, of the Dickson Mounds branch of the nois chiefdom. While Kincaid dwarfed its the valley was a dan- Illinois State Museum. neighbors, it was less than one-fifteenth the gerous place since the ma- size of Cahokia. Like many other outlying jority of the villages are sur- centers, most of Kincaid’s population lived rounded by stout fortifications. in the surrounding farms and hamlets. The It is apparent from palisaded town center functioned as the abode archeologically recovered skel- of society’s elite, and as a ceremonial-politi- etons showing signs of violent cal center and a place of refuge in troubled death and mutilation, and from times for the entire population. burned villages, that warfare was a In several localities, including the Spoon constant threat. and LaMoine Rivers, the Apple River valley There is little evidence in the outly- in northwestern Illinois, and the lower ing Mississippian areas for the rigid seg- Kaskaskia River valley, Mississippian vil- mentation of society into distinct hierarchi- through over-exploitation may have been lages appear in the 12th century. Archaeolo- cal groups similar to the American Bottom. important in this event. No answers are gists debate about the origins of these vil- While the village leaders may have lived in completely satisfactory but we do know that lages but, in general, they seem best ex- larger houses fronting on the plaza, they Mississippian peoples in southern Illinois plained by the movement of actual residents were still neighbors to their followers resid- and the southeastern United States did con- of the American Bottom to these locations. ing in adjoining houses laid out in neat rows. tinue their traditions until the 16th century, in The newcomers brought their distinctive The leaders did possess locally significant some cases until contact with Europeans. lifestyle patterns and, through commingling political and religious symbols, such as stone with the resident Late Woodland inhabit- animal effigy pipes, copper ornaments, and Thomas E. Emerson ants, created distinctive new Mississippian stone “swords” and “maces,” and their sta- Illinois Transportation Archaeological cultures. There is little evidence of contin- tus was recognized in death with more elabo- Research Program ued contact between these outlying Missis- rate offerings. While they were clearly still University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Discover Illinois Archaeology 12 THE LATE MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD

In Illinois, the Late Mississippian Pe- violence. The decline of Cahokia prob- CENTRAL ILLINOIS - riod extends from A.D. 1300 until the ably had little effect on northern and east- MISSISSIPPIAN AND UPPER arrival of French explorers in A.D. 1673. ern Illinois. MISSISSIPPIAN PEOPLE During this time we have no written records The climate also became cooler and In the Illinois River valley, the mound pertaining to Illinois. Native American farming people had to adjust to a shorter centers and extended networks of smaller growing season and settlements established after A.D. 1100 harsher winters. continued during the early part of the Late Whatever the cause, Mississippian. After A.D. 1200, until per- social instability haps A.D. 1400, Mississippian sites be- clearly increased -- came more common in the Sangamon and the violence that was LaMoine rivers region of the Illinois Val- present in Mississip- ley. Although still rare, a few more small pian times escalated Mississippian sites were found in the lower and many areas of the Illinois River valley. While earlier Missis- state seem to have sippians occupied tributary streams of the had fewer and fewer Illinois River, nearly all later Mississip- people, continuing a pian settlements in central Illinois were trend that started at confined to the river valley. the beginning of Mis- After A.D. 1300, Mississippian terri- sissippian times. tory in the Illinois River valley between the mouth of Spoon River and Peoria appears SOUTHERN to have been shared with a group of Oneota ILLINOIS - people archaeologists identify as Bold THE LATE Counselor. There is substantial evidence MISSISSIPPIANS for violence at this time, although it is not Illustration by Andy Buttram. Courtesy of the Dickson Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. Mississippian known if the Bold Counselor and Late influences continued Mississippians were fighting one other or history is recorded through oral tradition to lessen in Illinois all through the Late a common foe. By A.D. 1400, a small and by artifacts and related materials, the Mississippian Period. Cahokia and its number of Bold Counselor Oneota people subject of archaeological research. surrounding temple mound centers had were living with Mississippians at the The Late Mississippian Period was a declined by A.D. 1300. Mississippian Crable site, the last Mississippian temple time of great change. Some changes have people continued to occupy smaller temple mound center. By A.D. 1450, Mississippi- to do with the impact of distant Europeans. mound centers in southern Illinois and ans had abandoned the Illinois Valley. At After A.D. 1500, as Europeans expanded along the Illinois River until at least A.D. present, the tribal affiliation of Illinois their contacts along the coastal areas, Na- 1400. South of the American Bottom, River valley Mississippians and Bold tive Americans obtained European goods along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, Counselor Oneota is not known. through trade networks long before their Mississippian culture continued for an- Between about A.D. 1300 and A.D. first encounter. Epidemics of European other century. In Arkansas and Tennessee, 1500, there were a number of Oneota vil- diseases, such as smallpox, may have swept Mississippian culture was still present and lages along the Mississippi River between through Illinois, decimating native popu- documented by the first explorers in the Quincy, Illinois and Muscatine, Iowa. lations. But many of the important changes 1540s. Mississippian culture ceased shortly These communities also were abandoned in the Late Mississippian Period happened thereafter and much of the area around the before European explorers visited Illinois. before and did not have to do with the southern tip of Illinois seems to have been distant effects of European contact. abandoned by Mississippians before that NORTHERN ILLINOIS - UPPER Much changed in Illinois after about time. MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURES A.D. 1250. In the Illinois River valley and In the Ohio and Wabash River valleys During the Mississippian Period, southern Illinois, Mississippian culture in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, a Late people identified by archaeologists as continued until after the 13th century, but Mississippian phase called Caborn- Langford became prominent in northern the population seems to have diminished Welborn (A.D. 1400-1600) follows the Illinois. At about the same time, Oneota and the center of Mississippian influence Mississippian Angel Phase. Like those culture was emerging to the north and shifted south. In the northern part of Illi- participating in other Late Mississippian west. Before A.D. 1300, Oneota was nois, there were several varieties of “Up- cultures, Caborn-Welborn people lived in present across much of the Upper Missis- per Mississippian” culture. Some groups a simpler fashion than their predecessors, sippi River valley from Minnesota to north- moved into, and out of, the state. It is who had built the impressive Angel Mounds ern Missouri and northern Illinois to Ne- difficult to say what caused this change. site in southern Indiana. Caborn-Welborn braska. Two divisions of Oneota, Fisher The waning influence of Cahokia might people, whose tribal affiliation is not and Huber, were present in northern Illi- have created a local political vacuum in known, were not present when Europeans nois during the Late Mississippian Period. southern and western Illinois, destabiliz- arrived; in fact, explorers found few people Lastly, another Upper Mississippian group, ing the region and leading to increased living in this region. identified as Danner on the basis of their 13 Discover Illinois Archaeology distinctive pottery, appears to have moved LIFE IN THE LATE MISSISSIPPIAN Period. Copper and marine shell artifacts into Illinois at the very end of the Late PERIOD (and the trade networks that moved them Mississippian Period. Mississippian lifeways in the southern around the country) were still very impor- Langford culture was similar to Mis- part of Illinois probably changed little in the tant, but the items are not as elaborate. As sissippian culture found in the Illinois River Late Mississippian Period. Mississippian European trade goods become available af- valley. Langford groups lived in small social structure probably continued to have ter A.D. 1600, changes in technology took villages with mounds, but probably had a multiple levels of status based on lineage. place far in advance of the coming of the first less complex social structure. They farmed Upper Mississippians are assumed to have Europeans. For instance, when Jolliet and intensively but also relied heavily on hunt- had social systems where personal status Marquette came to Illinois in 1673, they ing and gathering, espe- had more to do with accom- found the Indians fully armed with guns and Oneota jar from the Norris Farms #36 site, cially the rich wetland Fulton County, Illinois. Courtesy of the Dickson plishments. For instance, a busily occupied collecting furs for the French resources of northern Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. person’s participation in the trade. Illinois. Langford trade networks probably culture in the up- conferred consider- AT THE TIME OF CONTACT per part of the able status. Progressively through the Late Mis- Illinois Valley Climate change sissippian Period, large areas of Illinois appears to or decreasing hu- appear to have been depopulated, sug- have ended man populations gesting there was much conflict. Between soon after probably relate A.D. 1500 and A.D. 1600 there appears to A.D. 1300, al- to another im- have only been a few places in Illinois that though it per- portant change were occupied. Near Chicago, Huber sisted longer on the Illinois Oneota maintain a large population, but in northeastern landscape. After all of northwestern and central Illinois Illinois. The about A.D. 1500, appear to have been uninhabited. In all of tribal affiliation of and for the first time eastern Illinois between the Kankakee Langford is cur- in thousands of years, River and the Lower Wabash River, where rently unknown. bison herds were present on the Caborn-Wellborn people lived, there The Fisher Oneota cul- the prairies of central and north- are no recorded pre-contact sites later ture emerged during the 12th century in ern Illinois. This new resource was very than A.D. 1400. All the former Mississip- northern Illinois, occupying the region with quickly incorporated into Upper Mississip- pian and/or Oneota occupants of the cen- groups still following Langford traditions. pian diets and cultural practices. By A.D. tral and lower Illinois River valley had By about the 15th century the Fisher people 1200 elk also seem to become more com- moved elsewhere by A.D. 1450 and very had changed enough to be known as the mon in Illinois. Nonetheless, few Oneota villages seem to Marine shell spider gorget from the Huber Oneota. Huber Oneota culture was for people throughout Illinois, Norris Farms #36 site, Fulton County, be present along the Missis- concentrated largely in northeastern Illi- farming of corn, beans, Illinois. Courtesy of the Dickson Mounds sippi River in Illinois after nois and northwestern Indiana in the Chi- squash and a focus on hunt- branch of the Illinois State Museum. A.D. 1500. Up the Mis- cago/Kankakee area. Huber culture per- ing and gathering river- souri River, west of Illi- sisted until after A.D. 1600, when the ear- ine and aquatic re- nois, lived Oneota liest European trade goods began to come sources remained the people who became into Illinois. Some archaeologists have primary means of known as the Mis- suggested that the Huber culture might be getting food. souri tribe. North related to certain Siouan people, such as Many of the of Illinois, and the Winnebago. Very similar Oneota Upper Mississip- west of the Huber groups in Iowa and Missouri have been pians in northern Oneota in the Chi- identified as the Ioway and Missouri tribes, Illinois lived in cago Region, the close relatives of the Winnebago. long houses in land was also un- People making Danner pottery came which a number of occupied all the to Illinois near the end of the Late Missis- families resided. way to the Missis- sippian Period. Pottery essentially identi- Farther south, Mis- sippi River. In the cal to Danner is found along the southwest- sissippians used Iowa/Minnesota/Wis- ern shore of Lake Erie until the 16th cen- single-family houses, consin tri-state region tury. Sites with Danner ceramics in Illi- much as they had for sev- lived another Oneota nois have many types of European trade eral centuries. In the Illinois group, the forebearers of the goods, so these people were not in Illinois River valley, Oneota and Mississippian Ioway tribe. It was into this landscape before the 17th century. Sometime be- people crowded into a few large towns and lacking permanent settlements that the tween A.D. 1550 and A.D. 1650, people did not live throughout the countryside as Native American groups known as the making Danner pottery must have moved they had in the previous centuries. In ex- Illinois Tribe moved sometime after A.D. to Illinois. Excavations at the Grand Vil- treme southern Illinois, Mississippians still 1600. It was the Illinois who met the lage of the Illinois, also known as the built larger towns with temples, although French explorers here and they who gave Zimmerman site, and a village in northeast never again on the scale of Cahokia. the state its name. Missouri, confirm that those with the Artifacts associated with the height of Danner ceramic tradition were members of Mississippian Period art and symbolism are Duane Esarey the Illinois tribe. less common during the Late Mississippian University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Discover Illinois Archaeology 14 THE COLONIAL PERIOD

The Colonial Period began in the sum- historically can be found in two very differ- others. Five Illinois tribes survived into the mer of 1673, when a small party of French ent places: first, in written documents that 1700s: the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, explorers became the first Europeans to set describe particular people, places, and events; Michigamea, Peoria, and Tamaroa. Only foot on land that would later become the second, in archaeological remains of the the Kaskaskia and Peoria tribes continued to State of Illinois. Leaders of the expedition camps, villages, and forts that people occu- exist in the early 1800s. included a young Canadian fur trader named pied. Together, documents and archaeology The Illinois had a diverse economy Louis Jolliet and a Jesuit priest named Jacques tell powerful stories about the rich history of based on agriculture, hunting, fishing, and Marquette. Jolliet and Marquette, accompa- Illinois and its diverse peoples. This section the gathering of wild foods. Maize (corn) nied by five boatmen in two birchbark ca- focuses on the Colonial Period of Illinois was the most important crop, but they also noes, descended the uncharted waters of the history (A.D. 1673-1778), when Native raised beans, squash, pumpkins, and water- Mississippi River to the mouth of the Arkan- American tribes shared their lands with melons. Women stored vast quantities of sas River. Upon determining that the Missis- French and British colonists. maize in underground pits to be eaten dur- sippi does, indeed, flow south toward the ing the lean winter months. Male hunters Gulf of Mexico, the explorers reversed course NATIVE AMERICANS generally pursued game animals as indi- and returned to the Great Lakes via the In the late 1600s, the Illinois and Miami viduals or in small groups. In June, how- Illinois River. nations were the predominant Native Ameri- ever, huge numbers of people left the vil- Jolliet and Marquette are justifiably fa- can ethnic groups in Illinois. The Illinois lages for communal bison hunts in the prai- mous for their geographical discoveries in controlled most of central, western, and ries. Upon finding a herd, runners would the Midwest. But their cultural discoveries southern Illinois, land that became known to surround the bison on foot and, firing their were equally important. The explorers vis- French settlers as the “Illinois Country.” guns and arrows, drive them toward the ited two villages of Illinois Indians on their The Miami occupied several villages in north- remainder of the hunting party where they 1673 voyage: a Peoria village located near ern Illinois. In the early 1700s, however, as were shot. After skinning and butchering Illinois territory the animals, women and girls would pre- shrank and the Mi- serve the meat by smoking it on wooden ami departed for drying racks. In the summer of 1688, the present-day Indiana, Illinois killed more than 1,200 bison and a other tribes began mi- variety of other animals on a single hunting grating into the Illinois expedition. Country to fill the void. The Illinois were mobile and lived in By 1770, a variety of three types of settlements during the year. tribes—including the Summer villages, located near rivers, were Mesquakie (Fox), inhabited in April and May during maize Iowa,Kickapoo, planting and again from mid-July to mid- Mascouten, Piankashaw, October when the maize crops were har- Potawatomi,and vested. The summer villages were re-occu- Sauk—occupied pied from year to year and were quite large, much of the territory some containing as many as 350 mat-cov- formerly claimed by ered longhouses. Summer hunting camps, the Illinois. The eth- established in the prairies in June and July nic landscape be- during communal bison hunts, were occu- Robert A. Thom painting, Jolliet and Marquette Visit Great Village of the Illinois. Reproduced with permission of The Illinois State Historical Society. came even more di- pied briefly and consisted of temporary bark- verse in the early covered lodges. Winter villages, inhabited the Mississippi River in northeastern Mis- 1800s when the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) from mid-October to the end of March, were souri, and a Kaskaskia village located on the tribe migrated into the Rock River valley. located in river bottoms where good hunting Illinois River, opposite Starved Rock, in However, treaties and land cessions with was expected, often some distance away north-central Illinois. Marquette’s descrip- the United States government led to the from the summer villages. To ensure good tion of the Illinois Indians and their way of virtual abandonment of the state by Native hunting, winter villages were smaller, con- life is our earliest detailed account of the American tribes in the early 1830s. taining from five to twenty oval, mat-cov- largest and most powerful Indian nation that Illinois Tribes. At the time of European ered lodges called wigwams. However, occupied Illinois during the late 1600s. The contact, the Illinois nation was a powerful, larger winter villages were sometimes con- Illinois suffered drastic decreases in popula- but loosely organized, confederation of in- structed when the Illinois were in danger of tion and territory during the 1700s and early dependent tribes. The tribes spoke a com- being attacked. 1800s as they adjusted to life with their new mon Algonquian language, had similar ways Archaeologists have documented sev- Euroamerican neighbors—first the French, of life, and shared a large territory in the eral Historic Period Illinois villages in north- then the British, and ultimately the Ameri- central Mississippi River valley. In the late ern and western Illinois. Using historical cans. 1600s there may have been as many as descriptions and archaeological surveys, Information about Native Americans twelve different Illinois tribes, but over time they rediscovered the Grand Village of the and Euroamericans who lived in Illinois many of these disappeared or merged with Illinois (Zimmerman site) in La Salle County 15 Discover Illinois Archaeology near Starved Rock. This site was occupied indicate these sites were occupied discon- archaeological excavations that uncovered intermittently by the Kaskaskia and Peoria tinuously between about 1790 and 1832. the original limestone foundation, fireplace tribes from 1673, when Engraved arrow-shaft wrench Many artifacts from the sites are of footings, and fragments of cedar porch col- Jolliet and Marquette made from bison rib, Guebert Euroamerican origin (e.g., muskets, cop- umns. visited the village, until site, Randolph County, Illinois. per kettles, silver crosses) and reflect a In 1718, the governor of the French Courtesy of Robert Warren, about 1720. Excava- Illinois State Museum. heavy reliance on trade goods obtained colony of Louisiane sent a detachment of tions there uncovered a from British or American merchants. soldiers up the Mississippi River from New distinctive shell-tem- However, excavations also show that Orleans to build a fort that would serve as pered pottery (Danner the Kickapoo maintained their traditional the seat of French military and civil power type) and a variety of economic focus on maize agriculture and in the Illinois Country. Fort de Chartres, the French trade goods. Ani- the hunting of white-tailed deer. first of three forts with that name, was com- mal remains indicate that pleted in 1721 on the east bank of the Mis- bison provided over half EUROAMERICANS sissippi between the villages of Cahokia and the total meat supply, al- The migration of Euroamericans into Kaskaskia. This fort and its successor were though elk, deer, fish, the Illinois Country began slowly during the built of wood and soon deteriorated. They bear, and dog were also French era (1673-1765) and actually de- were replaced, in 1755, by a massive lime- consumed. Illinois vil- clined during the British era (1765-1778), stone fortification that enclosed a number of lages along the Missis- but eventually reached flood proportions at stone buildings. No battles were ever fought sippi River in southwest- the end of the Colonial Period when the at the stone fort, but it did become an impor- ern Illinois were occu- Americans seized control (1778-present). tant staging area for French troops and their pied by the Cahokia, French Colonists. The 1673 voyage of Indian allies, who fought British forces hun- Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Jolliet and Marquette paved the way for dreds of miles east of the Illinois Country and Tamaroa tribes dur- French expansion into the Illinois Country. during the French and Indian War (1755- ing the 1700s. One of Among the first to arrive was René-Robert 1763). these, the River L’Abbe Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who sought to British Colonists. The French com- Mission site, was a create a profitable fur-trade empire. In 1682, mandant surrendered Fort de Chartres to Cahokia village and La Salle descended the Mississippi River to British troops in 1765, two years after France French chapel located on its mouth and claimed title to the entire relinquished Louisiane east of the Missis- the first terrace of Monks drainage basin in the name of Louis XIV, sippi River to England. Many residents of Mound in Madison King of France. He then returned to Illinois Cahokia and other French villages responded County. Another example and built a fortified trading post named Fort by abandoning their homes and moving is the Waterman site, a for- St. Louis atop a prominent sandstone cliff west of the Mississippi to Ste. Genevieve tified Michigamea village later known as Starved Rock. Excavations and the newly established town of St. Louis. that was strategically lo- at Starved Rock in the late 1940s uncovered The British gave Fort de Chartres a new cated for protection from many European arti- raiding Indian war parties facts, including a lead near the French Fort de Chartres in Randolph bale seal that dates to County. the reign of Louis XIV Kickapoo Tribe. The Kickapoo Indians (1643-1715). The bale spoke an Algonquian language distantly seal was found in a related to that spoken by the Illinois. When square cellar that La they first came into contact with the French Salle evidently con- in the late 1600s, the Kickapoo were living structed beneath a pow- in southern Wisconsin. In alliance with the der magazine or ware- Sauk, Fox, and Mascouten tribes, the house inside the fort. Kickapoo pushed the Illinois tribes south- At the end of the ward and took over much of their territory. 17th century, the French The Kickapoo began to establish villages in shifted their hold in Il- central and eastern Illinois about 1770. They linois to the Mississippi ceded their Illinois lands to the United States River. In 1699, three in 1819, but some remained in the state until priests from the Semi- Reconstructed main gate, Fort de Chartes, Randolph County, Illinois. Courtesy of Gary 1834. The Kickapoo economy was based on nary of the Foreign Andrashko, Illinois State Museum. a mixture of agriculture, hunting, and gath- Missions in Quebec founded a mission at a name, Fort Cavendish, but they abandoned ering. In summer they lived in relatively village of Cahokia and Tamaroa Indians it in 1772 when the Mississippi threatened permanent villages of rectangular bark-cov- located in the American Bottom east of to undercut its western wall. Part of the fort ered houses that were often located in up- present-day St. Louis. The mission attracted did, indeed, wash away and the remainder land prairies near the prairie-forest border. French traders. Soon a village was formed soon fell into ruin. Today, some sections of Archaeologists have conducted exca- that took the name of Cahokia, the second- the fort have been reconstructed based on vations at two Kickapoo settlements in cen- oldest (after Peoria) permanent European the results of archaeological excavations. tral Illinois: the Grand Village of the settlement in Illinois. The Cahokia Court- Kickapoo in McLean County and the Rhoads house, built about 1740 and dismantled in Robert E. Warren site in Logan County. Historical documents 1901, was reconstructed in 1940 based on Illinois State Museum Discover Illinois Archaeology 16 THE AMERICAN PERIOD

The American Period traditionally be- trade with the estimated 2,000 Native Ameri- to early roads. Settlers of southern ancestry gins with George Rogers Clarks’ capture of cans who surrounded them. Archaeological constructed their homes, barns, and out- the British-held town of Kaskaskia in 1778. investigations at two early 19th-century Na- buildings of hewn logs, a pattern that per- “Americans,” however, were in Illinois tive American settlements — the Grand Vil- sisted in the region into the early 20th cen- prior to this date and Clark’s army included lage of the Kickapoo in McLean County and tury. In central and northern Illinois, in con- guides familiar with southern Illinois. Clark’s the Potawatomi-occupied Windrose site in trast, the richer farmland yielded better eco- victory and the end of the Revolutionary Kankakee County — revealed that Native nomic conditions and prosperity. Larger and War resulted in a flood of American immi- American groups engaged in the fur trade more ornate houses of milled lumber domi- grants into southern Illinois. These earliest maintained many aspects of their traditional nated the 19th-century landscape and large settlers primarily were small farmers drawn culture, despite pressure from missionaries stone and milled lumber barns were the rule from the hilly back country of the Carolinas, and settlers to change their way of life. rather than the exception. Although certain The marked difference between the tools and weap- lifeways of 19th-century farmers in the north- ons compatible ern and southern parts of the states has been with a traditional demonstrated through archaeology. Exca- way of life, such vation of several farmsteads in southern as guns and brass Illinois including the Davis, Huggins, and kettles, were ac- Fairview Farm sites revealed that the inhab- cepted, items as- itants of these farms relied on hogs and corn sociated with ac- for their sustenance, similar to farms in other culturation such parts of the Upper South. Excavation of rural as cows and farmsteads in northern Illinois, such as the American-style Hughlett site near Galena, reveal a different clothing were re- pattern, one centered on the wheat and cattle jected. Ameri- complex of the northern states. can sentiment for the “removal” of INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS all Native AND GROWTH Americans from Throughout the 1840s, stagecoaches and George Parrish Jr. painting, George Rogers Clark Raids Fort Sackville. Reproduced with permission of The Illinois State Historical Society. Illinois reached a freight wagons remained the primary means peak after the of transporting people and goods across the Kentucky, and Tennessee. Following natu- Black Hawk War of 1832. Government state. Taverns, ranging in size from small ral migration routes such as the Tennessee officials negotiated a series of treaties with one-room log houses to large two-story build- and Cumberland Rivers, these settlers fanned the various Native American groups in which ings with bedrooms for travelers and stables out across southern Illinois along dirt roads tribes relinquished their lands in Illinois in for their horses, sprang up along almost or “traces” that linked the Ohio and Missis- return for trade goods, money, and new every road in the state. The archaeological sippi Rivers. By 1818 the American popula- lands west of the Mississippi River. Despite excavation of one such site, the Young Tav- tion of Illinois was approximately 35,000, the treaties, many Native Americans did not ern in Marion County, provided detailed 99% of whom were farmers. Archaeological wish to leave Illinois and had to be forcibly information about a one-room pioneer south- excavations at the Watts site, a late 18th- to removed to reservations. ern homestead that also served as a tavern. early 19th-century American site in the Ameri- The removal of the Native Americans The excavation of Old Landmark, a second can Bottom, provided information about the resulted in a dramatic influx of American tavern on the same property, revealed that by types of cellars and artifacts found on these settlers into northern Illinois. By 1837 the the 1830s taverns had become more like earliest American farmsteads. American population of Chicago had grown modern-day hotels, consisting of large struc- to over 4,000, an increase of over 1000% in tures with kitchens, dining rooms, and bed- SETTLERS AND NATIVE only four years. These new settlers, the ma- rooms designed for the use of travelers. AMERICANS jority of whom were from the northern United The need for a better method of ship- American settlement remained largely States, traveled west to Illinois by way of the ping Illinois products to exterior markets confined to southern Illinois, the lower Illi- St. Lawrence River and the Erie Canal. These helped fuel an internal improvement boom nois River valley, and Galena in northwest- northern settlers followed a different cul- in the 1830s. The two most significant ern Illinois until the 1830s. Native Ameri- tural tradition than those in the southern part achievements of this boom were the Illinois cans continued to maintain a traditional life- of the state, a difference that is evident in the and Michigan Canal, begun in 1836 and style centered around farming, hunting, and architectural landscapes of the two regions, completed in 1848, and the construction of fishing throughout the remainder of the state as well as in the archaeological remains of the Illinois Central Railroad in the 1850s. during this same time. As late as 1833, farmsteads within the two areas. Even today The completion of these two transportation Chicago had only 300 American citizens, in southern Illinois, it is not unusual to see systems meant that farm products and manu- almost all of whom were engaged in the fur the remains of old log structures located next factured goods could now be shipped out of 17 Discover Illinois Archaeology Illinois to distant markets. The recent dis- class workers in Alton, Illinois. Archaeolo- during the excavation of civilian homes and covery and excavation by archaeologists of gists have been able to use the artifacts from hotels occupied during or shortly after the several sunken canal boats provides first- these sites, particularly the ceramics and Civil War. hand documentation on the construction of food remains, to examine issues such as socio-economic status, gender ARCHAEOLOGY OF RECENT SITES relationships, consumerism, The late 19th and early 20th centuries and differences in food prepa- were a period of increased industrialization ration and consumption be- and the standardized, mechanical mass pro- tween lower and upper class duction of everyday items such as bottles, households in 19th-century Il- stoneware ceramics, and clothing, previ- linois. ously made by hand. This change has been The population of Illinois vividly documented at a number of archaeo- became steadily more ethni- logical sites in the state, most often in the cally diverse throughout the form of a great increase in all types of 19th century. Among the new artifacts, almost all of which were mass- immigrants to the state were produced and non-local in origin. Hand- freed African Americans, who made items such as bone clothing buttons, established a series of farming bone-handled tools, hand-forged iron tools, communities in southern Illi- and bottles with hand-finished lips disap- nois and the lower Illinois River pear and are replaced by mass-produced valley during the 1840s and items available throughout the country. 1850s. Such communities must Archaeological investigations also have have been important in help- taken place at a number of early 20th-century ing fugitive slaves travel along sites, primarily as a byproduct of the excava- the Underground Railroad tion of 19th-century household sites that con- through Illinois to freedom. tinued to be occupied into the 20th century, Ongoing archaeological inves- such as the Fairview Farm site in southern tigations at one of these com- Illinois. Other types of 20th-century archaeo- Pearlware teacup and saucer from the Young Tavern site, Marion County, munities, Miller Grove in Pope logical sites that have been investigated in- Illinois. Courtesy of the Sangamo Archaeological Center. County, are providing our first clude Camp Pomona in Union County, which the boats used on the Illinois and Michigan glimpses of the material culture and lifeways contains the remains of a 1930s African- Canal. of free African-American farmers in Illinois American occupied Civilian Conservation By 1850 Illinois had become the fourth- prior to the Civil War. Corps (CCC) camp. largest state in the Union in terms of popula- Although Illinois contains numerous In sum, archaeological investigations at tion. Led by Chicago, a series of Illinois Civil War-related sites including Confeder- a number of American Period sites have cities including Peoria, Galena, and Quincy ate prisoner-of-war camps, training camps, provided us with much expanded rapidly, becoming the state’s first hospitals, and ma- Mid to late 19th century coins information regard- urban and industrial centers. Industrial ac- jor military bases plowed from abandoned farm- ing 19th- and 20th- tivities included ship building, mining, rail- such as the city of steads, Knox County, Illinois. century lifeways Courtesy of Kelvin Sampson. road construction, and stoneware pottery Cairo (U.S. Grant’s not found in writ- production. Archaeologists have excavated headquarters dur- ten records of the several 19th-century stoneware pottery pro- ing the early part time. The ar- duction sites, including the Jugtown site in of the war), few chaeological as- Grundy County and the Wilhelm Pottery in of these sites semblages from Madison County, providing a wealth of pre- have been in- these sites vividly viously unknown information about the types vestigated document the transfor- of vessels that formed one of Illinois’ earli- archaeologically. mation of Illinois from est industries. One exception is a frontier territory at the the site of the United western edge of Ameri- URBAN AND RURAL LIFE States Marine Ways, a can settlement to a The inhabitants of early cities in Illinois former naval shipyard once lo- highly industrialized followed a way of life that was greatly dif- cated in Mound City in southern state in the heart of the ferent from that of the rural countryside, Illinois. Limited archaeological in- Midwest. while also showing wide variation in terms vestigations at this river-front site un- of wealth, ethnic background, and occupa- covered the remains of the “ways” or frame- Mary R. McCorvie tion. Middle to late 19th-century urban house- works on which noted Union gunboats such USDA Forest Service hold sites investigated by archaeologists as the Carondelet and Cincinnati were built Shawnee National Forest range from that of Abraham Lincoln, a and launched into the Ohio River. Civil wealthy Springfield lawyer and future presi- War-related artifacts including bullets, uni- Mark J. Wagner dent of the United States, to those of labor- form buttons (both Union and Confederate), Center for Archaeological Investigations ers, clerks, wagon drivers, and other lower and other equipment are often encountered Southern Illinois University Carbondale Discover Illinois Archaeology 18 THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES

NORTHWESTERN ILLINOIS sented by Black Sand variety Liverpool ce- Sparse evidence indicates that people fol- The archaeology of northwestern Illi- ramics, found throughout the region, and lowing the linear and effigy mound tradition nois is similar to that of central and north- Marion Thick ceramics, known mostly from were using Madison cord-decorated and eastern Illinois and eastern Iowa. However, the middle and southern areas. A buried Sepo-like ceramics. The terminal Late this region is unique for distinctive mineral Black Sand occupation dating to around 500 Woodland Period is represented by Grant resources, such as Moline and Galena cherts, B.C. was also excavated at Eisle’s Hill. The Corded and Collared ceramics in the north- galena crystals (lead ore), and Rock River site yielded contracting stemmed points, ern part of the Mississippi valley, and by pipestone, that were used extensively by celts, and very large circular houses with scattered small villages that yield Starved Native Americans. entryways oriented to the southeast. Rock Collared ceramics and maize and elk Paleoindian artifacts are found through- Middle Woodland sites are prolific, and remains in the upper Rock River valley. out the region. major sites are lo- The Mississippian Period is represented Clovis and Dalton cated at regular in- by Oneota, Middle Mississippian, Langford, lithic workshops tervals along the and Fisher cultures. Substantial Middle associated with Northwestern Mississippi and Mississippian sites are found along the lower Moline chert quarry Rock Rivers. Apple River valley in Jo Daviess County sites are located Northeastern Bluff-top and and in Adams and Hancock counties. The near the mouth of floodplain Apple River sites feature platform and coni- the Rock River. mounds, cal mounds, Stirling Phase artifacts, and, at Dalton points are West Central earthworks, and the 12th-century Lundy site, ceramics almost found in the Quad large conical, lin- identical to those found in the central Illinois Cities area in large ear and compound Valley at the Larson Site. Mississippi Val- numbers, but this Central mound types are ley Oneota sites are generally small and rare area represents the Lower found at some of on the Illinois side except for Adams and known northern Illinois Valley these sites. The Hancock counties, where they are large and extent of their dis- Albany site, which more frequently found like those found across tribution. Wabash River originally con- the Mississippi River in Iowa. Langford Diagnostic ar- tained 96 mounds, Tradition sites and one Fisher site date to tifacts from the en- is the largest A.D. 1100-1300, and are found on the upper tire span of the Ar- American Hopewell village Rock River. Bottom chaic period are and mound com- Historic Native American groups of this common across the Southern plex in Illinois. region include the Illinois, Kickapoo, Sauk, region. The termi- Artifacts from the Mesquakie (Fox), Winnebago, and Ottowa. nal Middle Archaic Regional divisions site include Ha- The Crawford Farm site, which was exca- Period has been il- of Illinois vana and vated by the University of Illinois in 1960- luminated by recent Hopewell ceram- 1961, is located on the south shore of the excavation of ics; chipped-stone Rock River four miles from its mouth. It is Eisle’s Hill, a late Middle Archaic occupa- artifacts, some made of non-local cherts; most certainly the principal village of the tion buried in a colluvial fan in the Missis- plain and effigy platform pipes made from Sauk (Saukenauk) that was reported by sippi Valley near Muscatine, Iowa. It dates Rock River pipestone; unmodified galena Zebulon Pike in 1805. Native American to around 2,500 B.C. and features a deep, crystals, and a rich assortment of diagnostic presence in this region essentially ended charcoal-rich midden, large roasting pits, Hopewell mortuary artifacts. By A.D. 300, with the expulsion of the Sauk from Illinois oval houses, Osceola projectile points and Middle Woodland is succeeded by the after the Black Hawk War in 1832. drills, full-grooved pebble axes, and beauti- Weaver culture, which is defined by Weaver fully fashioned three-quarter and half- Plain ceramics and Steuben points made Ferrel Anderson grooved (Keokuk) axes. Extensive mussel from local Burlington chert. Followers of Quad Cities Archaeological Society shell middens and mounds located along the the Weaver tradition were the first Wood- shores of the Mississippi and Rock River land people to establish substantial habita- NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS rapids in the Quad Cities region are tenta- tion sites in the interior along smaller streams. Few people who live in Northeastern tively attributed to the Late Archaic and During the Late Woodland, large mound Illinois realize that this part of the state has Early Woodland cultures. Late Archaic Nebo groups that feature low, linear and conical a rich prehistoric and historical heritage. For Hill artifacts found south of the Quad Cities types were constructed in the Quad Cities most, archaeology means exhibits of exotic represent the northern extent of that cultural area and north along both the Rock and cultures and art displayed at Chicago’s sev- complex. Mississippi Rivers. Effigy mounds are found eral world-class museums. Yet there are The Early Woodland Period is repre- in the extreme northern limits of this region. thousands of recorded archaeological sites 19 Discover Illinois Archaeology (from 13,000 years old to less than 100 years Hawk’s Nest site have yielded over 150 accounts of intermingling among Midwest- old) in the region and many county and chipped stone tools, including fluted points ern Native American groups during the 17th municipal museums and historical societies and preforms, end and side scrapers, and century. exhibit local artifacts representing prehis- gravers. Stone for tool manufacture comes The 36-ha (90-acre) Grand Village of toric, early historic and Euroamerican pio- primarily from quarries along the Des Plaines the Illinois State Historic Site is situated on neer lifeways. or Illinois rivers, but exotic chert types from the north side of the Illinois River, a little While the culture history of Northeast- up to 350 miles away have been identified at over a mile upstream from Starved Rock ern Illinois follows the general pattern noted the site. State Park. Studies of the site from the 1940s for the rest of the state, specific adaptations The New Lenox site in Will County is to 1990s add to our knowledge of this impor- were influenced by the local landscape and important for understanding the transition tant locality where Marquette and Jolliet available natural resources. The landscape from prehistoric to early Historic Period visited a village of 1,150 Kaskaskia in 1673. is relatively young, exposed and developed lifeways in northeastern Illinois. Radiocar- Although occupied since Archaic times, the after the retreat of the Wisconsinan glacial bon dates range from A.D. 1278 to 1666 for Upper Mississippian and Historic materials advance approximately 14,000 years ago, the site. Nearly 350 excavated features are the best known. Excellent preservation leaving extensive wetlands. Marshes, ponds include a burial, hearths, processing, storage of plant and animal remains allows detailed and kettles dotted the hilly morainal uplands and trash pits, and several structures. The examination of subsistence practices; dis- and marshes abounded in other poorly complete structures include an Oneota long tinct ceramic assemblages may be linked to drained areas. North-to-south flowing riv- house, a semi-subterranean burned structure different historic period Indian tribes; and an ers (the Chicago, Upper Des Plaines, Du with post holes around the perimeter, and a assortment of trade goods (particularly beads) Page, Fox, and Upper Rock) and a major 24-m x 16-m (79-ft. x 53-ft.) enclosure, and documents provide evidence about east-west water corridor (the Kankakee, which may have had a ceremonial function. French and Indian interaction. Lower Des Plaines, and its many Field school excavations at Macktown, tributary creeks, which join to a 12-ha (30-acre) National Register site lo- form the Upper Illinois) pro- cated in the Winnebago County Forest Pre- vided important transportation serve just south of Rockton, have uncovered routes as well as food and mate- evidence of mid-19th-century cellars, priv- rials for making tools, clothing, ies, and cisterns, as well as Native American and housing. The more deeply camp sites that span the Middle Archaic to entrenched east-west corridor Late Woodland time periods. While His- contains sites that are larger, toric Period artifacts are clustered around more deeply buried, and better spots where structures once stood, prehis- preserved, including the exten- toric remains are spread out across the 12 ha sively-studied Grand Village of (30 acres). Excavations have focused on a the Illinois (Zimmerman site), large Woodland shell midden and habita- Gentleman Farm, New Lenox, tion, and on the cellar of the early 19th- and Utica Mounds. century Hayes Tavern. Northeastern Illinois is a Northeastern Illinois was once home to chert-poor region, presenting a succession of diverse prehistoric and His- problems for prehistoric peoples toric Period cultures. More than 5,550 ar- who used chert for making spear chaeological sites are recorded for the re- and arrow points and a variety gion at this time, demonstrating that sub- of other tools. Chert-bearing stantial remains of the past are still present, dolomite and limestone is cov- though threatened by burgeoning urban de- ered in most areas by up to 60 m velopment. (200 ft.) of glacial till. Heat- treating chert to improve its qual- Rochelle Lurie ity, use of bipolar manufactur- Midwest Archaeological Research Services ing to break up small pieces of chert, and reworking broken WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS tools were techniques for cop- The Illinois River and its principal tribu- Excavation at the Hoxie Farm site, Cook County, 2001-2002. Photo courtesy Illinois ing with local chert resources. Transportation Archaeological Research Program. taries, the LaMoine and Spoon rivers, drain Important sites from all much of west-central Illinois. Throughout time periods have been investigated in North- Well-preserved animal and plant remains most of human history, the area was an eastern Illinois. One of the few extensively show that hunting and fishing as well as unusually productive mosaic of mixed for- studied Clovis sites in Illinois is located in a native grass seeds augmented the typical est and prairie. Ten thousand archaeological plowed field on a hillside overlooking a Mississippian diet of corn, squash and beans. sites recorded here during two centuries of wetland not far from the Fox River in Lake Also present are European trade goods (brass, scientific inquiry provide unique perspec- County. Repeated surface collections and iron, seed and necklace beads), and an array tives about 12,000 years of human existence limited excavations at the 11,000-year-old of ceramic types, substantiating historical in the region. Discover Illinois Archaeology 20 Some time after the last glacial retreat, River drainage. Near the end of the Late communities. Excavations at sites such as Paleoindian hunters and gatherers moved Woodland, ceramic traditions such as Maples Eveland, Larson, Orendorf, and Myer- onto a landscape of spruce and deciduous Mill, Mossville, Sepo, and Starved Rock Dickson provided unprecedented informa- forests. Little is known of their lifeways. Collared appeared in western Illinois. Com- tion about community life. Increased popu- Aside from numerous fluted points found at binations of these regional pottery traits and lations led to greater reliance cultigens, prin- some 70 upland locations, evidence of outside influences indicated that Late Wood- cipally corn, and encouraged consolidation Paleoindian activity is limited to the discov- land peoples readily interchanged ideas and of large numbers of people into restricted ery of butchering marks on young mastodon probably intermarried. The principal focus villages. Such consolidation, coupled with bones recovered near Spring Lake. of habitation again became the major val- poor diet selection, caused disease to be- There is a ten-fold increase in the num- leys, with nearly 600 recorded sites. By come more prevalent, and the general health bers of Early Ar- of the population deteriorated. Competition chaic sites, corre- for land and resources led to increased war- sponding to the fare throughout the 13th century. warmer, drier cli- Around A.D. 1300, Oneota people from mate. Over 1,200 the northern Mississippi Valley moved into Archaic sites are re- western Illinois. Although generally similar corded in almost to Mississippian, the Bold Counselor cul- every ecological ture lacked temple mounds and the associ- niche, but the only ated elite leadership. Settling an unoccupied Archaic habitation section of the Illinois Valley, the Oneota site test excavated found little peace for all of their effort. is the Rench site. Nearly half of the adults in one of their Excavations at the cemeteries, Norris Farms 36, were killed in Morse and Morton a series of ambushes and raids on their sites produced in- village, an indication of unprecedented so- formation about the cial unrest. The abandonment of the Crable Late Archaic Red Larson site excavation, west-central Illinois, Fulton County. Photo courtesy site near Anderson Lake in the mid-1400s Ocher mortuary of the Dickson Mounds branch of the Illinois State Museum. marked the end of extensive prehistoric Na- complex. tive American occupation in western Illi- Following Early Woodland Marion and A.D. 800, corn began to replace native plants, nois. Black Sand phases, primary occupation of the first of a series of adaptations generated The two centuries between the end of the Illinois Valley continued throughout the by close contact with the developing cultural Mississippian occupation and the arrival of Middle Woodland period between 200 B.C. center of Cahokia that would forever change Europeans are not well documented. Fol- and A.D. 200. Increasing numbers of Middle the face of Woodland culture in western lowing sporadic occupation by groups of Woodland people began to cultivate inten- Illinois. late Oneota people, small bands of sively starchy seed plants, and populations By A.D. 1100, Mississippian people Potawatomi and Kickapoo moved south and consolidated around large centers that fea- began to move out of the Cahokia region into westward into the Mississippi and Illinois tured substantial earthen mounds. Some western Illinois, introducing elements of a river valleys. Early settlers’ accounts are mounds were cemeteries for elite persons new lifeway that were quickly adopted by rife with references to the presence of Indi- who were placed in log tombs, along with local Woodland people. This movement ans or to their recently abandoned elaborate artifacts, often obtained through featured exotic religious expressions, rigid “wigwams” along virtually every major long-distance trade. Excavations at such forms of social control, and a vast array of waterway in western Illinois. centers as Clear Lake, Dickison, Havana, new technologies. The abrupt appearance at Native American occupation in the late Liverpool, Ogden-Fettie, Sister Creeks, and the Dickson Mounds, Kingston Lake, 17th century around Lake Peoria included Steuben formed the basis for the identifica- Emmons, and Crable sites of human sacri- 300 cabins in 11 villages, comprised prima- tion of the Middle Woodland Havana Tradi- fice, important persons buried with great rily of Peoria and Kaskaskia. This location tion. By A.D. 300, Havana Hopewell cul- material wealth, and ceremonially equipped along the Illinois River would be the princi- ture was beginning to wane and ceramic subordinate leaders dramatically reflects the pal theater of European and Native Ameri- forms became simpler with the appearance impact of these social changes. The primary can activity in west-central Illinois until the of Weaver ware. For the first time in six focus of this occupation was a 100-mile latter were removed in the 1830s. centuries, habitation sites were dispersed stretch of the Illinois River valley and its over the landscape. major tributaries between Peoria and Alan D. Harn The Late Woodland period between Meredosia, Illinois. There, Mississippian Dickson Mounds Museum A.D. 500 and 1100 was characterized by emigrants joined local Woodland groups in widespread population movement, refining forming a distinctive variation of Cahokia THE AMERICAN BOTTOM REGION of plant husbandry, and social adjustment. Mississippian called the Spoon River Cul- Traditionally, the American Bottom Regional Late Woodland pottery types in- ture. Over a 400-year period, they erected a refers to the Mississippi River floodplain clude the Adams tradition along the Missis- series of fortified temple mound centers between Alton and Chester, and includes sippi and Bauer Branch in the LaMoine surrounded by related clusters of support from north to south Madison, St. Clair, 21 Discover Illinois Archaeology Monroe, and Randolph counties in south- The Late Archaic period is the best- significant increases in population and a western Illinois. The confluence of the Mis- known part of the pre-ceramic sequence in focus of small villages with distinct organi- souri and Illinois rivers with the Mississippi the American Bottom. The initial sequence zational plans on the floodplain. These plans, River occurs to the north, while to the south of complexes are known from early to late as identified at the Range, Westpark, and the Kaskaskia River joins the Mississippi. Falling Springs, Titterington, Mule Road, Cahokia sites, embody certain symbolic Numerous smaller tributaries, such as Labras Lake, and Prairie Lake. The well- messages regarding the organization of so- Cahokia, Prairie du Pont, and Fountain creeks documented Prairie Lake phase is character- ciety. Maize is introduced into the existing flow into and across the aquatic-rich bottom ized by large permanent settlements along broad spectrum diet. Two separate cultural to the Mississippi. For over two centuries, the margins of abandoned ox bow lakes, as traditions, Pulcher and Late Bluff, emerge there has been an abiding interest in the well as numerous smaller extractive camps that are critical in the development of Mis- legacy left behind by Native Americans and with distinctive projectile point styles readily sissippian culture. The Pulcher tradition per- the more recent remains of Euroamericans. linked to similar forms found to the south. sists into the beginning of the Mississipian Most of the early work was born out of The shift from the Late Archaic to the period, while there is a significant change at curiosity centered on the mounds at the edge Early Woodland in the American Bottom is the end of the Late Bluff tradition with the of the bluffs and those concentrated on the associated with the production of ceramic emergence of Cahokia as the dominant com- floodplain east of St. Louis. Systematic in- vessels and other changes, especially in settle- munity of over 10,000 persons at the onset of vestigations began in the 1920s and since the ment patterns. Marion culture sites known the Mississippian. 1950s, a wealth of information has been as the Carr Creek phase are smaller, seasonal Cahokia represents the coalescence of generated, mostly centered around the large encampments distributed as a series of clus- many traditions into a single community and Mississippian center of Cahokia. Since the ters within the American Bottom. Subse- the redefinition of society. Mississippian 1970s, archaeological resource surveys and quent Florence phase pottery, found near mound centers are distributed the length of the excavations required by historic preserva- Goose Lake, stands in marked contrast to the valley with the largest and most numerous tion laws, especially those connected with undecorated Marion ceramics and is geo- mounds distributed in the northern part of the the FAI-270 project, resulted in recording graphically restricted to southern St. Clair valley opposite St. Louis. The Mississippian nearly 6,000 sites tradition at Cahokia lasts until the end of the in the four Illinois 14th century when Cahokia was abandoned as counties encom- a Mississippian mound center. passing the Ameri- Sites along the bluff margins between can Bottom. Centerville and Dupo represent the 15th- and Evidence in 16th-century Oneota utilization of the Ameri- the form of fluted can Bottom, possibly by individuals derived points character- from Cahokia Mississippian populations. izes the earliest hu- When the French arrived at the end of the man habitation in 17th century, the area was occupied by Illi- the region. A num- nois groups, especially near the present settle- ber of large ment of Cahokia. Historical archaeology in Paleoindian sites the region has been focused on the early with extensive oc- French settlements such as the historic town cupation have been of Cahokia, as well as the later American identified. Signifi- settlements of the 19th century. cantly, the nearby Excavation of a 19th-century brick cellar in McLean County, Illinois. Photo courtesy of the Public Service Archaeology & Architecture Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Kimmswick site in John E. Kelly Missouri produced fluted points in associa- County. More recently, Black Sand occupa- Washington University tion with the mastodon. With the onset of the tions have been identified from excavations Holocene, the Late Paleoindian occupation in the northern part of the region. Middle CENTRAL ILLINOIS Dalton culture exhibits marked changes in Woodland sites parallel the Havana sequence Central Illinois stretches from the technology, subsistence, and settlement pat- in the Illinois River valley to the north, but Wabash River westward to the Illinois River terns, documented in the 1950s at the Modoc the intensity of occupation and participation valley and from the Shawnee Hills north- Rock Shelter in the southern part of the in the Hopewellian Interaction Sphere is far ward to the Illinois and Kankakee rivers. It region. Highway salvage excavations at the less than the Havana tradition or the Crab is largely a flat to gently rolling plain, broken Nochta site near Collinsville revealed bur- Orchard to the south. During the Middle only by several rivers such as the Vermilion, ied Dalton and Early Archaic features. Along Woodland to Late Woodland transition, we Iroquois, Mackinaw, Sangamon, Kaskaskia, with information from Modoc, excavations see changes in the location of settlements and their tributaries. Before it was farmed, at Nochta and the upland Strong site have across the American Bottom, with large per- central Illinois had long been a vast prairie, contributed to our understanding of the manent villages located on the Mississippi cris-crossed by streams and dotted by Middle Archaic. Sites during this period are floodplain and the cultivation of numerous marshes and shallow ponds. The changing often restricted to the aquatic-rich Missis- native crops. variety of plants and animals that flourished sippi floodplain or adjacent bluff crest where The development of Mississippian cul- on this landscape sustained people through- resources were readily available. ture in the American Bottom is marked by out the past. Discover Illinois Archaeology 22 Despite relatively little archaeological Elkhart is especially unusual. It is situated a few, such as the Shire Site, have been research in central Illinois, a total of 8,236 on a bluff overlooking what was a vast identified. Sites associated with the Upper sites has been recorded. However, com- shallow lake, rather than on a major stream, Mississippian Langford culture and the pared with major river valleys, central Illi- but we know little about life here 2,000 years Fisher-Huber Oneota tradition occur in the nois generally had a small resident popula- ago. The number of Late Woodland sites in Upper Illinois and Kankakee drainages. tion except during the Early Archaic. central Illinois increases substantially, along In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Although rare, Paleoindian sites tend with the diversity of regional traditions rep- tribes of the Illinois confederacy may have to be located on high ground. For example, resented. Late Bluff culture sites are com- used central Illinois as a hunting territory, in Vermilion County isolated fluted points mon in the central Kaskaskia drainage, while but few sites are known. During the second have been found on late Ice Age half of the 18th century the Illinois were moraines overlooking stream replaced by the Kickapoo and Potawatomi. valleys. A substantial increase Several important Kickapoo sites occur in in the number of 8,000 to 9,000- the region, including the Grand Village in year-old Early Archaic camp- McLean County and the Rhodes site in Lo- sites suggests a rapidly growing gan County. population. Early Archaic camps As part of the settlement of the are also often found on higher Blackhawk War, the Native American tribes elevations of end moraines, sug- that remained in Illinois moved west of the gesting that there was more wa- Mississippi River, though a few, like ter on the upland surface at that Shabbona’s band in LaSalle County, re- time. There is a sharp decline in mained. Settlers move into the region in the number of Middle Archaic greater numbers during the early to middle sites in central Illinois. This part of the 19th century. The invention of reduction corresponds to a pe- plows that could work prairie sod and tech- riod of warmer and drier cli- nology to drain the wet prairie would trans- mate, during which prairie ex- form central Illinois into one of the most panded at the expense of forest. productive agricultural regions in the world. Upland Middle Archaic settle- ments, such as the Barton-Milner Charles R. Moffat site near Tonica, cluster around Illinois Transportation Archaeology and along a reduced number of Research Program, University of Illinois permanent water sources. At Urbana-Champaign Barton-Milner, Middle Archaic residents constructed a shelter at THE LOWER ILLINOIS VALLEY the edge of a pond more than The lower Illinois River valley extends 5,000 years ago. Late Archaic from McKee Creek in Brown County south sites are more numerous in the to the confluence of the Illinois with the region. Excavations at the Pabst Mississippi River at Grafton. In the past, the Koster site excavation, lower Illinois River valley, Greene County. site near Clinton and the Airport Photo courtesy of the Center for American Archeology. broad alluvial floodplain, up to five miles site near Springfield provide in- wide, was covered by a dense forest of formation on Late Archaic culture and the Maples Mills sites extend into the Sangamon cottonwood, willow, and other water-toler- environment 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. drainage. Sites with collared pottery related ant trees interspersed with wet prairie, Woodland sites are more common along to the Albee tradition occur in the northern sloughs and shallow lakes. Tributaries flow- large rivers than elsewhere in central Illi- drainages, but they also extend into the up- ing into the Illinois River cut through pre- nois. Few Early Woodland sites have been per Kaskaskia valley and the upper cipitous limestone bluffs, allowing access found, but their apparent absence may be Sangamon drainage. The Hood site is an into the vast uplands to the east and into the due to our lack of understanding of Early example of an Albee-related seasonal camp. dissected bluffs adjoining the Mississippi Woodland artifacts, rather than a change in After A.D. 1000 cultural differences Valley on the west. Native American land use. Middle Wood- between the northern and southern drain- For more than a century, extensive ar- land sites related to the Havana tradition are ages in central Illinois become more strik- cheological studies in the region have ex- widely dispersed across the major river val- ing. Middle Mississippian hamlets and farm- plored the rich record of human history in an leys of the region, from the Kankakee in the steads, possibly related to Cahokia or to the environment that offered the abundant re- north to the Kaskaskia in the south. Excava- Vincennes Culture of the Wabash Valley, sources of the river, floodplain, bluff-edge tions have been carried out at several Middle are widespread in the Kaskaskia drainage and uplands. To date there are 4,112 sites Woodland village sites in the Kaskaskia and the Shoal Creek drainage. A few of recorded in the lower Illinois valley, span- valley, including the Boulder site in the these sites have small platform mounds, but ning the entire range of Illinois history from Carlyle Reservoir and the Jasper Newman no major ceremonial centers have been iden- Paleoindian through the Historic Period. Of and Sweat Bee sites in the Shelbyville Res- tified. Middle Mississippian sites seem to be the 25 Paleoindian sites recorded here, the ervoir. The Lake Fork mound complex near less common in the Sangamon drainage, but best known is the Scenic Hills or Ready site. 23 Discover Illinois Archaeology More than 200 fluted points and other sites from the Early Woodland, represented tributary outlet in Pike County, are situated Paleoindian tools recovered from the site by the Marion and Cypress phases, tend to be along the edges of the valley, suggesting a suggests repeated occupations by groups of scarce and scattered. By Middle Woodland more scattered Mississippian presence. This Illinois’ first residents. times, there is evidence of population growth, pattern continues into the Oneota Period. The bluff-base settlement called the large base camps, and an increased use of all Numerous tribes moved through this Koster site in Greene County is a corner- valley and tributary areas for villages. region during the 17th and 18th centuries, stone of lower Illinois Valley archaeology. Knowledge of every day life comes from with a few remaining Tamaroa, one of the First occupied 8,700 years ago, the site is a excavations at Apple Creek, Macoupin, Illinois tribal groups, living at the southern series of mostly Archaic period camps and Crane, Loy, Smiling Dan, and other sites. end of Calhoun County. The Naples Ar- villages layered one over another. Re- These sites chronicle the development of cheological District at the northern end of occupation of Koster continued for centu- more sophisticated gardening practices, in- this region produced the only evidence of ries with soil from higher elevations cover- tensive harvesting of riverine and backwater Historic Period Native American use, bring- ing over and separating cultural deposits. lake resources, unprecedented artistic ex- ing to a close thousands of years of Native Excellent preservation of animal bones, pression and a complex social and political American cultures in the lower Illinois River charred plant remains, and tens of thousands organization that included a far-reaching valley. of artifacts chronicle the history of environ- trade system. Elaborately decorated mental change and human life in this part of Hopewell vessels from the Elizabeth Mounds Karen A. Atwell Illinois. show incised geometric patterns and bird Farmland Archaeological Services Early Archaic settlements were season- motifs, excellent examples of the diverse ally-shifting residential camps found in up- ceramics of the period. Clay figures such as WABASH RIVER AND ITS land areas, the bluff base and floodplains. those from the Knight site in Calhoun County TRIBUTARIES These include bluff-base sites such as Koster, and Smiling Dan in Scott County give The Wabash River and its tributaries Titus, and Napoleon Hollow, and Twin Ditch, glimpses of clothing and hair styles at around drain eastern Illinois from the headwaters of situated on the Greene County floodplain. A.D. 100. the Vermilion River in Livingston County to Settlements probably centered around camps Late Woodland peoples at the the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio that served as temporary home bases. Dur- Newbridge site in Greene County and Wor- rivers in Gallatin County. There has been ing the Middle Archaic, increasingly abun- thy-Merrigan in Calhoun County begin to little archaeological research in this region dant river valley resources drew more per- rely more on corn as a food staple, supple- compared to some areas of Illinois. The manent settlements, as evidenced by house mented by native seed cultivation and hunt- 3,557 recorded archaeological sites in the floors associated with year-round base camps ing. With an increasing population, villages Wabash River drainage represent fewer than at Koster. Seasonal or multi-seasonal en- are more common across the landscape and eight percent of registered sites in Illinois. campments in the floodplain focused on there is a greater number of associated burial Human history in the Wabash River harvesting riverine re- drainage is similar to the rest of Illinois, but sources such as mussels, there are interesting differences. Some of fish, waterfowl, and these differences may represent local devel- weedy plants. At the opments, but others reflect the influence of same time, upland re- other cultures. sources were gathered at The Late Archaic Period Riverton cul- special-purpose hunting ture is the best known prehistoric culture in camps, nut collection or the region. It represents a complex system of tool manufacturing settlements based on differences in site loca- workshops such as tions, artifact assemblages, and site func- Buckshaw Ridge in Pike tion. The principal villages were located in County. By the Late Ar- the Wabash River floodplain, where Riverton chaic Period 4000 years people carried out most domestic activities ago, larger numbers of such as food preparation and storage, tool people in the lower Illi- production and repair, clothing fabrication, University of Chicago excavation at Cove Hollow, Johnson County, Illinois, 1939. nois valley were living Courtesy of the Illinois State Museum. and building construction. At other settle- in permanent villages, ments, often occupied during a particular cultivating native seed crops, and engaging mounds. Ceramics technology continues to season, Riverton people sought specific foods in long-distance exchange to acquire materi- improve, with stronger and longer-lasting such as roots, tubers, berries, nuts, fish, als such as copper and marine shell. pottery, but decorations are less elaborate turtles, migratory waterfowl, and white-tailed Archeologists have intensively investi- than Middle Woodland pottery types. deer. gated some of the 1,172 Woodland Period Mississippian cultures did not penetrate Less well known but equally interesting sites in the lower Illinois valley. Early work in large numbers into the lower Illinois River are the Middle Woodland communities in centered on floodplain burial mounds, in- valley. The Audrey site, located along Apple the region. At present, archaeologists have cluding Kamp, Peisker, and Moundhouse; Creek in Greene County, is the only example documented 120 Middle Woodland sites in and those situated on the blufftops, such as of a palisaded Mississippian village. Small the Wabash River drainage, mostly located Gibson, Klunk, and L’Orient. Habitation hamlets, such as Hill Creek Homestead at a along the Wabash River and its major tribu- Discover Illinois Archaeology 24 taries. Villages and hamlets, some with Mississippians before them, Caborn- ture areas. mounded cemeteries, dot the Wabash River Welborn people grew corn, collected fish The Paleoindian and Early Archaic valley floodplain from its confluence with and mussels, and hunted white-tailed deer, record of the region is similar to other the Ohio River to at least Terre Haute, Indi- but they also occasionally hunted bison, an parts of the state except for a greater ana. In particular, the pottery from these animal then relatively new to the area. The frequency of certain projectile point types sites reflects the influence of far-flung Middle presence of European trade goods on late more common in the Midsouth. The first Woodland cultures including the Havana- Caborn-Welborn sites suggests these people notable concentration of settlement takes Hopewell culture of the Illinois River val- had contact with Europeans, either indi- place in the late Middle Archaic Period, ley, the Crab Orchard culture of southern rectly through Native American neighbors the same time as the major Koster site Illinois, and Ohio River valley Middle Wood- or in direct contact with French traders. occupations in southwestern Illinois. A land cultures, especially that represented by The Wea and the Piankashaw tribes cluster of large Archaic sites with heavy the simple and complicated stamp pottery were resident along the Wabash River in the middens is documented in the South and found at the Mann site Bankston forks of the Saline River, espe- in southwestern Indi- cially the Carrier Mills locality in Saline ana. The Allison Cul- County. ture is a later local The Early and Middle Woodland Middle Woodland cul- are represented by the Crab Orchard ture (circa A.D. 250 - tradition, a culture centered in southern- A.D. 300). The best most Illinois and largely restricted to examples of the Allison areas of deciduous forest. Ceramics ap- culture are the Stoner pear in the region by 600 B.C., but no and Lowe sites, with distinctive Early Woodland ceramic copper and non-local complex has yet been identified. Ves- stone artifacts showing sels are thick cord- or fabric-marked jars additional evidence of with flat bases; fabric-marked surfaces connections with other soon predominate until around A.D. 1, cultures and regions. when cord marking again assumes some By A.D. 1000, two importance. Hopewellian burial mound Mississippian centers, ceremonialism makes only limited in- Kincaid in Massac and roads in the area; the major exception is Excavation at the Miller Grove site, Pope County, Illinois. Pope Counties, Illinois, Courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service. in Jackson County, with the Twenhafel and the Angel Site near mound and village complex and several Evansville, Indiana, influenced life in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although there are nearby sites. Wabash River valley. Mississippian sites many historical documents, including maps, Rock shelters are an important as- are found along the lower reach of the Wabash that refer to the locations of Wea and pect of the record of this region, provid- River in floodplain settings, along the lower Piankashaw villages, archaeologists have ing spaces for short-term occupations reach of the Embarras River, and to a lesser yet to discover these sites. By 1746, the ranging from the late Paleoindian extent, in other sections of the Wabash Val- Shawnee tribe established a village where through Mississippian times. Most of ley. Particularly noteworthy is the Otter Shawneetown stands today. The Kickapoo these do not show a great deal of use Pond site in Lawrence County. Located on and Potawatomi resided along the Vermil- until the Middle Archaic. Although such a terrace of the Embarras River, the site has ion River and the headwaters of some of the sites are most numerous in the interior twelve large platform mounds arranged in a other Wabash River tributaries. uplands, there are large, deeply-strati- rectangular pattern around a central, open fied shelters on the edge of the Missis- plaza. Among the artifacts found at Otter Michael D. Wiant sippi floodplain. Pond are Mill Creek hoes, manufactured at Dickson Mounds Museum Most of the state’s prehistoric rock aboriginal quarries along Mill Creek in Union art is within the region, usually on sand- County. The presence of these artifacts and SOUTHERN ILLINOIS stone outcrops in remote locations away others from distant locations underscores Encompassing the Mississippi and from major settlements. Most of it is the importance of long-distance commerce Ohio River floodplains, the Cache River- late prehistoric in age, very late Late between large Mississippian communities. Bay Creek wetland corridor, the southern Woodland and Mississippian. Examples Smaller Mississippian communities are portions of the glaciated till plains, and may be seen in the Piney Creek Nature found nearby in both the Embarras and the dissected uplands of the Shawnee Hills Preserve on the Jackson/Randolph Wabash valleys. and eastern Ozarks, the southern Illinois county line and at Millstone Bluff in Centered at the mouth of the Wabash region exhibits some of the greatest topo- Pope County. River in Indiana and Illinois is a series of graphic and environmental diversity in One special feature of the region are sites that represent the Caborn-Welborn cul- the state. The prehistoric archaeological the so-called Late Woodland “hill forts.” ture, named after two sites in Indiana. record is likewise diverse and varied, as These are ten upland enclosures created Caborn-Welborn people occupied this area the region is also a transitional zone be- by placing low stacked rock walls across from A.D. 1400 to A.D. 1600. As did the tween Midwestern and Southeastern cul- the necks of bluff-bound projections or 25 Discover Illinois Archaeology fingers. In a few instances, other stone Other important Mississippian lo- descended from people associated the features are also present. The sites are cales include the Great Salt Spring on Angel site in Indiana, Caborn-Welborn scattered across the region on the mar- the lower Saline River in Gallatin populations persist into the 1600’s, with gins of the most rugged terrain in the County, a location where small groups some sites yielding European trade Shawnee Hills away from major Late processed the brine from a natural salt goods. Following the dissolution of Woodland settlements. Most contain few spring to produce salt. Centuries of ac- Caborn-Welborn, the region is appar- artifacts. Although popularly viewed as tivity produced large accumulations of ently uninhabited except for occasional forts, refuges, or even buffalo corrals, debris including countless pieces of large intrusions by distant groups, such as the these sites appear to be some kind of ceramic pans, used in the process. In Shawnee, who began traversing the re- special locations reserved for periodic southern Union County, near the com- gion beginning in the late 17th century. social or ceremonial activity, perhaps munity of Mill Creek, is the source area where the wall serves to delimit the for the chert used to make most Missis- Brian M. Butler sacred area from the mundane world. sippian hoes, adzes, and many of the Center for Archaeological Investiga- Examples of these can be seen in Giant large knives used in Illinois and adja- tions Southern Illinois University City State Park in Jackson County and cent areas. The Mill Creek chert locality Carbondale on the Rimrock Trail at the Pounds Hol- features several quarries, nu- low Recreation Area in Gallatin County. merous workshops, one small The Mississippian Period is repre- mound center, the Hale site, sented by a number of large mound cen- and at least one permanent hill- ters along the Ohio and Mississippi riv- top village, Dillows Ridge, where ers. The best known is the Kincaid site, occupants manufactured these tools located in the Black Bottom of the Ohio for local use as well as extensive River near Paducah, Kentucky. The trade. Kincaid site, portions of which are state Although there owned, was investigated in the 1930s are indications of and 1940s by the University of Chicago. scattered settlements Kincaid developed as a center early in persisting as late as the period and reached its zenith in the the early 1500s, Mis- 13th century, serving as the principal site sissippian occupa- of a chiefdom that extended from near tion in most of the the mouth of the Ohio to the Saline region had dis- River. After A.D. 1300, Kincaid de- appeared by clines as a political power and is in- around A.D. creasingly replaced by smaller local cen- 1450. The ters. There is a movement by some singular ex- groups into interior upland settings, as ception is the evidenced by Millstone Bluff, a late Mis- Caborn- sissippian village on a isolated hill top in Welborn the upper Bay Creek drainage. The Mis- phase, a late sissippian of the region is stylistically Mississippian ex- different from the Cahokia sphere and is pression on the Ohio more closely linked to the lower Ten- River centered around nessee-Cumberland-Ohio valleys and the mouth of the Wabash Southeast Missouri. River. Thought to be in part

ILLINOIS INVENTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL The Illinois Archaeological Survey (IAS), an Resources Protection Act requires the organization of professional archaeologists, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, was formed in 1956 in response to the United with the assistance of the Illinois State States Federal-Aid Highway Act, which Museum, to maintain an inventory of initiated the construction of interstate highways. archaeological and paleontological sites. In Illinois, and elsewhere, agreements provided Archaeologists routinely submit information for the salvage of archaeological, historical, on sites, which is transformed into a Geographic and paleontological data from proposed Information System-based file and made highway routes. Among the first actions of the available to qualified individuals for research IAS was to create a site file, an inventory of and cultural resource management. The file archaeological sites in Illinois. Today, the now includes information on more than 60,000 Illinois Archaeological and Paleontological sites, as shown on this map in red. Discover Illinois Archaeology 26 ILLINOIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AN ENDANGERED CULTURAL RESOURCE

Archaeological sites contain artifacts Where do I go to report a site? What should I do if I find human remains? and traces of past human activity that allow The Illinois State Museum in Spring- All burials are protected by the Human us to learn about the people who once lived field keeps the state archaeology site file, as Skeletal Remains Protection Act. Under in Illinois. Most of the more than 60,000 required under state law. Contact the Illinois this law you are obligated to notify the sites recorded thus far in Illinois were found State Museum, Research and Collections coroner within 48 hours of any discovery. If at or near the present-day land surface, and Center, 1011 East Ash Street, Springfield, you believe the remains are from an ar- IL 62703. Phone (217) 524- chaeological site, you may contact IHPA 0328. after you notify the coroner. If the coroner determines that human remains are not a Can I collect artifacts or crime scene, their office will transfer juris- dig on public lands? diction to the IHPA. Are there state and federal laws that protect sites? When are archaeology sites in develop- All archaeological ment projects subject to cultural resource sites on federal land are review laws? protected under federal Any development project that is on laws such as the Archaeo- federal land, or that uses money originally logical Resources Protec- from the federal government, or that must tion Act, the Native Ameri- get a permit or license from a federal agency, can Grave Protection and is subject to federal review. Any develop- Repatriation Act, and the ment project that uses money originally Field school at Hildemeyer, a Mississippian Period site near Peoria, Tazewell County, National Historic Preserva- from state agencies, or that must get a per- Illinois. Summer 2000. Courtesy of Western Illinois University. tion Act, and all artifacts on mit or license from a state agency, is subject they contain items as diverse as stone tools, federal land are property of the federal gov- to state review. hand-built ceramics, animal bone, charred ernment. All archaeological sites on lands Additional information about these and nuts and seeds, garbage pits and house owned by state government agencies, state other topics, including State Permits to dig floors. For at least 12,000 years of Native universities, counties, townships, munici- or collect artifacts, and the status of human American occupation, these remains rep- palities, and special districts (such as forest remains in private collections, can be ob- resent the only direct evidence of cultures preserve districts) are protected by Illinois' tained from the Illinois Historic Preserva- that once flourished here. More recent Archaeological and Paleontological Re- tion Agency, 1 Old State Capitol Plaza, sites may be the location of a pioneer sources Protection Act. All artifacts found Springfield, IL 62701-1507. Phone (217) cabin, a rural tavern, a stoneware manufac- on state or local public land are property of 782-4836, TTY (217) 524-7128, FAX turing facility, or an immigrant's home- the state. Sites and artifacts on federal land (217)782-8161. stead. Like other non-renewable resources, have been protected since 1903, on state archaeological sites are being destroyed at land since 1961, and on local public land Mark E. Esarey, Cahokia Mounds State His- a rapid rate by construction projects since 1990. No surface collection or excava- toric Site throughout the state. The following sec- tion may be done on these public lands by Joseph S. Phillippe, Illinois Historic Preser- tion provides answers to some basic ques- anyone, even professional archaeologists, vation Agency tions about archaeological sites in Illinois. without legal authorization. Copies of federal archaeology Can I surface collect or dig on private land laws are available from federal in Illinois?Illinois?in agencies, libraries, the Illinois The only sites on private land having Historic Preservation Agency legal protection in Illinois are burial sites. (IHPA), and on the internet at No one, including professional archaeolo- “www.cr.nps.gov/archeology.htm”. gists, may excavate or disturb burial State archaeology laws are mounds, or collect burials, burial artifacts, available from IHPA, librar- or burial markers without legal authoriza- ies, and on the internet at tion. Generally a person only needs the “www.legis.state.il.us”. permission of the landowner to collect from or dig on non-burial sites in Illinois. How- I have heard stories of people ever, collecting artifacts from or digging being arrested and prosecuted on a site that is in a proposed development for taking artifacts across state project under review for the project's ef- lines, are they true? fects on cultural resources would be a prob- Yes, but this can only hap- lem, since it could be seen as part of an pen to someone who obtains attempt to avoid compliance with state and artifacts illegally. Dickson Mounds Museum archaeologist, Duane Esarey identifing artifacts for visitors. Courtesy of the Dickson Mounds Branch of the Illinois State Museum. federal laws protecting sites. For Further Explorations into Illinois Archaeology

INTERNET RESOURCES BooksBooksBooks Emerson, Thomas E., Dale L. McElrath, and Andrew C. Fortier www.illinoisarchaeology.org (editors) Late Woodland Societies: Tradition and Transformation across ILLINOIS ARCHAEOLOGY AWARENESS MONTH (IAAM) pro- the Midcontinent. University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Archaic Societies: vides a state-wide calendar of events, a poster and related materials each Diversity and Complexity across the Midcontinent. State University of September. New York Press, 2009. Fagan, Brian M. Ancient North America The Archaeology of a Continent. www.museum.state.il.us Thames and Hudson, London, 2005. Illinois State Museum web sites includes museumlink IllinoisIllinois, an Farnsworth, Kenneth B. and Thomas E. Emerson (editors) Early overview of the state’s natural and cultural history, and a link to Dickson Woodland Archeology. Center for American Archeology, Kampsville Mounds Museum. Seminars in Archeology, Volume 2. Kampsville, 1986. Folwer, Melvin L. The Cahokia Atlas: A Historical Atlas of Cahokia http://dnr.state.il.us/orep/cultural/cultural.htm Archaeology. Revised Edition. Illinois Transportation Archaeological Illinois Department of Natural Resources link has articles and bro- Research Program, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1997. chures on prehistoric and historic sites, plus a 40-page booklet Illinois Hall, Robert L. An Archaeology of the Soul: North American Indian Historic Cemetery Preservation Handbook. Belief and Ritual. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1997. Harn, Alan D. The Prehistory of Dickson Mounds: The Dickson Excavation. www.illinoishistory.gov/ Reports of Investigations, No. 35. Illinois State Museum, Springfield, 1980. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency has links to state-wide his- Justice, Noel D. Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Midcontinental toric and archaeological sites you can visit. and Eastern United States. Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, 1987. www.caa-archeology.org McManamon, Francis P. (General Editor) Archaeology in America An Center for American Archeology (CAA) Encyclopedia. Vol. 2, Midwest and Great Plains/Rocky Mountains. Educational programs for all ages based in Kampsville, Illinois. Greenwod Press, Westport, CT, 2009. Markman, Charles W. Chicago Before History: The Prehistoric Archae- www.cahokiamounds.com ology of a Modern Metropolitan Area. Studies in Illinois Archaeology 7, Take a virtual visit to the World Heritage site. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield, 1991. Mazrim, Robert The Sangamo Frontier History & Archaeology in the http://riverweb.cet.uiuc.edu/ Shadow of Lincoln. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2006. Environmental and cultural information and images about the American Milner, George R. The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern Bottom region. North America. Thames & Hudson, London, 2004. Pauketat, Timothy R. Cahokia: Ancient America’s Great City on the www.saa.org Mississippi. Penguin, 2009. Society for American Archaeology (SAA) Penney, James Prehistoric Peoples of Southern Illinois. Center for National organization of professional archaeologists; includes quarterly Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, 1986. newsletter and curriculum materials. Silverberg, Robert Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archaeol- ogy of a Myth. New York Graphic Society, Ltd., 1968. www.sha.org Struever, Stuart and Felicia Antonelli Holton Koster: Americans in Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) Search of Their Prehistoric Past . Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1979. National organization of archaeologists who study the historic period; Tanner, Helen Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History. University of includes bibliographies. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1987. Temple, Wayne C. Indian Villages of the Illinois Country. Illinois State http://archaeology.about.com Museum Scientific Papers, Vol. 2, Part 2. Springfield, 1977. Moderated by a former Midwest archaeologist, this web site is a wealth of Trigger, Bruce GG. (editor) Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. accurate information on a broad range of topics, including educational 15, Northeast. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1978. resources. Tucker, Sara Jones, and Wayne C. Temple (compilers) Atlas and Supplement Indian Villages of the Illinois Country. Illinois State Museum PUBLICATIONS Scientific Papers, Vol. I, Part 1. Illinois State Museum, Springfield, 1977. Wagner, Mark J. and Mary R. Mccorvie The Archaeology of Frontier MagazinesMagazinesMagazines Taverns on the St. Louis-Vincennes Trace. Popular Science Series, Vol. XI., Illinois State Museum, and the Illinois Department of Transportation, 1993. Illinois Antiquity www.museum.state.il.us/iaaa Walthall, John A. (editor) French Colonial Archaeology: The Illinois Quarterly Publication of the Illinois Association for Advancement of Country and the Western Great Lakes. University of Illinois Press, 1991. Archaeology Walthall, John A. and Thomas Emerson (editors) Calumet and Fleur- american archaeology www.americanarchaeology.com. De-Lys: Archaeology of Indian and French Contact in the Midcontinent. Quarterly Publication of the Archaeological Conservancy Smithsonian Press, 1992.

Peer-reviewed Journals FOR ADDITIONAL READINGS IN ILLINOIS ARCHAEOLOGY Illinois Archaeology www.illarchsurvey.org. SEE www.museum.state.il.us/iaaa/dia.pdf. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology www.midwestarchaeology.org. www.illinoisarchaeology.org

Excavations at the Morton site near Dickson Mounds, Summer 2009. All images courtesy of the Dickson Mounds Branch of the Illinois State Museum.