The Vacant Quarter Revisited: Late Mississippian Abandonment of the Lower Ohio Valley Author(S): Charles R

Home , American Bottom, Kiva, Millstone Bluff, Mill Creek chert, Persimmon Mound, Twin Mounds Site

The Vacant Quarter Revisited: Late Mississippian Abandonment of the Lower Ohio Valley Author(s): Charles R. Cobb and Brian M. Butler Source: American Antiquity, Vol. 67, No. 4 (Oct., 2002), pp. 625-641 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1593795 Accessed: 18-09-2017 03:13 UTC

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This content downloaded from 132.174.250.143 on Mon, 18 Sep 2017 03:13:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE VACANT QUARTER REVISITED: LATE MISSISSIPPIAN ABANDONMENT OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY

Charles R. Cobb and Brian M. Butler

The idea that a substantial portion of the North American midcontinent centered on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers confluence was largely depopulated around A.D. 1450-1550-Stephen Williams's "Vacant Quarter" hypothesis-has been generally accepted by archaeologists. There has been, however, some disagreement over the timing and extent of the abandonment. Our long-term research along the Ohio River in southern Illinois's interior hill country has yielded a substantial corpus of late Mis- sissippian period radiocarbon dates, indicating that depopulation of the lower Ohio Valley occurred at the early end of Williams's estimate. Furthermore, the abandonment was a widespread phenomenon that involved Mississippian groups living in remote settings, as well as along major drainages. Although causes for the Vacant Quarter are still debated, evidence from other regions indicates that regional abandonment by agricultural groups was not a unique event in the Eastern Woodlands.

Los arque6logos, en general han aceptado la hipotesis del "Cuadrante Vacante ", es decir, la idea de que la mayorfa de la zona central de los EE. UU. cerca de la confluencia de los rfos Ohio yMississippifue abandonada alrededorde 1450-1500. Sin embargo, existe desacuerdo sobre lafecha y la extension del abandono. Nuestras investigaciones del interior montafioso del rfo Ohio en el sur de Illinois han resultado en un corpus defechas de radiocarbono catorce que provienen del periodo Mississippi. Estasfechas indican que el abandono ocurrio al principio del periodo propuesto por Williams. Adema's, aunque las causas del "Cuadrante Vacante " todavfa son debatidas, existe evidencia en otras regiones de abandono por grupos agricultores, que indica que el abandono regional nofue un evento aislado en los Woodlands del este. n theearly 1980s, StephenWilliams (1980, 1983) to environmental changes that led to "population proposed the late Mississippian period aban- rearrangement" rather than loss (Williams 1990: donment of a region he referred to as the "Vacant 177-180). Quarter." With the Ohio-Mississippi River conflu- Williams admitted the evidence to support his ence as its nexus, the Vacant Quarter spanned the hypothesis, though compelling, was patchy. He fur- American Bottom in Illinois southward to the base ther observed that the "vacant situation here is also of the Missouri bootheel, and extended up the lower mainly a phenomenon of the alluvial valley areas. Ohio River into southeast Indiana (Figure 1). The The uplands, surrounding the Vacant Quarter, still boundaries of the region were originally defined byprobably supported a reasonable population of long- the presence/absence of protohistoric horizon mark- term settled groups, but this notion needs more test- ers, and Williams set the abandonment date around ing" (Williams 1990:173). Our decade-long research A.D. 1450 to 1550. It is still far from clear what led in southern Illinois has indeed tested this notion for to such a large-scale demographic shift, although, as one upland region in the presumed Vacant Quarter, Williams (1990) points out, such shifts were com- resulting in the conclusion that abandonment was mon occurrences in the American Southwest and likely a widespread phenomenon that cross-cut envi- elsewhere, including other regions of the Southeast ronmental zones. We present dates from three late (e.g., parts of Kentucky and Tennessee) during the villages that support a terminus for Mississippian Colonial era. Reasons forwarded to account for the occupation along the lower Ohio River, south of the Vacant Quarter range from pandemics introduced by Wabash confluence, around A.D. 1450. Europeans (if abandonment occurred in the 1500s), These dates are important because there is wide-

Charles R. Cobb * Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902 Brian M. Butler m Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901

American Antiquity, 67(4), 2002, pp. 625-641 Copyright( 2002 by the Society for American Archaeology

625

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IL -

'S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.' AR~~~~~~~~~

\0 100 200 300 ILES Figure 200di 400 60 KILOMETERS

Figure 1. Boundaries of Vacant Quarter in relation to research area (adapted from Williams [1990]).

spread, but not universal, support for the Vacant accommodate Williams's original position. Quarter hypothesis. Three positions have taken Nevertheless, Lewis is likely correct in his asser- shape, and resolution of the timing of abandonment tion that late Mississippian diagnostics could vary would be a major step toward addressing its cause widely in the midcontinent. A preferred route toward (O'Brien and Wood 1998:331-335). First, there is addressing these debates, one that has been largely the original proposal that the onset of abandonment lacking, is the documentation of large bodies of likely occurred in the fifteenth century. An alterna- radiocarbon dates for individual late Mississippian tive is that abandonment began 50-100 years earlier occupations that firmly bracket their occupation than posited by Williams (Morse and Morse spans. Our 10 years of work on three sites in the 1983:280,282-283). Finally, R. Barry Lewis (1986, southern Illinois interior provide some of the best evi- 1990) maintains that there was no Vacant Quarter; dence for dating the twilight of the Mississippian instead, he believes that we merely have a poor han- period in the lower Ohio Valley. With mounting evi- dle on identifying variability in artifact types diag- dence to support the Vacant Quarter hypothesis, com- nostic of late sites over such a large area. On the other bined with signs for similar large-scale phenomena hand, the only solid dates from his proposed Jack- elsewhere in the late prehistoric Eastern Woodlands, son phase (A.D. 1500-1700) of western Kentucky there is a need to address more systematically how and southeastern Missouri-from the Hess and regional abandonment by agricultural societies was Callahan-Thomson hamlets (two dates from each a regular feature of the prehistoric cultural landscape, site)-are now calibrated to an interval of aboutA.D. much as our colleagues in the American Southwest 1420-1500 (Lewis 1990:45); thus, these occupations have done.

/CABORN-WELBORN

~. DILLOW'S BLUFF*0 * ti er RIDGE CREEK

Dogtooth Ben MOuds aMcNoom W-ickliffe Rowlandtown *XsGXTinsley Hill Andalex

Chambers

Jonathan Creek

25 km

Figure 2. Research sites in southern ]Illinois and selected Mississippian settlements in the lower Ohio Valley.

Mississippian Period Chronology in the Lower Muller 1986, 1993; Riordan 1975). The number and Ohio Valley complexity of the outlying settlements in the Black Bottom peaked in the thirteenth century. A palisade The Mississippian sequence in the lower Ohio Val- was built at Kincaid sometime in the not-otherwise- ley (Figure 2) has been the subject of an evolving dis- dated "middle phase" of the site. By A.D. 1300 cussion from somewhat different perspectives (Butler mound building ceased, at least in terms of additions 1991; Clay 1997; Lewis 1990, 1996; Muller 1986; to the major mounds. Contraction and concentration Wesler 1991). Much of the discussion relates to the in the habitation area characterized the post-1300 trajectory of the two major mound centers in the occupation at the site. Occasional stone box graves region, Kincaid (in southeastern Illinois) and Angel placed intermittently on mound tops suggest signs (in southwestern Indiana). Although researchers do of breakdown in the old rules of space and mound not agree on all aspects of this sequence, the general use. Kincaid ceases to be a settlement of major con- outlines of a consensus based on calibrated radio- sequence late in the Mississippian sequence. There carbon dates are as follows: Early Mississippian refers is no hard information for the abandonment date, to a period from about A.D. 1000 to 1150, Middle which, based on ceramics and regional comparisons, Mississippian from A.D. 1150 to 1300, Late Missis- is generally assumed to be around A.D. 1450 (see sippian from A.D. 1300 to 1450, and protohistoric Butler 1991). fromA.D. 1450 to 1600. For some regions in the mid- With new information on small platform mound continent, there is clear material and radiocarbon evi- sites along the lower Ohio River (Kreisa 1988, 1991, dence of Late Mississippian to protohistoric 1995), it has become more apparent that our tradi- continuity (e.g., Jeske 1998; Morse and Morse 1983; tional, monolithic view of a regional Kincaid-cen- Williams 1990); as we will argue, this does not appear tered political geography is inaccurate, at least for to be the case for the lower Ohio Valley. the latter half of the Mississippian period (Clay Kincaid (Cole et al. 1951) emerged as a mound 1997). Many smaller Mississippian mound sites center around A.D. 1000 and built to a zenith in the exist, along the lower Ohio south of the Saline River, A.D. 1200s during the Angelly phase (Butler 1991; most with only a single platform mound. Previously,

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they were viewed as secondary centers of the prin- In the Little Wabash drainage in south-central Illi- cipal town at Kincaid (Butler 1977; Kreisa 1995). nois, New Massilon (Webb 1987) appears to be a Although we are only beginning to work out the rela- roughly comparable site with the remnants of a small tionships among the mound centers, it is now obvi- platform mound and a terminal occupation date ous that most of the smaller mound sites postdate the between A.D. 1350 and 1400. zenith of Kincaid's complexity and presumed author- The upstream portion of the lower Ohio Valley, ity. They probably do not reflect a subordinate sta- or at least a certain part of it, exhibits a different tra- tus vis-a-vis Kincaid, but an expression of jectory. According to Hilgeman (2000), although independence and/or local autonomy (Clay 1997). there is Early Mississippian occupation there, the Nevertheless, occupations throughout the region Angel site does not exhibit major occupation until apparently draw to a close at about the same time, about A.D. 1200, thus placing its inception as an based on a series of recent, calibrated dates. The important mound center relatively late in the regional Twin Mounds site, located near the mouth of the sequence and almost two centuries behind develop- Ohio River, has now been dated to a span of ca. A.D. ments at Kincaid. Angel thus seems to hit its peak as 1200-1450 (Kreisa 1995). In western Kentucky, Kincaid begins to falter. On the other hand, Hilge- Wickliffe was abandoned in the late A.D. 1300s man (2000:227-230) sees the end of the Angel site (Wesler 1991, 1997). Dogtooth Bend, a substantial sequence at aboutA.D. 1450 (based on ceramic seri- mound center in the expansive Illinois floodplain ation and calibrated radiocarbon dates), placing its north of the Mississippi-Ohio confluence, yielded effective abandonment at about the same time as two radiocarbon dates from domestic structures asso- Kincaid. The demise of theAngel site, however, does ciated with a late component with calibrated inter- not mark the end of Mississippian settlement in that cepts in the A.D. 1400s and 2y ranges of A.D. area. 1400-1650 (Beta 87438) andA.D. 1305-1445 (Beta The descendent population of the Angel polity 87439) (Stephens 1996:94-96). may have shifted downstream to around the mouth There are also three late Mississippian dates (old of the Wabash River and became the terminal Mis- assays, not isotopically corrected) from two related sissippian-to-protohistoric Caborn-Welborn phase, sites in the Ohio River floodplain in McCracken where they maintained settlements (with no plat- County, Kentucky, west of Paducah (Butler et al. form mounds) in the large alluvial floodplains of the 1981). Site McN-24 yielded two dates with 2y cal- Wabash confluence (Green and Munson 1978; Mun- ibrated ranges of A.D. 1290-1637 (UGa-574) and son 2000; Pollack 1998; Pollack and Munson 1998). 1288-1474 (UGa-3575). A nearby farmstead site, The phase is dated A.D. 1400-1650/1700, but the McN-38, yielded a very late 2y calibrated range of radiocarbon dates evidence considerable overlap A.D. 1469-1951 (UGa-3573), but the context of this with earlier regional occupations (Munson 2000: date is not clear and the age seems inconsistent with Appendix II; Pollack 1998:46). Many of these dates the associated ceramics as well as those of the nearby are from sites with complex occupation histories site of McN-24. The date is considered suspect. where the opportunity for dating recycled charred In interior western Kentucky, major settlements material is substantial. The problem is less one of were abandoned and habitation dispersed by around determining the terminal date for the complex-a 1400, if not earlier, based on calibrated dates. For significant number of the dates have 2y ranges that example, the Chambers site (Middle Fork Creek/ extend to A.D. 1650 or later-and more one of accu- Clarks River) appears deserted by A.D. 1350 (Pol- rately defining the beginning of what should be prop- lack and Railey 1987), as do the Jewell site and Peter erly called Caborn-Welborn. The latter point is Creek complexes in the Barren River drainage important for analyzing interactions among adjacent (Lowthert et al. 1998). The Andalex site (Green and late prehistoric populations in the lower Ohio Valley. Pond Rivers) on the periphery of the Angel polity is The Mississippian sequence in the lower Ohio an interesting case that displays several discrete Mis- Valley appears to represent a truncated version of sissippian components: a platform mound was con- Anderson's (1994) model of Mississippian "cycling," structed around A.D. 1250, and a terminal occupation whereby individual chiefdoms continually rose and includes two undated mound stages that likely post- fell in power. After the demise of the two largest date 1350 (Niquette et al. 1991; see also Clay 1997). mound complexes of Angel and Kincaid (paramount

chiefdoms in current parlance), there was no subse- in the twentieth century. The site's inhabitants took quent re-emergence of mound centers of compara- advantage of Mill Creek chert to produce hoes and ble size or complexity-a pattern that Blitz (1999) knives that were widely traded throughout the Mis- argues is a common variant of cycling among Mis- sissippi and Ohio River systems (Cobb 1989, 2000; sissippian polities. In fact, much of the region was, Muller 1997; Winters 1981). Dillow's Ridge is an to all appearances, ultimately abandoned. Of direct unplowed site that covers about 7500 M2. There are relevance to our research, models of lower Ohio Val- 27 visible house basins spread randomly across the ley dynamics in the late prehistoric era have not seri- hilltop. Our excavations revealed that rebuilding of ously examined the status of upland settlements in wall-trench structures was commonplace, with up to the context of such issues. four houses per basin. Systematic augering of the site demonstrated the presence of at least 15-20 addi- Late Mississippian in the tional buried basins (not visible on the surface) over Southern Illinois Uplands the site. It is thus possible that somewhere between In the 1990s, our long-term research in the hill coun- 100 and 150 total structures were built during site try of deep southern Illinois (the Illinois Ozarks and occupation, although the number standing at any one Shawnee Hills) identified a significant, although rel- time was likely between five and ten. All of the ones atively small-scale, Mississippian presence far in excavated so far are in the typical size range of Mis- excess of what might be associated with stereotypi- sissippian domestic structures (4-5 m long and 3-4 cal hunting encampments or short-term extraction m wide). There is no clear, formal layout to the site, sites. This region of rolling-to-dissected hills, bluffs, but it is conceivable that overlapping occupations and ravines was home to at least two distinct settle- within the intensively occupied restricted confines ment systems. In the western portion of the hilly inte- of the hilltop may have obscured distinct house rior, several mound sites, smaller occupations, and arrangements or even a small plaza-like area. numerous workshops represent groups who focused Many lines of evidence point to a year-round habi- on the exploitation of Mill Creek chert deposits to tation of Dillow's Ridge over most of its life span. manufacture hoes for trade throughout the Missis- The site produced a full range of domestic artifacts sippian world (Cobb 1989, 2000). In the eastern half and refuse consistent with a sedentary community. of the Shawnee Hills, Mississippian populations fled The estimated number of structures alone reflects a apparent political fragmentation in the lower Ohio fairly intensive occupation. All but two of the docu- Valley and established at least two nucleated villages mented structures are substantial wall-trench con- and a number of smaller settlements in the upper Bay structions indicative of long-term occupation. Creek drainage (Butler and Cobb 2002). Our radio- Moreover, the hilltop habitation area is ringed by a carbon dates from Dillow's Ridge in the west, and dense midden that is close to a meter deep in some from the Millstone Bluff and Hayes Creek sites to the locations. Impressive accumulations of Mill Creek east (see Figure 2), indicate that Mississippian groups chert debitage are also found throughout the site, deserted these uplands around A.D. 1450. largely the waste products of hoe and Ramey knife manufacture. Dillow's Ridge was apparently a small Dillow's Ridge satellite community of the Hale site (sometimes Dillow's Ridge (1 1U-635) is a small village and chert referred to as the Koehler site) situated about 1.6 km workshop located on a tributary of the upper Mill further east on an erosional remnant overlooking a Creek drainage in the Illinois Ozarks near the Union- broad expanse of the Mill Creek floodplain (Beadles Alexander county line. It is situated on a small hill- 1990; Thomas 1894). The Hale site, which appears top that comprises the northern tip of a sprawling to be the principal settlement in the Mill Creek chert ridge system overlooking a small, intermittent locality, was a substantial village with cemetery areas drainage. Our survey in the locality identified a num- and one low platform mound. ber of workshops in the creek floodplains and adja- Millstone Bluff cent slopes. Across a narrow stream valley from Dillow's Millstone Bluff (1 lPp-3) is an unplowed site perched Ridge is the largest documented Mill Creek chert on the crest of aprominenthill in the upper Bay Creek quarry, tested by William Phillips (1899, 1900) early drainage of the eastern Shawnee Hills. Twenty-five

This content downloaded from 132.174.250.143 on Mon, 18 Sep 2017 03:13:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 630 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 67, No. 4, 2002 visible house depressions, arrayed in several tiers, slope (north) end closest to the creek. This area surround a triangular central plaza. Two small, spa- appears to have been elevated by 20-40 cm using tially distinct cemetery areas flank the eastern edge topsoil removed from adjacent areas. Although the of the site, and three groups of Mississippian rock scatter is larger than that at Millstone Bluff, about art are displayed on horizontal sandstone slabs on half of the site area reflects outlying activity areas, the site's north edge. The total site area on the top of characterized by low artifact densities and occasional the sandstone escarpment is about 16,000 m2, while pit features. The core midden area is estimated at only the core area comprising the plaza, house depres- 4500-4800 m2 (based on magnetometry and shovel sions, cemeteries, and most of the artifact scatter istests), and the excavations suggest that far fewer between 6,000 and 7,000 M2. structures existed here than at Millstone Bluff. Unlike Dillow's Ridge, visible depressions at Still, the Hayes Creek site represents a substantial Millstone Bluff display a distinct size modality and nucleated settlement located within a two-hour walk long-term stability in house locations. Excavations of Millstone Bluff. The initial occupation consisted in the largest basins revealed multiple rebuildings, of a series of sometimes overlapping domestic struc- the largest of which measure 7-8 m across. Most of tures built in this northern toe-slope area. The most the smaller basins have multiple rebuildings as well, striking feature of the site is a very large wall-trench with structures in a more conventional size class of structure that replaced the domestic structures late in 4-5 m in length. While structure size in itself is not the site's history. This heavily built structure measured necessarily indicative of rank, the large structures 10-x-8 m, significantly larger than any building at appear to hold some special status by virtue of abut- Millstone Bluff. That structure was dismantled and ting the plaza. Further, red cedar, a wood known to immediately replaced by an even larger, irregularly have ceremonial connotations for many Native shaped (trapezoidal) building measuring roughly 12- American groups, is abundant on the site, compris- x-8 m. At least one standard-size wall-trench struc- ing approximately seven percent of the identifiable ture appears to have followed this construction. wood from flotation samples (Parker 2001). Hayes Creek has a complex site history that can- Hand augering at Millstone Bluff revealed only not yet be fully resolved. Areas upslope from this one obvious buried basin, compared with 15 to 20 zone of concentrated building activity evidence mod- at Dillow's Ridge. Although there may be additional erate amounts of refuse, numerous postholes and buried basins, Millstone Bluff overall appears to have small pits, but only scattered indications of formal been a relatively stable settlement in terms of house structures. One interpretation is that the formal nucle- location. Significant midden accumulations occur in ated settlement existed for only a portion of the site's the upper strata of a number of the basins, the result existence, and that otherwise, habitation was largely of later Mississippian inhabitants dumping their restricted to the area at the north (downslope) end of refuse into abandoned houses. Substantial midden the site. Another possibility is that Hayes Creek was deposits on the site's eastern flank measure at least the nodal site (sensu Riordan 1975) for a cluster of 10-x-20 m in area and are nearly a meter deep, attest- dispersed settlements along Hayes Creek, and that ing to an intensive and continuous occupation of it never had many permanent residential structures. Millstone Bluff for a lengthy period. In this view, the upslope middens reflect periodic use of areas around the plaza of seasonal aggregations Hayes Creek for social and ceremonial activities. The appearance The Hayes Creek site (llPp-199) is situated on a of the large communal structure late in the site's his- tributary of Bay Creek about five km southeast of tory suggests that the role of the site in the local set- Millstone Bluff. The site was first thought to be a tlement hierarchy may have expanded, possibly group of noncontemporaneous Mississippian farm- reflecting a shift in political power from Millstone steads covering an area of 9,000-10,000 m2 on a Bluff to Hayes Creek. Regardless, the data from gentle upland slope adjacent to the creek. Investiga- Hayes Creek reflect a complex relationship between tions revealed that it was a much more complex site it and nearby Millstone Bluff. with a U-shaped midden deposit and an apparent Site Chronologies plaza, although the most intensive house construction took place in a small area of the site at the down- In the following discussion we first consider the

Table 1. Dillow's Ridge Radiocarbon Samples.

Sample Provenience Material 13C/12C 14C Age Cal Age 1 S.D. Cal Age 2 S.D. Intercepts

Beta 66224 Structure 8 charred wood -25.0 830 ? 70 1160-1270 1030-1290 1220 Beta 66226 Structure 22 charred wood -25.0 560 ? 80 1300-1430 1280-1460 1410 Beta 66227 Structure 22 charred wood -25.0 620 ? 70 1290-1410 1270-1430 1310 1360 1390 Beta 70848 Structure 8 charred wood -25.0 630 ? 60 1290-1400 1270-1420 1310 1370 1380 Beta 70849 Feature 16 charred wood -25.0 700 ? 50 1270-1300 1250-1320 1290 1340-1390 Beta 74677 Unit 55-04 charred wood -26.9 710 ? 90 1250-1310 1170-1420 1290 1360-1390 Beta 76478 Unit 40-05 charred wood, -28.0 720 ?60 1260-1300 1210-1320 1280 grass 1340-1390 Beta 76479 Unit 72-03 charred wood -27.4 440 ? 70 1420-1490 1400-1640 1440 Beta 76480 Unit 59-04a charred wood -24.3 370 ? 60 1450-1530 1430-1650 1490 1550-1630 Beta90371 Unit59-06 charredwood -27.5 510? 110 1310-1360 1280-1640 1420 1390-1460 Beta 90372 Unit 77-02 charred wood -26.6 590 60 1300-1420 1290-1430 1400 Beta 90373 Feature 79 charred wood -25.8 620 50 1300-1400 1280-1420 1310 1360 1390

Note: Samples in boldface are those used to compute site abandonment. nature of the radiocarbon samples by site, followed lytic, Inc., and 13 are from the AMS laboratory at by statistical analyses of the samples in aggregate the University of Arizona. The Beta Analytic dates form to arrive at estimates of site abandonment. For were calibrated using INCAL procedures furnished a number of reasons we are reluctant to place too by the laboratory; the AMS dates were calibrated much weight on any single date or context, and pre- using CALIB 4.3 (Stuiver and Reimer 1993). The fer to read the sample as a group. Formation different procedures produce slightly different processes always leave an element of doubt as to the results, but in these date ranges the differences are integrity of individual samples. Further, as we minimal. All three sites have occupations that appear observe in several instances below, the old-wood to be limited to the middle and late Mississippian problem is likely a factor for some of our dates. It period and lack the ceramic forms and decorative should be kept in mind, however, that we are attempt- attributes that characterize the earlier portion of the ing to date the sites and their abandonment; we are Mississippian sequence. not attempting to evaluate specific contexts within a Radiocarbon Contexts by Site given site (e.g., is one structure older or younger than another?). Thus, rather than throwing out individual The 12 radiocarbon dates from Dillow's Ridge were dates that did not fit our notions about a given con- obtained from primarily burned posts or other struc- text, we merely point out where they are obviously tural debris (Table 1). The calibrated intercepts problematic. Such dates may still be instructive about extend from A.D. 1220 to 1490. The earliest date 830 broader occupational issues. In fact, as our discus- ?70 B.P. (Beta 66224, wood charcoal, =3C --25.0) sion will show, dates that appear to be outliers when appears to be a slight outlier, as the same structure focusing only on the central occupation of a site may also yielded a date of 630 ? B.P. (Beta 70848, wood have important things to say about its abandonment. charcoal, 13C = -25.0), which is more consistent with The three sites described above have yielded a the three next-earliest dates from the site. total of 41 radiocarbon dates: 12 from Dillow's Fifteen of 17 radiocarbon dates from Millstone Ridge, 17 from Millstone Bluff, and 12 from Hayes Bluff form a very consistent cohort with intercepts Creek. Twenty-eight of the dates are from BetaAna- ranging from the late 1200s to 1425 (Table 2). There

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Table 2. Millstone Bluff Radiocarbon Samples.

Sample Provenience Material 13C/12C 14C Age (BP) Cal Age 1 S.D. Cal Age 2 S.D. Intercepts Beta 96503 Feature 11 charred wood -25.6 600 ? 50 1300-1410 1290-1420 1395 1340 1390 Beta 96504 Feature 29 charred wood -25.4 500 ? 70 1400-1450 1300-1500 1420 Beta 96505 Feature 31 charred wood -25.0 260 ? 70 1520-1580 1460-1690 1650 1630-1670 1730-1810 1780-1800 1920-1950 Beta 96506 Units 14 /18 charred wood -26.2 660 ? 60 1280-1325 1260-1410 1300 1340-1390 Beta 110280 Unit 22 charred wood -23.9 910 ? 70 1030-1210 1000-1270 1160 Beta 110282 Unit 26 charred wood -27.4 540 ? 50 1400-1430 1300-1440 1410 Beta 110283 Feature 66 charred wood -31.5 610 ? 60 1300-1410 1280-1430 1320 1350 1390 Beta 111536 Feature 51 charred wood -25.7 700 ? 50 1270-1300 1250-1320 1290 1340-1390 AA 34923 Feature 41 charred wood -24.0 780 ? 40 1190-1292 1220-1281 1263 AA 34924 Unit 37 charred wood -25.0 775 ? 40 1192-1200 1222-1282 1265 1208-1293 AA 34925 Unit 55 charred wood -26.0 625 ? 40 1287-1409 1298-1331 1305 1341-1397 1365 1386 AA 34926 Feature 86 charred nutshell -25.7 610 ? 40 1292-1414 1330-1334 1323 1336-1373 1350 1378-1401 1390 AA 34927 Unit 40 charred wood -25.7 755 ? 40 1215-1297 1257-1286 1277 AA 34928 Feature 104 charred wood -24.9 765 ? 40 1212-1296 1225-1284 1275 AA 34929 Feature 80 charred wood -26.8 775 ? 40 1215-1297 1257-1286 1277 AA 34930 Feature 107 charred wood -25.7 695 ? 40 1263-1322 1281-1300 1292 1350-1390 1373-1378 AA 41525 Feature 6 charred wood -26.0 667 ? 41 1287-1305 1277-1331 1298 1355-1356 1340-1398 1365-1386

Note: Samples in boldface are those used to compute site abandonment. is an outlier at each end of the distribution. The ear- ability distributions generated by CALIB show that liest date of 910 ? 70 B.P. (Beta 110280; wood char- this lo range and the next youngest one (A.D. coal; 13C = -23.9) is an apparent outlier; we say 1630-1670) have the highest probabilities. The next "apparent" as its 2oy range does extend to A.D. 1270, two most recent dates from the site are considerably so that it is not necessarily inconsistent with the oth- older at 500 + 70 B.P. (Beta 96504; wood charcoal; ers. There are other reasons to view this date with 13C = -25.4) and 540 + 50 B.P. (Beta 110282; wood some reservation, however. The date was obtained charcoal; 13C = -27.4). from a piece of red cedar, a wood with considerable With certain considerations outlined below, Hayes potential for curation and recycling, not to mention Creek appears to have essentially the same duration the fact that old-growth cedar stands in the Ozarks as Millstone Bluff and Dillow's Ridge, with initial and southern Illinois could yield trees in excess of Mississippian occupation taking place in the late 400 years old (see Bell 1951:238-239; Stahle and 1200s and lasting until sometime after A.D. 1400 Wolfman 1985). At the late end there is a date of 260(Table 3). The dates from Hayes Creek require some- + 70 B.P. (Beta 96505; wood charcoal; 13C = -25.0). what more comment and contextual description, This sample has multiple ranges, only one of which however, as several dates do appear to reflect an "old- is likely, given what we now know of the local and wood" problem. Most radiocarbon samples come regional chronology-a 2oy range of A.D. 1460- from the built-up area at the north end of the site 1690, and a lo range of A.D. 1520-1580. The prob- where there is a long sequence of superimposed

Table 3. Hayes Creek Radiocarbon Samples.

Sample Provenience Material 13C/12C 14C Age Cal Age 1 S.D. Cal Age 2 S.D. Intercepts Beta 123255 Feature 52 charredwood -25.0 600 ? 50 1300-1410 1290-1420 1320 1340 1390 Beta 123256 Feature 2 charred wood -28.0 330 ? 60 1470-1650 1440-1660 1520 1580 1630 Beta 123257 Feature 4 charred wood -27.1 850 ? 60 1160-1260 1030-1280 1200 Beta 123258 Features 21/47 charred wood -25.6 570 ? 50 1310-1360 1300-1430 1400 1390-1420 Beta 147833 Feature 55 charred wood -25.6 970 ? 70 1000-1160 960-1220 1030 Beta 147834 Feature 65 charred wood -26.4 770 ? 60 1220-1290 1170-1300 1270 Beta 150791 Feature 51 charred wood -25.3 530 ? 70 1320-1340 1300-1470 1420 1390-1440 Beta 150792 Feature 94b charred wood -26.9 490 ? 70 1410-1450 1310-1370 1430 1380-1510 1600-1620 AA 41526 Feature 63 charred wood -26.5 610 ? 40 1300-1334 1292-1414 1323 1336-1373 1350 1378-1401 1390 AA 41527 Feature 55 charred wood -26.8 899 ? 43 1039-1105 1229-1300 1280 1106-1142 1375-1477 1150-1211 AA 41528 Feature 121 charred wood -25.3 740? 40 1262-1291 1220-1300 1280 1375-1477 AA 41529 Feature 69 wood -26.2 807 ? 43 1211-1276 1160-1285 1224 1228 1242 Note: Samples in boldface are those used to compute site abandonment.

structures, as well as topsoil introduced from nearby latest date for Hayes Creek is 330 ? 60 B.P. (Beta areas and artifacts from a Late Woodland component. 123256; wood charcoal; 13C = -28.0) and derives The dates were obtained most]y from small pieces from a large refuse-filled pit some distance east of of wood charcoal recovered from feature fill, and in the building area. four instances the results diverge markedly from Of the remaining dates from Hayes Creek, four other stratigraphic and chronological information. (Beta 123257, 147833, 147834, andAA 41527) are The dates from Hayes Creek; have intercepts that apparently too early for their contexts. Two are asso- range from A.D. 1030 to 1630 (last of three inter- ciated with Structure 4, a small three-sided wall- cepts for the latest date). In our view a date of 740 ? trench building attached to the south wall of Structure 40 B.P. (AA 41528; wood charcoal; 13C = -25.3) 3 and clearly postdating Structure 2 stratigraphically. from a wall trench of Structure 1, the earliest struc- Structure 4 yielded dates of 850 ? 60 B.P. (Beta ture in the north area, provided the best determina- 123257; wood charcoal; 13C = -27.1),770 ? 60 B.P. tion on the initial occupation age. This result (Beta 147834; wood charcoal; 13C = -26.4), and 490 (intercept of A.D. 1280) is fully compatible with ? 70 B.P. (Beta 150792; wood charcoal; 13C = -26.9), dates from early contexts at both Millstone and Dil- of which only the last date applies to this structure. low's Ridge. Structure 2, the first large wall-trench The other two dates clearly derive from older charred building, is firmly dated to around A.D. 1400 with materials of an uncertain source. It could be associ- two radiocarbon dates of 600 ? 50 B.P. (Beta 123255; ated with an earlier (initial) Mississippian occupa- wood charcoal; 13C = -25.0) and 530 ? 70 B.P. (Beta tion of the site, not otherwise in evidence, but it is 150791; wood charcoal; 13C = -25.0). Structure 3, more likely that wood from old trees was used on its larger successor, yielded a date of 570 ? 50 B.P. site (see below). The problem is highlighted by (Beta 123258; wood charcoal; 13C = -25.6), virtu- attempts to date Structure 5, a building that, in terms ally indistinguishable from those of Structure 2. The of feature relationships, postdates Structures 2 and

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Table 4. Mean Dates of Occupation and Abandonment.

Weighted Weighted Mean of Site Laboratory N Mean Pooled Mean Abandonment

Dillow's Ridge Beta 12 1336 ? 50 1336 ? 50 1463 ? 32 Millstone Bluff Beta 8 1346 ? 21 1267 ? 11 1425 ? 26 Arizona 9 1233 ? 13 Hayes Creek Beta 8 1320 ? 21 1255 ? 15 1433 ? 26 Arizona 4 1192 ? 21

4 and should date after A.D. 1400. A Beta Analytic 1 1/2 date from one of its wall trenches produced a result of 970 ? 70 B.P. (Beta 147833; wood charcoal; 13C {l(11S2) f = -25.6). A subsequent attempt to date the same wall This term, the standard error of the mean, will have trench with AMS produced a result of 899 ? 43 B.P. a smaller value than the standard deviations associ- (AA 41527; wood charcoal; 13C = -26.8). Clearly ated with individual dates (Aitken 1990:113; Ward the date results are at variance with the observed and Wilson 1978:22). building sequence, and "old wood" seems to be Based upon the conventional '4C dates, the result- implicated. ing weighted means for the three sites indicate an The issue is further underscored by the results of average occupation in the thirteenth and fourteenth a sample taken from a large central support post centuries A.D. (Table 4; Weighted Mean). The Beta (Feature 69) for the large Structure 2, which is oth- Analytic dates for Millstone Bluff and Hayes Creek erwise solidly dated to ca. A.D. 1400. The outer ring return a later average than do the Arizona samples. of the base of a large white oak post was preserved The differences are rather substantial-well over a in the underlying waterlogged sediments. The out- century for each case. To some extent this is a matter ermost (near bark) portion of the original log was of sample selection, but some difference due to radio- not present. A sliver of wood from one of the outer carbon techniques cannot be ruled out. Based on the projections of the remnant yielded a date of 807 ? BetaAnalytic results alone, all three sites appear to be 43 B.P. (AA 41527; wood; 13C = -26.2), with a cal- contemporaneous, with average dates in the mid-four- ibrated 2oy range that extends only to A.D. 1285. teenth century. Although caution should be exercised Physical examination of the post remnant reveals an when combining samples from different laboratories, extremely compressed ring sequence, however, and the pooled weighted averages for Millstone Bluff and it is evident that the planing and dressing of the log Hayes Creek suggest a mid-thirteenth-century aver- could have easily removed over 100 annual rings. We age occupation span (Table 4; Weighted Pooled unfortunately did not have the luxury of selecting Mean). The latter date corresponds more closely with fragments of short-lived plants or plant parts for the onset of Kincaid's demise and may suggest pop- radiocarbon dating. ulation movement to the uplands from Ohio River settlements. The samples we use to date abandonment Assessing Site Occupation and Abandonment (discussed below) are all from Beta Analytic and do Combining the sites' respective dates and deriving not pose similar discrepancy issues. weighted means refines the average date of occupa- The summed probability distributions (3oy) of the tion (Aitken 1990:95-98; Shott 1992). We derive the radiocarbon dates for each of the three sites provide weighted mean (Y) for a given set of dates by the another perspective on their occupation (Figure 3). following equation: The broad shapes of the curves emphasize a Missis- sippian settlement between about A.D. 1200 and 1400. The interpretation of more specific modes or 1/S2 patterns within such distributions must be carried out This value is then subtracted from the baseline date with great caution, but they may point to informa- of A.D. 1950 to provide a mean date of occupation. tive trends (Nelson and Hegmon 2001:224-227). In The error range on the weighted mean (S) is provided that light, it is noteworthy that all three distributions by: display a precipitous decline around A.D. 1400-

used to gauge site abandonment? One decision rule would be to average all dates after the weighted mean of the entire sample from a given site. We rejected this approach since it still might include dates with a date range well before a reasonable abandonment estimate. Millstone Bluff, for example, has one sample (Beta 96506) dated after the weighted mean but ending in the early fourteenth century (A.D. 1290 ? 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 60). This time spread places the context comfortably Dillow's Ridge: calibrated years A.D. within the latter half of the Mississippian sequence, but seemingly a little early for the end of the site's occupation. As an alternative, we selected dates for each site that fell after the respective weighted means, yet at least bracketed A.D. 1400 within one standard deviation. This decision rule allowed us to consider the alternative hypothesis advocated by Morse and Morse (1983:280, 282-283) that abandonment did occur, but somewhat before the mid-to-late fifteenth- century date advocated by Stephen Williams. Once

900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 these dates were selected (n = 5 for each of the sites),

Millstone Bluff: calibrated years A.D. a new weighted mean was derived for each site using the same formula as above (Table 4; Mean of Aban- donment). All of the late dates were Beta Analytic samples and are highlighted in Tables 1 through 3. In short, when the span of only the late occupations is considered, the average of the dates for the three sites strongly point to a mid-fifteenth-century abandonment of the southern Illinois region. This estimate conforms closely to the early end (i.e., A.D. 1450) of Williams's projected abandonment range

800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 and mirrors the trends evident in the radiocarbon

Hayes Creek: calibrated years A.D. probability distributions for the sites (Figure 3). Although we believe our data support a general Figure 3. Summed probability distributions for southern abandonment dating to the mid-fifteenth century, it Illinois sites, based on three standard deviations. Areas cannot be ignored that the 2oy ranges (and some of under the respective curves have a probability of one. the intercepts) for a few of the samples extend con- 1450, which coincides with the earliest estimates siderably past this date. The probability distributions Stephen Williams offers for the Vacant Quarter. Our for Dillow's Ridge and Hayes Creek also display interest in abandonment leads us to focus on those small modes in the sixteenth to early seventeenth cen- dates on the late extreme of the sample distribution. turies. Such patterns could be due to either minor As Schiffer (1986) has observed, emphasizing the reoccupation or the effects of calibration (see Nel- central tendencies of suites of dates runs the risk of son and Hegmon 2001:227). If the former is true, it ignoring important insights that may be yielded by would indicate that abandonment of the lower Ohio evaluating other aspects of the frequency distribu- Valley was not total and is perhaps better understood tion. Hence, rather than viewing dates well above the as a major depopulation. Discouraging the argument statistical mean as possibly spurious-or as merely for a substantial, sustained presence in the uplands deviant from the average-we next consider how is the lack at our three sites of any European goods they may be used to derive an estimate for when the or artifact types that are clearly diagnostic for ter- occupation of a site came to an end. minal Mississippian or protohistoric occupations. How does one determine which dates should be Distinctively decorated Caborn-Welborn ceramics

This content downloaded from 132.174.250.143 on Mon, 18 Sep 2017 03:13:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 636 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 67, No.4, 2002 are absent, as are other tion does follow theContact Mississippian occupation Era (Jack- markers such as triangular or snub-nosed lithic endscrapers, certain son 1992; Milner et al. 1984). catlinite pipes, and the like (e.g., Drooker While the scale of the abandonment associated 1997:58-62; Mainfort 1996; Williams 1980). One with the Vacant Quarter is perhaps unprecedented, late type, a socketed antler-tip projectile point, was it by no means marks a unique event in late prehis- recovered from Dillow's Ridge, but such points first tory. There was, apparently, a depopulation of the appear in the middle of the Mississippian sequence, Upper Susquehanna drainage in New York ca. A.D. sometime in the A.D. 1300s (Morse and Morse 1300-1700, which has been attributed to either cli- 1983:273; Munson 2000:78; Wesler 1991). We iden- mate change (the Little Ice Age) or warfare (Funk tified a shift from wall-trench to single-post house 1993:208-209; Rippeteau 1978). Similarly, the lower construction in the final occupation of two of the Savannah River Valley in Georgia was depopulated house basins at the site, a pattern documented spo- of Mississippian communities in the mid-to-late fif- radically in the Midsouth (Lewis and Lewis 1995: teenth century and was not reoccupied until two cen- 63-67; Webb 1952:67-74) but not otherwise known turies later (Anderson et al. 1995:275-276). This or, at least, well documented, in the lower Ohio Val- coincided with a period of climatic deterioration last- ley or the Ohio-Mississippi confluence region. This ing nearly 75 years. In contrast to the Southwest architectural transition is generally associated with where climatic cooling or drought are typically impli- late Mississippian; thus, in itself it is not necessarily cated in ecological-driven models of culture change, diagnostic of occupations postdating the fifteenth periods of excessive rainfall may also have affected century. Our studies in the eastern hills of southern late prehistoric settlement in the Eastern Woodlands Illinois (i.e., Hayes Creek and Millstone Bluff) have by saturating or even inundating crop land (e.g., revealed no diagnostic artifacts or features for the late Scarry 1986:124-126). Milner's (1993) environ- Mississippian to protohistoric interval, despite the mental reconstruction of the Mississippi River Val- proximity to the Cabom-Welborn complex. ley from the confluence north to the American Bottom in west-central Illinois indicates that large Regional Abandonment as an Eastern stretches of now-arable land were frequently under- Woodlands Phenomenon water before modem water management projects, The three sites presented here span the width of andthe late prehistoric communities in the region can southern Illinois hill country and likely had ties be into viewed as "settlements amidst swamps." different political and trade networks; Dillow's Ridge Discussions of regional episodes of depopulation seems to have had closer links with settlements to among settled, agricultural communities in the East- the west in the Mississippi River Valley (Cobb 1991; ern Woodlands have not been regularly visited in the Milner 1993), whereas Millstone Bluff and Hayes same way that they have in the southwestern United Creek likely looked south and east. Nonetheless, it States. In part, this is due to the fact that the scale is striking that all three sites have essentially the and timing of abandonments are still poorly under- same temporal span. The mid-fifteenth-century date stood in the Eastern Woodlands-factors that hinder for the demise of the Mississippian lifestyle in the considerations of causality. The Vacant Quarter typ- southern Illinois hills also seems to pertain to large ifies this dilemma, where, as we have observed, there portions of the adjacent lower Ohio Valley, as dis- is still some skepticism about its reality. By contrast, cussed in our review of the regional chronology. southwestern archaeologists largely concur that Indeed, the southern Illinois sites may persist some- marked, regional depopulations were regular events. what longer than many of the documented late sites While the environment is often implicated in their discussed previously, such as Kincaid, Twin Mounds, abandonment scenarios (in the Mesa Verde region, and Angel. A late-fourteenth-century date is also the Great Drought of 1276-1299 [Douglass 1929]), thought to mark the end of the Mississippian social factors have become increasingly prominent sequence to the northwest in the American Bottom, for the role they played in shaping responses to eco- which includes the well-known center of Cahokia. logical stressors (e.g., Kohler 2000; Kuckelman et This suggests that depopulation of that sector of the al. 2000). Vacant Quarter began somewhat earlier-although Nevertheless, southeastern archaeologists do a small-scale Oneota occupation of unknown dura- seem to accept a much more volatile Mississippian-

This content downloaded from 132.174.250.143 on Mon, 18 Sep 2017 03:13:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Cobb and Butler] LATE MISSISSIPPIAN ABANDONMENT OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY 637 period political economy than they once did. rioration The pic- and crop shortfalls do not explain why ture of lower Ohio Valley chiefdoms that some are neighboring groups successfully persisted up until now proposing (e.g., Clay 1997) is one that resem- the time of European contact. For our region, nearby bles oscillations more closely than it does smooth Caborn-Welborn groups in the Ohio Valley contin- developmental trajectories. A similar model has been ued into early Historic times, as did adjoining Fort offered for other areas of the Southeast (Anderson Ancient groups to the east. Likewise, Williams's 1994) and may relate to changes in subsistence, (1980) protohistoric Armorel phase abuts the south- demography, and warfare, among other variables. ern end of the Vacant Quarter in southwestern Ken- Such cycles can be nested or scalar; in other words, tucky without any clear environmental or climatic communities may cycle through habitation or aban- gradients. Nevertheless, widespread climatic events donment at a local scale while larger polities remain like the Little Ice Age can display considerable vari- intact. Conversely, polities may rise and fall while ability (e.g., Van West and Dean 2000), and pro- constituent communities retain some semblance of tracted regional shortfalls in precipitation and severe continuity. Periods of collapse or abandonment at dif- climatic oscillations appear to have been more com- ferent scales may typify systems and polities in gen- mon in the Eastern Woodlands than previously eral (Lewin 1992), although the historical reasons thought (as indicated by the detailed tree-ring and may vary from one case to another, as has been paleoclimatic research carried out for the Atlantic argued in the American Southwest with the twelfth- coast region [Anderson et al. 1995; Stahle et al. century Chaco phenomenon (Lekson and Cameron 1998]). Similar studies in the Lower Ohio Valley are 1995; Saitta 1997; Stuart 1991; Tainter 1988) and necessary for evaluating the possible impacts of cli- with the Four Corners region during the thirteenth matic change. century (Ahlstrom et al. 1995; Cameron 1995; Lipe Whatever the initial causes of the Vacant Quar- 1995). ter, warfare and social unrest may have hastened the In the lower Ohio Valley the political shifts seem exodus. Evidence for conflict dates well back into to have accelerated in the mid 1200s with the decline Archaic times in the Eastern Woodlands but warfare of Kincaid and were brought to a close by whatever appears to have dramatically increased with the onset factors underlay the Vacant Quarter phenomenon. of the Mississippian period. Extensive evidence for With the present data there is no indication that it palisaded settlements (including Kincaid andAngel), was clearly a time-transgressive process or that it upsurges in skeletal trauma, and even iconography unfolded in any clearly patterned way; that is, begin- indicate that raiding and conflict were pervasive in ning in one area first and then radiating outward. Mis- the late prehistoric Southeast (e.g., Bridges et al. sissippian sites throughout the lower Ohio Valley 2000; Brown 1976; Milner 1999)-a fact that the de portion of the Vacant Quarter appear to be deserted Soto expedition could attest to, often to its chagrin by the mid-fifteenth century, with the signal excep- (e.g., Dye 1990). Yet the scale of warfare documented tion of the Caborn-Welborn area. Some areas were by the Spanish was far too limited to account for pop- abandoned by A.D. 1400, while still others, includ- ulation movement at the scale of the Vacant Quarter. ing the southern Illinois hill-country sites, seem to More likely, climatic deterioration or other causes have lasted somewhat longer. In any event, the tem- may have exacerbated a competitive and often hos- poral difference between localities is not major and tile political environment that rendered the region less could reflect sampling and identification problems hospitable. with late components. It is still conceivable that larger settlements were It cannot be overlooked that this timing broadly abandoned but small ones continued to be occupied, coincides with the onset of the Little Ice Age. This as Barry Lewis (1986, 1990) has advocated. There period of widespread glacial advance is- commonly is possible support for this in the radiocarbon distri- attributed to ca. A.D. 1550-1900, yet was preceded butions at our sites, or at least support for periodic by as much as two centuries in Europe and other revisits to some of the sites. Nelson and Hegmon regions by disastrous harvests apparently precipi- (2001) propose a similar model for the Mimbres tated by shorter growing seasons (Grove 1988; Jones region in southwest New Mexico, where former field et al. 2001). Yet, as Funk (1993:209) points out for houses were transformed into permanently settled the Upper Susquehanna abandonment, climatic dete- hamlets by populations fleeing villages. However,

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they are able to draw on evidence for architectural those along the large river valleys-at least in our remodeling and ceramic continuity to reach this con- sample and in the small number of upland sites dated clusion, whereas our diagnostic material record is in nearby regions. The chronology supported by our mute on the subject of post-fifteenth-century occu- research weakens the possibility that Old World dis- pation. eases explain the depopulation; nevertheless we are Finally, there is the question of where the inhab- still left with the question of "why." We do have some itants of the Vacant Quarter went? Once again, degree of certainty about the tempo and breadth of because of our past uncertainties about the Vacant the depopulation in the region-it was large scale, Quarter, sustained research explicitly aimed at cut across various kinds of environmental settings, addressing this issue has not been carried out. As and was relatively contemporaneous. As is typical southwestern researchers have noted (e.g., Cameron of research endeavors, the shedding of light on some 1995; Duff and Wilshusen 2000), the depopulation aspects of the Vacant Quarter has, at the same time, of one region should correspond with evidence for raised new issues. Causes of depopulation in the population increase in another as a result of emigra- region can only be addressed with detailed paleocli- tion (assuming decreased fertility and/or increased matic data, tighter sequences of dates for protohis- mortality were not at work). Thus, it is popularly toric complexes, and the search for signs of refugee believed that a substantial portion of the Four Cor- populations, to name only a few issues. The evidence ners population moved to the upper Rio Grande for similar abandonment events in other regions and drainage in New Mexico. Similarly, for the Ohio Val- time periods in the Eastern Woodlands should be an ley the descendent population of the Angel polity is impetus for additional research in these directions. thought to have shifted downstream and reconstituted as the Caborn-Welborn complex. Since this com- Acknowledgments. The three sites discussed here are within plex borders southeastern Illinois, it would not be a the Shawnee National Forest. We would like to thank Forest stretch to argue that groups from Hayes Creek and Service archaeologists present and past, Mary McCorvie and Dan Haas, for their considerable assistance in making our Millstone Bluff moved eastward to merge with the research possible. Berle Clay kindly provided comments on an Caborn-Welborn. Populations elsewhere in the early draft of this paper and has been a regular contributor to Vacant Quarter (including Dillow's Ridge) likely our work in southern Illinois through his geomagnetic studies. splintered in other directions, given the postulated In the review process, we thank Stephen Williams, Barry size of the depopulated region and the fact that pro- Lewis, and four anonymous individuals for their detailed com- mentary. Thanks also to Bridget Zavala for the Spanish tohistoric complexes have been identified in almost abstract. Various portions of our research have been supported all bordering areas. by the National Science Foundation (BNS-9120222; SBR- There was likely considerable variability in the 9807157), the National Geographic Society (Grant #5241-94), adoption of refugee groups. Given the apparent con- and the United States Forest Service, Shawnee National tinuity from terminal Mississippian to Caborn-Wel- Forest, as well as our respective institutions. born, long-standing ethnic and kinship ties may have References Cited facilitated the movement of groups from southeast- Ahlstrom, R. V. N., C. R. Van West, and J. S. Dean ern Illinois eastward. In contrast, the diffusion of 1995 Environmental and Chronological Factors in the Mesa Oneota groups southward toward the Mississippian Verde-Northern Rio Grande Migration. Journal of Anthro- world appears to have been met with some violence pologicalArchaeology 14:125-142. Aitken, M. J. (e.g., Milner et al. 1991), and Mississippian com- 1990 Science-BasedDating inArchaeology. Longman, Lon- munities in the Illinois Valley and the American Bot- don. tom may have been rousted or integrated against Anderson, D. G. 1994 The Savannah River Chiefdoms: Political Change in the their will. These, and other scenarios, await further Late Prehistoric Southeast. University of Alabama Press, archaeological testing. Tuscaloosa. Anderson, D. G., D. W. Stahle, and M. K. Cleaveland Conclusion 1995 Paleoclimate and the Potential Food Reserves of Mis- sissippian Societies: A Case Study from the Savannah River What we can now say in regard to one of Stephen Valley. American Antiquity 60:258-286. Williams's concerns about the Vacant Quarter phe- Beadles, R. W. 1990 A History of Southernmost Illinois. Illinois Local His- nomenon is that occupations in the interior drainages tory Project (for Southernmost Illinois), No. 1. Gateway and upland areas do not last markedly longer than Press, Des Peres, Missouri.

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