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Preliminary Abstracts for the 2012 IAS Annual Meetings

A Summary of the East St. Louis Mound Center Excavations for the New Mississippi River Bridge
Joseph M. Galloy (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Boasting 50 mounds and covering approximately 480 acres, the East St. Louis site (11S706) was an integral part of the early Cahokian phenomenon. In 2008, the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, began extensive excavations in East St. Louis for a new interstate connector. This work is now nearing completion. More than 5,000 Mississippian and Terminal Late Woodland features have been excavated, including roughly 1,250 structures, 3,300 pits, 70 monumental post pits, dozens of crop rows, several borrow pits, and a newly discovered mound. This paper summarizes the ISAS investigations and highlights important discoveries.

A Preliminary Look at Projectile Point Variability at the East St. Louis Mound Complex
H. Blaine Ensor, Steve Boles, and Thomas Collins (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Excavations at the East St. Louis Mound Complex for the MRB project has resulted in the recovery of a sizeable collection of projectile points, primarily from domestic feature contexts. A sample of projectile points from Terminal Late Woodland, as well as Mississippian Lohmann and Stirling phase contexts were examined in terms of overall size, morphology, technique of manufacture, use-life history, and raw material. While the majority of the projectile points were locally made using regionally available materials, some appear to be exotic both in overall form and material composition. A series of research questions are developed that may prove useful during intensive analysis of the East St. Louis Mound Complex lithic assemblages.

Ink on Bone: Examining Potential Prehistoric Tattooing Implements Found in the American Bottoms 
Robert W. Rohe (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Human effigy vessels, stone figurines, and other prehistoric artworks often depict what some believe to be facial tattoos. However, little regional evidence has been found to validate the assertions drawn from these artifacts. Numerous faunal artifacts collected from previous and ongoing excavations in the American Bottom may fortify the importance of prehistoric body modification through tattooing. This paper will review the possible functionality and utilization of these unique faunal tools.

Preliminary Interpretations of Exotic Artifacts Recovered from a Stirling Phase Mississippian Feature at the East St. Louis Mound Center
Steve Boles, Mera Hertel, August Traeger, John Petzing, and Laura Kozuch (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Recent investigations at the East St. Louis Mound Center have revealed a number of features with probable ties to ritual activities. In this paper we will discuss one such feature, Feature 3766, which contained various exotic artifacts. Included were a large whelk shell cup and a large deposit of unworked galena. Several examples of similar items from this site, as well as other regional sites, will be compared to provide context for the interpretation of Feature 3766.

Stirling Phase Architectural Diversity and Landscape Modification at the East St. Louis Mound Complex
Alleen Betzenhauser (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Large-scale investigations conducted by ISAS within the Second Street Tract of the East St. Louis Mound Center (11S706/6) from 2010­-2012 have uncovered an intensive Stirling phase habitation area. The excavation of over 600 pre-Columbian features, all associated with the Stirling phase of the Mississippian period, revealed a great deal of architectural variability as well as indications of large scale landscape modification and the segmentation of space. In this paper, I describe these findings and propose that this portion of the site was a planned construction of limited duration as well as a locus for public events. 

Mound Underground: Feature 2000 at the East St. Louis Mound Complex
Tamira Brennan (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
This paper highlights the discovery of basal remnants of a large and previously undocumented Mississippian mound at the East St. Louis Mound Complex during excavations in advance of construction for the New Mississippi River Bridge Crossing.  In addition to the symbolically laden mound fills themselves, human interments and a pre-mound sequence that involves borrowing, leveling, and specially prepared surfaces will be discussed.

Feature 2000: Preservation and Tribal Consultation
Brad H. Koldehoff  (Illinois Department of Transportation)
Consultation with federally recognized American Indian tribes is a key component of the multiyear, intensive data-recovery program underway at the East St. Louis site (11S706) for the New Mississippi River Bridge project. The unexpected discovery, and eventual preservation, of a mound remnant and associated human remains presented challenges that were resolved through good-faith negotiations among tribes, archaeologists, and engineers.  The preservation of Feature 2000 is the most recent accomplishment of IDOT’s awarding-winning tribal consultation process.

The Historic Archaeology of the New Mississippi River Bridge Project
Patrick R. Durst, Miranda L. Yancey, and Dwayne Scheid (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Following the conclusion of the Civil War and spurred by the establishment of the National Stockyards, East St. Louis, Illinois developed into a major industrial center. During this period, thousands of workers migrated to the city resulting in a drastic population increase. While the city’s upper class is well documented, little is known of the lives of these common laborers. As part of the MRB project ISAS personnel have excavated numerous ca. 1880 to 1920s features within multiple abandoned residential neighborhoods while compiling detailed socioeconomic data. Such seldom-explored contexts provide rich data on the material lives of the working class within a burgeoning industrial center.

Contextualizing Cahokia's Feature X
Ken Williams (Cahokia Mounds Museum Society), Rachel Campbell (Dept. of Anthropology, University of Arkansas), Tim Schilling (NPS Midwest Archaeological Center), Mike Hargrave (Construction Engineering Research Lab), and John Kelly (Dept. of Anthropology, Washington University)
A large rectangular anomaly at the north end of the Ramey Field east of Monks Mound, dubbed "Feature X," was revealed in a variety of remote sensing surveys in 2003 (Hargrave 2011; Berle 2003; Dalan 2003).  Recent excavations tracing the northern extent of the Cahokia Palisade walls through the area in 2011 indicated that the feature might be of pre-Columbian origin. This summer soil cores by personnel from Glenn Black Lab and additional excavation units were utilized in an attempt to clarify the extent, age, and function of what appears to be major alterations to the landscape prior to the Palisade construction and Feature X.

Skeletal Analysis of the Human Remains from Cahokia Tract 15B
Aimee Carbaugh and Eve Hargrave (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Tract 15B was excavated in 1960 as a salvage archaeology project ahead of highway construction.  Lying just to the west of Monks Mound at the Cahokia Mound Center, Tract 15B provided evidence for dense occupation encompassing the Terminal Late Woodland and Mississippian periods.  Human skeletal remains found in this area included 15 burials, two neonates, and several isolated elements. This paper presents the results of our 2008 analysis of all the human remains and will focus on the temporal association, age and sex distribution, pathologies, trauma, burial treatment, and diet of these late prehistoric inhabitants of Cahokia.  Comparison of the results from Tract 15B with other contemporaneous sites within the American Bottom region provides a look at how life varied during this critical period of time in the Midwest.

Emerald Excavations 2012: Four Discoveries that Challenge an Understanding of Cahokia
Timothy Pauketat (Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois), Susan Alt (Dept. of Anthropology, Indiana University), Jeffrey Krutchen (Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois)
Large-scale excavations at the Emerald site, an outlier of Cahokia, by Indiana University and the University of Illinois provide four new insights into the history and implications of that unusual site. First, an unusual small temple appears to confirm the existence of a special Mississippian building type with an exceptionally complicated depositional/abandonment history. Second, prodigious numbers of wall-trench house reconstructions produced little to no occupational debris, indicative of short-term housing. Third, "nodal" buildings on an adjacent ridge spur also suggest special, non-domestic practices at the site. Finally, one oversized post pit may have marked the primary lunar axis of this upland anomaly. Combined with other attributes, these findings substantially alter our understanding of greater Cahokia.

The Joe Louis Site: An Upper Mississippian Village in the Chicago Forest Preserve
Melissa Baltus (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Amidst the constant growth and development of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, the forest preserve districts of northern Illinois continue to provide protection to not only natural resources, but archaeological resources as well.  This paper focuses on recent excavations by the Illinois State Archaeological Survey at the Joe Louis site, a single-component Fisher village (A.D. 1200 – 1400) located in a Cook County Forest Preserve along the Little Calumet River.  As only a handful of Upper Mississippian village sites have been excavated in the Chicago area, the Joe Louis site will be an important key to fleshing out the history of this time period in the region.    

Lost Mound: The Looting, Salvage, and Restoration of a Bluff Top Burial Mound in Jo Daviess County
Phil Millhouse (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
During the spring of this year, ISAS learned that Lost Mound (11JD30) had been looted in Jo Daviess County. A visit to the site confirmed that looters has conducted a systematic probing and trenching operation on one of the largest bluff top mounds in Jo Daviess County. Examination of the back dirt indicated that human burials had been destroyed during the looting operation. In the weeks to follow there was an effort to salvage what information could be obtained, respectively rebury human and cultural remains, and restore the mound to its former state. This work has been a collaborative effort that included the landowners, ISAS, IHPA, IAS, and Forest Works. This paper will discuss these efforts as well as some preliminary interpretations concerning the symbolism and significance of this prominent burial mound.

2012 Excavations at the Morton Village Site
Michael D. Conner (Dickson Mounds Museum, Illinois State Museum) and Jodie A. O’Gorman (Dept. of Anthropology, Michigan State University)
This summer was the fifth season of excavations at the Morton Village site undertaken by Michigan State University and Dickson Mounds Museum. Excavation of nine 4x4-m blocks produced new information on the distribution of Oneota and Mississippian material at the site, the spatial distribution of wall-trench and single-post houses, and uncovered a remarkable pit feature with an extremely dense concentration of faunal remains and other artifacts, including an antler tool with an inset beaver incisor, a celt, an Oneota pipe, and Mississippian and Oneota pottery.

Early Late Woodland Subsistence in the Sny Bottom:  Analysis of La Crosse Phase Faunal Assemblages from the Mary Craig (11PK1567) and Pump Station (11PK69) Sites
Steven R. Kuehn (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Although well documented in terms of ceramic and lithic assemblages, faunal exploitation at La Crosse Phase sites in the Sny Bottom is poorly understood, primarily due to poor preservation.  Recent ISAS excavations at the Mary Craig site in Pike County recovered a sizeable, well-preserved faunal assemblage that provides important new data on early Late Woodland faunal procurement in this area.  To complement this information, the faunal remains from the La Crosse Pump Station site, the type-site for the phase, were fully analyzed.  The results of both analyses are summarized here.

Archaic and Late Woodland Perspectives of the Trinity Hill Site (11JY582) 
Lauren M. Fitts, James M. Pisell, and Robert W. Monroe (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Trinity Hill (11JY582) is a large bluff base prehistoric site that produced the remains of several buried Late Archaic components and a dense, early Late Woodland habitation that had both near surface and submerged feature clusters that extended onto an adjacent low alluvial terrace. The site was investigated as part of an IDOT compliance project in 2010 and this paper is a preliminary analysis of a sample of the artifacts collected.

Rediscovering Sac and Fox Villages on Henderson Creek
Kelvin Sampson and Michael Wiant (Dickson Mounds Museum, Illinois State Museum)
The discovery of late 18th and early 19th century artifacts near the mouth of Henderson Creek corresponds to the location(s) of documented Sac and Fox villages.  Zebulon Pike describes the general vicinity of a Sac village along Henderson Creek in 1805.  Tama or Taimah’s village is also documented to have been in the area until 1829.  The diverse assemblage of artifacts provides insight into domestic, economic, and political life in the village.

“A Prophet Has Arisen”: The Archaeology of Illinois Native Peoples in the War of 1812
Mark J. Wagner (Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale)
Historical accounts indicate that the Shawnee Prophet’s (Tenskwatawa’s) call for Native American people to abandon their use of European-made material culture and return to a “traditional” way of life had a profound impact on his Native American listeners, among whom were the Potawatomi, Sauk, and Kickapoo of Illinois. But a great silence exists in the historical record regarding the extent to which these peoples actually complied with the Prophet’s rules during the War of 1812. Archaeological investigations conducted over the last 50 years, however, have revealed that Illinois Native peoples continued to follow a traditional way of life and avoid the use of items forbidden by the Prophet such as American clothing, foodways, and housing throughout the War of 1812. Other items recovered from these same villages including large numbers of British gunflints and gun parts indicate the presence of renewed ties between Illinois Native peoples and the British in Canada during the early nineteenth century.

Covering the Dead: Civilian Casualties on the Illinois Frontier During the War of 1812
Mary R. McCorvie (Shawnee National Forest) and Mark J. Wagner (Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale)
From 1810 to 1815 American civilians in Illinois were subject to attack by Native American peoples allied to the British. During the spring of 1813, following a familiar pattern, Kickapoos and Potawatomi traveled south from the upper reaches of the Illinois River to attack American homesteads in the Little Wabash, Saline, Kaskaskia Rivers, and elsewhere in southern Illinois. Among these were the Lively family, whose graves can still be seen in a wooded area in Washington County. Native American civilians also suffered during the war as soldiers and rangers retaliated in kind during attacks on Native American villages.

Two Centuries On: Historical Archaeology and the War of 1812
Mark C. Branstner (Illinois State Archaeological Survey)
Lasting from only 1812-15, America’s “second war of independence” had a profound effect on the young nation. Despite the relatively short-term nature of the conflict, nearly the entire country was affected, including several locations in Illinois. Recent work by a consortium of avocational and professional archaeologists has led to the rediscovery of one of those long-lost sites – Fort Johnson/Cantonment Davis on the Mississippi River near Warsaw, Illinois. As presented here, archaeological testing has resulted in the identification of structural remains, domestic debris, and an extensive assemblage of artifacts associated with the former military garrison that sheds new light on what is an otherwise underappreciated chapter in Illinois history.

Tangibility and Significance: Paradoxes in Designs for a National Historic Landmark's Presentation
Chris Fennell (Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois)
New Philadelphia, Illinois, established in 1836 by Free Frank McWorter, was the first town planned in advance and legally founded by an African American in the United States. The history of this community entails compelling stories of African Americans and European Americans residing in a town founded by an exceptional figure during times of extreme racism. Members of the local and descendant communities, archaeologists, historians, and genealogists have worked together for the past decade to advance research into this remarkable crossroads of families, merchants, farmers, and artisans, and to enhance their focus in our national memory and heritage. These histories and debates have stimulated dialogue and engagement at local, regional, and national levels. New Philadelphia was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2009 based on such collaborative pursuits in archaeology and history. In considering ways to present the town site and its lessons to broad audiences of visitors, divergences in design preferences can emerge among popular views by community members and theory paradigms among professionals. This article will explore the ways in which community involvement at New Philadelphia has facilitated debate and engagement with such diverse design perspectives. Often popular preferences for full-scale reconstructions of historic towns among community members now confront the paradox of countervailing design paradigms among professionals and publicly funded agencies. Design experts similarly confront the dilemma of eschewing potentially misleading reconstructions of buildings and streets, while also aspiring to succeed in attracting large public audiences to visit a site and engage with its significant lessons and legacies. Standing in the cornfields that cover the New Philadelphia town site, one wonders: if you don’t build it, will they still come?