The Mississippianization of the Illinois and Apple River Valleys

Author(s):  
Gregory D. Wilson ◽  
Colleen M. Delaney ◽  
Phillip G. Millhouse

This chapter investigates Mississippian beginnings in three regions; the Lower Illinois River Valley, the Central Illinois River Valley, and the Apple River Valley. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries each region witnessed a cultural transformation represented archaeologically in the appearance of Cahokian-style material culture. The nature of this transformation was highly variable as the inhabitants of some regions came to embrace a more complete assortment of Cahokian traditions than others.

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Richards

Cahokia’s northern hinterland can be conceptualized as extending north from the central Illinois River valley into the western and upper Great Lakes region. The northern tier of this hinterland can be thought of as a region north of the Apple River area of northwest Illinois and south of a line extending east from the mouth of the St. Croix River to the western shore of Lake Michigan. This area includes a wide range of landscapes, biotas, and cultures and this diversity is mirrored in the Cahokia-related manifestations found throughout the region. This chapter provides a brief comparison of three northern tier sites/complexes including Trempealeau, Fred Edwards, and Aztalan in order to highlight the diversity of Mississippian-related occupations in the area.


2014 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana N. Bardolph

AbstractThis paper employs a practice-based framework for investigating early Mississippian period culture contact and identity negotiation in the Central Illinois River Valley (CIRV) through the lens offoodways. The Evelandphase (A.D. 1100–1200) was a setting of significant cultural change as a result of the movement of Cahokian people, objects, and ideas into the region. Recent analysis of excavated materials from the Lamb site in the southern portion of the CIRV affords a closer look at this historical process. Using ceramic and pit feature data, I assess Cahokian influence on traditional Late Woodlandera culinary practices. I conclude that although local residents were actively adopting some aspects of Mississippian culture (including Cahokia potting traditions), they retained traditional Late Woodland organizational practices of cooking, serving, and storing food. By placing the organization offoodways at the center of this study, this paper illuminates another dimension of Cahokian contact in the region.


1955 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvin L. Fowler

This Study deals primarily with the pottery from a series of 8 Middle Woodland village sites in the central Illinois River valley (Mason, Tazewell, Fulton, Peoria, and Marshall counties in Illinois, see Fig. 62). Comment regarding 3 other sites is also included. All of these sites but one are either directly associated with Hopewellian burial mounds or have Hopewellian pottery and other artifacts scattered throughout the debris. There are numerous other sites known with material similar to these sites, but they are not included here due to the small number of sherds in each of these sites (for example, F°77, Fv88, and others reported on by Cole and Deuel in 1937).The purpose of this particular study is twofold. First of all an attempt is being made in this report to present indications of changes through time and style preferences in a rather well-known culture. It is hoped that these indications will help us to understand the temporal position of the different sites and to build up a body of information that will allow better understanding of the various cultural forms, in this particular case, pottery.


1967 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Munson

AbstractAerial photographs have revealed a "moat-type" enclosure earthwork, probably pentagonal in shape, at the Hopwellian Ogden-Fettie site in the central Illinois River valley.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (03) ◽  
pp. 713-731
Author(s):  
Anthony M Krus ◽  
Edward W Herrmann ◽  
Matthew D Pike ◽  
G William Monaghan ◽  
Jeremy J Wilson

ABSTRACTGeophysical survey and excavations from 2010–2016 at Lawrenz Gun Club (11CS4), a late pre-Columbian village located in the central Illinois River valley in Illinois, identified 10 mounds, a central plaza, and dozens of structures enclosed within a stout 10 hectare bastioned palisade. Nineteen radiocarbon (14C) measurements were taken from single entities of wood charcoal, short-lived plants, and animal bones. A site chronology has been constructed using a Bayesian approach that considers the stratigraphic contexts and feature formation processes. The village was host to hundreds of years of continuous human activity during the Mississippi Period. Mississippian activity at the site is estimated to have begun incal AD 990–1165 (95% probability), ended incal AD 1295–1450 (95% probability), and lasted150–420 yr (95% probability)in the primary Bayesian model with similar results obtained in two alternative models. The palisade is estimated to have been constructed incal AD 1150–1230 (95% probability)and was continuously repaired and rebuilt for15–125 yr (95% probability), probably for40–85 yr (68% probability). Comparison to other studies demonstrates that the bastioned palisade at Lawrenz was one of the earliest constructed in the midcontinental United States.


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