There’s Points in them Hills! : Interpreting Archaic Landscape use from Phase I Archaeological Survey on the Woodfordian Till Plain of Southern Will County, IL Peter J. Geraci and Ben Holmes-ISAS Abstract The Illinois State Archaeological Survey spent the last year conducting a Phase I survey of a 35 mile, 2000 foot wide corridor for a proposed east-west Tollway transecting the Woodfordian Till Plain in Will County, IL. This survey has thus far identified over 250 new archaeological sites, the majority of which are lithic scatters consisting of several hafted bifaces and associated debitage. Most of the diagnostic bifaces collected span the time frame from the late Paleoindian to Late Archaic period. The associated sites are typically located on knolls or ridges overlooking closed depressions or secondary streams. Several examples have also been found at lower elevations due to substantial erosion and land surface deflation. This poster highlights the wide variety of hafted biface forms and their location on the landscape in relation to perceived resource areas. v Forked Creek Locality Rock Creek Locality Marshall Slough Locality Pike Creek Locality Exline Slough Locality Kankakee River Locality Regional Environment The Illinois portion of the Illiana Tollway project spans over 35 miles of southern Will County. This region of Illinois is located on southwest margins of the Valparaiso Morainic System, a complex of end and ground moraines created during the successive glacial retreats at the end of the Pleistocene. The continuous band of moraines that ring the southern lobe of Lake Michigan is dissected by a number of north-south drainages that historically were slow moving wetlands until they were channelized in the late 19th century for farming irrigation. The drainages, now deeply entrenched creeks, drain into the Kankakee River approximately 10-15 miles south of the project area. The Majority of the project was tall-grass prairie before it was turned into farmland, forested areas were concentrated near the Kankakee River valley and in the uplands south of Beecher 3 . Kankakee River Area The western portion of the project near Wilmington, IL is located in the Kankakee River valley and is surrounded by archaic sandy terraces and bottomlands. The bottomland environment would have provided a diverse biomass including fish and mussels, aquatic birds, deer, and small game as well as a suite of edible wild plants. The sandy terraces lining the borders of the river would have also provided easily tillable and productive soils for gardening or more intense horticulture Upland Prairie Area This area is almost completely flat and was once dominated by tall-grass prairie. Because the area is composed of poorly drained prairie soils, low- lying areas tend to pool water and create long, thin wetlands in between the morainal lobes. These wet areas would have been a magnet for many species of animals, especially large mobile mammals such as Elk and Bison moving across the otherwise dry landscape. Upland Forests Prairie soils occur almost everywhere along the corridor, however in some areas such as The Pike Creek locality forest soils are more dominant. Upland forests would have been most productive during the fall when Oak and other nut-bearing trees drop their seeds. The seeds would have attracted people still subsisting off of nut mast in the winter as well as people subsisting off the animals who also consumed nuts such as deer, turkey. and small mammals and rodents. Q: What was the impetus for this project? A: The Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) was asked to conduct a Phase I survey of the proposed Illiana Expressway corridor by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) in 2012. It seeks to connect I-55 from south of Joliet, Illinois to I-65 near Lowell, Indiana. IDOT describes the project as a way to provide much needed access to Will County's burgeoning freight and logistics centers that will have many benefits to the public and the economy. It would also result in decreased travel time, enhanced safety, and increased reliability for travelers in Illinois and Indiana 1 . Q: What survey methods did ISAS use ? A: Agricultural fields with greater than 25% visibility were pedestrian surveyed at 5m intervals. If artifacts were located the area was surveyed again at 1-3m intervals until site boundaries were established. Areas with less than 25% visibility were shovel tested at regular 15m intervals to culturally sterile subsoil and all soil sifted through a ¼’’ mesh screen. Positive shovel tests were delineated until site boundaries were established and all positive shovel tests were profiled to record soil characteristics and artifact depth 2 . Pike Creek Locality Q: What are the Initial Conclusions? A: 1) A typical site consisted of a 1-2 acre scatter of 1-5 tools with < 20 pieces of debitage typically shatter or reduction flakes. 2) Archaic Sites were found in all three habitats, Late Prehistoric sites were only located in the Kankakee and Pike Creek areas 4 . 2) Non-Local chert such as Avon, Burlington and Cobden were more likely to be used during the Early and Late Archaic periods and local chert like Silurian and Galena and glacially-born chert was used ubiquitously throughout prehistory. 3) The majority of the tools were made from local chert and heat- treatment occurs more frequently on bifacial tools than flake tools. 4) Biface Size is variable throughout time; The fluted point is very small compared to the Early Archaic Hardin, Kirk, and Thebes points and the Middle Archaic points are much smaller than the Early Archaic types, however during the Late Archaic a resurgence of larger blades occurs but diminishes in the Late Woodland period. 5) The majority, 74%, of hafted bifaces were broken, hafting elements were the most common portion recovered (70%). 6) Debitage analysis shows that all stages of production and maintenance were recovered. Lithic shatter and flake fragments comprise almost 50% of the assemblage. Although there is evidence of core reduction, it does not appear to be classic biface reduction rather a more opportunistic reduction of small cobbles for the production of expedient flake tools. Q: What are the survey results? A: After surveying over 6,000 acres, ISAS identified 232 new archaeological sites and revisited 23 previously recorded sites within the Illiana corridor. 82% of the sites recorded have a prehistoric component. The breakdown for site components is below: • Prehistoric Only: 116 • Mixed Prehistoric/Historic: 93 • Historic Only: 47 Q: How often were Tools/Debitage found? Present Absent Total Present 109 57 166 Absent 43 47 90 Total 152 104 256 Tools Debitage Q: What temporal periods are represented? A: Paleoindian: Possible Folsom (228), Dalton point base (22) Early Archaic: Hardin Barbed (11,121), Thebes (75 21), Kirk (11,20), Fox Valley (34,215), MaCorkle(227,239) Middle Archaic: Raddatz (45,57,183,224), Meadowood (58), Late Archaic: Merkle (45,201), Table Rock (30,104), Early Woodland: Kramer (194) Middle Woodland: Bladelet (not shown) Late Woodland: Raccoon Notched/Madison Point (11WI107) Lowe Cluster (249) Mississippian: Madison Point, Langford ware (11WI107), Fisher Ware (Pike Creek) South Suburban Airport 16,000 acres of the SSA was surveyed by ITARP in the Mid 1990’s. 216 sites and 136 isolated finds were identified. 45 were deemed eligible for NRHP Jordan Creek Locality Citations 1 Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) 2013 Illiana Corridor Project Study. Project Overview. http://www.dot.state.il.us/Illiana/project.htm 2 Illinois State Archaeological Survey 2012 Standard IDOT-ISAS Field Procedures for Phase I, II, and III Archaeological Investigations. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Champaign. 3 Schwegman, John E 1973 The Natural Divisions of Illinois: Comprehensive Plan for the Illinois Nature Preserves System, Part 2. Illinois Nature Preserve Commission. Rockford. 4 Illinois Inventory of Archaeological and Paleontological Sites (IIAPS) 2001 Site location, Will County, Electronic document, http://geoserver.dnr.illinois.gov/Arch, accessed October 12, 2013