Chapter III: Part 3

PERIOD: Unless otherwise specifically stated, the word applies to a
cultural level regardless of time and place.

PHASE: The major division of the pattern as used in the McKern
Classification System.

PLANT-RAISING: The economy or cultural status of a cultural group who
grew food (and fibre) plants but were without domesticated
food-draft animals.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION: A formalized social means of controlling the
members of a nation or tribe and compelling compliance with
established customs or laws with defined customary or lawful
penalties for violations together with the machinery for determining
equity, rights, or damages in non-criminal disputes through
governmental agencies such as officers (chiefs) and official bodies
(councils) regularly selected for these purposes.

POLISHING: A process by which the surface of a ground stone artifact was
brought to a high degree of smoothness and gloss by rubbing with
fine earth and water. It is readily distinguishable from polish due
to wear in digging.

PRIEST: Any person selected in a regular and customary manner for
religious office who by virtue of installation into that office and
acceptance of the duties is (believed to be) invested with the power
to communicate and intercede with members of the spirit world, a god
or gods or in certain instances to act for them on behalf of his
group.

PRIMITIVE PEOPLE: Refers to any people in the Self-Domestication Stage
and to the simple plant-growers of the Farming Period.

PROTOCULTURAL: A stage presumed to have existed prior to man’s discovery
of the principle of conchoidal fracturing of flint, when he used
native sticks and stones as tools, and sometimes by haphazard
breaking of these secured new forms more suitable for his purposes.

PROTOMISS: An abbreviated form for Protomississippi, the earliest known
subculture of the Middle (Mississippi) Phase in southwestern
Illinois. Dillinger is the type site.

RELIGION: The set of beliefs (Sacred Tradition), rules (tabus), and
activities (including rituals) that govern the life of a society
with regard to those superhuman forces with which the individual
feels himself surrounded and which neither he nor his group by
themselves can control. Religious practice includes prayers or
requests for the continuance of well-being and life’s necessities,
thanksgiving for past blessings, and a belief in the necessity of
right conduct of the individuals in their daily living. In all known
primitive religions, a belief in some form exists of spirit beings
and/or gods with superhuman powers. See FORMALIZED RELIGION.

ROCK SHELTER: An overhanging rock ledge facing away from the prevailing
wind that afforded protection to a primitive family from the
elements and wild animals.

ROUGH STONE: This term refers to stone used as it occurs in nature with
virtually no artificial modification other than that resulting from
use such as a common hammerstone, an unworked abrader, or a grinding
stone. The stone may have a relatively smooth surface due to natural
causes.

SACRED TRADITION: The term used here to signify the embodiment of the
significant (effective) beliefs and rules that governed the behavior
and activities of a primitive tribe in matters relating to the
unseen world of spirits (or gods) and unknown forces, which were
handed down from generation to generation. It is usually included in
the inept term “mythology” which may also contain tales and legends
that serve for mere entertainment.

SELF-DOMESTICATION STAGE: The earliest stage of true human culture which
began presumably with the discovery of controlled flint chipping and
the invention of flint tool types. During this stage, man is enabled
to secure a fairly constant food supply by hunting and collecting,
keeps his young under parental care and control for several years
and learns to accommodate himself more or less peaceably to his
family and to fellow tribesmen during brief periods of religious and
social gatherings.

SHAMAN: A person who by virtue of dreams or visions believes he can
communicate with spirits, obtain from them superhuman powers for the
benefit of his social group and tribe and who has demonstrated these
abilities over a greater or longer time to the satisfaction of his
fellows.

SHELLS, MARINE: Shells from the ocean or Gulf of Mexico, raw materials
secured by traders or through exchange for other goods. The most
common marine shells found in Illinois cultures are the _Cassis
madagascarensis_ (Hopewellian), the Busycon or Fulgar (Middle
Mississippi and Hopewellian), _Marginella_ (Initial Woodland,
Hopewellian and Middle Mississippi), _Oliva_ (Middle Mississippi),
and _Olivella_ (Hopewellian).

SOCIAL ASPECT: That division of primitive culture that is concerned
preeminently with preserving and stabilizing fundamental customs,
with the maintenance of peace and order within its primary social
units, and to this end, in the organization, functioning and
continuation of such units.

SOCIAL CONTROL: Any general social means by which a social or political
group preserves peace and order within itself and group protection
against outsiders (see Family-type and Political Agency).

SOCIAL STRUCTURE: The persisting system of significant relationships in
a society that prevails without regard to the particular individuals
involved.

SPEARHEADS: Projectile points 3 to 6 or 6½ inches long presumed to have
been used to tip spears.

SPEARTHROWER (ATLATL): A short stick by which increased leverage is
obtained in hurling a spear. It gives greater range and an accuracy
comparable to the bow at shorter distances.

SPEARTHROWER WEIGHT: A weight secured to the spearthrower for
controlling it and increasing the speed of the spear.

SPEAR, THRUSTING: A long spear that is fitted with a long, narrow head
generally without barbs or shoulders, that can be easily withdrawn
from a wound. It is primarily for use in the hand, not for throwing.

SPECIALIZATION (CRAFT): An occupation in which a man or household of a
primitive community engages primarily to the considerable exclusion
of the general economic pursuits or the remainder of his group. It
should not be confused with the production of a highly skilled
craftsman.

SPECIALIZATION (OF TOOLS): Applies to numerous variations in the forms
derived from a general artifact type presumably to accomplish better
and more easily certain special requirements of construction or
manufacture.

STAGE (CULTURAL): One of the major periods into which cultures may be
divided by virtue of its degree of development which depends
primarily on the fundamental invention that ushered it in.

SPIRITUAL ASPECT: That division of primitive culture concerned primarily
with tribal values, religion, recreation and the arts.

STATUS (CULTURAL): A subdivision of a stage. A substage.

STONE: Unless otherwise noted any kind of stone generally used by
primitive peoples for pecking, grinding and polishing into weapons,
tools, etc., for example, granite, greenstone, gneiss, shale,
limestone, basalt.

STONE VAULT GRAVE: A type of burial mound consisting chiefly of flat
stones enclosing a walled-up tomb chamber, the whole covered with
earth. In Illinois known at present only from Adams County.

STONE VAULT SUBCULTURE: A division of Final Woodland Phase that is
characterized by stone vault graves.

SUBCULTURE: Any archaeological grouping smaller than a phase.

SUBSTAGE or STATUS: A subdivision of a _Stage_ that develops as the
result of a significant invention, discovery of a special resource,
or some other condition of the surroundings.

TECHNOLOGY: The processes by which any artifact is produced.

TEEPEE: A conical framework of poles covered with bark, skins, brush,
mats, etc. used as a shelter or hut by primitive peoples.

TEMPERING: Foreign material such as sand, crushed limestone, plant
fibers, crushed shell, etc. mixed with the clay in pottery-making to
render the vessel less likely to crack in firing.

TEMPLE MOUND: A rectangular pyramid with a flat top on which a temple
was built. Similar mounds were used for council and chief’s houses
among historic Mississippi peoples. Flat-topped pyramidal mounds are
characteristic of the important Middle Mississippi sites in
Illinois.

THERMAL MAXIMUM: A time interval (roughly between 5000 and 2000 B.C.) in
which the climate was warmer and drier than at present.

TOMAHAWK: A hafted hatchet of stone or metal used in fighting.

TOTEM: An animal, plant or inanimate object that is regarded as the
symbol of a social or political group.

TUMPLINE: A sling or pack strap that rests on the forehead, passes over
the shoulders, and is used for carrying a load on the back.

TURKEY-TAIL: A large spearhead, broadly oval in the middle and
double-pointed with notches near one end.

TYPE STATION(S): The site (or sites) that at present seem, to the
author, to give the fullest view of life in a subculture, including
as far as possible a village (or camp) and burial site.

WAR (ARCHAIC): The blood feud. In the Archaic period, this was the
method of interfamily or intergroup retaliation for murder or other
serious injury to one family or local group by a member of another.
It was carried on by alternate sneak raids between the local
settlements involved, with the object of killing one or more members
of the group attacked, (destroying property), and escaping without
loss.

WAR (PLANT-RAISERS): Hostilities between plant-raising tribes were
pursued by sneak raids having for their objectives the surprise and
attack of villages, the ambush of enemy parties, and the capture of
prisoners. (Murder, black magic, and other crimes committed within
the tribe were generally dealt with by socio-judicial custom).

WATTLE AND DAUB: A framework of posts, interlaced with branches and
twigs and plastered over with clay for house and fortification walls
common in Middle Phase and probably in other periods.

WIGWAM: As used here, a roughly hemispherical hut having a framework of
poles set in the ground with their tops arched over and secured
together, the whole covered over with leafy branches, skins, bark,
mats or thatch.

WINDBREAK: A vertical or inclined framework of poles covered with
branches and leaves, skins, bark, etc. erected by primitive peoples
as a shelter against wind, sun, and storm.

WOODLAND: One of the major archaeological patterns of the eastern,
southern and central United States, characterized by plant-raising
(except possibly in its Initial Phase), by elongated globular clay
pots (with cord-roughened exteriors, pointed bottoms, and incised
line and punctate decoration), hamlets or small villages (except in
the Classic Phase), with flint spearheads (but no arrowheads except
in Final Phase).

WRAP-AROUND-SKIRT: A rectangular piece of clothing made of skin, fur, or
cloth worn by Hopewellian and Middle Mississippi women. It was
wrapped around the body from the waist to the knees or below and was
secured at the top by a belt or other means.

YUMA POINTS: Chipped spearheads of various general shapes including
leaf-shaped forms, without channeling.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ADVANCED (WOODLAND) PHASE

1951 Cole, F. C. et al in _The Baumer Focus_, in KINCAID, A
PREHISTORIC ILLINOIS METROPOLIS, pp. 184-210, University of
Chicago, Chicago (Baumer Subculture).
1951 Maxwell, Moreau S. _The Woodland Cultures in Southern
Illinois_, pp. 232-243. Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin
(Baumer Subculture).
1951 _Ibid._, pp. 78-183 (Crab Orchard Subculture).
Tennessee
1922 Harrington, M. R. _Cherokee and Earliest Remains on Upper
Tennessee River_, INDIAN NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS, No. 24, New York
(Round Grave People or Baumer Subculture).
1952 Kneberg, Madeline. _The Tennessee Area_ in Griffin, Ed.,
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES, p. 192 and Fig. 102.,
University of Chicago, Chicago (Round Grave, Upper Valley or
Baumer).

ARCHAIC PHASE

1950 Deuel, Thorne. _Man’s Venture in Culture_, STORY OF ILLINOIS
SERIES, No. 6, pp. 5-12, Illinois State Museum, Springfield.
1957 Deuel, Thorne, _The Modoc Shelter_, REPORT OF INVESTIGATIONS,
No. 7, Springfield, revised and reprinted from _Natural
History_, October, 1957, pp. 400-405 (Simple and Medial).
1956 Fowler, Melvin L. and Winters, Howard. _Modoc Rock Shelter,
Preliminary Report_, REPORT OF INVESTIGATIONS, No. 4, Illinois
State Museum, Springfield. (Simple and Medial).
1957 Fowler, Melvin L. _Ferry Site, Hardin County, Illinois_,
SCIENTIFIC PAPERS SERIES, Vol. VIII, No. 1, Illinois State
Museum, Springfield. (Terminal Subculture).
1950 Titterington, P. F. _Some Non-Pottery Sites in the St. Louis
Area_ in ILLINOIS STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, N.S. Vol. I,
pp. 19-31 (Terminal Subculture).
Tennessee
1947 Lewis, T. M. N. and Kneberg, Madeline. _The Archaic Horizon in
Western Tennessee_, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Eva
focus or subculture).
United States generally
1957 Wormington, H. M. _Ancient Man in North America_, POPULAR
SERIES, No. 4, 4th Edition, revised, Denver (Archaic and
Paleo-Indian Assemblages).

CLASSIC (HOPEWELLIAN) PHASE

1937 Cole, F. C. and Deuel, Thorne. _Rediscovering Illinois_, pp.
130-191. University of Chicago, Chicago.
1952 Deuel, Thorne, Ed. _Hopewellian Communities_, SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
SERIES, Vol. V, Illinois State Museum, Springfield.
1957 Fowler, Melvin L. _Rutherford Mound, Hardin County, Illinois_,
SCIENTIFIC PAPERS SERIES, Vol. VII, No. 1, Illinois State
Museum, Springfield.

MIDDLE (MISSISSIPPI) PHASE

Cahokia Subculture
1937 Cole, F. C. and Deuel, Thorne. _Rediscovering Illinois_, pp.
75-94, 111-125, 127, University of Chicago, Chicago.
1928 Moorehead, W. K. _The Cahokia Mounds_, University of Illinois,
BULLETIN, Vol. 26, No. 4, Urbana.
1939 Simpson, A. M. _The Kingston Village Site_, Peoria Academy of
Science, Peoria. (Privately printed.)
1952 Smith, Hale G. _The Crable Site, Fulton County, Illinois_,
ANTHROPOLOGY PAPERS No. 7, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
1938 Titterington, P. F. _The Cahokia Mound Group and Its Village
Site Materials_, St. Louis. (Privately printed.)
Cahokia Subculture (Wisconsin)
1933 Barrett, S. A. _Ancient Aztalan_, BULL. PUBLIC MUSEUM OF
MILWAUKEE, Vol. 13.
Cumberland Subculture
1951 Cole, F. C. et al. _Kincaid, A Prehistoric Illinois
Metropolis_, pp. 29-164, 293-366, University of Chicago,
Chicago.
Cumberland Subculture (Tennessee)
1928 Myer, William, Ed. _Two Prehistoric Villages in Middle
Tennessee_, 41st ANNUAL REPORT, BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY,
pp. 485-614, Washington.
Cumberland Subculture (Kentucky)
1929 Webb, William S. and Funkhouser, W. D. _The Williams Site in
Christian County, Kentucky_, UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY REPORTS IN
ANTHROPOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGY, Vol. I, No. 1, pp. 5-23 followed
by 36 figs., Lexington.

PALEO-INDIAN PHASE

1954 Kleine, Harold K. _A Remarkable Paleo-Indian Site in Alabama_
in TEN YEARS OF THE TENNESSEE ARCHAEOLOGIST, Lewis and Kneberg,
Ed., reprinted from TENNESSEE ARCHAEOLOGIST, 1954.
1951 Smail, William. _Some Early Projectile Points from the St.
Louis Area_, in ILLINOIS STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, N. S.,
Vol. II, No. 1, pp. 11-16.
1957 Wormington, H. M. _Ancient Man in North America_, POPULAR
SERIES, No. 4, 4th Edition, revised, Denver.

UPPER (MISSISSIPPI) PHASE

1927 Langford, George, Sr. _The Fisher Mound Group, Successive
Aboriginal Occupations near the Mouth of the Illinois River_,
in AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Vol. XXIX, No. 3, pp. 153-206,
Menasha.

FINAL WOODLAND

Bluff Subculture
1935 Titterington, P. F. _Certain Bluff Mounds of Western Jersey
County, Illinois_ in AMERICAN ANTIQUITY, Vol. I, No. 1, pp.
6-46.
1943 Titterington, P. F. _The Jersey County, Illinois, Bluff
Culture_, in AMERICAN ANTIQUITY, Vol. IX, No. 2, pp. 240-245.
Effigy Mound Subculture (Wisconsin)
1932 Barrett, S. A. and Skinner, Alanson. _Certain Mound and Village
Sites of Shawano and Oconto Counties, Wisconsin_, BULL. PUBLIC
MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE, Vol. 10, No. 5, Milwaukee.
1928 McKern, W. C. _The Neal and McClaughry Mound Groups_, BULL.
PUBLIC MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE, Vol. 3, No. 3, Milwaukee.
1933 Nash, Philleo. _The Excavation of the Ross Mound Group I_,
BULL. PUBLIC MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE, Vol. 16, No. 1.
1956 Rowe, Chandler. _The Effigy Mound Culture of Wisconsin_,
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY, No. 3.
Lewis Subculture
1951 Cole, F. C. et al. _The Lewis Focus_ in KINCAID, A PREHISTORIC
ILLINOIS METROPOLIS, pp. 165-183, University of Chicago,
Chicago.
Raymond Subculture
1952 Maxwell, Moreau S. _Archaeology of the Lower Ohio Valley_ in
Griffin, Ed., COLE ANNIVERSARY VOLUME, ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE
EASTERN UNITED STATES, pp. 186-187 and Fig. 100, University of
Chicago, Chicago.
1951 Maxwell, Moreau S. _The Woodland Cultures in Southern
Illinois_, pp. 78-172, 194-211, Beloit College, Beloit,
Wisconsin.
Stone Vault Subculture
1935 Thurber, O. D. _New Type of Burial Mound Near Quincy_ in
TRANSACTIONS ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, Springfield,
Vol. XXVIII, No. 2, pp. 67-68.
1910 Fowke, Gerard. _Antiquities of Central and Southeastern
Missouri_, BULL. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, No. 37,
Washington.
Tampico Subculture
1937 Cole, F. C. and Deuel, Thorne. _Rediscovering Illinois_, pp.
191-198, University of Chicago, Chicago.

ILLINI TRIBES

1934 Pease, Theodore Calvin and Werner, Raymond C. THE FRENCH
FOUNDATIONS, 1680-1693 (_Memoirs of De Gannes_ by Sieur
Deliette) pp. 302-395, Springfield, Illinois.
1958 Temple, Wayne C. _Historic Tribes, Part 2 of Indian Villages of
the Illinois Country_ by Sara J. Tucker and Wayne Temple,
SCIENTIFIC PAPERS SERIES, Vol. II, Illinois State Museum,
Springfield.

INITIAL (WOODLAND) PHASE

1937 Cole, F. C. and Deuel, Thorne. _Rediscovering Illinois_ (Red
Ochre, pp. 57-69; Black Sand, pp. 69-75, 136-149; Morton, pp.
39-46, 126, 128-130; 102-104, 106-108), University of Chicago,
Chicago.

CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNITS

ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNITS

ARTIFACTS[20]

RECONSTRUCTION OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FEATURES

RECONSTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS, ARTISTIC, AND RECREATIONAL FEATURES

PALEO-INDIAN PHASE 50,000(?)-8000 B.C.(?)

Narrow leaf-shaped spearheads
Folsom points
Clovis points
Stone hammer (?)
Flint scrapers (?)
Personal ornaments (?)

Thrusting weapons
Simple family (?)
Lineage in male line (?)
Big game hunting
Roving habits following herd
Temporary camps
Energy sources for labor, travel and transportation wholly human

Religion based on spirits, mana and on the chief game species hunted
(?)

ARCHAIC PHASE 8000-2500 B.C.

Stone hammers, rough or pitted
Broad barbed flint spearheads
Flint dartheads
Flint scrapers
Flint awls
Chipped choppers
Spearthrower (atlatl) weights
Grooved stone axes (ground)
Ground stone celts
Chipped flint digging tools (hoes)
Small area settlement sites in the open
Rock shelters
Post holes in line
Necklaces and pendants
Plummets
Copper tools
Dog bones
Bone-awls
Whet- or abrading stones
Bannerstones (with cylindrical hole)
Flexed burials in Medial and Terminal subculture

Projectile weapon
Hunting of deer and small mammals and collecting edible plants, clams,
etc.
Technologies: flint-chipping, pecking, grinding and polishing of
stone, grinding and polishing bone, boring bone and stone with
flint drills and with tube, sand and water, making string
(from hides and [?] plant-fibers), weaving (?), basket-making
(?)
Dog the only domesticated animal
Marriage
Family
Extended family or lineage
“Independent” local groups
Windbreaks or flimsy shelters
Family hunting territory
Rotating hamlet
Non-political tribe
“Family-type” social control
Puberty rites (Initiation ceremonies)
Tribal elders and temporary headmen
Insignia possibly as social acceptance of personal achievement, or as
family crest

Belief in friendly and ancestral spirits, in mana and in revelation by
vision or dream
Sacred tradition (“mythology”)
The shaman—intercessor with spirits and healer of sick—magic medicines
Fertility ceremonies—to insure abundant game and to perpetuate sacred
traditions
Recreational activities and creative arts practiced chiefly in
connection with religious ceremonies
Funeral rites for all deceased tribal members
Socially important persons on death given special care and preparation
for burial, and possibly buried in a specially selected place
Mourning period for dead
Food and grave offerings left especially for important dead

INITIAL (WOODLAND) PHASE 1500-500 B.C.

Elongated globular pots with pointed (conoidal) bases
Copper ornaments
Burial mounds and cemeteries

Probably very similar to Archaic
Copper breastplate or gorgets
Socially important persons buried in mounds (?)

Very similar to Archaic
Dog graves in burial mounds

ADVANCED (WOODLAND) PHASE 1000(?)-100(?) B.C.

Numerous storage pits containing acorn and hickory nut remains
Medium-sized settlement sites
Post holes outlining a square area
Post holes outlining a circular or oval area
Flat-bottomed flaring-walled Woodland pots (“flower pots”)
Polished stone gorgets
Burials in settlement sites

Storage of acorns, nuts and seeds
Larger population concentrations of perhaps a 100 or 150 persons
Semi- to permanent log dwellings, logs upright
Possibly insignia or badges of leadership or individual prowess

Religion probably transitional between Archaic and plant-raising types

CLASSIC (WOODLAND) PHASE [HOPEWELLIAN] 500 B.C.-500 A.D.

Chipped limonite hoes
Charred maize kernels and cobs (and in Ohio, beans and squash seeds)
Cloth and feather cloth remains
Basketry, matting and colored textile impressions
Marine shell vessels
Tortoise shell dishes
River mussel shell spoons with “handles”
Excellent polished black and painted pottery with occasional variation
of form—shallow bowls, beakers, effigy and globular shapes
A coarser duty Woodland ware with elongated bodies and pointed or
flattened bases
Large areas with village refuse and numerous mounds
Post holes outlining an oval or circular area (rare)
Pottery statuettes showing dress and ornaments worn
Jewelry of copper, silver, meteoric iron, cut and polished shell
beads, small marine shells, bears teeth sometimes set with
copper, pearls or colorful stones, etc.
Ear ornaments of copper, etc.
Marine shells from south Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of United States
Mica from North Carolina
Obsidian from Wyoming (?)
Copper from Lake Superior region
Galena from northwestern Illinois
Native pearls from river clams
Gorgets of stone, shell and copper (breastplates)
Pearls and ground shell beads distributed over the torso of skeleton
Deer antlers near human skull in grave
Cut maxillaries (more rarely mandibles) of bear or man on skeletons as
if worn as pendants
_Cassis madagascarensis_ shell vessels
Copper hatchets and adzes etc.
Platform type tobacco pipes
Medium to large “dome-shaped” burial mounds enclosing
Log (rarely stone) tomb chambers
Bundle burials and ossuaries in mounds with central tomb (northern
Illinois)
Cemeteries near mounds (southern Illinois)
Bodies buried generally in extended position rarely flexed and often
accompanied by pots, weapons and artistic products
“Pipes of Pan”
Beautifully chipped broad spearheads of special subtypes
Effigy dagger with sheath made from bears’ teeth

Planting-raising economy supplemented by hunting and collecting
Crops: Maize, beans, squash, tobacco
Weaving of cloth, basket- and mat-making
Clothing: Wrap-around-skirt for women, breech cloth for men,
supplemented by robes in cold weather, feather cloth robes in
ceremonies. Mocassins for women and probably for men.
Large villages (or clusters of villages) as well as small settlements
The wigwam (for lower classes?)
Possibly log cabin dwellings for highest social class, logs laid
horizontal as in tomb chambers
Rise of wealth, rich and extensive trade
Dug-out boats (?)
Two or three social classes seem to be indicated by burial customs
Chiefs—a political form of government, with some of the clans,
possibly bear, wolverine and bobcat, predominant in certain
areas
A tribe organized either politically or into clans with subsidiary
districts or villages and political or clan chiefs.
Chiefs may have worn deer antler headdresses.
Chiefs probably wore feather headdresses, feather cloth robes, mantles
embroidered with pearls shells and cut shell beads, and other
insignia of office.
Tomb chambers probably for chiefs with relatives and retainers slain
to accompany them
Chief person in tomb sometimes woman (May indicate matrilineal descent
or simply ranking woman of highest caste)
Maxillary (jaw) pendants worn maybe as trophies of war and hunt, or to
indicate clan of a chief (?)
Doubtless the pipe served (as it did later) as a safe conduct to
visiting officials, travellers and traders, and a signature
and seal to important agreements whether economic, political
or intertribal

Probably a formalized religion based on the chief food plant, maize
Regularly appointed priests
The priest probably wore feather robes and insignia of rank and
position
Religion probably included ceremonies connected with plant- or
maize-raising
Deities or gods with special powers related to food-raising, etc.
The spring or planting festival
The green corn or first fruits festival
The harvest festival and perhaps minor festivals revolving about the
deer
High-ranking priests were probably of the highest caste and their
bodies given special care on death, elaborate funeral
ceremonies and burial in the tomb chambers of mounds, with
tribal mourning
Beautiful pipes either with or without long wooden items probably
figured largely in the religious ceremonies
Shamans probably still practiced the healing art (and black magic).
They probably used herbals instead of mineral medicines
High development of art in pottery, ceramic, copper and stone
sculpture, in engraving on bone in personal adornment and
technological expertness

FINAL (WOODLAND) PHASE 200(?)-1000 A.D.

Boatstones and bar “amulets”
L-shaped pipe, long-stemmed
Crude flint arrowheads
Flexed and semi-flexed skeletons in mound graves and tomb chambers
Except for above, much like Initial Phase

Spear and spearthrower still the chief weapon, weights tied (?) to
spearthrower
Small hamlets
Bow and arrow known but as yet ineffective as a practical weapon
Otherwise very similar to Initial Phase

Religion probably with shamans rather than priests and a mixture of
Initial and Classic Phase religious beliefs and practices and
superstitions
Some considerable sanctity probably still attached to tobacco, tobacco
smoke and the pipe
Shamans undoubtedly still practiced the healing arts (as well as black
magic) and possibly simple religious rites

MIDDLE (MISSISSIPPI) PHASE 1000-1500 A.D.

Hoes of chipped flint and numerous digging tools
Charred maize kernels and cobs
Large settlement areas with flat-topped pyramidal mounds, with cabin
remains on summits, surrounded by palisade remains in low
ridges of earth
Post holes and/or trenches outlining rectangular house floors. Fired
clay from wattle and daub structure, burned house with charred
thatch, timbers, rafters, mats, etc.
Fire pits or fireplaces within house
Fine polished black and painted wares with globular and flattened
globular bodies, in many shapes—water bottles, shallow bowls,
beakers, ollas or jars and effigy forms
An excellent, dull-gray service ware with similar varieties of shapes
An excellent storage ware of medium to large size, chiefly globular in
form
Busycon, marginella, olivella shells from south Atlantic and Gulf
Coasts
Copper from Lake Superior region
Busycon dippers and drinking cups
L-shaped pipe (“equal armed” and and medium long-stemmed varieties)
Massive effigy stone pipes
Skeletons, in extended positions, (distributed) in single and multiple
graves throughout mounds and in cemeteries
Pottery Vessels, weapon heads, jewelry, and polished stone discoidals,
etc. associated with skeletons
Shell gorgets engraved with realistic and conventional designs
Repoussee copper eagle gorgets or plaques
Copper sheeted ornaments and jewelry of pottery, bone, shell, wood and
leather
Polished stone disks or “wheels”
Ground and squared astragalus bone of deer and elk

Intensive maize growing with other crops supplemented by hunting
Repeating weapon (bow and arrows)
Energy sources for labor and transportation still entirely human
The finer pottery and burials in mounds and cemeteries may reflect
class differences. The extension of the pottery shapes from
the fine black ware to the less decorative service ware may
indicate an improvement of lower class conditions over those
in Hopewellian times
Clothing much like Hopewellian in general styles
Large villages, small cities and small villages
Large centers or cities had temples and tribal officers’ cabins on
flat-topped mounds, and were protected by palisades and/or mud
walls
Dwellings semi- to permanent, with rectangular floors, vaulted or
gabled roofs of thatch, walls consisting of vertical posts,
wattle and daub construction, covered inside and out with
mats, sometimes possibly bark-covered. Cabin remains numerous.
Dug-out boats (?)
Wealth considerable. Trade in fewer materials than in Hopewellian
Two or three social classes present in population as in Hopewellian
Probably a political government with tribal and war chiefs and village
chiefs. Head tribal chief may have been chief priest also, or
a member of his family may have filled later office. War chief
probably also member of ruling caste (as among Natchez). Other
war chiefs probably of other classes, rank based on their past
deeds
Tribal and war chief. In some villages, village chief possibly had
dwellings on pyramid tops
Headdresses, probably with feathers, and regalia, including
feather-cloth robes were probably worn on tribal occasions of
importance
Calumet pipe doubtless served as safe conduct to travellers and
visiting officials, as seal and signature to important
agreements. Effigy stone pipes may have been Middle Phase
calumet pipe since it had to be smoked with a stem
War parties still of simple or no organization except leader and
followers, object to take prisoners but not territory

Religious ceremonial centers or cities existed to which outlying
smaller village populations journeyed for religious festivals
Priesthood with appropriate dress and regalia
Temples or sacred groves for worship
Religion with deities having special powers relating to maize-growing.
Veneration or worship of ancestors
Spring, first fruits, and harvest festivals
Tobacco smoke, tobacco pipes used in ceremonies as incense offerings
Athletic games form part of ceremonies
Shamans still exist but chiefly for healing, etc. as among
Hopewellians
High-ranking officials and priests buried in graves in mounds. Usual
preparation of body, burial, mourning periods, elaborated
proportionately to the rank of the deceased.
Art well developed
Games of chance were probably known and played

UPPER PHASE 1100(?)-1600 A.D.

Note: These are fringe groups in relation to Middle and Lower phases,
living in more wooded regions perhaps, where game was
especially abundant and topography less favorable to
plant-raising by a backward culture and where the social
impetus for high cultural development was largely lacking
Artifacts are a mixture of Woodland and Mississippi types
Generally a single pottery ware with both elongated and globular pots
is characteristic and there is little other specialization of
form

A hunting-collecting economy with plant-raising probably in
garden-like plots
Large and small villages
A social development similar to but simpler than the Middle Phase,
probably a combination of Woodland and Mississippi elements

A religion based on plant-raising but probably with considerable
emphasis on chief animals hunted.
Sacred groves and shrines, possibly temples in some of larger villages
No pyramidal mounds
Dead buried in mounds and in cemeteries

CONTACT PHASE (ILLINI) 1673-1833 A.D.

Note: The artifacts of all tribes in the historic period probably
became gradually much the same regardless of their prior
cultural status due to deterioration of native technology and
trading of furs for European tools, weapons, cloth, etc.
Arrowheads of chipped flint, and native-made of European copper, brass
or iron
Numerous trade articles such as glass beads, gun parts, copper or
brass kettles, bottles for wine, olives, etc. and other
objects of European production
Native stone molds and cast lead balls (for guns) and native chipped
gun flints
Rectangular L-shaped (“Siouan type”) pipes of catlinite and other
stone. Micmac pipes after 1700.

Bow and arrows preferred in war because they could be discharged more
rapidly than gun could be loaded and fired. Guns and
ammunition often not available
Little knowledge of proper care of guns, and no attempt to manufacture
guns and powder, or iron knives, copper kettles, etc.
Society largely disorganized, prestige of chiefs largely a matter of
personal prowess and reputation with some regard for earlier
methods of appointment and succession.

Religion practiced by a fraction of tribe but falling into dispute
without adequate substitute
Probably appointment and succession of priests more or less regular
and based on earlier customs.

FOOTNOTES

[5]All dates, even those determined by radiocarbon methods, should be
taken as only roughly approximate.

[6]These dates and those given hereafter refer to the earliest and
latest sites known in Illinois for the cultures under consideration.
Although supported by radiocarbon dating methods, they are only
approximate. Undoubtedly also cultures in one area disappeared while
they continued to flourish in another part of the state or in other
states.

[7]Generally speaking, each succeeding higher culture in the area made
most of the tool and weapon types of their predecessors, adding
certain improvements and sometimes new types. The Archaic people
used flint scrapers, chipped flint choppers, and native cobblestone
hammers as had the Paleo-Indians. The narrow-bladed spearheads were
occasionally made but the fluting or channel is practically always
lacking. Polished stone forms, possibly the spearthrower, were new
inventions in Archaic times.

[8]In the page that follows a tentative reconstruction of the less
tangible customs of these people will be presented, based on a study
of several tribes now or recently in the Archaic status. The Archaic
culture as used in this paper refers to those tribes who lived
mainly by hunting, supplemented to a degree by collecting native
edible plant foods. They are distinguished here from other peoples
of the Stone Age or non-farming stage—from Big Game Hunters on the
one hand (none of whom exist today) and on the other, from Food
Stores, who were able by one means or another to store food over one
or more seasons and so establish more or less fixed homes. The
peoples recently living in the Archaic status include the native
tribes of Central and Coastal Australia, the Tasmanians, the Andaman
Island tribes, the Terra del Fuegians, the African Bushmen and a
number of others.

[9]The Initial Woodland in Illinois is usually considered to consist of
three cultural divisions or units, the Black Sand, the Red Ochre and
the Morton. The only known Red Ochre sites are mounds which
undoubtedly are the burial places of important personages of a
cultural group whose campsites and artifact assemblages have not as
yet been identified as such. The graves yield a number of artifact
types that are identical with those found in Black Sand villages. It
is possible the Red Ochre mounds belong to the Black Sand people and
that the mounds and special burial customs may have been continued
into or adopted by the Morton cultural group and served still later
as a framework for the highly elaborated Hopewellian funeral
practices.

[10]The narrow-bladed leaf-shaped spearhead, well-chipped and without
fluting, reminiscent of the general Yuma, Folsom and Clovis shape,
are found in the Red Ochre subculture and are worthy of note. This
type appears rarely in campsites but occurs in relatively large
numbers in mounds. Profuse amounts of red ochre are found in graves
as in Terminal Archaic (Titterington focus) in western Illinois.
Copper ornaments may indicate Wisconsin (Old Copper Culture)
influence.

[11]The Poole village (Pike County) is dated 550 B.C. and the Wilson
Mound (White County) about 89 B.C. The Poole village appears to have
been occupied from 550 B.C. to 200 A.D.

[12]Civilization, as used in this paper, signifies exhaustive
exploitation of the natural resources and accompanying significant
elaborations of the social and spiritual aspects (as exemplified by
ceremonies, regalia, insignia, art and extensive architectural
structures), accomplished by means of specialization of the existing
tools and technologies, with or without fundamental inventive
developments. Artisans of the Initial and Final Woodland cultures
seem to have practiced all the crafts employed by Hopewellians but
failed to produce the beautiful chipped spearheads, “pipes of pan”,
excellent sculpture in stone and pottery, etching in bone, the
extensive earthworks and the mounds with timbered burial chambers.
Perhaps some additional stimuli—the introduction of maize or the
intensification of its cultivation, a satisfying new religion with
stirring ceremonies together with intergroup competition—gave the
spiritual impetus that produced the Hopewellian fluorescence.

[13]Specialization was foreshadowed in the Red Ochre culture but the
small total of grave offerings discovered to date fail to
demonstrate any greater leisure than occurs at favorable times among
any simple hunting people.

[14]An early subculture termed Old Village preceding the generally known
Middle Mississippi (Trappist or Bean Pot) period has been proposed
on the strength of stratification at the Cahokia village near East
St. Louis. Although this appears logically sound, the evidence has
not been published and no pure Old Village site has yet been found
and reported upon.

[15]Except where noted as based directly on archaeological evidence, the
broad cultural features suggested in the rest of this section, are
inferred from similar customs found generally among tribes in the
plant-raising status without food-draft animals. The results were
derived by the writer from a study of anthropological reports of the
following tribes or groups of tribes: Polynesians, Delawares,
Natchez (and their neighbors) and the western Pueblo Indians. The
Pueblos, in their social, political and religious customs and
institutions have been for seven hundred years in a transitional
status between the Archaic hunters (or possibly “food storers”) and
a “fully-developed” plant-raising stage.

[16]The archaeological evidence for this section is chiefly from _The
Fisher Mound Group_, etc. by George Langford in the AMERICAN
ANTHROPOLOGY, Vol. XXIX, No. 3, pp. 153-205 (July-September, 1927).

[17]These Indians called themselves Ilini (pronounced Il´-i-nee) or
Illini signifying “man,” in the plural Illiniwek, “the men.” The
French dropped the -iwek and substituted their own ending whence the
name Illinois by which they were generally known thereafter. In this
booklet Illini will be generally used to designate these tribes,
their culture and language to avoid confusion with other tribes who,
like the Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, and Miami, have occupied
parts of the state and are sometimes called Illinois Indians.

[18]Information given on historic tribes is from notes and manuscript
assembled by Dr. Wayne C. Temple.

[19]The term _calumet_, originally applied to the stem of the tobacco
pipe, is now generally used to designate the pipe and stem. “It is
fashioned from a red stone, polished like marble, and bored in such
a manner that one end serves as a receptacle for the tobacco, while
the other fits into the stem; this is a stick two feet long, as
thick as an ordinary cane, and bored through the middle. It is
ornamented with the heads and necks of various birds, whose plumage
is very beautiful. To these they also add large feathers—red, green,
and other colors—wherewith the whole is adorned. They have a great
regard for it....” (R. G. Thwaites, ed., _The Jesuit Relations_,
Vol. LIX, p. 131.) The war calumet differed from that of peace and
was decorated with red feathers. See Fig. 34, A.

[20]Artifact types having once appeared are likely to appear again in
subsequent culture even though rare or even lacking in some
intervening assemblages (e.g. necklaces of anculosa beads of
similarly ground [snail] shells found from Medial Archaic through
Middle Phase; grooved axes from Medial Archaic to Mississippi but
rare or lacking in most subcultures and cultures except Archaic and
Initial Woodland). On account of unwieldiness of complete
accumulative lists only new artifact types when they first appear
will be recorded here. Exceptions: 1) the name of an artifact
entered as probably present (indicated by a following ?) will be
repeated in the first subsequent culture in which definite evidence
for it has been reported and 2) when an artifact once reported
assumes a new form or presumably takes on a new significance (e.g.
Archaic hoe becomes a tool of the plant-raisers in Classic and
Middle Phases), it will appear again in the text.

STORY OF ILLINOIS SERIES.

No. 1. Story of Illinois: Indian and Pioneer, by V. S. Eifert.
No. 2. Mammals of Illinois Today and Yesterday, by V. S. Eifert.
No. 3. Exploring for Mushrooms, by V. S. Eifert.
No. 4. Flowers that Bloom in the Spring, by V. S. Eifert.
No. 5. Invitation to Birds, by V. S. Eifert.
No. 6. Man’s Venture in Culture, by Thorne Deuel.
No. 7. The Past Speaks to You, by Ann Livesay.
No. 8. Common Insects of Illinois, by A. Gilbert Wright.
No. 9. American Indian ways of Life, by Thorne Deuel.
No. 10. Amphibians of Illinois, by Paul W. Parmalee.
No. 11. The Fossils of Illinois, by Carlton Condit.

_Cost:_ 25c each; 20c each in lots of 25 or more

_Address all enquiries to the_ Museum Director,
Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois

(80513—6-58)

Transcriber’s Notes

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

—Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.