Hoxie Farm: Bioarchaeology of a Late Prehistoric Community in Northeastern Illinois

Summary

The Upper Mississippian (A.D. 1400-1500) Hoxie Farm site is one of the best documented late prehistoric sites in Cook County, Illinois. In 1953, Elaine Bluhm and David Wenner from the Field Museum of Natural History organized a volunteer crew of professional and avocational archaeologists to salvage portions of the site in advance of construction of the first interstate highway (I-80) in Illinois. In 2000-2003, the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) conducted additional excavations at this site in response to planned construction activities on I-80. In total, these investigations documented thousands of habitation features, several longhouse structures, and nearly 70 burials. In this poster we highlight the bioarchaeology of the Hoxie Farm site. Mortuary patterns at the site hint at cultural connections with both Fisher and Oneota traditions in central and northern Illinois. Skeletal evidence for violent death and postmortem modification of isolated human elements (burning, cut marks, incised designs) reflect the dynamic cultural environment of Hoxie Farm, one that included conflict. A diet comparatively low in maize, high rates of nutritional stress and infectious disease observed within this population may reflect these challenging environmental and cultural conditions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22402