White Bend Site, IL (11HA938) Project

Summary

The White Bend site (11HA938) is located along the east bank of the West Fork of the LaMoine River valley bottomland near the confluence of an intermittent stream in eastern Hancock County in west-central Illinois. The Illinois State Archaeological Survey of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (formerly the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program) conducted Phase III excavations at the site in in 2006 and 2007 and recovered faunal materials from Archaic occupations associated with the Helton (Middle Archaic, cal 4650-3800 B.C.), Falling Springs (Late Archaic, cal 3650-3000 B.C.), and Hemphill Horizons (Late Archaic, cal 3350-2500 B.C.) horizons. Woodland materials were also present, but are not included here. The excavations were conducted to mitigate the impacts of proposed improvements to U.S. Highway 136 (part of the FAP 315 Project) and were funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Richard Fishel, David Nolan, and Dale McElrath directed the fieldwork, and Thomas Emerson served as the Principal Investigator for the project. Steven Kuehn identified and analyzed and reported the faunal remains. Bonnie Styles and Mona Colburn of the Illinois State Museum entered the metadata (based on the 2013 publication: Archaic Occupations at White Bend: Helton, Falling Springs, and Hemphill Horizons, edited by Richard L. Fishel, Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report 29) and mapped the faunal remains to most the tDAR ontologies.

The site is located in a wooded bottomland, and the portion overlying the buried Archaic strata had never been plowed. Two by two meter units were hand excavated in 1 x 1 m quarter sections. Sediments were screened through 1/4" mesh. When the middens could be separated, the Hemphill midden was excavated as one unit (ca. 20 cm in depth). The thicker Helton midden was excavated in 10 cm levels. Ten liter flotation samples were collected for each excavation level in each quarter of the 2 x 2 m units. Nine cultural features were excavated and screened through 1/4" mesh. Two flotation samples were collected from each feature.Most of the faunal remains were associated with the Helton and Hemphill Horizons. Faunal preservation is described as poor to fair. Relatively few specimens were identified to the the family or genus level.

The Helton Horizon assemblage includes faunal remains from five features (four of which may be inside a structure) and various levels (midden) in 21 excavation units. The Helton Horizon is the largest occupation at the site and is interpreted by Richard Fischel as a single-family, cool-cold weather valley residence.

The Falling Springs Horizon faunal assemblage only includes 28 bones from two features and has been interpreted as a temporary field camp focused on fall hickory nut processing. Fishel suggests that the occupation may represent a site-unit intrusion from further south.

The Hemphill Horizon faunal assemblage includes bones from two features (steaming pits) and upper levels (midden) from 16 excavation units. Fischel interprets the occupation as short-term. The steaming pits appear to have been used to prepare a wide variety of animal and plant foods.

Some faunal remains were also recovered from alluvial and mixed Archaic deposits.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Prairie Peninsula   •
• Eastern Archaic Faunal Working Group

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Radiocarbon Date: 4050 to 3910 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-6067, Feature 369, Hemphill Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 5310 to 5170 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-6133, Feature 370, Helton Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 4140 to 4000 (uncalibrated RCRBP, ISGS-6057, Feature 369, Hemphill Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 4160 to 4020 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-6069, Feature 327, Hemphill Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 5460 to 5320 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-6132, Feature 368, Helton Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 4550 to 4410 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-6136, Feature 367, Falling Springs Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 5130 to 4990 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-6130, Feature 366, Helton Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 5380 to 5240 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-6137, Feature 379, Helton Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 4810 to 4670 (uncalibrated RCYBP, IDGS-6134, Feature 381, Falling Springs Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 5650 to 5490 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-6131, Feature 358, Helton Horizon)

Radiocarbon Date: 4220 to 4080 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-6058, Feature 369, Hemphill Horizon)

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Steven Kuehn

Source Collections

Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign