Tree Row Site, IL (11F53) Project

Summary

The Tree Row site (11F53) is contained within alluvial fan deposits at the base of the western bluffs of the central Illinois River valley in Fulton County, Illinois. The site includes Mississippian, Early Woodland, and Late Archaic occupations. Only the Late Archaic occupation is considered here.

A small creek deposited the fan at the edge of the steep, western bluffs of the central Illinois River valley. The site offered immediate access to forested uplands and upland prairie to the west and floodplain forest and prairie to the east. The Illinois River is 2 km to the east, and Duck Creek is 1.5 km to the northeast Two backwater lakes, Van Dyke (formerly Minard) and Rice, are located in the floodplain within 0.5 and 2 km, respectively.

The Resource Investigation Program (now the Illinois State Archaeological Survey) of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign excavated the site in 1989 to mitigate adverse impacts associated with the widening of U.S. Route 24. The Illinois Department of Transportation funded the project. Michael Meinkoth served as the site director and Douglas Jackson served as the site supervisor. According to the principal investigators, the Late Archaic occupation represents a substantial settlement on the level of a year-round, long-term village. It includes an associated cemetery. It has been assigned to the Tree Row Phase of the Hemphill Horizon.

The plowzone overburden was removed with heavy machinery. Test units were hand excavated with shovels in areas with high concentrations of cultural material. Excavations were done in 10 cm levels. Flotation samples were taken for each level of each 1 x 1 m area. Cultural materials were bagged by level. Diagnostic artifacts and concentrations were mapped (vertically and horizontally) and individually bagged. Features were cross-sectioned, and one half was excavated using shovel scraping and troweling. The profiles were mapped and a 10 liter flotation sample was taken for each major zone recorded in the profile. Additional flotation samples were collected in burned zones and concentrations. Feature fill was not screened. Late in the field season, the second half of single zone pits with no diagnostic artifacts were not excavated.

The Late Archaic settlement included clusters of features and open spaces and a dedicated burial area. Excavations encountered 96 human burials, disturbed interments, and other features with human bone. Radiocarbon dating placed 244 features in the Tree Row Phase of the Hemphill horizon. The features include possible cooking facilities including earth ovens, roasting pits or hearths, and boiling pits. The analysts suggested that numerous shallow pits served as cooking pits. They identified 12 rock clusters as remains of surface hearths and caches. Three dog burials occurred in the southern part of the Archaic feature cluster, and one occurred with in the cemetery area, but was not interred with human remains. Six small concentrations of fauna were not associated with pit fill. No house structures were identified.

Steve Kuehn identified and analyzed the Late Archaic faunal remains and uploaded the database into tDAR. Bonnie Styles and Mona Colburn of the Illinois State Museum entered the metadata (following the 2016 publication: The Tree Row Site: A Late Archaic Habitation and Mortuary Site in the Central Illinois Valley, edited by Dale L. McElrath and Madeleine G. Evans, Illinois State Archaeological Survey Resarch Report 38) and mapped the faunal data to some of the tDAR ontologies.

The faunal assemblage includes 10.053 pieces of bone and shell from 225 features and 10 excavation units. Steve described the preservation of faunal remains as fair. Macro-faunal remains were hand collected. Faunal remains from flotation samples were collected through 1/16" mesh. Faunal material came from a variety of contexts including 165 pit features, 58 human burials, 3 dog burials, 7 faunal concentrations, 2 rock clusters, and 1 area of disturbed human remains. Steven Kuehn reported that although some of the faunal material may have been placed with human burials, none of the faunal remains were identified as grave goods.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Prairie Peninsula   •
• Eastern Archaic Faunal Working Group

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Radiocarbon Date: 4650 to 4390 (uncalibrated RCYP, ISGS-2122, Nutshell, Feature 305, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4450 to 4270 (uncalibrated RCYBP. ISGS-2209, Nutshell, Feature 209, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4370 to 4050 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2086, Collagen, F522, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4350 to 4150 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2118, Nutshell, F302, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4490 to 4290 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2239, Nutshell, Feature 273, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4550 to 4210 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2107, Collagen, Feature 196, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4650 to 4510 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2105, Collagen, Feature 352, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4660 to 4340 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS=2121, Nutshell, Feature 268, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4470 to 4310 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2088, Collagen, Feature 44, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 5770 to 5290 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2342, Nutshell, Feature 224, Middle Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4973 to 4723 (uncalibrated RCYBP, A-0942, Collagen (Scapula), F393, Late Archaicic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4165 to 3935 (uncalibrated RCYBP, A-0946 res, Collagen, F534, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4710 to 4450 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2106, Collagen, Feature 335, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4970 to 4670 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2240, Nutshell, Feature 355, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4720 to 4420 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2120, Wood, Feature 90, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 4880 to 4640 (uncalibrated RCYBP, A-0941 res, Collagen, F352, Late Archaic)

Radiocarbon Date: 2715 to 2526 (uncalibrated RCYBP, A-0944, Collagen, Feature 522, considered aberrant and out of line with bone date from same feature)

Radiocarbon Date: 6510 to 6170 (uncalibrated RCYBP, ISGS-2091, Wood and Nutshell, Feature 465, Middle Archaic)

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Steven Kuehn

Source Collections

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