Constructing Identity on the Langford Frontier: The 2019 ISAS Excavations at the Noble-Wieting Site

This paper summarizes ISAS’s 2019 excavations at the Noble-Wieting site, a Langford Tradition village with substantial Mississippian ceramics located in McLean County, Illinois. A rebuilt wall-trench structure, Feature 33, was the focus of the excavations. Like other structures excavated at Noble-Wieting, Feature 33 differs from most Langford Tradition structures excavated at sites along the Fox, Illinois, and Rock River valleys to the north due to its incorporation of Mississippian-style construction techniques. While interpretations are preliminary, the close association of social identity and domestic architecture suggests that the existence of unique architectural construction patterns at Noble-Wieting may be indicative of two co-existing social or ethnic groups who were forging a new identity. This is further supported by Noble-Wietings’s location on the Langford frontier.