Preliminary Results of a Joint ISU and ISAS Field School at the Noble-Wieting Site (11ML24)

The Noble-Wieting site (11ML24) is a 5.8 acre Langford mound and village settlement located in central Illinois. The ceramics, site structure, and environmental setting of Noble-Wieting are typical of the northern Illinois Lang-ford Tradition, but previous investigations at the site recovered Langford and Mississippian ceramics from the same contexts, possible evidence of interaction between these groups. Here we present preliminary results of a collaborative field school at Noble-Wieting involving Illinois State University and the Illinois State Archaeological Survey. Our excavations focused on two areas: a linear arrangement of anomalies believed to represent a stockade wall and an isolated structure. Rather than a palisade, we encountered a series of shallow pits. The structure exhibited unique characteristics – continuous wall trenches, an entryway, and a mix of Langford and Mississippian pottery. While these excavations did not clarify the relationship between Langford and Mississippian peoples, they did provide new information on Langford Tradition architecture.