The Kaesberg-Schaudt Site (11R594) and late woodland settlement in the Mary's River Valley

Brian M. Butler, Thomas E. Emerson, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Illinois Department of Transportation

Research output: Book/Report/Conference proceedingTechnical report

Abstract

The Kaesberg-Schaudt site (11R594) is a large, intensively occupied Late Woodland village site located on a ridge crest overlooking the Mary’s River valley north of Steeleville, Illinois. The excavated features are thought to be the eastern side of a ring midden pattern with the “plaza” located just west of the stripped area. Radiocarbon dates indicate a ca. 350-year occupation span from ca. AD 650 to AD 1000 (calibrated), with some of the heaviest use coming after AD 800. Both artifacts and subsistence remains support a long-term multiseasonal use of the site. Botanical remains show that the inhabitants were heavily invested in plant cultivation, including maize, after AD 800. Kaesberg-Schaudt is used as a type site to define the Mary’s River phase of the Late Woodland, an entity contemporaneous with the Patrick phase of the American Bottom and portions of the Kaskaskia Valley and with the Raymond phase of the Big Muddy drainage. The key ceramic marker is the persistence of rim nodes in some quantity, a trait virtually lacking in Raymond and Patrick phase assemblages.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Place of PublicationChampaign
PublisherIllinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
StatePublished - 2008

Publication series

NameISAS Transportation archaeological research report no. 13

Keywords

  • ISAS

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