Pace, Robert E. (Anthropology Laboratory, Indiana State University)
EXCAVATION OF THE LATTAS CREEK SITE ( 12 GR 29) IN GREENE COUNTY
An unique agreement between archaeological and coal mining interests led to testing
and subsequent excavation of the Lattas Creek Site in the spring and summer of
1986. Parties to the agreement included the Council for Conservation of Indiana
Archaeology, the Wabash Valley Archaeological Society, the Department of Natural
Resources Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, and the Division
of Reclamation, and Black Beauty Coal Company. The ISU Anthropology Laboratory,
with the assistance of professional and avocational volunteers, performed the
work through a contract with the coal company.
Test excavations demonstrated the significance of the site, which is located on
a low ridge spur above a former wetland in west- central Greene County. Excavation
of the 1.6 acre site documented features including some 180 hearths, cooking,
storage and refuse pits, along with 4 house patterns and 9 burials. Preliminary
analyses have established Late Archaic, Allison-LaMotte and Albee components.
A midden found at the site was produced by the Late Archaic and the Allison- LaMotte
peoples, while most of the hearths, pits and houses were Allison-LaMotte. Albee
use of the site appears to have been limited to its use as a cemetery.
Six radiocarbon-14 dates include two for the Late Archaic, B.C. 2020 + 80 (Beta-18342)
and B.C. 1930 + 80 (Beta-18340). These dates, very similar to those from such
sites as Prairie Creek in Daviess County and Oliver Vineyard in Monroe County,
appear to represent a cultural manifestation just prior to Terminal Archaic Riverton
Culture, however, with greater similarity to the French Lick Phase of the Late
Archaic. Three Middle/Late Woodland Allison-LaMotte dates of A.D. 250 + 70 (Beta-16203),
A.D. 470 + 70 (Beta-18343) and A.D. 620 + 60 (Beta18344) fall within the range
reported for Daugherty-Monroe Site in Sullivan County. The one Late Woodland Albee
date, A.D. 950 + 80 (Beta-18341), was obtained from charcoal in association with
a burial and Albee vessel. Although similar dates from such sites as Welsh-Dunlap
and Farrand in Vigo County, and Cooke in Parke County have been interpreted as
Albee, the above date is the first with a clear, unquestionable association. It
is especially significant since diagnostic tool kits and ceramics were also recovered
from burial contexts at the site. Similar diagnostics have been reported in the
region since Maclean's excavation of the Albee Mound in Sullivan County in the
late 1920's.
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