Cheryl Ann Munson (Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University)
Marjorie Melvin Jones (University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, Indiana); Bret
J. Ruby (Department of Anthropology, Indiana University)
THE 1988 ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST EXCAVATIONS AT THE CABORN SITE,
A PROTOHISTORIC MISSISSIPPIAN VILLAGE IN POSEY COUNTY, INDIANA
Archaeological test excavations were conducted over a four-week period in June
and July 1988 at the Caborn Site, 12 Po 32, in Posey County, Indiana. As one of
the type sites of the Caborn- Welborn Phase (dating sometime between A.D. 1400
and 1700), this late Mississippian village has been extensively surveyed since
the 1960s by avocational archaeologists and intensively surveyed in 1985 and 1986
by the University of Southern Indiana and the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology,
Indiana University. The latter surveys were made after floodwaters washed the
site and exposed concentrations of cultural materials, fragmentary human bone,
areas of dark soil, and patches of burned soil or melted daub. As part of these
intensive surveys, surface features and artifact collection units were mapped,
as were limited indications of earlier occupations at the site. Surface distribution
data were a primary tool in planning the test excavation of the Mississippian
village. The 1988 investigation was supported by the Indiana Historical Society,
the Laboratory, and the University of Southern Indiana; it was made possible by
the generous cooperation of the landowners and tenants.
The goals of the test excavations were: to evaluate site surface and subsurface
structure, in order better to define the diversity and distribution of constructions
and intact cultural deposits within the Mississippian community to collect samples
of artifacts and ecofacts suitable for characterizing the material culture and
subsistence activities; and to obtain materials to date the Caborn-Welborn village.
Hand and machine assisted excavation units were placed in two areas of interest:
along the southern perimeter of the site, to check for the presence of stockade
walls and other structures, and in the center of the site, where surface survey
indicated pit features were likely to occur.
No evidence of stockade walls was found in the areas tested instead, the southern
margin of the site contained shallow surface fires, wall trench structures, scattered
postholes and small pits (including a cache of mussel shells containing two shell
hoes), and a "buried midden." The midden apparently was covered by alluvium after
the abandonment of the Mississippian village, and much of it lay beneath the plowzone
and culturally sterile silts. Because of the richness of this intact refuse deposit
and good bone preservation, the midden was a focus of hand excavation.
In the central portion of the site small and large pits were found, one of which
contained distinct strata of refuse that were excavated as discrete units. Although
historic trade goods have been found on the surface, unambiguous historic artifacts
were not found in testing; nevertheless, small bits of completely oxidized copper
base metals, either native copper or brass, were recovered from the stratified
pit. In addition, closely spaced postholes representing one or more undefined
wooden post structures were found in the central area.
In all, over 2,000 sq. ft. representing less than 1% of the Mississippian area
of occupation was tested and yielded more than 3,200 cataloged samples. Although
site structure is not yet clearly defined, the large array of artifactual materials
and plant and animal remains (collected) are typical of those occurring at other
sites of the Caborn-Welborn phase. Preliminary examination of this collection
suggests that the frequencies of decorated ceramics, stone tool types, and animal
species vary from those found in test excavation at the Hovey Lake site (12 Po
10). Numerous samples of charcoal were collected in the hope of finding radiocarbon
samples that have not been contaminated by the fragments of coal which are abundant
in the excavated deposits. [return to 1988 abstracts menu][continue to next]