A major focus of the investigations at the Crouch site was to determine the site structure or intrasite patterning of the Late Prehistoric component, and a high priority was to determine the presence or absence of a stockade wall. Trenches were oriented specifically to the increase the likelihood of detecting such a structure: during the field school and grant excavations, trenches were scraped in opposite directions downslope from the feature cluster areas; during the right-of way evaluation, most of the trenches were oriented perpendicular to where stockade walls should have been in an attempt to intersect such features at as many points as possible; and during the salvage excavation, a broad linear area was scraped along the eastern edge of the site to intersect any fortifications present. No evidence of a stockade-type structure was identified on the Crouch site.

More important, the current research failed to detect any substantial Oliver Phase component. Only a few pieces of Oliver Phase pottery were recovered, from features that also contained plain and cordmarked shell-tempered pottery, nor was there a circular village plan as detected at the Clampitt (Redmond 1994b) and the Cox's Woods (Redmond and McCullough 1996) sites.

Feature types were also different from those typically associated with Oliver Phase sites. Oliver Phase sites typically have permanent structures, hearths, and basin-shaped and cylindrical pits. No permanent structures were identified, through such evidence as post molds or burned roof or wall poles, but the large, broad but shallow, oval-type features at the Crouch site may represent the basal portions of sleeping huts. Besides general shape and depth, it is difficult to determine more precisely the function of these large oval features. Further, the size of the features identified around Block 2 at the Crouch site were much larger than those identified at Oliver Phase sites (see Table 5.2). Some of the deep storage pits were more than 2.0 m deep, from the base of the plowzone. Since this is a deflated surface that has been cleared and plowed for well over 100 years, the original depth was much greater. The medium-storage pits usually measured over 1.0 m across, with some measuring over 2.0 m, and penetrated to a depth of up to 1.47 m.

Also unlike Oliver Phase sites, which typically have high densities of domestic debris, the features at the Crouch site contained low densities of cultural material despite the high number of features excavated (see Table 5.2, Appendix 1). Midden areas with high densities of cultural material were also absent in the areas investigated. The low density of cultural material, combined with the high storage capacity and lack of permanent structures, suggests that 12 Jo 5 served as a storage facility. Perhaps the total population of the community was much larger than that resident at the site, and future research may reveal scattered farmsteads, which are difficult to detect without systematic archaeological survey under good field conditions. Site 12 Jo 8, located 200 m to the west on the same landform as Block 1, has produced material similar to that at 12 Jo 5 and may be related domestic areas. Alternatively, the relatively high frequency of pit features (N=14) identified as superimposed on other pit features may indicate some time depth to the occupation at 12 Jo 5. Repeated seasonal use of this site as a storage facility could, over several decades, have created a similar complex of deep storage pit features.

The location of the Crouch site is also evidence of its function as a storage site. Typically, Late Prehistoric sites in central Indiana are located along the White River or its major tributaries, but 12 Jo 5 is located several miles from any substantial waterway. A location away from major waterways in an unexpected area would have been helpful in concealing stored foodstuffs (DeBoer 1988), allowing the owners to pursue other resources during certain times of the year. Also, the Crouch site is ideally suited as a storage facility because of the deep sandy soils on a high ridge, which provide excellent in-ground storage conditions, adjacent to low-lying marshy areas to the east and north, which provide additional resources for exploitation. The presence of these wetland areas is evidenced by dark Rensselaer soils, which form under water-tolerant grasses, as well as from reports of local residents, such as Kevin Crouch. Indirect evidence for the presence of wetlands during the Late Prehistoric occupation at 12 Jo 5 was the identification through botanical analysis of a bulrush seed and minor amounts of wild rice from feature context (Appendix 2).

The only cultigen recovered from the site was maize. The recovery of relatively few kernels as opposed to cupules (see Appendix 2) suggests that maize processing rather than maize consumption was of primary importance at 12 Jo 5, further strengthening evidence that this site was not a permanent occupation site for the inhabitants. The recovery of a scapula hoe also attests to the importance of agriculture to these Late Prehistoric inhabitants, who were, perhaps, farming the edges of the wetland soils near the site. Other significant species identified during botanical analysis were hazelnut, plum, and sumac, in addition to the wild rice and bulrush seed already mentioned. The botanical evidence suggests exploitation of wetland areas, open areas, the understory of flood plain or lowland forest, and forest edges or openings (Appendix 2).

Bone preservation at 12 Jo 5 was poor, making the faunal assemblage impoverished (Appendix 3). Based on calculations of meat weight, the three most important species were deer, elk, and bear. The only identifiable bird was turkey, from two different features. Aquatic species do not appear to be a significant factor: only 49.4 g of mussel were recovered, fish remains were found in only one feature, and only terrestrial reptilians were identified.

Neither the floral nor faunal analysis provided sufficient evidence for firm determination of seasonality for the site occupation. The faunal analysis (Appendix 3) did note that many of the deer antlers were naturally shed, perhaps indicating a late winter through early spring use. Given the upland setting, the deep storage features, and the sparse quantity of Late Prehistoric cultural material, this conclusion is plausible. It is also tempting to identify the large oval-type features as small shelters, large enough for two adults and a few small children to lie down in. However, the assignment of the large oval-type features as structures and the determination of seasonality are speculative at this time.

The basin-shaped features located in Block 1 and elsewhere appeared to have a slightly higher density of cultural material per volume than the large storage pits in Block 2. These clusters of basin-shaped pits most likely represent domestic activity areas related to the storage features found in Block 2. An avenue for future research is to compare the floral remains from blocks 1 and 2 to determine whether there is a difference between them, and, if so, whether that difference is related to maize processing or consumption. Clusters of basin-shaped pits may be areas of occupation rather than storage and will have more food-consumption-related remains.

Finally, the ceramic evidence also indicates a non-Oliver Phase cultural affiliation for the occupants of the Crouch site, unlike most of the other Late Prehistoric sites in central Indiana. The undecorated, shell-tempered pottery with sharply everted rims reflects a substantially different ceramic tradition. Two cord-wrapped, dowel-impressed rim sherds indicative of the Oliver Phase were recovered, but no intermediary forms between the two ceramic traditions were noted. The presence of these sherds at 12 Jo 5, the sharply everted, cordmarked, shell-tempered sherd at the Bowen site (Dorwin 1971: Plate XXI), and the contemporaneity of the radiocarbon dates (see below) indicate contact between Oliver Phase groups and the inhabitants of 12 Jo 5, instead of a phylogenetic relationship. At the present time, the authors suggest that the pottery recovered from the Crouch site is most closely related to the Vincennes Phase (Winters 1967; Sonner n.d.b; Barth 1982, 1991; Moffat 1985, 1991) of the central Wabash valley. Location of additional sites with a similar ceramic tradition in central Indiana and excavations currently being conducted at the multicomponent Heaton Farm site in Greene County by the 1996 Indiana University field school will assist in determining the cultural affiliation of the Crouch site inhabitants.

Four radiocarbon samples were submitted for assay (Appendix 4). The results indicate that the Crouch site was occupied sometime between the late thirteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Radiocarbon dates overlap with those from the Bundy-Voyles site (12 mg 1) and the Sugar Creek site (12 Jo 289). At one sigma probability of accuracy, the Crouch site appears to have been occupied after 12 Jo 289 and before 12 Mg 1. The Crouch site does appear to be contemporaneous with the Clampitt site and the Cox's Woods site, both of which have wooden post stockades encircling them. It is interesting to speculate if the occupants of 12 Jo 5 were responsible for fortification of the Oliver Phase villages farther south during the fourteenth century.