An Introduction to the Prehistory of Indiana

The Mississippian Tradition climaxes in what is the most complex of the prehistoric cultures identified in North America. Unlike the Woodland apogee, whose most visible elements were confined to a limited and somewhat esoteric aspect of culture, the Mississippian peak is reflected at many levels from the commonplace to the specialized. Also, elements of the tradition persisted into the period of European exploration and settlement; therefore, limited insights were gained through direct observation, especially in the southeastern states. Such historic Native American ethnic groups as the Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Natchez reflected the Mississippian life-style.

The Mississippian peoples in most areas were dependent upon maize, beans, and squash, which were intensively cultivated. These were combined with native plants and animals to provide an abundant and varied food supply. Tobacco was also grown. Settlements were permanently established, and there is evidence of town planning in the distribution of houses within their communities, the preservation of open plaza areas, and in the arrangement of the flat-top mounds that served as elevated platforms for siting large community buildings. Some of the larger towns were over a hundred acres in size and these must have had populations of well over a thousand people. Cahokia, the largest such settlement in North America and located in Illinois across the Mississippi from St. Louis, has been variously estimated as having a population of between 20,000 and 40,000.

The raw materials exploited differed little from those commonly used for millennia by the American Indian, but the bone, shell, and stone, and the ceramic complex were extremely varied, and artifacts occur in abundance. The emergent synthesis is one that recognizes considerable social stratification with social control being vested in institutions having a religious-political function. It is probable that the larger Mississippian towns exercised hegemony over the many nearby smaller farmsteads in many instances.

At one time, before the advent of radiocarbon dating, it seemed that Mississippian appeared with relative suddenness at a very late time in the central Mississippi Valley. This interpretation, combined with what was interpreted to be a strong infusion of Middle American elements, suggested that the genesis of the tradition might rest in the actual migration of populations from Mexico. However, the substantial distances involved and the absence of confirming evidence in many of the areas through which the migrating group(s) would have had to pass made that explanation improbable. More recently, the abundance of radiocarbon dates for the Mississippian Tradition have succeeded in clarifying the issues.

Mississippian becomes apparent in the archaeological record in the central Mississippi Valley at about A.D. 7-800. Some of the very earliest elements reflect styles and practices that have a long history in eastern North America, including some that may persist from Middle Woodland. A significant factor that contributed to the rise of the tradition, however, was the development of more efficient subsistence practices. These seem to have occurred in combination with or were a direct result of the introduction of a new variety of maize ideally suited to the environmental conditions of the area. There is also the inescapable fact that influences from Middle America did have a role, though traits such as the platform mounds, architectural styles, plazas, and elements of the pottery complex were reinterpreted and modified in the local setting. By approximately A.D.. 1150 to A.D. 1200, a distinctive culture type was created and adopted throughout much of eastern United States, and it influenced the surviving Woodland cultures in the peripheral regions.

Though Indiana was not central to the Mississippian development, the emergent qualities that characterize its beginnings can be found at a number of sites in the state. The Yankeetown Site which serves as the type site for the similarly named phase is the best known of these.[see Yankeetown Pottery and Figurine]

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Yankeetown Phase is confined to a relatively small area in southwest Indiana and the adjacent portions of Kentucky and Illinois. Though excavation by Indiana University at the type site in Warrick County failed to identify any evidence of architecture, much other information was recovered. The subsistence pattern, in addition to locally available plants and animals, included agriculture as attested by the presence of charred maize. The ceramic complex is reminiscent of Woodland in many ways, including the customary conoidal based jars and the high frequency of cord marked vessel surfaces. On these bases alone, Yankeetown might logically be classed with Late Woodland. However, in addition to some unusual wide mouth bowl forms, there are other atypical decorative motifs. Among these are systematically placed notched appliqued clay strips regularly arrayed near the vessel orifice in geometric patterns. Also, fine line incising with a small pointed instrument produced tasteful design elements. The artifact complement includes an unusual fusion of elements. Those with a Mississippian character include small stemless triangular projectile points, pottery discs, pottery trowels, stone discoidals, and distinctive flattened terra cotta figurines. The extreme localization of the Yankeetown Phase, the unique ceramic complex, and the seeming fusion of Woodland and Mississippian artifact traits are suggestive of the kinds of cultural experimentation going on at about A.D. 900, the radiocarbon date for the phase.

Further indication of the variability and interaction during this period is suggested by the Oliver Phase in central Indiana, which has been radiocarbon dated to the eleventh century. [see Oliver Phase Pottery] At one time, before the recent urban expansion associated with the growth of Indianapolis, there were a number of large and heavily occupied Oliver Phase villages along the White River. Numerous collections were made from these and one, the Bowen Site, now the site of an apartment complex, was excavated nearly in its entirety by J.C. Householder for the Indiana Historical Society (Dorwin 1971).

The Bowen Site village area was slightly in excess of an acre in size and, though no direct evidence for houses was encountered, the distribution of habitation debris suggested that the central area had served as an unoccupied plaza. Within the village area were many pits, some of which contained human remains; few artifacts were associated with the interments. The food supply was augmented by cultivation, including maize, and deer, shell fish, and other native plant and animal products were heavily exploited. The artifact complement was not highly varied, but included were the small triangular projectile points undoubtedly used with the bow. The pottery complex included elements seemingly derived from a variety of sources. Cord marking, a Woodland feature, was prevalent. The use of shell tempering, a Mississippian attribute, occurred. The curvilinear guilloche, a series of interlocking scroll designs incised in the wet clay around the vessel rim, is more commonly found in the middle and upper Ohio Valley. However, the most common decorative motifs were several patterned variations produced by impressing individual heavy cords on the damp clay, particularly in the rim area, which was often collared. This practice is most frequently encountered in the Great Lakes region. Similar pottery combinations occur from Orange County in the south, where it is associated with earthworks near the Pioneer Mothers State Forest, to, perhaps, the Salamonie River Valley. The point is that the Oliver Phase, with its seeming combination of elements from many sources, reflects something of the cultural foment occurring during the early period of Mississippian development.

The outstanding "classic" Mississippian site in Indiana is Angel Mounds State Memorial located a few miles east of Evansville in Vanderburgh County adjacent to the Ohio River (Black 1967). [see Angel Mounds Pottery] A brief summary will serve to convey something of its importance.

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The site covers an area slightly in excess of 100 acres and was probably shielded from the mainstream of the Ohio by a narrow island. Opposite the river, more than a mile of high bastioned stockade constructed of vertical logs covered with clay guarded the town. A three-terraced flalt-topped mound had been constructed near the approximate center of the settlement; it measured about 650 feet by 300 feet and was 44 feet high. From the highest point of this massive earthwork one could have gained an overview of the community, and the elevated level surface /pg. 55/ undoubtedly served as the foundation for a large community structure. A number of other similar but much smaller mounds must have served a comparable function. Just to the west of the great mound was an open plaza. Based on the historical description of similarly configured towns in the southeast, the plaza was the scene of public meetings, competition, and religious ceremonies. Around this plaza and throughout the large village substantial houses were constructed. These were square to rectangular in plan and ranged from 16 to 30 feet on a side. Construction was accomplished by setting upright posts in a trench, then covering them with cane mats, and finally, the frame was plastered with clay. The houses were systematically oriented in various parts of the village, and the same location was used for as many as 15 separate rebuildings. Though only a small portion of the village has been excavated, projections from this suggest that upwards of 200 houses would have been present. Assuming each of the structures provided shelter for a nuclear family - 5 individuals would be a safe estimate - then a minimum of 1,000 individuals might have lived at Angel Site.

Food reliance was heavily dependent upon cultivated plants, but game, fish, mussels, and other wild plant products made significant contributions to diet.

The Mississippian occupants of Angel Site were skilled craftsmen. They produced excellent shell tempered pottery having many vessel forms, e.g., bowls, pans, plates, bottles, and jars. Though most vessels were plain and without surface decoration, some painted wares were made. Using stone, bone, and shell, numerous tools necessary for daily life were manufactured in great variety and number as were others for personal adornment.

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No known Mississippian town in Indiana duplicates the complexity of Angel Mounds, but there are numerous culturally related sites in the Ohio and lower Wabash valleys. These were undoubtedly "rural" farmsteads that provided support for the main settlement and in return looked to Angel for social, political, and religious leadership.

The Angel Mounds culture complex briefly described above is commonly referred to as Middle Mississippian, a distinctive culture type distributed in the central Mississippi Valley. The man- ifestations in Indiana seem to appear rather suddenly, probably near the end of the twelfth century, and without significant evidence for prior development in the region. However, as noted above, the Yankeetown Phase undoubtedly contributed in some measure to these later developments. Angel Mounds is the easternmost major Mississippian town in the Ohio Valley, thaugh short- term settlement is represented in some of the Perry and Crawford county rock-shelters, and a few related open sites are recorded as far east as Spencer County and adjacent areas in Kentucky. Additional Angel Phase settlements occur to at least the mouth of the Wabash.

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Angel Mounds appears to have been abandoned some time during the fifteenth century for reasons that are not clear.

While Mississippian remains differing in some respects from those recovered at Angel Mounds have been recognized for some time in the Ohio-Wabash valleys' only recently has the significance of these differences been better understood. The methods used to arrive at these understandings also demonstrate the value of maintaining archaeological collections over long periods of time.

In 1898, as noted above, Phillips Academy, under the direction of Warren K. Moorehead, funded excavations at the "Mouth of the Wabash," a large Mississippian settlement located in Posey County. The material recovered included numerous pottery vessels tound in association with burials and a wealth of other artifacts. These are now on permanent loan to the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology. Noting that the burial inclusions differed from those encountered at the Angel Site, a systematic reanalysis of the earlier materials was undertaken recently. In addition to defining some important divergences in ceramics, bison remains were identified. This suggested a relatively late period of occupancy, since the bison, except for very early forms, was not present in our area prehistorically. Also, artifacts originally said to have been manufactured from copper, after laboratory analysis, were determined to be brass. Because brass was not an aboriginal product and could only have been obtained from European trade, the site must have been occupied at least into the early historic period. Subsequent research, including excavation at a related site in Posey County, succeeded in defining the Caborn-Welborn Phase in southwest Indiana.[see Caborn-Welborn Artifacts] Not only is it slightly later than the Angel Phase, there are also differences in settlement patterns (Green and Munson 1978).

The Caborn-Welborn Phase is readily distinguished in the field by its distinctive ceramic decorative features. Whereas the great majority of Angel Phase pottery is plain and only rarely has surface embellishments, Caborn-Welborn ceramics are often decorated with incised and punctated elements combined in triangular motifs, which are placed in broad bands around the upper portion of the vessels. Related sites on occasion produce other ceramic remains more like those in the Mississippi Valley proper. Also, while the artifact assemblages of the Angel and Caborn-Welborn phases are similar in many other respects, site types and their distributions differ.

The Angel Phase is characterized by a single very large stockaded town, the Angel Site, in the vicinity of which are several much smaller communities, some also stockaded. It would seem to be a safe assumption that the numerous smaller settlements were dependent upon the larger community in many ways and, together, an interactive system was formed. Caborn-Welborn. however, based on the current evidence, is composed of many sites of varying size, only five or six of which might be classed as major, and none of these are comparable in size to Angel or are currently known to have been stockaded. Because the two populations occupied the same pnysiographic/environmental setting and seemingly utilized similar resources, the only major difference being temporal, the settlement pattern variability suggests differing adaptive strategies. A clearly defensive posture is reflected in the nucleated settlement pattern and stockades of the Angel Phase. The dispersed pattern of Caborn-Welborn settlement, the lack of evidence for a single dominating community, and the presence of numerous communities of every size, plus the absence of evidence for stockades, suggest a lessened need for defense. It would also seem likely that elements of the political/social structure were dissimilar in some respects, because these requirements in nucleated communities are customarily more specialized.

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While the foregoing might appear somewhat esoteric within the context of a general summary, nevertheless, it demonstrates the kinds of questions faced by archaeologists the answers to which emphasize the importance of knowing site distributions and curating collections over long periods.

Centered in the Vincennes area, there is another Mississippian expression termed the Vincennes Culture (Winters 1963). One such prehistoric community in Illinois is nearly a hundred acres in size and has a dozen platform mounds associated. However, no comparable sites are known in Indiana, though the related Merom Site in Sullivan County is of interest. Located on a narrow ridge top spur overlooking the Wabash, this small five-acre village was protected by an embankment at the narrow entrance to the ridge and may have had as many as five mounds within its limits. Among its other features were depressed areas marking house locations and graves lined with stone slabs (Lilly 1937:49-51). The Vincennes Culture is a much attenuated Mississippian expression made noteworthy by the absence of the more elaborate artifacts. For example. though the ceramics are the typical shell tempered jar forms, bottles, plates, bowls, and pans seem to be absent.

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There is one additional poorly understood Mississippian expression in the vicinity of the "Falls of the Ohio" area near Jeffersonville. Known largely from surface collections made at a number of sites, it seems to represent an emergent phase. One of these, the Prather Site in Clark County, has a radiocarbon date of A.D. 1045.

Mississippian settlements in southern Indiana are systematically confined to the broad floodplains of the major river systems and, except for brief periods of occupancy in special resource areas, they do not occur in the hilly portions of the state. This distribution undoubtedly reflects the reliance upon plant cultivation, because the best land for farming is located in the alluvial floodplains of these rivers.

The coeval cultural expression in southeastern Indiana is somewhat loosely called Fort Ancient (Griffin 1943). This occupation is generally confined to a narrow strip in the Ohio Valley eastward from Madison, though typical Fort Ancient pottery has been recovered from a rockshelter in Perry County. It extends northward for an unknown distance in the Whitewater Valley and into the central part of Indiana. The subsistence pattern, house type, stockaded villages, and much of the artifact assemblage is comparable in most ways to that found in Mississippian in southwest Indiana. However, the flat-topped mounds rarely occur. Also, ceramics, while frequently shell tempered and duplicating many of the Mississippian forms, differ in the high frequency of cord marking and by the presence of the incised interlocking scroll designs (curvilinear guilloche). Studies in Ohio suggest that Fort Ancient gradually evolved as the earlier Woodland populations came under the influence of Mississippian cultural practices.

Some late Fort Ancient sites have produced minor amounts of European trade materials indicating that it persisted into the early historic period.

In northern Indiana a somewhat different adaptation was required (Faulkner 1972). Though plant cultivation was certainly practiced, it apparently was not as productive a technique as in the south. Therefore, there was a much greater dependency upon naturally occurring food resources and some greater mobility was required to utilize them. Sites were generally smaller than in the south, and they often reflect shorter periods of occupancy which is undoubtedly related to the seasonal availability of the food resources. The artifact inventory, as one might expect, displays affinities with that in the nearby Great Lakes area. Even here, however, pottery and projectile points reflect some of the almost pan-eastern characteristics associated with Mississippian.