Twelve Millennia: Archaeology of the Upper Mississippi River Valley

Chapter Nine

The Beginning of Tribes The Hopewell phenomenon ended abruptly across eastern North America by A.D. 400. One example of the demise of Hopewell is the substantial simplification and reduction in the quantity of smoking pipes between A.D. 500 and 1200. During this relatively long period, pipes were small elbow forms (fig. 9.1). Some are made from Baraboo Hills pipestone, and a few of these have decorations, including etched lizards. Most, however, are made of clay tempered with grit, like contemporary pottery, and some have simple decorations made by impressing small tools in the moist clay before firing. Catlinite , which had been used at least sporadically by Early and Middle Woodland peoples, appears to have been virtually unknown during this period. Likewise, copper, western flints, marine shell, and other exotic materials were no longer traded or even manufactured into elaborate artifacts during the late Middle Woodland and subsequent Late Woodland stages. Indeed, the entire Hopewell exchange network, which formerly reached from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains and from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico , seems to have simply collapsed. Why this happened remains a mystery. c h a p t e r n i n e early woodl and middle woodl and l ate woodl and 2,500 b.p. 1,900 b.p. 1,400 b.p. 850 b.p. Late Middle Woodland After the disappearance of Havana Hopewell, or perhaps briefly overlapping it, a new series of ceramics evolved from Havana forms. These late Middle Woodland ceramics characterize what are called the Millville and the Allamakee phases in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. The Millville phase dates between A.D. 200/300 and 500 and is characterized by thin-walled Linn ware, with types such as Levsen Stamped and Levsen Punctated. At the end of this sequence, a ceramic type called Lane Farm Cord Impressed appears to bridge the gap between the late Middle Woodland and the Late Woodland Effigy Mound Culture. During the late Middle Woodland, mounds continued to be built, especially south of La Crosse, though of a smaller conical form and now entirely lacking the exotic Hopewell funerary artifacts. A number of late Middle Woodland sites have been excavated along the Upper Mississippi River, including mounds and rockshelters in and near Ef- figy Mounds National Monument in northeast Iowa. These have provided radiocarbon dates and some subsistence information, but major questions remain . For example, the nature of post-Hopewellian Woodland cultures along the Mississippi River north of La Crosse is virtually unknown. The Millville Site The Millville site is the most important and remarkable Millville phase occupation thus far known in the Upper Mississippi drainage (fig. 9.2). Millville was excavated in 1962 by Joan Freeman of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin as a salvage project in advance of highway construction. The site is located on the south side of the Wisconsin River 10 miles above its confluence with the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien. Freeman excavated an area of 90 by 110 feet and uncovered 40 fire pits, 139 refuse pits, 2 burial pits, and 14 house basins. 122 | t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t r i b e s 9.1. Clay elbow pipe typical of Late Woodland cultures. Approximately 1.5 inches long. Drawing by Jiro Manabe. The remains of 14 late Middle Woodland houses are unique for the region. These were oval structures created by scooping out a basin up to 10 inches deep and placing upright posts having diameters of 5 to 9 inches around the rim of the depression. The covering material was not preserved, but historic Native American wigwams were often covered with reed mats or sheets of bark. Six of the Millville houses had small additions, marked by extra post stains, that may have been storage areas. The house interiors contained refuse pits that may have been initially storage pits, and several had an interior fire pit. Four houses had been damaged on one side by flood erosion, preventing measurements of the entire structure. In estimating the area of the ten complete house interiors, excluding the storage rooms, four distinct sizes t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t r i b e s | 123 9.2. Key Late Woodland sites mentioned in the text. seem to be...