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8 Corn from the Waterman Site (11R122), Illinois Leonard W. Blake Washington University (Written in 1972 and 1997) Leonard Blake’s Comments, 1999 Samples of corn from the Waterman site were originally received during the 1970s from Dr. Margaret K. Brown, superintendent of the Cahokia site from the 1970s through the 1980s, and a report was written. At a later date, more samples were received. I rewrote the report using this new information, and added information on a sample from nearby Fort de Chartres, from Dr. M. D. Thurman of Ste. Genevieve. He estimated that it had been grown at a slightly later date than that from Waterman. Estimates of dates and identification of cultures of all sites listed are those of the excavators. Historically, the Waterman site was the village inhabited by the Michigamea tribe, a member of the Illinois Confederacy. It is located about two miles north of Fort de Chartres. The village was destroyed in 1752 in a surprise attack by the Fox Indian tribe and their allies. Dr. Brown excavated burials of victims of this attack, as well as numerous smudge pits. All of the material from the Waterman site (11R122) came from “small, circular straight-sided pits corresponding to Binford’s (1967) description of hide smoking pits” (Letter from Dr. Margaret K. Brown, May 21, 1972). Occupation of the site was estimated at about twenty years, between a.d. 1750 and 1770. Informationwasfurnishedthatmakespossibletheprobableallocationofmany of the corn cobs recovered to individual households or groups. For example, it was stated that “Pits 41A, B, C are a unit located close to each other and probably belong to a single house. . . . Pits 42, 43, 44 also a unit” (Letter from Brown, May 21, 1972). In addition, several individual pits contained enough cobs for comparative purposes. Table 8.1 shows that the corn from the different sources is similar, but not identical. Corn from Features 42 and 44 is notable for having somewhat larger cobs than those from the other units. The corn from Waterman is different from that found on sites of most historicnorthernIndians,includingothermembersoftheIllinoisConfederacy. Table 8.1. Corn Cobs from Different Locations on the Waterman Site Fea. or House No. All Other F. F. House F. F. F. F. Corn Corn Cobs 80 57 2 62 42, 44 18 41B, C Cobs Percent 8-rowed 21 26 29 49 52 51 52 32 Percent 10-rowed 67 52 56 27 42 39 42 46 Percent 12-rowed 9 2 13 18 6 10 6 22 Percent 14-rowed 3 — 2 6 — — — 2 Mean row no. 9.9 9.8 9.7 9.6 9.4 9.2 9.1 9.8 Median cupule width (mm)* 7 7.2 7.4 7.8 8.5 ** 7.6 7.0 No. cobs 34 19 95 33 94 39 48 59 * Cupule width is the distance across the entire pocket in which a pair of grains and their spikelets is borne. It is a measure of the size of the cob. For example, a 10-rowed cob will have a larger diameter than an 8-rowed cob with the same cupule width, and a 12-rowed cob will have a still larger diameter. ** Not measured. This is not surprising in view of the Michigamea’s frequent contacts with other groups to the south in the historic period (Temple 1958:18, 29, 32, 33, 34, 36, 39, 46). The kind of corn grown by Indians in the northeastern United States at this time has been called Northern Flint (Brown and Anderson 1947), but more recently it has been termed Eastern Eight Row (Cutler and Blake 1976:5), for the kernels may be flint, flour, or sweet. The ears usually have eight rows of kernels, although they may have ten, or, rarely, twelve. The corn is cold resistant and early maturing. It was dominant throughout the northeastern United States from about a.d. 1200 into historic times. The only sample of corn from a site occupied by Indians of the Illinois Confederacy that we had seen before is from the Zimmerman site, which probably was the 1673–1680 Kaskaskia village visited by Marquette (Brown 1975:1–2). It consisted of twenty Eastern Eight Row corn cobs, fourteen of which were eight-rowed and six of which were ten-rowed (Blake and Cutler 1975). To present a larger and more typical collection for comparative purposes, I include information on corn from the Crawford Farm site (11Ri81) of the Sauk Indians ca. a...

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