An Hypothesis for the Identification of the Illinois Confederacy with the Middle Mississippi Culture in Illinois

Abstract

The hypothesis presented in this paper is based upon the correlation of a set of archaeological data with a sequence of historic events. The ideas incorporated here developed from a series of discussions concerning the relationship of the Middle Mississippi cultural manifestation in central Illinois with the Upper Mississippi Oneota culture and with influences which seem to derive from the Missouri-Arkansas region. In the course of this exchange of data, the writers became aware of the fact that a number of recent developments in Southeastern and Middle Western archaeology point to the conclusion that the Middle Mississippi culture in the present state of Illinois represents the material culture of the tribes of the Illinawek Confederacy. Evidence leading to this identification comes from a number of sources, both archaeological and ethno-historical. It must be stressed that the historical reconstruction proposed here is entirely hypothetical and tentative, and is based on inference from a number of lines of reasoning.