Late Woodland-Emergent Mississippian Occupation and Plant Use at the AE Harmon Site (11MS136)

Abstract

AbstractThe 2002 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville field school was conducted at the AE Harmon site (11MS136), located on the bluff above the American Bottom in Edwardsville, Illinois. Artifacts recovered from the plow zone indicate that the site was occupied from the Archaic through Mississippian periods. Sub-plow zone excavations revealed a prehistoric house structure and six pit features. The style of the structure, as well as artifacts recovered from the structure and several associated pits, indicate occupation during the Late Woodland and Emergent Mississippian periods. Prehistoric activities at the site included manufacture, use, and maintenance of lithic artifacts, as well as ceramic manufacture. Subsistence remains show that native cultigens, maize, nuts, wild plants, fish, and venison were consumed. The sample of plant remains reported here adds to the Late Woodland-Emergent Mississippian paleoethnobotanical database for the American Bottom, most notably for the Late Woodland Sponemann p...