https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6540-3359
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ABSTRACT
Identifying ancient patterns of trade, exchange, and social relations through the tracking of the origin point and final place of deposition of objects is an integral part of archaeological research. Using such information, scholars have constructed elaborate interpretive models to explain the interactions of past societies. The key to success is the correct identification of the original material. In this project, we have undertaken the sourcing of the pipestones utilized by native people living in the Mississippian era in the region between Greater Cahokia and Aztalan in southern Wisconsin to make ear spools. For this research we employed near-infrared spectroscopy, x-ray florescence, and color measurement technology. Our research revealed that the primary source for regional Mississippian ear spools were two distinct variants of Baraboo pipestone from quarries in west-central Wisconsin. The analysis of the Aztalan ear spools and the recent discovery of an ear spool workshop area at the East St. Louis Mound Precinct have expanded our understanding of regional pipestone ear spool manufacture, distribution, and context. Our findings suggest that while Aztalan was enmeshed in a regional network of Baraboo pipestone exchange, Cahokia employed practices that focused on selective targeting for the acquisition of distant exotics.
Acknowledgments
Wisconsin pipestone research was greatly facilitated by John Broihahn, Ernie Boszhardt, and Paul Schanen, and we appreciate their openness in sharing their knowledge of the Baraboo area pipestone sources. We also appreciate the input of Lawrence Conrad and Timothy Pauketat. A critical aspect of our research involved the analysis of curated materials; Dawn Scher Thomae, Milwaukee Public Museum; Robin Untz, Lake Mills Historical Society Aztalan Museum; Dr. Bonnie Styles, Illinois State Museum; and Stephanie Daniels and Mary Hynes, Illinois State Archaeological Survey, facilitated our access to those collections. Throughout this research, our colleagues Sarah Wisseman, Kjersti Emerson, and Madeleine Evans provided invaluable expertise, assistance, and companionship on long days of data collection at various curation facilities. This study is based upon work partially supported by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers 9971179 and 0203010. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Portions of this research were facilitated by Illinois Department of Transportation state and federally funded compliance research.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Cahokia flint clay ear spools were recovered from three Illinois sites, Julien, Olszewski, and East St. Louis (Boles, Ely et al. Citation2018:Table 6.8; Emerson et al. Citation2002:318, Table 1).
2 In the preliminary examination of Aztalan specimens in 2005 (e.g., Richards et al. Citation2008), it was hypothesized that some of the badly burned ear spools may have been made from catlinite. However, as Baraboo pipestone variation sampling and analysis broadened, it became more likely that they represent a Baraboo pipestone variant in which partial burning had destroyed the kaolinite without breaking down all the pyrophyllite or, conversely, that they may be burned Baraboo B specimens. Finney (Citation2013:154) reports a macroscopically identified ear spool as catlinite from the Fred Edwards site, which is culturally tied to the Bennett phase Apple River Mississippian groups. We have not had the opportunity to analyze this specimen but suspect it may be of the local Baraboo pipestone (per James Stoltman, personal communication 2002).
3 In this research we had to rely on the macroscopic identification of some specimens, usually based on color and propinquity to the Baraboo quarries, given our inability to travel during the Covid pandemic.
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Thomas E. Emerson
Thomas E. Emerson is the retired director of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (1994–2018) and Illinois’s first State Archaeologist (2013–2018). From 1984 to 1993 he served as the Chief Archaeologist of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Most recently, he oversaw the excavations of the East St. Louis Mound center, one of the largest modern excavations conducted in the United States. Currently, Emerson is a Senior Research Scientist with the Upper Mississippi Valley Archaeological Research Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and studying the archaeological resources of Illinois. His interests are diverse, ranging from cultural resource management, archaeological legislation, Great Lakes underwater archaeology, mortuary studies, dietary isotopes, French colonial studies, archaeometry, geologic sourcing, early religions, symbolism, the rise of social and political complexity, to the impacts of early urbanism. He is the author of numerous articles, the author and editor of more than a dozen volumes on midcontinental archaeology as well as serving as the longtime editor and book review editor of Illinois Archaeology and editor of the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, and he is the recipient of numerous state, regional, and national awards.
John D. Richards
John D. Richards is the retired director of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Cultural Resource Management Services. From 1989 to 1996 he served as a principal investigator at Great Lakes Archaeological Research Center, Inc. He directed the UWM program from 1997 to 2020 in addition to teaching and advising graduate students. Richards also served as editor of the Wisconsin Archeologist, the peer-reviewed journal of the Wisconsin Archaeological Society from 1999 to 2010. He continues to serve as Emeritus Senior Scientist in the Department of Anthropology and Adjunct Curator at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Richards research interests include the late prehistory of the Great Lakes region, archaeological ceramic analysis, compositional analysis, and historic preservation. Since 1984 his primary research focus has been on the prehistoric site of Aztalan. He has conducted a variety of investigations throughout the site and published or presented papers on ceramics, the early history of the site, regional relations, site structure, mound construction, and radiocarbon chronology.
Randall E. Hughes
Randall E. Hughes is a retired senior research geologist and former section head at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) where he began as a student research assistant in 1964. He earned his PhD (1971) in geology at the University of Illinois (UI). Currently, Hughes is a Senior Research Scientist with the Upper Mississippi Valley Archaeological Research Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and studying the archaeological resources of Illinois. He has published on flint clay pipestone geology and mineralogy and coauthored Scanning Electron Microscopy of Clays and Clay Minerals (1971) as well as SEM/EDX element maps of Sterling pipestone, adding critical evidence of their origin. Additionally, he developed new geoarchaeological methods (e.g., sequential acid dissolution/ICP, plus better-faster-cheaper-easier (BFCE) research protocols for pipestone research). Hughes has worked in private business as a R&D scientist at Thiele Kaolin Company in central Georgia and as a Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Company scientific consultant and board member. His research interests include clay mineralogy, clay minerals associated with coal mines, and the sourcing of archaeological materials using x-ray diffraction and PIMA spectroscopy.
Steven L. Boles
Steven L. Boles is a senior research archaeologist at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey’s (ISAS) American Bottom Field Station in Collinsville. He has been with ISAS since 2009 and was involved with four years of excavation at the East St. Louis Mound Precinct. He then supervised the analysis of nine tons of lithic material and edited the subsequent lithics volume for the site. He also has numerous publications relating to Illinois prehistory and works closely with avocational and collecting communities to record private collections and new sites. His interests are varied and include Mississippian iconography, rock art, mortuary studies, migration, and the impetus for movement and deposition of religious paraphernalia.