Robert F. Boszhardt

Oneota Ridged Field Agriculture in Southwestern Wisconsin

For over a century, there has been great interest in the prehistoric ridged agricultural fields of the upper Midwest. However, scientific approaches have been applied to the topic only recently. Ridged fields have been reported from many areas of North America, including Arizona (Berlin et al. 1977), Florida (Milanich and Fairbanks 1980; Sears 1971, 1982), Georgia (Kelly 1938, 1964), Ontario (Heidenreich 1974), Illinois (Fowler 1969), Indiana and Missouri (Schoolcraft 1851) and, of course, Michigan and Wisconsin (Fox 1959; Hinsdale 1931; Hubbard 1878; Lapham 1855; Peske 1966; Peters 1980). All of the fields in Wisconsin and Michigan have been surface finds; many of them are disturbed, and none have demonstrable age or cultural affiliation. Moffat (1979) recently conducted a thorough survey of known ridged fields in Wisconsin and identified the following patterns: 1. The extant ridged fields tend to occur in clusters near large lakes and rivers in eastern Wisconsin. 2. They are usually found on fine loamy soils of the deciduous forest-savanna uplands. 3. The fields are distributed mostly in high, well-drained positions, frequently on south-facing slopes. They are not found in swamps, marshes, or flood plains. 4. They occur primarily within the 150-120 day frost-free zone, considered marginal for prehistoric corn agriculture. 5. They are thought to be associated with the Lake Winnebago Phase of the Oneota tradition. On the basis of the patterns outlined by Moffat and the experimental work of Riley and Freimuth (1979), there is a very convincing case for the ridged fields in eastern Wisconsin functioning as microclimatic frost-control devices.

New evidence in the Upper Mississippi Valley for Premississippian Cultural interaction with the American bottom

The recovery of anomalous (red-slipped, shell/grog/sandstone-tempered) pottery from three sites in the Upper Mississippi Valley (UMV) prompted a petrographic analysis of thin sections of 21 vessels from these sites. The goal was to evaluate their possible derivation from the American Bottom, the nearest locality where such pottery commonly occurs. Among the 12 UMV vessels tempered with shell (nine red slipped), ten were determined, based on comparisons to thin sections of stylistically similar pottery from the American Bottom, to have essentially identical physical compositions. Additionally, four vessels suspected of being limestone-tempered were determined to have been tempered with a type of sandstone that out-crops only farther south in Illinois and Iowa. Of the three UMV sites, only the Fisher Mounds Site Complex (FMSC) produced the presumed exotic pottery in undisturbed, dated contexts. The petrographic evidence is consistent with the C-14 age and lithic assemblage at FMSC in suggesting an actual influx of people from the American Bottom into the UMV. The time of this influx, the Edelhardt phase of the Emergent Mississippian/Terminal Late Woodland period, ca. cal A.D. 1000-1050, is earlier than previously believed, i.e., precedes the main Mississippian period in the American Bottom.

Collapse of crucial resources and culture change : A model for the woodland to oneota transformation in the upper midwest

The Driftless Area of the Upper Midwestern United States offers a case study for the transition from hunter-gatherer (Late Woodland Effigy Mound) to agricultural (Oneota) societies between ca. A.D. 950 and 1150, a period that coincided with northward expansion of Middle Mississippian cultures from the American Bottom. Previous studies have not adequately explained the regional disappearance of Effigy Mound cultures, the appearance of Oneota cultures, or the cultural changes that occurred during this period. Our analysis considers ecological (deer and firewood) and cultural (population packing, community organization, hunting technology, and warfare) factors to develop a testable model applicable to broader regions. We propose that increasing Late Woodland populations reached the regions “packing threshold,” disrupting a flexible seasonal round based on residential mobility and triggering shortages of two essential resources, white-tailed deer and firewood, which in turn led Late Woodland groups to abandon vast portions of the Driftless Area. The intrusion of Middle Mississippian peoples from the south created additional disruption and conflict. Remnant Woodland and Mississippian peoples amalgamated briefly in the regions first villages, which were palisaded. After A.D. 1150, Oneota cultures emerged, reoccupying specific localities in clustered settlements.

Trempealeau entanglements: An ancient colony's causes and effects

Archaeological investigations at the Trempealeau and Fisher Mounds Site Complexes in western Wisconsin have provided definitive evidence of settlements and platform mounds in a portion of the Upper Mississippi Valley dating to the early Cahokian era, immediately priorto A.D. 1050 and ending before A.D. 1100. The presence ofCahokian earthen constructions, wall-trench buildings, ceramics, and imported stone tools associated with likely religious buildings and a series of possible farmsteads 900 river km north of Cahokia points to a unique intrusive occupation. We suggest that Trempealeau was a religious installation located proximate to a powerful, storied landform on the Mississippi River that afforded Cahokians access to the animate forces of that region. Probably built by and for Cahokians with minimal involvement on the part of living local people, the timing of this occupation hints at its close relationship to the founding of the American Indian city to the south.

FLOODPLAIN AGRICULTURE IN THE DRIFTLESS AREA: A REPLY TO OVERSTREET

Denevan, William 1970 Aboriginal Drained-Field Cultivation in the Americas. Science 169:647-654. Fowler, Melvin L. 1969 Middle Mississippian Agricultural Fields. American Antiquity 34:365-375. Gallagher, James P. 1980 La Crosse Area Archaeological Survey,1979 Season. Manuscript on file, Historic Preservation Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison. Gallagher, James P., Robert F. Boszhardt, Robert F. Sasso, and Katherine Stevenson 1985 Oneota Ridged Field Agriculture in Southwestern Wisconsin. American Antiquity 50:605-612. Gallagher, James P., and Katherine Stevenson 1980 Preliminary Report on Excavations at the Valley View Site (47 Lc 34), an Oneota Village near La Crosse, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Archeologist 61(4):505-521. Knox, James C. 1985 Holocene Geomorphic History of the Sand Lake Site: La Crosse County, Wisconsin. Final Report of Investigations, Interinstitutional Agreement between UW-La Crosse and UW-Madison, Contract Reference No. LAX-58. Moffat, Charles R. 1979 Some Observations on the Distribution and Significance of the Garden Beds of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Archeologist 60(3):222-248. Overstreet, David F. 1976 The Grand River, Lake Koshkonong, Green Bay, and Lake Winnebago Phases-Eight Hundred Years of Oneota Prehistory in Eastern Wisconsin. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 1978 Oneota Settlement Patterns in Eastern WisconsinSome Considerations of Time and Space. In Mississippian Settlement Patterns, edited by Bruce D. Smith, pp. 21-52. Academic Press, New York. 1981 Investigations at the Pipe Site (47 Fd 10) and Some Perspectives on Eastern Wisconsin Oneota Prehistory. The Wisconsin Archeologist 62(4):365-525. 1985 Corn and Community Congregation-The View from Lake Winnebago. Paper presented at the 84th Annual Meeting of The American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C. Peske, G. Richard 1966 Oneota Settlement Patterns in Winnebago County. The Wisconsin Archeologist 47(4):188-195. Riley, Thomas J., and Glen Freimuth 1979 Field Systems and Frost Drainage in the Pre-Historic Agriculture of the Upper Great Lakes. American Antiquity 44:271-284. Wedel, Mildred Mott 1959 Oneota Sites on the Upper Iowa River. The Missouri Archaeologist 21(2-4): 1-181.

Silver Mound, Wisconsin: Source of Hixton Silicified Sandstone

Abstract In 2006, the prehistoric quarry complex at Silver Mound in western Wisconsin was designated a National Historic Landmark. As the sole source of Hixton Silicified Sandstone, Silver Mound’s landmark designation exemplifies the important role played by high quality lithic raw material sources during the initial peopling of eastern North America. An updated and comprehensive description of archaeological resources associated with the quarry complex is provided. As a compliment to the descriptive portion of the paper, we present a framework outlining the current research potential of Silver Mound in the context of the Paleoindian Tradition. Central to this framework is the integration of site specific data with analysis of the structure and organization of lithic technological systems. This research framework operates more generally as a guideline for evaluating the Paleoindian use of primary quarry areas throughout the Midcontinent.

Trempealeau’s Little Bluff: An Early Cahokian Terraformed Landmark in the Upper Mississippi Valley

ABSTRACT Archaeological and geomorphological investigations of Little Bluff (47Tr32), in Trempealeau, Wisconsin, reveal how and, possibly, why this loess-capped sandstone ridge spur was anthropogenically altered in the mid-eleventh century A.D. Project excavation units and trenches dug in 2010–2011 revealed the timing, rate of completion, structure, symmetry, and orientation of the construction. In addition to delineating construction details and associated archaeological features, our research suggests that Cahokians, by sculpting and rebuilding this ridge spur, were actively positioning themselves vis-à-vis the wider Mississippi Valley landscape, if not the cosmos generally.

Petrographic Analysis of Late Woodland and Middle Mississippian Ceramics at the Iva Site (47Lc42), Onalaska, Wisconsin

The Iva site contained a rare effigy mound and Middle Mississippian (Ramey horizon) component within the Late Woodland Lewis phase territory of the Upper Mississippi River valley. Salvage excavations in 2002–2003 recovered fragments of numerous Angelo Punctated, Powell Plain, and Ramey Incised vessels, including examples of Angelo and Ramey in direct association. Petrographic analysis was conducted on seven grit-tempered and six shell-tempered vessels, eight of which are stylistically Mississippian. The results indicate that four of eight Mississippian vessels were likely manufactured in the American Bottom, with the other half being local imitations of Mississippian styles. These data are compared to contemporaneous Ramey horizon components in the Driftless Area of Cahokias northern hinterland.