Helmkamp, R. Criss and Peregrine, Peter N. (Department of Sociology and Anthropology,
Purdue University)
LATE PREHISTORIC OCCUPATION OF THE NORTH CENTRAL INDIANA
PRAIRIEWOODLAND INTERFACE: A RESEARCH PROSPECTUS.
Boundaries are universal properties of cultural and natural systems, and the interplay
of human and biophysical environments remains a dominant theme in anthropological
research of non-hierarchical and simple hierarchical societies. The currently
limited sample of archaeological materials from prehistoric western north central
Indiana, which prior to conversion to a modern agricultural landscape was the
interface between the Prairie Peninsula and the Eastern Woodlands, suggests mixed
and shifting patterns of regional stylistic affiliations that may have cultural
geographic correlates. This seems to be particularly true of the Late Prehistoric
period (ca. A.D. 700-700). The earlier Late Prehistoric styles follow those of
both the lower central Wabash Valley (Albee phase) and central Indiana (Oliver
phase), while the latest Late Prehistoric styles follow patterns typical of both
the southern Great Lakes (Fisher and Huber phases of the Oneota tradition) and
the middle Ohio Valley (Madisonville phase of the Fort Ancient tradition). However,
since these affiliations are based on the presently limited sample, it is impossible
to go beyond these coarse generalizations. Generating a larger sample in order
to be able to study the interplay of cultural and natural systems, the transfer
of stylistic information under boundary conditions, and reconstructing the culture
history of the north central Indiana prairie-woodland interface will be among
the primary goals of the Tippecanoe Archaeological Survey. The survey is designed
to efficiently provide a representative sample of the interface region by covering
the Wildcat Creek Valley in Tippecanoe, Carroll, and Clinton Counties to provide
a sample of the woodland landscape to the south and east, and the Tippecanoe River
Valley in Tippecanoe, Carroll, and White Counties as a sample of the prairie landscape
to the north and west. Through this effort, we hope not only to better realize
the scientific potential of these cultural resources, but also to foster an atmosphere
of conservation, research, and stewardship in a region where archaeological resources
have largely gone unrecorded, unstudied, and unprotected.
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