Langford tradition and the process of tribalization on the middle Mississippian borders, The

Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, Spring 1999 by Emerson, Thomas E

The Terminal Late Woodland

The most broadly defined terminal Late Woodland regional cultural phenomenon is the "Effigy Mound culture," represented by thousands of effigy mounds constructed in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois from ca. A.D. 700 to 1000 (Hurley 1975, 1986; Mallam 1976, 1984; Rowe 1956). The associated lifestyle included the use of the bow, arrows with triangular points, cordmarked pottery categorized as Madison Ware, a foraging subsistence pattern with little or no dependence on cultigens, and a presumed nonhierarchical, egalitarian political and social structure (Richards 1992:401-406; Salkin 1998; Stoltman and Christiansen 1998).

At least partially contemporaneous with effigy mound builders were people we identify with the manufacture of Late Woodland "collared" ceramics. These people occupied portions of eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, southern Michigan, and northern Indiana. In northern Illinois the ceramics are known as "Starved Rock Collared" (Hall 1962,1987). The association of Starved Rock Collared with a full suite of material culture has not been established. There is an ongoing debate as to the ware's probable connection with the Effigy Mound culture (e.g., Goldstein 1991a,1991b; Salkin 1987; Stoltman and Christiansen 1998). Salkin (1987,1998) has proposed a Kekoskee phase for non-Effigy Mound peoples in southeastern Wisconsin producing collared wares, growing maize, and dwelling in keyhole houses inside stockaded villages. Stoltman and Christiansen (1998) argue that collared wares in southwestern Wisconsin represent a continuation of Effigy Mound culture after mound construction ceased at about A.D. 1000.

Recent research by University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) archaeologists in northwestern Illinois has helped clarify the chronological and spatial parameters of terminal Late Woodland manifestations in that subregion. The information from sites excavated on the middle Rock River and from the upper Illinois River valley (Jeske 1992; Markman 1991a, 1991b; Titelbaum 1998d) presents a fairly consistent pattern of terminal Late Woodland utilization and occupation of the area. It appears that the people using the Starved Rock Collared ware found on northern Illinois sites would fit comfortably within the "Des Plaines Complex" defined at the Fisher site by Gillette (1949a).

To understand the place of terminal Late Woodland groups in subsequent cultural events in northern Illinois we need to situate them in time and space. Hall (1987) places the Starved Rock Collared type at A.D. 900 to 1200. Jeske and Hart (1988:180-181) see "Starved Rock and the related Aztalan wares [overlapping] temporally with Swanson, being present at A.D. 750 and lasting at least [until] A.D. 1000 when they are replaced by Langford materials" in the upper Illinois River valley. While noting calibrated 14C dates in the A.D. 800 to 1000 range, Stoltman and Christiansen (1998:Table 3) associate the dominance of collared wares in southwestern Wisconsin with the final Late Woodland period, ca. A.D.1000-1200. Salkin (1987,1998) sees collared wares as part of his Kekoskee phase, with dates from A.D. 800 to 1200.