Highlighting Hoosier Archaeological Sites: South Central

The McCullough's Run site (12B1036) was discovered in July 1995 during earthmoving for a housing development on the east edge of Columbus, Indiana. The discovery of the site was accidental and salvage was made possible under Indiana’s Historic Preservation and Archeology Law (now Indiana Code 14-21-1). Funding for the project was negotiated between the developer and the Archaeological Resources Management Service (ARMS) at Ball State University with much of the analyses undertaken by the Principal Investigator. All artifacts and flotation samples were processed, and most analyses were completed (Cochran et al. 1997; Richards 1998). Following recovery of the features, construction of the housing development continued, and houses were built on the site.

The site was on a rolling, sand dune complex on the northern edge of the Clifty Creek valley. A marsh was present nearby. Monitoring of earthmoving with pan scrapers by the Division of Historic Preservation & Archaeology (DHPA) initially revealed two pit features and a surface scatter of lithic artifacts. Surface artifacts ranged in age from the Early Archaic Kirk tradition through the Late Precontact Oliver phase. Features were only revealed when the dark feature fill below the surface sand was exposed.

Between July and November of 1995, ARMS staff and students excavated 16 cultural features at the site. Because of two separate incidents of looting in two features following their exposure, security was a constant issue and, along with continued earthmoving, stimulated the methods used for recovery. Features were excavated with trowels, artifacts piece plotted, and all feature fill was saved. Feature fill and artifacts were taken to the ARMS lab daily and ultimately floated through a Dausman flotation system. This system allows for the water-removal of soil and sediment and the recovery of tiny artifacts and any other cultural materials. Materials recovered from the site were processed and cataloged by ARMS staff (Cochran et al. 1997).

The precontact features consisted of 10 circular pits about 1 meter in diameter and up to 50 cm deep containing dark fill that included calcined bone, fire shattered lithics, scattered red and yellow ochre, chipped stone artifacts of Wyandotte chert, bone artifacts and a variety of faunal remains. In addition, two hearths/roasting pits and two pits of unknown function were also recovered (Figure 1). Two historic features of unknown function were also found. Features containing diagnostic artifacts included three of the cremation pits, one of the pits of unknown function and the two historic features. St. Albans points and a MacCorkle point diagnostic of the Early Archaic Bifurcate Tradition were recovered from cremation features. Late Precontact Oliver phase sherds were found in one feature. The historic features appeared to date after the middle of the nineteenth century (Cochran et al. 1997).

Although only three of the pits with cremated bone had diagnostic artifacts, all 10 of the features shared characteristics indicating they were Early Archaic in age. All 10 of the cremation features were redeposited material that had been burned elsewhere. There was no evidence of burning in the pits themselves. Common attributes besides the cremated bone include heat shattered lithic artifacts of Wyandotte chert, bifaces of Wyandotte chert, ochre, either as chunks or scattered throughout the feature fill and similarities in faunal remains. These features were also spatially associated, generally in pairs (Figure 1). The discontinuity in distribution between F1 and F2 and the remainder of the cremation features may be a result of earthmoving, since a wide trench had been cut across this location when the F1/F2 cluster was first found.

Other shallow features may have already been removed from this area. Bulk soil samples were submitted for radiocarbon dating from four features with cremated remains since carbon for dating was small in size and dispersed throughout the feature fill. Dates in the 6000 to 7000 B.C. range consistent with the bifurcate tradition were returned from two features while dates from two other features, one with Oliver phase ceramics, indicated occupation ca. A.D. 1400 (Cochran et al. 1997). 

A total of 14,232 grams of cremated bone fragments were recovered from the 10 burial features. Fragmentation was due to the degree of incineration along with reburial. Some fragmentation must be attributed to the excavation, flotation and general handling. Attributes of the fragments indicated in-the-flesh incineration. A minimum of 18 individuals were found in the 10 burial features. The ratio of adults to subadults to unknown was 8:8:2. The age groups represented in the burials ranged from juveniles under the age of 18 months to older adults. Sex and pathology of the individuals were inconclusive due to the poor condition of the bone (Knight 1997, 1999).

The light fraction from Feature 25, the largest and most complete feature, was analyzed for floral identification. Only wood charcoal in very small fragments was present representing a minimum of four tree species consistent with upland forests in southern Indiana. Further, the absence of nutshell and other food remains indicates that the charcoal was not the result of hearth clearings and more directly related to the cremations (Bush 1997).

Faunal analysis of 1,554 pieces of burned and unburned bone, teeth and mollusks from the 10 cremation features revealed that most of the identified skeletal elements reoccurred in several features. Burned faunal material showed that artifacts, raw materials and select faunal elements were included during the cremation process while unburned elements were subsequently added to the cremated remains in the features. The modification of deer metatarsals into awls and the inclusion of unmodified deer metatarsals and ulnae in features was a consistent pattern. Modified elements include awls, a worn beaver tooth chisel, box turtle carapace modified as bowls, Olivella shell “beads,” and drilled bones from sucker. Some items suggested ceremonial or religious significance such as the gar scales in three features, wings of turkey in four features and the paired feet of ducks in one feature (Richards 1998).

The Early Archaic cremation features recovered from the McCullough's Run site contain new and important archaeological information on Bifurcate Tradition mortuary practices and lifeways. Only two other sites in southern Indiana contain Early Archaic Bifurcate Tradition burials, both incorporated into the Jerger phase (Tomak 1979, 1991). Comparison of the McCullough's Run site with those in the Jerger phase reveals both similarities and differences. All three sites are located on upland sand deposits overlooking marshy areas. The Early Archaic features at all three sites represent secondary depositions of materials that were cremated elsewhere. All three sites contain heat-fractured lithics, ochre and similarities in faunal remains. Differences between McCullough’s Run and Jerger phase sites include the unburned lithics and faunal remains and the repeated occupation at McCullough’s Run while Jerger phase sites appeared to be single component. Thus, the contents of the Early Archaic features at McCullough's Run suggest similar mortuary patterns as well as variability between the various components of the Bifurcate Tradition in Jerger phase sites.     

The features recovered from the McCullough's Run site represent a unique opportunity to add important details to Early Archaic Bifurcate Tradition lifeways and mortuary practices. Data is also present on additional precontact components, although in much lower frequency. The historic features appear to represent activities that were of short duration and may have been related primarily to trash disposal. 

References

Bush, Leslie (1997).  Floral Analysis. In McCullough’s Run (12-B-1036): A Prehistoric Cremation Cemetery, Bartholomew County, Indiana, by Donald R. Cochran, K. Paige Knight, Leslie Bush, Beth McCord, and Deborah Rotman. Reports of Investigation 44. Archaeological Resources Management Service, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

Cochran, Donald R., K. Paige Knight, Leslie Bush, Beth McCord, and Deborah Rotman (1997). McCullough’s Run (12-B-1036): A Prehistoric Cremation Cemetery, Bartholomew County, Indiana. Reports of Investigation 44. Archaeological Resources Management Service, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

Knight, K. Paige (1997).  Cremation Burials. In McCullough’s Run (12-B-1036): A Prehistoric Cremation Cemetery, Bartholomew County, Indiana, by Donald R. Cochran, K. Paige Knight, Leslie Bush, Beth McCord, and Deborah Rotman. Reports of Investigation 44. Archaeological Resources Management Service, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

Knight, K. Paige (1999).  Analysis of Cremated Human Remains from the McCullough’s Run Site, Bartholomew County,   Indiana. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

Richards, Ronald L. (1998). McCullough’s Run Site (12-B-1036), Bartholomew County, Indiana: Analysis of Fauna. Attachment to: McCullough’s Run (12-B-1036): A Prehistoric Cremation Cemetery, Bartholomew County, Indiana, by Donald R. Cochran, K. Paige Knight, Leslie Bush, Beth McCord, and Deborah Rotman. Reports of Investigation 44. Archaeological Resources Management Service, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

Tomak, Curtis (1979). Jerger: An Early Archaic Mortuary Site in Southwestern Indiana. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 88:62-69.

Tomak, Curtis (1991). The Jerger Phase and Early Archaic Mortuary Ceremonialism in Southwestern Indiana. Paper presented at the 1991 Midwest Archaeological Conference, LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

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The lime industry developed along the limestone cliffs of southern Indiana during the nineteenth century, although the process of transforming limestone to lime dates back more than 2,000 years. Limestone was burned in kilns, forcing the carbon dioxide from the rock and creating a powdered or lumpy substance called quicklime. The lime was spread on agricultural fields or mixed with other ingredients to form mortar, plaster, whitewash, or other commercial materials.

Several lime kilns have been identified within Harrison-Crawford State Forest in southern Indiana. These features represent pit kilns, into which alternating layers of wood and stone would be piled and burned (Figure 1). Pit kilns were typically used to create a lower quality lime to spread on agricultural fields.

A survey was conducted in 2004 to record recently identified lime kilns within Harrison-Crawford. Interviews with local residents and field surveys were conducted in an attempt to locate these features. As a result of this investigation, three separate areas were documented containing approximately two dozen kilns.

Kilns were typically discovered grouped together along the side slope of a ridgeline below the limestone cliffs, where the quarries for the kilns were located. Groupings generally consisted of six or more kilns in a rough linear formation.

This study continues to grow as previously undocumented kilns are identified and added to the inventory. Future studies of the lime industry within the State Forest are planned in hopes of identifying the specific dates the kilns were in operation as well as an enhanced comprehensive understanding of the lime industry during the 1800s.

Several of the sites retained cut limestone blocks, some of which are still stacked where they were left 100 years ago (Figure 2), and hydrated quicklime within the kiln structure. Slag, a by-product from the burning process, was also identified during the survey of the lime kilns (Figure 3).

Studies of these items can help to identify the stage in the burning process each kiln was in at the time that the site(s) was abandoned. Further investigations may also help to reveal more detailed information about the lime industry.

Over three dozen lime kilns have been identified within Harrison-Crawford. Investigations of these sites and similar archaeological sites in the region indicate that the kilns were in operation during the mid-1800s to early 1900s. By the turn of the century, the lime industry had declined in part due to advances in artificial cement, such as Portland cement, which is stronger and harder than mortar created from quicklime.

Site 12FL1 lies along the Ohio River in Floyd County, Indiana, south of the city of New Albany. The site was first visited by E. Y. (Dick) Guernsey in the 1930s. Guernsey, a native of Henryville, Indiana, was born in 1883. He began working for the Indiana Department of Conservation in the mid-1920s, and from 1932-1942, he worked for Eli Lilly on an archaeological survey of Clark County. He authored three short articles, but his manuscript on the Clark County survey has been lost. He called the Reid site “Aydelotte” after the former owners. Although Guernsey’s manuscript on his work at the Falls of the Ohio River has been lost to time, some notes referring to the Aydelotte site remain. However, in his letter to Eli Lilly of July 1, 1933, Guernsey mentions visiting the Aydelotte site and examining collections for this location. Guernsey mentions that the collection yielded a number of very large hoes and pipes, which he attributes to a southern origin (Bader and Etenohan 2017:49-50). He also mentions that geologist William Borden had previously investigated the Aydelotte site (Borden 1874:185) and described it as 15 to 20 feet in height and elliptical in shape. Human remains were reported from the site but no in situ burials have been documented.

The site was not visited in a professional capacity until July of 1971, when Dr. Donald E. Janzen took a field school from Beloit College in Michigan to the location. At the time, the property was owned by Ben Reid, and from then on, the site was known by that name. Janzen characterized the Reid site as simply “spectacular” (Janzen 2016). He described it as a large mound that rises abruptly above the Ohio River floodplain and reported that the site consisted of a deep shell deposit that extended at least 14 feet (4.3 meters) below ground surface. Janzen positioned a single test unit 155 feet south of the height of the mound in an effort to avoid excavation in deposits of this depth. Details of his excavations have not been published but are summarized in a Museum of Anthropological Archaeology volume at the University of Michigan (Janzen 1977).

The site encompasses 50 acres, which contain the shell mound and a separate habitation area identified by Duerkson and Bergman (1995) of 3D/Environmental. Duerkson and Bergman conducted a reconnaissance of the site to delineate its boundaries prior to planned mining. This work was followed by further evaluation and deep testing (Haywood 1995) during which several features were discovered, and sensitive areas of the site were identified. During later mining, intact portions of the site were inadvertently intersected, and 3D/Environmental returned to the site to conduct emergency evaluation of the damages (Benz and Stone 1997).

Later, salvage excavations as mitigation of the damages were undertaken in 1997 by Archaeological Resources Management Service (ARMS) of Ball State University, in which the northern edge of the site was investigated (Angst 1998). The work consisted of the excavation of 15 2-meter square test units. The investigators encountered a dense rock-filled midden with a few features, including several shell concentrations. The excavations produced evidence of occupations from Paleoindian through Middle Woodland periods. The most intensive use of the site occurred during the late Middle Archaic through Late Archaic timeframe and was associated with a variety of projectile point forms, including McWhinney, Elk River, Brewerton, and Matanzas among others (Angst 1998). The 1997 study found that the area of the site studied lacked clear stratigraphy, and deposits were mixed (Angst 1998:78).

The remainder of this discussion relates to Janzen’s 1971 excavation (Janzen 1971), as this data has not been previously published. The artifact collection from 1971, along with the field notes, have been passed on to the author for curation and study. In addition to the two radiocarbon dates reported by Janzen, an additional date was obtained by the author in 2018 from an extant 1971 sample to test the former dates for accuracy. Janzen’s 1971 excavations were conducted with students as part of the Summer Prehistory Class for Beloit College in Michigan, where he taught. A single 5 x 5 foot test unit (Test Pit 1), excavated in three-inch levels, was dug at the site. A total of 24 levels (72 inches or 1.83 meters) was excavated during a three-week period. Three zones were noted by Janzen. Zone I consisted of 21 inches (53 centimeters) of dark brown soil. Zone II was between 21 inches (53 centimeters) and a depth of 6 feet (1.83 meters). It contained deposits of densely packed mussel shell (Figure 1). This was underlain by a third zone of culturally sterile orange brown clay (Janzen 1977:133). However, Janzen’s notes make it clear that Zone II, the shell midden, was not consistent throughout and contained variations in soil color and texture as well as content.

Levels 1 through 6 (Zone I) were shell free. The zone was filled with fire-cracked rock, chert debitage, ceramics and several tools. Janzen interpreted the pottery as Early to Middle Woodland, however, it appears likely that at least several of the ceramics date to the Late Woodland timeframe. No bone was uncovered in this zone.

Level 6 was a thin layer of dark yellowish brown soil between Zones I and II that contained concentrations of charcoal and charred nut. Levels 7 through 22 (Zone II) contained a thick shell deposit within a very dark brown soil matrix. The shell became apparent at around 21 inches below ground surface. By Level 7, the shell was dense, though it appeared to be unevenly distributed with some areas more concentrated than others. Animal bones (numerous deer and fish) were recovered throughout the shell zone.

Level 9 saw an increase in charcoal but fire-cracked rock was infrequent at this depth. However, the rock density again picked up with increasing frequency in Levels 11 through Level 14. Artifacts were fewer and smaller in Levels 13 and 14. Levels 15 and 16 saw the beginning of a higher clay content in the soil; mussel shell was still heavy, however. These levels contained the highest density of charcoal and rock of the entire profile. By Levels 17 through 19, larger pockets of culturally sterile brownish red clay appeared, though some shell was still present. The soil, which has become increasingly wet since Level 13, was much wetter at this depth. Culturally sterile soil was then reached (Zone III), and the excavation was terminated at Level 24.

In addition to debitage and faunal remains, 80 tools and other artifacts were recovered in Test Pit 1 (Table 1). This included 12 projectile points which were complete enough to type. The point types are consistent with those found in the previous studies.

The diagnostic recovered projectile points are shown in Figure 2. Late Middle-early Late Archaic Matanazas projectiles (H-J) were found in Levels 10 through 12, well within the shell zone. Late Archaic McWhinney and McWhinney-Oak Grove forms were identified in Levels 1 through 6 (D through F), generally in the shell-free zone. Level 6 also contained a side notched example that is fragmented but appears to be a Raddatz-Godar point (K), though if so, it appears to be out of sequence as it dates to the Middle Archaic. A second badly fragmented example (L) appears similar but is unprovenienced. Level 5 contained a Motley form (B), and Level 3 a Table Rock example (C), both attributed to the Late Archaic period. One small basal fragment may be a Terminal Archaic Merom Trimble point (A), or alternatively a small variant of McWhinney. Finally, an unidentified Late Archaic stemmed point was found on the ground surface (G).

Janzen obtained two radiocarbon dates from his investigation. The first was the upper level of the shell midden, while the second was from the lowest six inches of this zone. The date for the upper level was 4555+70 or 2605 BC (UGa-267) with a MASCA correction of 3550-3370 BC. The lower date was 5480+90 or 3530 BC (UGa-309 with a MASCA correction of 4400 BC) (Janzen 1977:133). An upcoming publication on Falls of the Ohio archaeology (Bader 2021) will include information on a third date, derived in 2018 from samples recovered by Janzen in 1971, taken from the lowest level of the site, to compare with the older technology. The assay returned a date of 5304+26 BC (D-AMS 025786). These dates compare favorably with the late Middle-early Late Archaic French Lick phase of southern Indiana. Except for its context and the massive shell deposits, the site is consistent with other shell-bearing and non-shell bearing sites within the Scottsburg Lowlands of the Falls of the Ohio River region. These sites, located in various environmental contexts, include KYANG (15JF267) and Lone Hill (15JF10) in Jefferson County, Kentucky which were situated on a knoll and highpoint amid a lowland swamp as well as McNeely (15JF200) and Miles (15JF671) which were associated with a cave and rockshelter, also south of Louisville, Kentucky. The Clarks Point Site (12CL3), also in Clark County, Indiana also appears to be related to Reid in Clark County, Indiana. The Townsend Site (12HR484) in Harrison County, Indiana contains a significant component dating to this period as well.

References

Angst, Michael G. (1998). Archaeological Salvage Excavation at the Reid Site (12-Fl-1), Floyd County, Indiana. Archaeological Resources Management Service, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

Bader, Anne Tobbe (2021). The Late Middle/Early Late Archaic in the Falls Region. In Falls of the Ohio River, Archaeology of Native American Settlement, edited by David Pollack, Anne Tobbe Bader, and Justin N. Carlson. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida.

Bader, Anne Tobbe and Bett Etenohan, editors (2017). E.Y. Guernsey at the Falls. Currents of Change, Journal of the Falls of the Ohio Archaeological Society, Volume 9. Clarksville, Indiana.

Benz, Bridget J. and Jane Stone (1997). Emergency Archaeological Excavation at 12Fl1 in Floyd County, Indiana. Project No. C7574.01, 3D/Environmental, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Borden, William W. (1874). Report of a Geological Survey of Clarke and Floyd Counties, Indiana. In Fifth Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Indiana, Made During the Year 1873, by E. T. Cox, pp. 134-189. Sentinel Company, Printers, Indianapolis.

Duerksen, Ken and Christopher A. Bergman (1995). Phase I Archaeological Survey of a Proposed 50 Acre Sand and Gravel Quarry in Floyd County, Indiana. Project No. C7505.01, 3/D Environmental, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Haywood, Norman A. (1995). A Phase IC Subsurface Archaeological Reconnaissance for the Proposed 50 Acre Sand and Gravel Quarry in Floyd County, Indiana. Project No. C7530.01, 3D/Environmental, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Janzen, Donald E. (1971). Original field notes. In possession of Anne Tobbe Bader, on file at Corn Island Archaeology LLC, Louisville, Kentucky. Project No. C7505.01, 3D/Environmental, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Janzen, Donald E. (1977). An Examination on Late Archaic Development in the Falls of the Ohio River Area. In: For the Director: Research Essays in Honor of James B. Griffin, pp. 123-143. Anthropological Papers, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, No. 61, Ann Arbor.

Janzen, Donald E. (2016). An Archaeological Study of the Falls of the Ohio River Region. Reprinted from original manuscript, 1973. Currents of Change, Journal of the Falls of the Ohio Archaeological Society, Volume 8, edited by Anne Tobbe Bader and Bett Etenohan. Clarksville, Indiana. 

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Every historic home resides among an archaeological site, the buried traces of everyday life. The 1835 Wylie House (12Mo1310), part of Indiana University’s (IU) campus in Bloomington, is no exception. Recent archaeological research at Wylie House was undertaken as part of IU’s bicentennial celebration by the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology (GBL) (now part of the new IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) and the Wylie House Museum (WHM) as an effort to bring awareness to the Hoosier heritage below our feet. The Wylie House is the oldest extant structure directly associated with IU and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

IU was initially founded in 1820 as the State Seminary located just south of what is now downtown Bloomington (Bowen 1914; Carmony and McLaughlin 1976; Indiana University n.d.). In 1828 State Seminary became Indiana College and then became Indiana University as we now know it in 1838. IU moved to its current campus location after a catastrophic fire in 1883 devastated one of the original buildings on the seminary campus. Andrew Wylie, the first president of IU’s original State Seminary, purchased 25 acres just east of the seminary campus and had the Wylie House constructed in 1835 (Wylie House Museum, n.d.). The Wylie House is a three-story brick structure, a mix of both Federal and Georgian styles (Figure 1) (Carmony and McLaughlin 1976). The main part of the house includes two parlors, a dining room, a kitchen, and four bedrooms. There is also a basement and a third floor loft.

Wylie House was occupied by members of the Wylie family for almost 80 years (Wylie House Museum, n.d.). Andrew Wylie lived in the house with his wife, Margaret, and ten of their twelve children until his death in 1851. Margaret lived at Wylie House until her death in 1859. Wylie House and five acres of land were then sold to Theophilus A. Wylie, Andrew Wylie’s younger cousin and a professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry at IU. Theophilus and his wife Rebecca lived at Wylie house with six of their eight children until Theophilus’ death in 1895. Rebecca remained at Wylie House until her death in 1913.

Over time, the Wylies changed or built structures to address their needs (Chaudhari 2017; Wylie House Museum n.d.). The Wylie property originally supported a subsistence farm, and the Andrew Wylie family grew a variety of crops and husbanded livestock. Through many decades, the property accommodated a barn, chicken coop, laundry, smoke house, carriage house, two-story utility house, icehouse, and eventually unique subterranean greenhouses built into the south-facing front lawn. The Theophilus Wylie family writings make multiple references to the greenhouses, and a grandson, Theophilus A. Wylie III, created a property memory map (TAW III memory map) for IU in 1954 (Figure 2) (Chaudhari 017; Guthrie 2017, 2019; Wylie House Museum n.d.). He grew up in the home, and his map provides a detailed sketch of the gardens, trees, structures, and outbuildings on the property during the late 1800s. According to the sketch, the subterranean greenhouses had glass lids, interior steps, and shelving. The subterranean greenhouses were used to grow and overwinter plants and flowers in particular, as floriculture was a multi-generational passion of the Theophilus Wylie family.

In 1915, the Wylie House was sold outside the family for the first time to IU professor of political science Dr. Amos S. Hershey (Wylie House Museum, n.d.). Hershey and his wife Lillian made significant changes to the Wylie House and property, modernizing aspects of the house and razing most of the remaining outbuildings. The Wylie House was then sold to IU in 1947 and the IU Press was based in the house from 1951-1959. In 1963, IU began restoring Wylie House to its 1835 Federal style. Today, the Wylie House is a museum under the administration of the IU Libraries. The historic house museum has been restored to what it would have looked like in Margaret Wylie’s last years in the house prior to the Theophilus Wylie family’s residence. The house is furnished with period pieces, many of which are Wylie family heirlooms, including a century old Christmas cactus that belonged to Rebecca Wylie and was passed down to her great-great-grandson Morton C. Bradley before being donated back to Wylie House. The Wylie House property also accommodates a large heirloom garden and the Morton C. Bradley Jr. Education Center (MCBEC) in a restored historic barn. 

Prior to more recent archaeological management and research starting in 2016 overseen by the GBL, consulting with professional archaeologists was not a consistent focus at the WHM. For example, in 1995, in preparation for the construction of a ramp and sidewalk on the north side of the house, an untrained staff member led students in an excavation. According to a WHM newsletter, student volunteers screened the pile of displaced soil for artifacts and excavations uncovered both the northwest corner of the original summer kitchen foundation and a second adjacent structure (Lawrence 1995). Artifacts stored in the attic of Wylie House are likely associated with these excavations; though, without documentation and original context, provenance is not definitive. Additionally, in 2009, construction of the MCBEC unearthed a portion of a limestone foundation and numerous artifacts (Scott and Buchanan 015; Sievert et al. 2014; Champion and Wise 2019). This buried structure may have been a segment of the original carriage house and the objects recovered, because of their notable excellent preservation, may have been in storage there. Most of the artifacts are household items (ceramics and glass) and are stored at the WHM. The 2009 loss was tragic and underscored the need for awareness of, quite literally, the depth of IU’s history.

As IU approached its bicentennial, WHM and GBL became interested in the subterranean greenhouses constructed by the Theophilus Wylie family for several reasons (Champion and Watts Malouchos 2021). First, subterranean greenhouses are unique features not widely found on nineteenth century farmsteads across the Midwest. Second, the greenhouses were integral to the propagation of flowers, a Theophilus Wylie family passion. Third, the construction of the greenhouses marks a significant shift in agricultural practices away from subsistence farming on the Wylie property. Fourth, Theophilus Wylie III documented the location and provided a description of the greenhouses. Finally, the front lawn of Wylie House has remained relatively intact, and that portion of the farmstead experienced little change, limiting the potential for disturbance of the greenhouses. 

In 2018, the WHM and GBL received an IU Office of the Bicentennial grant to explore and preserve IU’s unique cultural heritage through campus archaeology at WHM (Champion and Watts Malouchos 2021). As part of the Revealing IU’s Earliest Cultural Landscapes through Heritage Archaeology project, the GBL and WHM hosted an archaeological field school in the front yard of the Wylie House searching for the two subterranean greenhouses. Prior to excavations, geophysical survey methods including ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic gradiometry were used to remotely sense archaeological features in the front and side yards. The results of GPR indicated two small rectangular anomalies in slightly different locations in the suspected location of the greenhouses. The shape and locations of these anomalies corresponded well with the 1954 TAW III memory map; however, both anomalies were smaller than the dimensions recorded on the map. The GPR also detected a large rectangular anomaly to the northeast of the house. This anomaly corresponds to the location of the utility house original to the Andrew Wylie residence and very likely represents remains of the building's foundation below the surface. The utility house was later used by Theophilus Wylie and was home to a second-story laboratory used by the professor for his numerous scientific pursuits. 

Test excavations were conducted to ground-truth the location and size of the anomalies detected through GPR and locate the greenhouse features (Champion and Watts Malouchos 2021). One large rectangular feature was encountered, matching the location and shape of the anomalies identified in the GPR and the greenhouses recorded on the TAW III memory map. Given that the greenhouse feature found in excavations was larger than the GPR anomalies, the two GPR anomalies likely represent different parts of the same single greenhouse feature rather than representing two distinct features; the east and west sides of the greenhouse reflected the radar pulses differently due to differences in material content and processes of infilling. Unfortunately, archaeologists and students did not encounter any trace of a second greenhouse in the results of geophysical surveys or excavation. It is possible that the second greenhouse is located farther south than indicated on the TAW III memory map and was outside the limits of geophysical surveys and excavations. 

Excavations uncovered a total of nearly 11,000 artifacts throughout the front yard midden spanning the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries including whiteware ceramics, redware pottery, transferprint ceramics in blue, purple, and black prints, clear flat glass, aqua flat glass, multiple colors of container glass, metal nails, animal bone, architectural materials, coal, and slag (Champion and Watts Malouchos 2021). Materials present were typical for the time period, and other historic farmstead assemblages across the Midwest share similar representative collections (e.g., Dappert and Emerson 013). The greenhouse was only partially excavated and was mostly filled with brick and architectural rubble; it may have stayed in use the entire span that the Theophilus Wylie family resided in the house and was decommissioned when the Hershey family moved in in 1915 and razed the outbuildings. Artifacts of note discovered in the greenhouse include a blue transferprint ceramic sherd, a shell button, and a metal girdle buckle. Blue transferprint pottery was produced from 1820-1860, and the presence of blue transferprint wares may correspond to initial construction or use of the greenhouse by the Theophilus Wylie family in the mid-1860s (Stelle 2001). The two-hole shell button may date from as early as 1892, but more likely dates to the shell button boom in the Ohio River Valley after 1900 and corresponds to the end of the use-life of the greenhouse (Guthrie 2019; Marcel 1994). Girdle buckles, buckles for narrow belts worn with dresses in the early nineteenth century, are rare in the archaeological record, so the Wylie girdle offers a unique glimpse into personal adornment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (White 2008, 2009, 2013). 

Recent research has confirmed that much of the Wylie House property in the vicinity of the house is minimally disturbed and provides excellent possibilities for the recovery of early materials in their original context. Continued archaeological research and management at Wylie House stands to add significantly to the history of IU and the Bloomington community. Please visit  libraries.indiana.edu/wylie-house-museum  to learn more about the Wylie House and Wylie families, take a virtual tour of the Wylie House Museum, and explore digital exhibits.

References

Bowen, B. F. (1914). History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties Indiana: Their People, Industries, and Institutions. B.F. Bowen and Company, Inc., Indianapolis, IN. 

Carmony, Ronald F., and H. Roll McLaughlin (1976). National Register of Historic Places Nomination for the Andrew Wylie House.

Champion, Carey, and Elizabeth Watts Malouchos (2021). Exploring Heritage Archaeology at Indiana University: Reporting on a Collaboration between Wylie House Museum and the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology. Museum Anthropology Review 15(1):1-37.  

Champion, Carey, and Sharon Wise (2019). Wylie House Museum and its Archaeological Beginnings. Paper presented at the first annual Indiana University Campus Archaeology Symposium, Bloomington, IN.

Chaudhari, Rachna (2017). TAW Memory Map (digital map). Voices from the IU Bicentennial, Indiana University. Electronic document,  ttps://iu.maps.arcgis.com/apps/StorytellingSwipe/index.html?appid=2c3a5bdd898441328418f239ae4d093b , accessed June 20, 2021. 

Dappert, Claire P., and Thomas E. Emerson (2013). Changing Consumption Patterns on a Mid-nineteenth Century Illinois Farmstead: The Manns Site. Illinois State Archaeological Survey, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Guthrie, Maclaren (2017). An Introduction to Floriculture at the Wylie House. Wylie House Museum Blog. Electronic document,  https://wyliehouse.wordpress.com/2017/10/ , accessed June 20, 2021. 

Guthrie, Maclaren (2019). Indiana University Bicentennial: Heritage Archaeology at the Wylie House Museum. Wylie House Museum Exhibits Online. Electronic document,  http://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/wyliehouse/exhibits/show/heritagearchaeology-0/heritagearchaeology , accessed June 20, 2021.

Indiana University (n.d.). Indiana University History. Electronic document,  https://www.indiana.edu/about/history.html , accessed June 15, 2021. 

Lawrence, Bill (1995). A Piece of the Past. News and Notes: Indiana University Wylie House Museum Newsletter 6:3.  

Marcel, Sarah E. (1994). Buttoning Down the Past: A Look at Buttons as Indicators of Chronology and Material Culture. Unpublished B.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 

Scott, Heather Alvey, and Meghan E. Buchanan (2015). Backfill Excavations at the Wylie House (12Mo1310), Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana. Report of Investigations 14-03. Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Bloomington, IN. 

Sievert, April K., Carey Beam, Heather Alvey Scott, and Sharon Wise (2014).  Indiana University's Wylie House Museum and Archaeology in Current Social Contexts. Poster presented at the 60 ^th  Annual Midwest Archaeological Conference, Champaign, IL. 

Stelle, Lenville J. (2001). An Archaeological Guide to Historic Artifacts of the Upper Sangamon Basin. Center For Social Research, Parkland College. Electronic document,  http://virtual.parkland.edu/lstelle1/len/archguide/documents/arcguide.htm , accessed June 20, 2021. 

White, Carolyn L. (2008). Personal Adornment and Interlaced Identities at the Sherburne Site, Portsmouth, New Hampshire." Historical Archaeology 42(2):17–37.  

White, Carolyn L. (2009). Knee, Garter, Girdle, Hat, Stock, and Spur Buckles from Seven Sites in Portsmouth, New Hampshire." International Journal of Historical Archaeology 13(2):239.

White, Carolyn L. (2013). Trans-Atlantic Perspectives on Eighteenth-Century Clothing. In Historical Archaeologies of Cognition: Explorations into Faith, Hope and Charity, edited by James Symonds, Anna Badcock, and Jeff Oliver, pp. 57–71. Equinox Publishing, Sheffield, UK.

Wylie House Museum (n.d.). Electronic document,  ttps://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/wyliehouse/wylie_exhibits , accessed June 15, 2021.

On Oct. 28, 1871, a group gathered at the Thomas household to attend an auction of the estate of Matthew Thomas, who died almost a year earlier. Mary Thomas, his wife, had died three years before. The Thomases were an African American family living about 30 miles north of the Ohio River in what is now called the Lick Creek settlement, a biracial agricultural community that was founded, flourished and mostly abandoned within a span of about fifty years (Wepler et al. 2001).

 The Thomas family, and others like them, had been the reason for the success of this settlement by clearing and placing hundreds of acres of steeply dissected southern Indiana upland forests into cultivation and creating viable and, in many cases, prosperous farmsteads. The farms were settled during a time when the absence of the possession of a piece of paper upon traveling outside one‘s community could immediately strip the freedom of an individual of African descent (Robbins 1994). The reality of this situation for African American residents of the Lick Creek community was compounded by the existence of slavery in Kentucky just 30 miles to the south.

Most African Americans who settled in southern Indiana during the early nineteenth century migrated from North Carolina and Virginia, where quality land was becoming increasingly scarce. In addition, oppressive laws and racist attitudes within many of the communities were growing at an alarming rate (Vincent 1999). These laws, called Black Codes, stripped voting rights, limited the movement of individuals between counties and states, bound children out as involuntary apprentices, and threatened bondage at the first hint of vagrancy. Many free third and fourth generation African American farmers within these southern communities were left without the prospect of increasing their land holdings for the first time in decades and experienced a severe erosion of civil rights. This increasingly harsh climate was responsible for much of the migration out of North Carolina and Virginia (Thornbrough 1982).

As a result, African American migration into Indiana greatly increased in the 1830s. In many instances, African American farmers established farmsteads near Quaker communities, which appeared to have provided an additional level of support that was absent where Quaker influence was not as strong. As these communities prospered, more African American settlers were encouraged to enter the state. However, supply and demand resulted in the escalation of property costs within the more popular settlement areas, which pushed newcomers onto less expensive tracts of land that was typically not optimal for farming (Vincent 1999). By 1850, African Americans lived in all but six of the 92 Indiana counties. By 1860, Indiana hosted over 20 separate agricultural settlements occupied primarily by both African American and non-African American residents, in mostly the southern and eastern portions of the state (Cord 1993).

One such community was the Lick Creek Settlement, located just a few miles southeast of the town of Paoli in Orange County, Indiana. Although the settlement has been known by many names locally, the name of Lick Creek, derived from a small stream that runs westward through the area, has remained (Robbins 1994). In May of 1831, Matthew Thomas was the first African American to buy land (80 acres) within the settlement area. He purchased the property after he had completed an eight-year apprenticeship for what appears to have been farming under the direction of a nearby Quaker named Zachariah Lindley. The following year, three more African American families migrated from North Carolina and bought 40 acres each just south of the town of Chambersburg, establishing the first concentration of African American land holdings for the now burgeoning community (Robbins 1994). The lands south of Chambersburg were heavily wooded and hilly, making the establishment of a farmstead a difficult task. Nevertheless, the settlement expanded, remained mostly centralized, and eventually included the Union Meeting House and an African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.) by the early 1840s. Both buildings were utilized for a combination of religious and educational purposes. Prior to this period, it is believed that schooling and religious services were held at various households within the community (Robbins 1994).

Although African American landowners tended to purchase contiguous tracts of land with one another, non-African American ownership of land within these settlements was typically intertwined (Krieger 1999; Wepler et al. 2001). Neighbors, be they black or white, Quaker or Methodist, shared all of the common labors of the day, such as threshing, harvesting, planting, butchering and even numerous civic duties. The vast majority of settlement inhabitants were farmers; however, many pursued other occupations on the side, especially during downtimes within the farming calendar. These extra-curricular jobs helped solidify community relations, as well as further encourage interaction beyond that of social obligations.

By 1850, approximately 250 African Americans lived within every township of Orange County. However, a vast majority of residents settled in Paoli and South East Townships, which encompassed much of the Lick Creek Settlement (Robbins 1994). At the height of the community in 1855, African American landowners held 1,557 acres and totaled at least 1,920 acres over the course of the settlement’s existence (Krieger 1999). Additionally, during this same period, most Lick Creek residents had been born in Indiana. Few after 1850 arrived from other states. Certainly, this was due in part to Indiana State House legislation barring African Americans continued entrance into the state.

In the years after 1860, families began to leave the settlement, beginning a 50-year period of population decline. September of 1862 saw the community’s most profound exodus when seven African American families sold all of their land, totaling 539 acres. By 1880, only six African American families owned land within the area, although most agricultural parcels were probably not all under cultivation due to the lack of available labor. Ten years later, only William Thomas, the son of Matthew Thomas, the first settlement landowner, was still tilling the soil. William Thomas sold his remaining 204 acres in 1902, moving outside of the settlement and closer to the county seat of Paoli. John Chavis was the last African American to own property within the Lick Creek community, selling his land in 1911 (Arthur 2001).

Beginning in 2000, the United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service (Hoosier National Forest) and the Indiana State Museum, in conjunction with Ball State, Tennessee State and Indiana universities, began a multi-year project within the Lick Creek community, which included excavations of individual African American farmsteads. One of the main objectives was a community study based at the household level by examining both archaeological materials and historical documents (primarily probate records) through a functional analysis scheme that incorporates both datasets. By analyzing and comparing data from these individual farmsteads within a defined population, provided avenues for interpreting larger community patterns and processes (Cusick 1995). 

One of these farmsteads was that of the Thomas family (12OR603), which was the focus of limited test excavations in 2001(Laswell 2002). The Thomas Site was first identified in 1998 by Hoosier National Forest archaeologists through shovel testing, the presence of concentrated surface artifacts and the possible discontinuous stone foundation and chimney fall. Eight square meters of the residence was subsequently excavated (Figure 1) resulting in the recovery of an array of mid-late nineteenth century artifacts that revealed a prosperous, yet seemingly frugal and efficient household, similar to others within this tight-knit community.

The Thomas Site is unique within the state in terms of being a part of a relatively large African American settlement, its proximity to a slave state (Kentucky), the short duration and isolated nature of the occupation, as well as the presence of detailed primary historical documentation of the household. One difficult aspect of community analysis is how to best address these short-lived sites with regard to aspects of living conditions, behavior and culture process to the community at large. Nevertheless, the Thomas site has provided one of a number of individual snapshots of a household within this community, which has helped to shape our understanding of this important period of Indiana history.

References

Arthur, Sarah A. (2001).  Report of Ongoing Phase 1 Archaeological Survey of the Lick Creek African American Settlement Orange County, Indiana 1817-1911. Summer 2001 Intensive Survey. Cultural Reconnaissance Report 09-12-04-170. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Hoosier National Forest, Bedford, IN.

Cord, Xenia (1993). Black Rural Settlements in Indiana Before 1860. In Essays from Black History News and Notes. Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis.

Cusick, James G. (1995). The Importance of the Community Study Approach in Historical Archaeology, with an Example from Late Colonial St. Augustine. Historical Archaeology 29(4):59-83.

Krieger, Angie (1999). Initial Report of Phase 1 Survey of the Lick Creek African American Settlement, Orange County, Indiana, 1817-1911. Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Report 09-12-04-170. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Hoosier National Forest.

Laswell, Jeffrey (2002). The Thomas Site: A Second Investigation within the Lick Creek Community Orange County, Indiana. Ball State University, Muncie, IN.

Robbins, Coy D. (1994). Forgotten Hoosiers: African American Heritage in Orange County, Indiana. Heritage Books, Bowie, Maryland.

Thornbrough, Emma Lou (1982). Early Rural Communities. In This Far by Faith: Black Hoosier Heritage, Emma Lou Thornbrough editor. Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis.

Vincent, Stephen A. (1999). Southern Seed, Northern Soil: African American Farm Communities in the Midwest, 1765-1900. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

Wepler, William R., Robert McCullough, Dot McCullough, and Sarah Arthur (2001).  The Roberts Site: Initial Investigation of an Antebellum Biracial Community, Orange County, Indiana. Report No. 2. Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis.

The Rockhouse Hollow Rockshelter is an important site in Perry County because it contains the longest record of occupation in the region (Figure 1). It is located at the head of a 12 kilometer long drainage that flows into the Ohio River in the rugged Crawford Uplands of the Hoosier National Forest in southern Indiana. Rockhouse Hollow Rockshelter was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Although the site was not recorded until 1953 and later professionally excavated by Dr. James Kellar in 1961, the site was well known to Works Progress Administration workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps who were excavating the Angel Mounds site in the 1940s (Kellar 1958; 1979). In 2014, an Indiana University Geology Department field school excavated portions of the site to understand site and rockshelter formation processes (Herrmann and Doyle 2015).

The Rockhouse Hollow Rockshelter is a unique locale in Indiana for many reasons. A number of studies have shown that the site was an important habitation location for Native Americans, who occupied it for millennia (Altizer et al. 2011; Baltz et al. 1990; Lapham 2007; Smith 1982; Waters 2004). Because it contains evidence of 10,000 years of human occupation, it is unlike any other archaeological site in the state (Kellar 1979). The 1961 excavations recovered over 400 complete projectile points, ceramic sherds, beads, celts, and a huge volume of faunal remains and bone tools (Altizer et al. 2011; Lapham 2007). The site also contains human remains attesting to the precontact cultural significance of the site (Herrmann and Doyle 2015; Kellar 1979). Like many caves and rockshelters, conditions at Rockhouse Hollow can aid artifact preservation, and artifacts were recovered that are not typically found on open air sites. Consequently, the site has provided researchers with a wealth of data relevant to seasonal upland occupations, temporal differences in subsistence practices, regional bone tool manufacturing, and stone tool use (Kellar 1979; Lapham 2007). Data indicate that this important Ohio River Valley rockshelter was used for many purposes by people exploiting multiple ecosystems through the millennia. With the notable exception of Early Paleoindian diagnostics, Rockhouse Hollow Rockshelter contains a nearly complete record of regional prehistory. The primary occupations occurred during the Early and Late Archaic, Middle Woodland, and Middle Mississippian periods.

As one of the largest rockshelters in Indiana, the Rockhouse Hollow Rockshelter is a stunning example of a natural shelter. It was formed within a sandstone unit that, through erosion and roof fall, has an opening spanning 170 feet in width, 50 feet in depth, and whose ceiling is more than 20 feet in height. As one traverses up the drainage, the rockshelter provides an obvious and dramatic setting for human occupation.

Despite the large amount of information obtained from Rockhouse Hollow, evidence has been sadly lost due to non-scientific artifact collecting. The site was well known to avocationalists and looters by the time CCC era workers dug there during their weekend breaks from Angel Mounds in the 1940s. Kellar (1979:6) notes that looting was “a problem of some concern” still in 1961 when he noted freshly dug holes in the rockshelter. Evidence of looting has been reported in nearly every survey conducted at the site. Because of extensive roof fall within the rockshelter, looting both prior to the 1961 excavation, and an Indiana University fire that destroyed much of Kellar’s field data, questions remained regarding stratigraphic integrity within the rockshelter. During the summer of 2014, an Indiana University Geology Department field school reopened the 1961 units to better understand the stratigraphic context of artifacts recovered in 1961 (Figure 2). Herrmann and Doyle (2015:44) excavated a looters pit that contained a beer can, about a meter beneath the surface that dated to between 1971 and 1973, demonstrating that looting continued in the decades after the 1961 excavations (Figure 3). Luckily for science, these looters were digging Kellar’s spoils and likely came up empty-handed. 

Although researchers have learned a great deal from the tremendous collection of well-preserved artifacts from Rockhouse Hollow Rockshelter, the site represents a cautionary example of the effects of systematic looting, emphasizing the need for increased protection of these important cultural resources in Indiana.

References

Altizer, Valerie E., Charles H. Faulkner, and Angie Krieger (2011). Rockhouse Hollow Shelter: Prehistoric Subsistence and Settlement in the Crawford Uplands. Paper presented at the 56th Midwest Archaeological Conference, Bloomington, IN.

Baltz, Christopher J., Madonna M. Ledford, and Marlesa A. Gray (1990).  A Cultural Resource Survey of the Mogan Ridge Area, Tell City Ranger District, Hoosier National Forest, in Perry County, Indiana. Volumes I & II. Project Number 89-12. Gray and Pape Cultural Resources Consultants, Inc. Cincinnati, Ohio.

Herrmann, Edward W. and Angela R. Doyle (2015).  2014 Field Investigations at Rockhouse Hollow Rockshelter (12Pe100) in the Tell City Ranger District of the Hoosier National Forest in Perry County, Indiana. USDA Forest Service.

Lapham, Heather (2007). The Rockhouse Hollow (12PE100) Vertebrate Fauna. Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Report Number 09-12-04-0268. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Kellar, James H. (1958).  An Archaeological Survey of Perry County. Indiana Historical Bureau, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Kellar, James H. (1979). The Rockhouse Hollow Shelter. Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Smith Jr., Edward E. (1982).  An Archaeological Reconnaissance of Rockshelter Sites in Perry and Crawford Counties, Indiana. Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Waters, Nikki A. (2004). Expanded Final Report of an Archaeological Survey and Evaluation of Rockshelter Resources within the Peter Cave Hollow Regions of the Hoosier National Forest, Perry and Crawford Counties, Indiana. Report of Investigation 224. Archaeological Survey, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

On first impression the Trueblood farmstead, 12WS301, is like most late-nineteenth to early-twentieth century abandoned farms in southern Indiana. Remnants of the site include the foundations of the house, barn and outbuildings, cisterns, and landscape adaptations. However, firsthand knowledge of the farm acquired from a one-time resident and descendant of the original inhabitants greatly enhances the cultural perception of the site and enforces our understanding of the past.

Site 12WS301 was first recorded in 2005 during an archaeological investigation of a nearby timber project on Jackson-Washington State Forest (Ariens 2005). The site is situated on an upland ridgetop overlooking a secondary tributary of the Muscatatuck River. The first land patent was given in 1857 from the U.S. Government to Samuel W. Hughey (Bureau of Land Management 857). According to the 1878 plat map of Washington County, Thomas Payne owned the property where the site is located, with John Winslow owning the 40-acre tract to the east (Figure 1) (Griffing 1878).

The Roger Trueblood narrative, which was recorded in 1991 when Roger was 90 years old, indicates that shortly after his marriage in the early 1880s, Samuel Trueblood (Roger’s father) received a 40-acre plot from his employee Tyler Winslow. In the years that followed he bought an additional 80-acres, cleared 8 acres for farming, and built a log house, barn, two grain bins, and a shed. Two cisterns were dug, one for the house and the second for the barn, and split rail fences were installed on the property (Trueblood 1991).

Archaeological investigations on the site in 2005 identified foundations of the house, cellar, cisterns, barns/sheds, and outbuildings corroborating Trueblood’s narrative. The chronicle gives details about many aspects of his childhood, such as daily activities, school, work, play, hunting, and illnesses, but does not give detailed evidence of construction or appearance the structures on the site (Ariens 2005). The archaeological survey of 12WS301 enhances the narrative by providing additional data to the construction and layout of the farmstead.

The 7 x 14-meter stone foundation of the house indicates that several rooms were present, and it is likely that additions to the house were constructed as the family grew from two to ten (Figure 2): Samuel and his wife had two girls and six boys. The log house supported two brick chimneys and sits meters south of the 3.2 x 3.8-meter cellar. A square cistern is incorporated into the house and would have collected water from the roof for domestic needs (Ariens 2005).

Two foundations were documented on the site that represent Trueblood’s barn and shed. The southern-most foundation consists of a 5 x 7.5-meter pier stone foundation with a set of support piers running down the center of the structure and correlates to a described shed. The second foundation lies 7 meters north of the first and consists of larger stones in a 6.25 x 4.8-meter pier foundation. A circular, concrete cistern is situated less than 3 meters off the barn foundation. Two smaller stone foundations were also identified on the site and correlate to the previously mentioned grain bins/cribs (Ariens 2005). The bins would have held dried ears of corn to be fed to the livestock during the winter months.

Artifacts identified on the site support a late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century occupation of the farm. Household debris such as canning jars, bottles, whiteware/ironstone, enamelware, and a metal wash basin were concentrated around the house, while metal barrel bands, wagon remnants, cans, etc. were scattered around the barns and outbuildings (Figure 3). Corrugated sheet metal recovered on the site indicates that the structures had metal roofs (Ariens 2005).

The Trueblood narrative adds a depth and dimension to 12WS301 that is often lacking in turn of the century historical sites in Indiana. While archaeological investigations at the farmstead enhance our understanding of site construction and spatial orientation, the narrative connects the artifacts and features to the individuals who inhabited the site, and expands our knowledge of the food they consumed, daily activities of work and play, education, religion, and community involvement.

References

Ariens, Alicia J. (2005). Records Review and Phase Ia Archaeological Reconnaissance for Project # J-W-101, Timber Harvest in the Jackson-Washington State Forest, Compartment 8, Tracts 10 and 11, in Washington County, Indiana. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Bureau of Land Management (1857). Samuel Hughey land patent. Document No. 5647. Accession No. IN2980_.259. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records. Electronic document,  ttps://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=IN2980__.259&docClass=STA&sid=rzktm5nf.122 , accessed January 2021.

 Griffing, B.N. (1878). An Atlas of Washington County, Indiana, from actual survey under the direction B. N. Griffing. Map Collection, Indiana Division, Indiana State Library. Electronic document,  ttps://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15078coll8/id/2889 , accessed January 2021.

 Trueblood, Roger (1991). Written narrative of Roger Trueblood’s reminisces of his childhood and childhood home. On file at the Division of Forestry, Indianapolis, Indiana.

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