Highlighting Hoosier Archaeological Sites: West Central

Each archaeological site in the State of Indiana has its own story of discovery, investigation, and interpretation. Additionally, each site has its own, often ongoing, story of preservation, destruction, or a combination of both. The story of 12BO594, an archaeological site consisting of wooden railroad ties associated with first the Indianapolis and Northwestern Traction Company, then the THI&E Traction Company, is at once both unique and typical of historical transportation-related archaeological sites.

The Indiana Department of Transportation Cultural Resources Office (INDOT-CRO) staff conduct a great deal of archaeological investigations for transportation projects in the Hoosier State each year and are also responsible for stewardship and oversight of Federal Highway Administration (“FHWA”) projects in the state. In 2019, prior to the commencement of an INDOT preventative maintenance project along portions of State Road 32 (South Street) in Boone County, the INDOT-CRO determined that no archaeological resources were likely extant within the proposed project area. However, in June 2020, construction crew personnel made a “post-review discovery” of archaeological resources—in this case, interurban railroad ties encased in concrete and set within brick pavers, with no iron elements (such as rails) present (Miller 2020). Construction was halted in accordance with state archaeology laws until a plan could be developed to document and assess the railway features. The portion of the project area which contained the archaeological resources measured about 300 feet in length and about 30 feet in width (Figure 1).

In order to investigate a historical archaeological site, archaeologists can consult a variety of primary sources. These can be documents or objects created during the era being studied, such as original documents (e.g., diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, or official records, etc.), creative works (e.g., poetry, drama, novels, music, art, etc.), or relics or artifacts (e.g., pottery, furniture, musical instruments, machines, clothing, or buildings, etc.). Archaeologists also consult secondary sources, which tend to be interpretations or analyses of primary sources (e.g., publications such as textbooks, magazine articles, histories, criticisms, commentaries, encyclopedias, etc.). While some railway-related sources are widely and readily available, such as Albert S. Richey’s Electric Railway Handbook (1915), and Internet-based resources like the Abandoned Indiana Interurban Railroads E-Book (Anonymous, n.d.), some other sources fall under the category of so-called “gray literature”—reports not created for public consumption, often due to concerns over public disclosure of the locations of archaeological sites, which could be damaged due to looting or vandalism. Additionally, sometimes documentary records may not contain certain relevant information. For example, in this case, the 1909 and the 1919 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps did not indicate the presence of interurban rails, a passenger station, or a power station (Miller 2020).

INDOT-CRO staff determined from studying documentary sources that the interurban railroad ties originated from the Lebanon-Crawfordsville line of the Terre Haute, Indianapolis, and Eastern Traction Company (THI&E). The THI&E, formed in 1907 by the Schoepf-McGowan Syndicate, initially was comprised of four earlier interurban and street car companies: the Indianapolis and West Railway, the Indianapolis and Eastern Railway, the Richmond Street and Interurban Railway, and the Indianapolis Coal Traction Company (Miller 2020). Aside from its street and interurban railway system, the venture operated a general power and lighting business (Cook 1941, as cited in Miller 2020). In later years, via mergers and acquisitions, THI&E added and absorbed other lines, such as the Terre Haute Traction and Light Company, the Indianapolis and Northwestern Traction Company, the Indianapolis and Martinsville Rapid Transit Company, and the Indianapolis Crawfordsville and Danville Electric Railway (Wikipedia 2020, as cited in Miller 2020). At its completion in 1912, THI&E system lines ran from Paris, Illinois, through central Indiana, and nearly to the Ohio border (Middleton 1961, as cited in Miller 2020). INDOT-CRO staff reported that in 1925, over 2,000 miles of interurban rail lines stretched across Indiana; these lines largely were used for passenger service before the mass production of affordable automobiles made the interurban obsolete (Tracthenberg 2014, as cited in Miller 2020). As a further blow to interurban systems, the Public Utility Holding Actof 1935 prohibited holding companies from owning both utility and railway companies; this cut interurban systems’ access to inexpensive, integrated power sources (Tranfield 2004, as cited in Miller 2020).  The THI&E railway elements which presently remain extant largely consist of brick substation buildings, unmaintained concrete bridge structures, hidden or otherwise unused interurban tracks, and associated signage (Miller 2020). INDOT-CRO staff reported that, although railway ties were first laid in this area by the Indianapolis and Northwestern Traction Company in 1904, the line, in April 1907, was leased to the Schoepf-McGowan Syndicate as part of an effort by the corporation to increase its trackage by incorporating smaller traction companies into its system (Miller 2020). The Indianapolis and Northwestern Traction Company’s interurban system consisted of over 90 miles of tracks stretching from Indianapolis to Lafayette, and from Lebanon to Crawfordsville (Wikipedia 2020, as cited in Miller 2020).

In its efforts to assess the eligibility of the site for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), INDOT-CRO staff reviewed eligibility determinations of similar historical archaeological resources such as four separate sections of historic interurban trolley car lines in the City of Indianapolis in Marion County. INDOT-CRO determined that site 12BO594, “consists solely of wooden railroad ties associated with, first, the Indianapolis and Northwestern Traction Company, then the THI&E Traction Company” and that, because the 1832 founding of the City of Lebanon considerably predated the construction of the interurban, the site could not be associated with that period of the city’s growth and development (Miller 2020:2). INDOT-CRO further made the case that the portions of the archaeological site that lay within the project area were not eligible for inclusion in the NRHP because, “isolated interurban railroad ties do not have the potential to yield important historic information under [NRHP] Criterion D” (Mustain and Klinge 2017, as cited in Miller 2020:2). Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology staff concurred with this determination.

As a follow-up, based upon coordination between the construction crew, the design team, and INDOT-CRO, the most time- and cost-effective solution was to leave the rail ties and associated bricks in situ, or in place, to mill from eight inches to ten inches down to the brick, and to replace the road surface with hot mix asphalt. This technique eliminated the need to remove the remaining portions of the archaeological resource, thus making additional impacts to site 12BO594 unnecessary.

The identification, investigation, and assessment of historical archaeological resources, which can run the gamut from commonplace plan-built structures and mass-produced goods to absolutely unique architectural feats and one-of-a-kind vernacular items, require the utilization of methodologies, techniques, and theoretical frameworks specific to historical archaeological artifacts and features, during all stages of archaeological investigations. These stages include preliminary library research, fieldwork, laboratory work, and interpretation, and, when appropriate, mitigation or preservation efforts.

References

Anonymous (n.d.). Abandoned Indiana Interurban Railroads E-Book. Electronic document,  https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?id=1lfXdiPJMpLlg16314Gwje6k85gE62ohS&ll=40.43287235697369%2C-85.30006066406251&z=7 , accessed November 11, 2020.

Cook, James F. (1941). Terre Haute Indianapolis Eastern Traction Company. CERA Bulletin #31. Central Electric Railfans Association, Chicago.

Middleton, William D. (1961). The Interurban Era. Kalmbach Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Miller, Shaun A. (2020 0. Post-Review Discovery of Terre Haute, Indianapolis, and Eastern Traction Co. (THI&E) Interurban Railroad Ties (12-Bo-594). Cultural Resources Office report, Indiana Department of Transportation, Indianapolis, Indiana.  

Mustain, Chuck, and David F. Klinge (2017). Phase II Archaeological Site Evaluation of Four Interurban/Trolley Car Lines (12-Ma-1013, 12-Ma-1014, 12-Ma-1015, 12-Ma-1016) for the Proposed Red Line Rapid Transit (BRT) Phase 1, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. ASC Group, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.

Richey, Albert S. (1915). Electric Railway Handbook. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. 

Trachtenberg, Janet (2014). Chapter 2: Along the National Road. In Through the Archways of Time, Centerville, Indiana Celebrates 200 Years. Edited by Carolyn Lafeuer and Beth Treaster. Winters Publishing, Greensburg, Indiana. Tranfield, Pamela (2004). Indiana Interurban and Indianapolis Streetcar Photographs, Circa 1912-1926. Electronic document,  https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/indiana-interurban-and-indianapolis-streetcar.pdf , accessed  August 15, 2019. 

Wikipedia (2020). Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company. Electronic document,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terre_Haute,_Indianapolis_and_Eastern_Traction_Company , accessed June 19, 2020.

Introduction

In March of 2014, Cardno JFNew conducted an archaeological records review and Phase Ia archaeological survey at a proposed fill disposal location related to Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) projects in Clay County. The project consisted of fill disposal and accompanying access roads at the abandoned Brazil Clay Company No. 1 site near Brazil, Indiana. The field investigation resulted in the identification of several structural foundations of buildings associated with the company.

The Phase Ia archaeological investigation examined an area measuring approximately 3.16 hectares (7.8 acres) located at the Brazil Brick Company. The field investigation included visual inspection, pedestrian survey and systematic shovel probe excavations. Pedestrian survey took place at a 10-meter (33-foot) interval, and shovel testing was conducted on a 15-meter (50-foot) interval. Areas of the site that were heavily disturbed were visually inspected and documented through photographs and field notes.

The field investigation resulted in the identification of foundations, likely the remnants of buildings used for grinding and preparation of bricks, as well as storage bins that stored prepared raw materials. The site had undergone substantive alteration and extensive disturbance from activities associated with the manufacture of bricks and the later abandonment of the facility was evident across the site. No artifacts were present aside from the foundations of the industrial structures identified during the field investigation.

History of Brick Making in Brazil

Clay production and brick manufacturing date to the early nineteenth century in Brazil. According to Travis (1909), there were nine large clay-working plants which employed nearly half the population of Brazil. The nine clay works include the Hydraulic-Press Brick Company, the McRoy Clay Works, the Sheridan Brick Works, a branch of the American Sewer Pipe Company, the Brazil Clay Company, the Indiana Paving Brick Company, the Chicago Sewer Pipe Company, the Continental Clay and Mining Company and the Weaver Clay and Coal Company (Travis 1909). Each of the nine clay-working [SR1] plants were located within two miles of the city and produced brick, paving brick, sewer and pipe conduits and "miscellaneous clay projects including jars, crocks, stone pumps, etc." (Travis 1909).

In addition to the clay-working plants, several clay-mining companies were located in the vicinity of Brazil (Travis 1909). Clay can be found in veins up to eight feet thick beneath coal (Public Service Company of Indiana [PSCI] 1947). [MBK2] The clay mined in and around Brazil was considered to be unique because it was dense and impervious to fire. This is because it did not contain sulfur, carbon, or other impurities (PSCI 1947). This resistance to fire made the clay popular across the United States (PSCI 1947).

Brazil Clay Company

The Brazil Clay Company (BBC) was established in 1905 and remained in operation until the 1970s (Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana [HLFI] 1997; Travis 1909). The plant produced "impervious face brick" for construction, and in 1909, employed 15 kilns which produced 50,000 bricks per day (Travis 1909). The process of brick making at the Brazil Clay Company began with mining for the clay beneath coal deposits approximately 33.5 m (110 ft) below the surface, then mixing the clay with shale, water and steam, cutting and drying the brick, and then baking it in underground periodic kilns for about 90 hours at a heat of 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit (1,204 degrees Celsius) (BCC 1950; PSCI 1947). The bricks were then shipped to locations across the United States (BCC 1950). The Brazil Clay Company created ten textures of brick with varying colors based on methods of baking in the kilns (BCC 1950).

The Brazil Clay Company owned and operated two separate plants located approximately 1.31 kilometers (0.81 miles) apart (Clay County Historical Society 1913). The March 2014 project area corresponded to a portion of the Brazil Clay Company No. 1 plant, which was abandoned. The Brazil Clay Company No. 2 plant was renovated and is currently listed with "Outstanding" status on the Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory (IHSSI #021-064-05068) and is located approximately 1.31 kilometers (0.81 miles) northwest of the No. 1plant. In 1960, the Brazil Clay Company No.1plant was purchased by the Marion Brick Corporation, and in 1965 it was renovated from the original periodic drying kilns to tunnel kilns, which reduced the processing time for creating the bricks (Clay County Historical Society 1913; PSCI 1947). The Brazil Brick Co. No. 1 site consists of a portion of the abandoned Brazil Clay Company/Marion Brick Company, identified as a McGregor Industrial Site 4-86 during the 1984-1985 investigation (McGregor 1987). The 1984 survey was a National Park Service funded project that aimed to identify and locate historic manufacturing industries in western Indiana (McGregor 1987). The 2014 project area was located on upland with 30 to 80% surface visibility

Several historic sites throughout the Midwest were built with brick created by the Brazil Clay Company, including the original St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis, built in 1919, and the Sheridan Arms Apartments in Chicago, built in 1917 (BCC 1950).

Results

The portion of the site investigated consists of remnants of the Brazil Clay Company No. 1 plant (later, the Marion Brick Company) and includes: 1) two foundations, 2) two rubble piles, north and south of the foundations, that are likely related to the razing of structures, and 3) disturbed fill disposal areas. These features were identified during pedestrian survey. The project area measured approximately 3.16 hectares (7.8 acres) and included the western portion of the abandoned Brazil Clay Company No. 1 plant/Marion Brick Company. In addition, three standing but partially destroyed buildings are located adjacent to the project area to the east of the project limits. No artifacts were present during the investigation.

The northwestern and southwestern portions of the project area were subjected to shovel test excavations. The northwestern portion of the project area was significantly disturbed and appears to be the location where debris and broken pieces of brick were disposed of during the manufacturing process. Soils in this area were disturbed and mixed with fill from 0 to 25 centimeters below ground surface (CMBS) and over 10 centimeters of fill consisting of brick and tile fragments over sterile gray clay subsoils. Shovel test excavations in the southwestern portion of the project area also revealed disturbance and the soils were mottled dark gray clay with 10YR 5/6 mottled clay fill.

The foundations were located approximately 57 m (187 ft) northwest of the southern-most building. The two foundations form an "L" shape and were constructed of cement with remnants of brick walls and concrete slab floors. In addition, concrete pylons were spaced around the perimeter of the foundations. The foundations measured approximately 25 m (82 ft) by 30 m (98 ft). The brick in the wall remnants were stamped "Marion Brick," indicating the foundations were modern and date to post-1960 renovations of the facility.

Historic photographs reviewed at the Clay County Historical Society indicate the vast amount of construction and numerous changes that have occurred on the brick factory grounds over the numerous changes that have occurred on the brick factory grounds over the years. An early image from 1913 (Figure 1) and aerial photograph from 1928 depict the Brazil Clay Company No. 1 plant during peak production years. These photographs document the number of periodic kilns once present at the factory. At the height of production, Brazil Clay Company No. 1 contained 31 periodic kilns (Clay County Historical Society 1913). The next available aerial photograph depicts the brick factory circa 1960, after its purchase by the Marion Brick Company. At the time of the purchase, several periodic kilns still existed, however each of these kilns was destroyed by 1965 and replaced by Marion Brick Company New Tunnel Kiln Plant No. 3 (Clay County Historical Society 1913).

A labeled photograph on file at the Clay County Historical Society depicts the Marion Brick Company New Tunnel Kiln Plant No. 3 and No. 4 circa 1965, with indications as to the function of each building at the factory. This photograph indicates that the building foundations identified in the 2014 study correspond to labeled Structures 3 and 4. The southern-most identified foundation appears to correspond to the "Grinding and Preparation" building, while the more northern foundation remnant corresponds to "Prepared Raw Material Storage Bins.” Brick rubble piles adjacent to the foundations are likely related to the razing of these buildings. This labeled historic photograph also helps indicate the function of some of the standing structures located adjacent to, but outside of, the project area. The southern-most building does not appear to exist at the time the 1965 aerial photograph was taken; however, the identified "office" is still partially standing. This office appears to be the only remaining building that dates to the Brazil Clay Company No. 1 factory. The northern building is identified as "Finished Product Packaging." Both the Office and Finished Product Packaging buildings were located outside the project boundaries and not studied further.

Summary

The investigation identified foundations, refuse piles and extensive disturbance throughout the project area, and three partial buildings adjacent to the project area. Identified foundations consisted of concrete footers, concrete slab floors, and remnants of brick walls. The brick in the wall remnants were stamped "Marion Brick," indicating the foundations were modern and date from the post-1960 renovations of the facility. The foundations were likely the remnants of the grinding and preparation building and prepared raw material storage bins. The standing structures located adjacent to the project area consisted of one modern building of unknown function, an office and finished product-packaging facilities.

Due to the extensive disturbance, this site did not retain sufficient integrity to be considered eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Nevertheless, the Phase Ia investigation expanded our knowledge of brick manufacturing in Clay County, and the history of the Brazil Brick Company.

References

Brazil Clay Company (BCC) (1950). A Trip Thru a Brick Plant. Marshall-Jackson Co., Chicago.

Clay County Historical Society (1913). Photographs on file. Clay County Historical Society, Brazil, Indiana.

Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana [HLFI] (1997). Clay County Interim Report. Copy on file at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.

McGregor, John R. (1987). Completion Report: Survey of Historic Industrial Sites and Structures in Southwestern Indiana. Indiana State University. Copy on file at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.

Public Service Company of Indiana (PSCI) (1947). Indiana's Uncommon Clay Industrial Series. Copy on file at the Indiana State Museum.

Travis, William (1909). A History of Clay County, Indiana. The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.

A story highlighting Fountain County has not yet been received. Please check back soon.

Archaeology involves more than archaeologists. For example, permission from the landowner must be obtained to conduct the work, and the landowner determines if they wish to keep any artifacts which are discovered on their property. A partnership between a private landowner, his family, volunteers and archaeologists from the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology (DHPA) helped make fieldwork at 12HE117 (the Guernsey site) a success. The multi-component precontact site is located in the northwestern part of Hendricks County. 

The DHPA learned about the location in 1992 when an accidental discovery report was received stating that cultural features were possibly being impacted by construction ground disturbance. A site visit by DHPA archaeologists determined that the project was not impacting archaeological resources, but a previously unrecorded site (12HE117) was identified on the terrace landform above the area of construction.

Preliminary evaluation of the site identified a heavy concentration of lithic artifacts and fire-cracked rock over an approximate five acre area (Mohow et al. 1993a, 1993b). 12HE117 was determined to be potentially eligible for the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures, as well as the National Register of Historic Places, based upon “...unusually high densities of fire cracked rock and chronologically diagnostic artifacts, and a high potential to contain intact cultural deposits” (Mohow et al. 1993b:33).

With the encouragement of the landowner, the archaeologists returned to conduct a systematic survey in 1992, and limited test excavation of two one meter square units followed the next year (Figure 1). Systematic survey methodology included collecting all exposed artifacts with the exception of fire-cracked rock, which was noted but not collected. A quartzite hammerstone, biface fragments, cores, and a large number of other lithic artifacts were recovered (Mohow et al. 1993a:2). The results of the excavation indicated that:

While artifacts were recovered from an undisturbed context beneath the plowzone, no cultural features, such as firepits or midden, were encountered. Significant archaeological deposits may well exist at the Guernsey Site, but a larger excavation sample will be needed to establish the presence or absence of such data [Mohow et al. 1993b:34].

The landowner had surface collected artifacts from the location for several years, and as part of the collaborative efforts to document the site, DHPA archaeologists conducted a preliminary evaluation of the collection and found that it “...contained more than 200 projectile points and point fragments representing a wide range of prehistoric habitation.” (Mohow et al. 1993b:33; Table 1). The Karnak points (of which there were more than 120) from 12HE117 are similar to Modesto points from the Scherschel site (12MO152) in Monroe County, Indiana, from which 119 of those points were recovered (Tomak 1970, 1980, 1983). At the time, the mainly Late Archaic Scherschel site appeared to be the only known Indiana site to have yielded such a comparable number of those types of points (Jones et al. 1993:4). The large sample, along with the McWhinney points, from the Guernsey site, “…may serve to better define the technological and morphological range of Late Archaic Stemmed Points” (Jones et al. 1993:4) and appears to help connect the site to the late French Lick phase of the Late Archaic. For a description of the French Lick phase, see Stafford and Cantin (2009:304-306).

Additional field investigation at 12HE117 could continue to provide information regarding precontact habitation of Hendricks County and could help address a number of research goals (Mohow et al. 1993b:34), including but not limited to:

• the identification of intra-component and diachronic patterns of site and raw material usage.

• the delineation of precontact subsistence patterns.

• the proposal of Late Archaic cultural and ethnic boundaries for the Eel River watershed as compared to other watershed areas in Indiana.

DHPA archaeologists, a private landowner, members of his family and a staff member from the DNR Division of Forestry came together to learn more about an important place in Hendricks County through survey, limited excavation and collection documentation. These types of collaboration between archaeologists, individuals who collect artifacts, and owners whose property includes archaeological sites demonstrate positive results.

References

Jones, Rick, James Mohow, Amy Johnson, and Donna Oliva (1993). A Preliminary Report on the Guernsey Site, 12-He-117, in Hendricks County, Indiana. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, November 6, 1993. Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Indianapolis.

Mohow, James A., J. R. Jones III, and Amy L. Johnson (1993a). Research Proposal for Subsurface Investigations on the Guernsey Site (12-He-117). Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Indianapolis, IN.

Mohow, James, James R. Jones III, Amy Johnson, and Donna Oliva (1993b). A Preliminary Report on the Guernsey Site, 12 He 117, in Hendricks County, Indiana. In Current Research in Indiana Archaeology and Prehistory:1994, Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Research Reports No. 15, 1994, pp. 33-35. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

Stafford, C. Russell and Mark Cantin (2009). Archaic Period Chronology in the Hill Country of Southern Indiana. In Archaic Societies: Diversity and Complexity across the Midcontinent, edited by Thomas E. Emerson, Dale L. McElrath, and Andrew C. Fortier, pp. 287-313. State University of New York Press, Albany.

Tomak, Curtis H. (1970). Aboriginal Occupations in the Vicinity of Greene County, Indiana. Master's thesis. Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Tomak, Curtis H. (1980). Scherschel: A Late Archaic Occupation in Southern Indiana with Appended Chert Descriptions. Central States Archaeological Journal 27(3):104-111.

Tomak, Curtis H. (1983).  A Proposed Prehistoric Cultural Sequence for a Section of the Valley of the West Fork of the White River in Southwestern Indiana. Tennessee Anthropologist 8(1):67-94. 

The General Lew Wallace Study & Museum is a National Historic Landmark situated on 3.5 acres of grounds in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The museum is housed in two buildings: the study built by General Lew Wallace in 1898, and the Carriage House Interpretive Center housed in the family’s 1875 carriage house. In addition to the historic structures, the grounds date to General Lew Wallace’s ownership of the property and contain features related to his use.

History of the Site

Although widely known as the author of the best-selling novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,” Lew Wallace was also a soldier, statesman, artist, violinist, and inventor. Wallace was born in Brookville, Indiana on April 10, 1827 and, at the age of 19, he joined the First Indiana Volunteers to fight in the Mexican War. Upon returning from the war, Wallace was admitted to the bar and began to practice law in Covington, Indiana. He moved to Crawfordsville in 1852 (General Lew Wallace Study & Museum [GLWSM] 2020).

Appointed adjutant general of the State of Indiana at the beginning of the Civil War, Wallace was commissioned a colonel of the 11th Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. During the Civil War, he was promoted as the youngest major general in the Union Army and later protected Washington, D.C. during the Battle of Monocacy (GLWSM 2020). After the war, he served as a judge during the court martial of the Lincoln conspirators and served as governor of the New Mexico Territory during the Lincoln County Wars (1878-1881). An accomplished attorney and politician who served as a prosecuting attorney and in the Indiana Senate, he also served as Minister to Turkey (1881-1885) and pursued a literary career resulting in seven published works, including his most famous work. Lew Wallace lived much of his life in Crawfordsville with his wife, Susan, and son, Henry. Late in life he designed and built the study as a private retreat to write, read and paint.

With the help of Indianapolis architect John St. George Thurtle, Wallace drew up plans for a personal study and construction began in the fall of 1895. The structure was built within one year. However, Wallace did not occupy the building until 1898, possibly due to the elaborate interior decorations.

The unique design of the building includes three styles of architecture. The front porch is Greek, the tower is Romanesque, and the main part of the building is Byzantine (Adams and Christian 1975). Wallace was likely inspired by his time in the Middle East as well as his visits to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

One of Wallace’s favorite pastimes was fishing. To ensure that he could fish whenever he wanted, he installed a moat along the east side of his study and stocked it with fish. After a short time, Wallace developed concerns about the impact of the moat on the study’s basement and about the potential danger to children. Based on photographs of Wallace and his two grandsons on the east steps of the Study, it appears that the moat was removed c. 1897 to c. 1900. In its place, Wallace built a circular garden with gravel paths. Today, this little garden and the gravel paths have been restored.

It was during this time that Wallace had the reflecting pool built, likely around 1898. However, due to similar concerns as with the moat, Wallace had the pool filled in around 1902. Several photos exist of the pool (Figure 1), but none that captured the entirety of the large, oblong-shaped landscape feature.

Archaeology

In 2009, the museum expressed interest in the possibility of conducting archaeology on their grounds. Once approached, staff began working with study personnel to shape a public archaeology program that would meet the study’s interpretive needs and serve an educational function within the community. The reflecting pool area (site 12MY260) was selected for initial investigation due to previous investigations by the study that had led to the identification of a likely location of one of the pool’s walls and a lack of historical documentation of the shape of the reflecting pool’s western end. 

Limited Phase II archaeological excavations began in September 2010 and ended in September 2014. During this time, students from the University of Indianapolis and the general public worked on excavating a 1 by 11 meter hand-excavated trench containing six units placed across an area thought by study personnel to contain the reflecting pool on the basis of earlier nonsystematic ground penetrating radar (GPR) investigations. The excavation trench extended in a general north-south direction, crossing what was believed to be the western edge of the pool based on historic photographs and stone remnants visible on the ground surface. The trench was excavated to a depth of about 3 meters, where large portions of the top course of mortared brick of the wall were uncovered. Once this trench was completed, work continued in a north-easterly direction, exposing the top of the wall. Excavations in September 2014 ended approximately 8 meters east of the original trench.

Excavations during this period focused on engaging the public in the archaeological process, including excavation, screening, mapping, and sometimes cleaning artifacts. University of Indianapolis’ partnership was integral to the success of the program and gave both undergraduate and graduate students the chance to not only hone their skills, but to also work with the general public. In addition, the study often hosted Boy Scout and homeschool groups during dig weekends providing educational content. 

In the spring of 2017, study staff expressed interest in excavating the entirety of the reflecting pool, with the goal of recovering any capstones left in the bottom of the pool to be used in the restoration. The study planned to use any original material to restore the pool walls and central pedestal, mostly fill the pool back in with the soil removed during excavation and use native grasses in an interpretation of the original structure.

Within hours of starting mechanical excavations, the top of wall of the reflecting pool was exposed, confirming the shape and size of the pool. The following conclusions can be drawn based on the 2010-2014 and 2017 excavations:

• The reflecting pool was constructed out of standard size bricks (likely made in Crawfordsville), set in a running bond pattern with a sand and lime mortar. The base of the wall was laid on a thin foundation of mortar. The majority of the courses are running bond, while a few interspersed courses are header rows (there does not seem to be a discernable pattern to this). No builder’s trench was found during excavation, and it is thought that the reflecting pool was initially excavated to depth (approximately 1 meter), then the brick wall was constructed within those confines.

• Upon abandonment the capstones were removed from the top of the reflecting pool. Originally it was assumed that the cap stones were included in the rubble found at the base of the pool wall, but the current theory is that they were removed and used elsewhere. High quantities of well-rounded glacial pebbles were used to fill the pool to a depth of at least 30 cm below the modern surface. A complete mold blown bottle found in these fill sediments confirms the ca. 1901 date for the fill episode. Atop this is a dark silt loam containing a mixture of nineteenth and twentieth century artifacts that likely represents disturbed original fill in addition to later trash and accumulated sediments.

• Sometime after the filling episode, the reflecting pool area was re-used as a trash disposal area. Two trash pits were found excavated into the fill. A large metal bowl, a concrete pole encased in iron sheeting, and a glass bottle were among the items buried in these trash pits. Based upon the bottle, it is likely the pits were dug in the early twentieth century (Moore et al. 2013; Shaw 2017).

This project would not have been possible without the generosity of the study and their understanding that archaeology can be a useful tool to confirm information about historic sites. The efforts on the reflecting pool have informed the study about a little-known site feature and contributed to its interpretation. Today, thanks to a generous donor, the reflecting pool has been restored (Figure 2). Replica capstones based on those found for the pedestal were created, tuckpointing was completed on the brick walls, and a replica urn was made. Stop by for a tour and check it out! 

References

Adams, George R. and Ralph Christian (1975). “General Lew Wallace Study.” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. United States Department of the Interior; Washington, D.C.

General Lew Wallace Study & Museum [GLWSM] (2020). General Lew Wallace Study & Museum. Electronic document,  https://www.ben-hur.com/ , accessed on July 2, 2020. 

Moore, Anne M., Christopher R. Moore, and Zachary R. Gross (2013). Results of the 2010-2012 Investigations of the Reflecting Pool at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum (12MY260), Crawfordsville, Indiana. Draft report prepared for the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Shaw, Anne M. (2017). Results of the 2017 Investigations of the Reflecting Pool at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum (12MY260), Crawfordsville, Indiana. Report prepared for the GLWSM by NS Services, LLC, Zionsville, Indiana.

The Hodges site (12MG564) in Morgan County is located on a floodplain terrace within the West Fork of the White River Valley (Figure 1). Gray & Pape conducted archaeological investigations at the site in 2019 in advance of proposed roadway construction associated with the I-69 Section 6 Corridor. All archaeological work was conducted with funding from the Federal Highway Administration and administered by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), under a contact with HNTB Corporation, Indianapolis.

Archaeological materials collected from the Hodges site included chert debitage, a battered stone, and two concentrations of fire-cracked rock (FCR). The presence of archaeological materials suggested there might be intact subsurface features, and Phase II testing or avoidance was recommended to evaluate the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility of the site (Baltz et al. 2017:157). Phase II testing was conducted during February 2018 (Trader et al. 2018), and included geophysical survey, test unit excavation, mechanical removal of topsoil, feature excavation and backhoe trenching. Testing efforts identified a trash or midden deposit and a refuse pit rich in artifacts that included pottery, chert debitage, FCR, animal bone, and charred botanical remains.

Radiocarbon dates obtained from charred nutshell ranged between A.D. 1301 and 1405, suggesting a Late Precontact Oliver phase affiliation. As a result of these findings, the Hodges site was recommended eligible to the NRHP under Criterion D for its potential to yield significant data regarding the Oliver phase in the White River Valley. Avoidance of the site was recommended; however, if the site could not be avoided then Phase III data recovery efforts were recommended (Trader et al. 2018). Early in 2019, it was determined by INDOT and its design teams that the site could not be avoided by roadway construction activities, and a data recovery plan was prepared.

The Oliver phase in central Indiana is defined by a distinctive set of cultural traits that includes pottery, settlement systems, and subsistence practices along the East and West Forks of the White River. Previous archaeological work indicates that the Oliver phase dates between A.D. 1200 and A.D. 1450 (Redmond and McCullough 2000). Pottery that includes decorative elements from Fort Ancient Tradition and Western Basin Tradition potters has long been considered the distinguishing trait of the Oliver phase. Fort Ancient decorative motifs included broad incised lines executed in curvilinear and rectilinear guilloche patterns. Western Basin Tradition or Great Lakes Impressed motifs included geometric designs impressed on the lip or rim of collared and uncollared vessels using cordwrapped implements (Redmond and McCullough 2000). At northern Oliver sites in Hamilton and Marion counties, McCullough (2000) found that Fort Ancient and Western Basin decorations co-occurred at sites but were found on separate vessels, while southern Oliver sites found in Orange and Lawrence counties were more likely to yield pottery that exhibited both decorative traditions on the same vessel.

Phase III data recovery efforts were conducted from September through November 2019 consisting of a variety of tasks that included geophysical survey, shovel test excavation, test unit excavation, feature excavation, mechanical removal of topsoil to expose features, and backhoe trenching. Fieldwork indicated that the site was bisected by Old State Road 37 North and had been disturbed by roadway construction. Other disturbances included plowing, fence construction, tree roots, and rodent burrowing. Field efforts resulted in the recovery of 7,238 cultural items and 7,345 botanical remains. Cultural material collected included bifacial tools, cores, debitage, faunal remains, FCR, ground/pecked/battered stone, pottery, projectile points, and retouched flakes. Excavated features included the midden deposit, refuse pits, hearths, and a smudge pit. The archaeobotanical assemblage was rich and included charred nutshell and wild fruit seeds, wood charcoal, and burned corn (Trader et al. 2020).

Diagnostic projectile points, pottery, and radiocarbon dates provide data that the Hodges site is multicomponent and was occupied during the Late Archaic (ca. 4000-1500 B.C.), Terminal Late Archaic (ca. 1500-700 B.C.), Early Woodland (ca. 1000-200 B.C.), Middle Woodland (ca. 200 B.C.-A.D. 600), and Late Precontact (ca. A.D. 1000-1650) periods (Jones and Johnson 2016). While the archaeological deposits at the Hodges site are representative of multiple occupations, the Late Precontact Oliver phase occupation is the most extensive at the site. Projectile points diagnostic of this period included small triangular unnotched arrow points typical of the Oliver phase (Redmond and McCullough 2000).

Eight radiocarbon dates were obtained from charred botanical remains. The dates ranged between A.D. 1270 and A.D. 1430, which places the site squarely within the span defined for the Oliver phase. While the radiocarbon dates recovered from feature and midden contexts overlap, statistical analysis suggests that at least three Oliver phase occupations are represented at the site (Trader et al. 2020). 

Probably the most striking artifacts recovered from the site were pottery. Field efforts recovered 4,231 fragments of pottery and included body sherds, rims, appendages, body/neck sherds, neck sherds, and shoulders. Sixty-five percent of the pottery consisted of small pieces less than four square centimeters. These small fragments were not formally analyzed. Pottery analysis identified a variety of decorated vessels that contained both decorative motifs that included curvilinear and rectilinear guilloche, and cord-impressions (Figure 2). The vessel illustrated in Figure 2 is grit-tempered with cross-cordmarked surface treatment on the body. The rim exhibits rectilinear guilloche trailed lines and punctations that were executed with a dowel. The lip is extruded and decorated with chevron cordwrapped dowel impressions (Figure 2) (Trader et al. 2020). These are classic Oliver phase attributes that are commonly found on recovered pottery from other sites, particularly to the south, such as the Cox’s Woods site in Orange County (McCullough and Wright 1997). 

Faunal remains and charred botanical remains provide some information regarding subsistence practices and seasonality at the Hodges site. The faunal assemblage consisted mostly of small, burned unidentifiable fragments. However, fragments of deer antler, turtle shell, and mussel shell suggest that site occupants exploited both terrestrial and aquatic resources. The botanical assemblage is more robust and consisted of nutshell, wood charcoal, wild plant seeds, corn, and a tiny fragment of squash rind (Trader et al. 2020). Site occupants preferred hickory nutshell and exploited both upland and lowland areas for plant foods. The growing and consumption of corn was an important activity. The preponderance of corn kernels in comparison to corn cupules suggests that harvesting and processing did not occur on site, and corn was likely consumed as soups or stews. The limited faunal data and the botanical assemblage suggest that occupation occurred during the late summer and fall months (Trader et al. 2020).

Archaeological investigations at the Hodges site yielded significant data regarding the Oliver phase occupation at the site. Radiocarbon dates, overlapping features, and a 30-60 cm thick midden deposit suggests that Oliver phase peoples revisited the site over several generations and likely consisted of extended family groups. Archaeological work at the site has provided intriguing information regarding the Late Precontact period along the White River Valley of central Indiana. 

References

Baltz, Christopher J. Morgan Wampler, Marcia Vehling, Beth McCord, and Christina Kelly (2017). Phase Ia Archaeological Survey 2 for Section 6, Morgan, Johnson, and Marion Counties, Des. No. 0300382, I-69 Tier 2 Studies, Evansville to Indianapolis. Gray & Pape, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.

Jones, James R. III, and Amy L. Johnson (2016).  Early Peoples of Indiana. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Indianapolis, Indiana.

McCullough, Robert G. (2000). The Oliver Phase of Central Indiana: A Study of Settlement Variability as a Response to Social Risk. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

McCullough, Robert G., and Timothy M. Wright (1997).  An Archaeological Investigation of Late Prehistoric Subsistence-Settlement Diversity in Central Indiana. Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Research Reports No. 18. Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Redmond, Brian G., and Robert G. McCullough (2000).  The Late Woodland to Late Prehistoric Occupations of Central Indiana. In Late Woodland Societies: Transformations across the Midcontinent, edited by Thomas E. Emerson, Dale McElrath, and Andrew Fortier, pp. 643-684. The University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London.

Trader, Patrick D., Christina Hahn, Jeff Laswell, Karen L. Leone, Seth Van Dam, Wendy Munson-Scullin, and Kelly Derr (2020). Phase III Archaeological Data Recovery at the Hodges Site (12MG564), Morgan County, Indiana, I-69 Tier 2 Studies, Evansville to Indianapolis, Des. No. 1801697, DHPA No. 4615. Gray & Pape, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.

Trader, Patrick D., Beth K. McCord, Christopher Baltz, Karen L. Leone, and Duane Simpson (2018). Phase II Archaeological Investigations for Section 6, Morgan County, Indiana, I-69 Tier 2 Studies, Evansville to Indianapolis. Gray & Pape, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana. 

The Dry Run site was surveyed and recorded by Willard Elliott (2006). Elliott has acquired a substantial knowledge of Owen County archaeology over a period of many years and is a conscientious avocational archaeologist. He is a long-time member of the White River Valley Archaeological Association (WRVAA) and has been a regular participant in WRVAA’s annual archaeological program presented at McCormick’s Creek State Park during Indiana’s Archaeology Month. Elliott has also been a fieldworker who has contributed greatly as a member of the excavation teams for the eight sizeable excavation projects undertaken by the WRVAA under Curtis Tomak’s direction.

The WRVAA was co-founded by Wade Allbritten and Tomak in 1987. The purposes of this organization are to promote archaeological knowledge, the conservation of archaeological data, and meaningful interaction among professional archaeologists, avocational archaeologists, and the public within the context of the discipline of archaeology.

The Dry Run site (12OW566) is located in bottomland of the West Fork of White River in southwestern Owen County. It extends over approximately an acre on a low elevation next to a small creek known as Dry Run.

Since the location of the Dry Run site is close to that given for site 12OW75 (Helmen 1950), we considered the possibility that they are the same site. In that regard, we contacted Melody Pope, then Curator of Archaeology at the Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, about the possibility of seeing the 11 points that Helmen had collected from 12OW75 which are curated at the Museum. She agreed to our request and kindly sent us a photograph of them. As a group, those points do not indicate that 12OW75 and Dry Run are the same site, and we do not have any good evidence to show that they are the same. Therefore, we are considering them to be separate sites.

Elliott, whose collection is being used for this article, has surveyed the Dry Run site a number of times over the years. Each time just a small to moderate amount of archaeological material was present on the surface of the site, and no midden or features were observed.

Material collected from or observed on the surface of the Dry Run site by Elliott includes some but not a lot of chert debris, several pieces of broken and/or oxidized rock, several campstones (manuports), three pieces of unworked slate, a slate bifacial object, a heavy blocky scraper, four end scrapers, six flake tools, six Middle Woodland lamellar blades, 13 bifaces, a Late Archaic stemmed point, eight Middle Woodland Snyders-like points, a small Middle Woodland point with an expanded stem, a Middle Woodland Lowe point (aka Lowe Flared Base point), a Late Woodland triangular point, two unidentified points, and four point fragments. Some of the material collected by Elliott had been donated to the Indiana State Museum and was kindly loaned to us for this analysis by Michele Greenan, Director of Archaeology. Middle Woodland artifacts from Dry Run are shown in Figure 1.

Some of the items from the Dry Run site are made of Southport chert which is a local chert that has not been previously presented in the literature. Southport chert occurs in Owen County and is named for a community there. Samples of this chert were collected from an Owen County source in 1986 by Tomak, and, since then, survey work by Tomak and other members of the WRVAA has located additional sources of this chert in Owen County.

Southport chert occurs in tabular and nodular form and as irregular masses. It varies in its appearance, basically as follows.  It occurs in various shades of gray or as a mixture of grays, sometimes exhibiting gray bands or rings. Often, however, it is noticeably multicolored. Sometimes it is gray (or a mixture of grays) and contains various beige, tan, and/or caramel colored areas, bands, and/or rings. Other examples are beige, tan, or caramel colored or some combination of those colors. Although texture varies, this chert is frequently fine textured with a nice luster and often exhibits a nice color pattern. Based upon geological maps, its bedrock provenience appears to be Mississippian.

Among the items from Dry Run made of Southport chert are some pieces of chert debris, a heavy blocky scraper, at least three of the end scrapers, three of the flake tools, at least one of the Middle Woodland lamellar blades, four of the bifaces, at least one of the Middle Woodland Snyders-like points, and one of the unidentified points (a small, straight stemmed, point).  

Additional indication of the utilization of Southport chert is provided by artifacts collected by Elliott from other sites in the Owen County area. Artifacts made of Southport include quite a few end scrapers and bifaces, one or two Early Archaic bifurcate base Frederick points (Tomak 1970, 1983), and a few Early to Middle Archaic corner notched and side notched points.

The particularly interesting attribute of the Dry Run site is its occupation by Middle Woodland people who used Snyders-like points. To our knowledge, Snyders-like points appear to be noticeably uncommon in Owen County, and the Dry Run site, with its eight Snyders-like points, is the only Owen County site known to us that has produced any quantity of such points. Snyders assemblages are known to include Burlington chert and lamellar blades, and at least some of the blades from Dry Run may be associated with the Snyders-like points. Since the small point with an expanded stem found by Elliott at Dry Run is made of Burlington chert (Fig.1, top left), it is thought to pertain to the same occupation as the Snyders-like points. One of the bifaces may be Burlington, but no Burlington chert debris is known from the site.

Four of the eight Snyders-like points from Dry Run are made of Wyandotte chert, at least one is of Southport chert, and three are of undetermined cherts. Two of the six lamellar blades are made of Wyandotte chert, at least one is of Southport chert, and the others are of undetermined cherts.  

The Dry Run site is a short distance upriver from Greene County which is immediately south of Owen County in the White River Valley. It is most likely that the people who left the Snyders-like points at Dry Run are affiliated with the local Middle Woodland occupation known as the Worthington phase whose formulation was based upon sites and materials from Greene County (Tomak 1970, 1983, 2021). The Worthington phase is thought to date sometime in the period from about 100 BC to AD 300 and to have been present in the area immediately prior to the Middle Woodland Allison-LaMotte occupation with which it may have interacted. Allison-LaMotte is thought to date sometime in the period from about AD 200 to AD 700. It is characterized by sizeable villages with an adjacent group of mounds, and among the associated artifacts are pottery, Lowe points, lamellar blades, and rectangular, two-holed, gorgets.   

Artifacts characteristic of the Worthington phase place it within the Havana cultural tradition whose formulation was based upon sites and materials from western Illinois. Basic to the Havana tradition during Middle Woodland times are Snyders and related points, lamellar blades, other associated chert artifacts, Havana and related pottery types, and the use of Burlington chert. Likewise, the Worthington phase includes Snyders-like points, lamellar blades, other associated chert artifacts, Havana-like pottery, and the use of Burlington chert. Middle Woodland Havana people also built Hopewellian mounds, and the Worthington phase may include such mounds.

The frequency of Snyders-like points in Greene County can be used as an indication of the degree to which it was occupied by the Worthington phase. To illustrate that frequency, a sample of over 2,500 points from Greene County was analyzed, and only 76 of them are Snyders-like, with 46% made of Wyandotte chert (aka Harrison County flint) from the Harrison County area along the Ohio River in southern Indiana, 25% made of Burlington chert from the western Illinois-Missouri area, and the remainder made of various other cherts (Tomak 1970, 1981, 1987). However, since the source of Burlington chert is the western Illinois-Missouri area, we should keep in mind the possibility that what is considered to be Wyandotte chert might actually be the noticeably similar Cobden/Dongola chert from southwestern Illinois.

In addition to the low frequency of Snyders-like points, only a limited number of Worthington phase habitation sites are known for the Greene-Owen county area. Snyders-like points and Havana-like pottery are infrequently found, and, to our knowledge, Burlington chert has not been found in quantity at any site. None of the above referenced villages that are next to a local mound group appears to have much Worthington phase material, and none of the known Worthington phase habitation sites seems to be a substantial site. At this time, besides Dry Run with its eight Snyders-like points, there are only three other sites (12GR368, 12GR371, and the Junction site) known to us in the two counties which have produced any quantity of such points, with all three of those sites being in Greene County. Nine Snyders-like points have been recovered from 12GR368, and four such points are known from each of the other two sites (Tomak 1970, 1983, n.d.). Based on the foregoing, the Worthington phase does not appear to have had a substantial presence in Greene County or in Owen County.

However, it is possible that significant habitation evidence for the Worthington phase is present in the town of Worthington in Greene County at the Worthington Village site (12GR70). This is suggested because the Hopewellian Worthington Mound (12GR63), which has been considered to be affiliated with the Worthington phase, was located within or adjacent to the Worthington Village site. One basis for affiliating the mound with the Worthington phase is that the artifact assemblage of both the mound and the phase include Havana tradition pottery. Secondly, there is a clear cultural connection between the Worthington phase and Middle Woodland people of the Havana tradition who, as detailed above, have a basic artifact assemblage like that of the Worthington phase and who built Hopewellian mounds and utilized Hopewellian items and materials such as copper celts, special pottery vessels, clay human figurines, and mica, all of which, excepting mica, are items reported for the Worthington Mound.    

The Worthington Village is a multicomponent site, apparently of some magnitude, that has been heavily disturbed as a result of the development of the town. At present, the only known artifacts from the Worthington Village that are or may be Worthington phase are an elaborate, Hopewellian, clay, human figurine that was found on the surface of the site in 1894 near the location of the destroyed Worthington Mound (Black 1933:208 and Plate 31) and a lamellar blade which would fit either the Worthington phase or the Allison-LaMotte artifact assemblage. Based upon Black (1933) and Tomak’s observations, there may be a substantial Allison-LaMotte component at the site.

The Worthington Mound contained, among other things, evidence of a structure, burials, and Hopewellian artifacts that include a copper celt, a clay human figurine that is noticeably different in appearance from the one from the Worthington Village, and a zoned rocker stamped pottery vessel depicted in such a way in the illustration that it appears to be rocker dentate stamped (Black 1933:201-204 and Plate 32; Collett 1880). This vessel looks like a Havana Zoned Stamped vessel; however, the rocker stamping (especially if rocker dentate) seems to be something more associated with vessels that have been classified as “Hopewell Ware.”

The human figurine from the Worthington Mound is quite interesting and is also a type of artifact that is known from Middle Woodland Havana contexts. Human figurines are also associated with the Middle Woodland Mann phase, whose major site is the Mann site (12PO2) located along the Ohio River in Posey County, Indiana (Kellar 1979; Ruby 1993). An unusually large number of human figurines have been found at the Mann site, and the figurine from the Worthington Mound is noticeably similar to some of them (Greenan and Mangold 2016; Kellar 1979; Swartz 2001).    

The Worthington Mound and other Greene County mounds with Hopewellian items may be Worthington phase, but there is evidence indicating that the aforementioned Greene County mound groups are Allison-LaMotte and that there are Allison-LaMotte mounds and burials that are associated with typical Hopewellian items such as copper artifacts and mica. The foregoing mound groups are thought to be Allison-LaMotte because of the repeated occurrence of an adjacent Allison-LaMotte village exhibiting no evidence of meaningful occupation by any other people who might have built the mounds. In addition, at least two of the mounds in those groups are known to have contained purposely placed Allison-LaMotte artifacts, and, significantly, some of the mounds contained typical Hopewellian copper artifacts.

For example, Ingersoll Mound 5 in Greene County contained a burial that was associated with a point which Black referred to as a “side-notched arrow” (Black 1933:309-311 and Plate 16). That point is an Allison-LaMotte Lowe point (Tomak 2021).  Another burial in Mound 5 had a Hopewellian copper ear disc in contact with the left mandible (Black 1933:310-311 and Plates 20 and 23).

In addition, Osborn Mound 17 in Greene County contained a rectangular, two-holed, gorget which is a type of artifact that is characteristic of Allison-LaMotte. The gorget had been placed upon a sandstone pavement along with a cube of galena (Black 1933:303, Figure 12, and Plates 21, 22, and 23), and galena is known to sometimes occur in Hopewellian contexts. Although not in the same mound, a copper celt and a burial accompanied by a Hopewellian copper ear disc were found inside of a sandstone enclosure in Osborn Mound 16 which was right beside Mound 17 (Black 1933:287-289, Figure 9, and Plates 18, 19, and 23). 

Significant information is also provided by Greene County site 12GR424 at which Allison-LaMotte artifacts (rectangular, two-holed, gorgets and a Lowe point) were buried in a cache with mica which is a material that is well known from Hopewellian contexts (Michael Hollars, personal communication; Tomak 2021).

The foregoing provides evidence for numerous local mounds being Allison-LaMotte and for at least some of the Greene County mounds or burials with Hopewellian copper objects or mica being Allison-LaMotte. This brings up the question of who actually built the Hopewellian Worthington Mound. As presented above, it has been thought that it was built by people of the Havana-related Worthington phase, despite the fact that in terms of known habitation sites the Worthington phase does not appear to have had a substantial presence in the area. Another possibility is Allison-LaMotte. In the Greene-Owen county area, as previously indicated, copper celts, copper ear discs, and mica have been found in contexts indicating that Allison-LaMotte participated in the so-called “Hopewell Interaction Sphere.” Allison-LaMotte’s participation in that network of beliefs and practices could, of course, be manifested in other ways and by other kinds of artifacts. That being the case, we suggest considering the possibility that the Worthington Mound with its copper celt, human figurine, and Havana-like pottery vessel is another manifestation of Hopewellian elements in Allison-LaMotte culture and that the cultural affiliation of the Worthington Mound might be Allison-LaMotte rather than Worthington phase. There are Havana tradition people and Havana-influenced people whose cultures included Hopewellian beliefs and practices, and in some way the Havana-like Worthington phase may have been the source of whatever Hopewellian elements there may be in Allison-LaMotte.     

If it is the case that the Worthington Mound is not associated with the Worthington phase, then the Worthington phase, as it has been conceived, has noticeably less of a presence in the Greene County area. And, if it is also the case that the other local mounds from which typical Hopewellian items have been recovered or reported are not Worthington phase but are Allison-LaMotte, then, based on present knowledge, the Worthington phase would be reduced to the aforementioned limited number of habitation sites that are identified by Snyders-like points, lamellar blades, other related chert artifacts, Havana-like pottery, and/or Burlington chert debris, with no known site being more substantial than Dry Run and the three previously mentioned Greene County sites. In that case, Worthington phase people would not appear to have been occupying or utilizing the Greene-Owen county area in a substantial way, and the area may have been basically an upriver terminus for Middle Woodland Havana-like people.

The genesis of the Worthington phase appears to be the Havana cultural tradition from farther down the White River Valley on into Illinois. Going down White River from Greene County to the Wabash River, Havana-like occupation increases, with the nearest substantial habitation site known to us being roughly 65 miles downriver from Worthington (Tomak n.d.).

References

Black, Glenn A. (1933). The Archaeology of Greene County. Indiana History Bulletin 10(5). Indiana Historical Bureau, Indianapolis.    

Collett, John (1880). The Worthington Mound. In Second Annual Report of the Department of Statistics and Geology, compiled by John Collett, pp. 390-396. Indiana Department of Statistics and Geology, Indianapolis.

Elliott, Willard K. (2006). Archaeological Surface Survey at the Dry Run Site, Elliott Site Number 6029, in Owen County, Indiana. Unpublished report.

Greenan, Michele, and William L. Mangold (2016). Evidence for Figurine Manufacturing Techniques Employed by Mann Site Artists. Indiana Archaeology 11(1):9-25.

Helmen, Vernon R. (1950). Archaeological Survey of Owen County, Indiana. Indiana Historical Bureau, Indianapolis.

Kellar, James H. (1979). The Mann Site and “Hopewell” in the Lower Wabash-Ohio Valley. In Hopewell Archaeology, the Chillicothe Conference, edited by David S. Brose and N’omi Greber, pp. 100-107. The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio.

Ruby, Bret J. (1993). An Archaeological Investigation of Mann Phase Settlement Patterns in Southwestern Indiana. Reports of Investigations 93-18. Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Swartz, B. K., Jr. (2001). Middle Woodland Figurines from the Mann Site, Southwest Indiana. In The New World Figurine Project, Vol. 2, edited by Terry Stocker and Cynthia L. Otis Charlton, pp. 253-270. Research Press, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Tomak, Curtis H. (1970). Aboriginal Occupations in the Vicinity of Greene County, Indiana. Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Tomak, Curtis H. (1981). Cherts and Their Utilization in an Area of Southwestern Indiana. Paper presented and distributed at the Archaeological Session of the Annual Meeting of the Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis.  

Tomak, Curtis H. (1983). A Proposed Prehistoric Cultural Sequence for a Section of the Valley of the West Fork of the White River in Southwestern Indiana. Tennessee Anthropologist 8(1):67-94.

Tomak, Curtis H. (1987). Association of Cherts and Point Types in Greene County, Indiana. Paper prepared for and distributed at the Annual Meeting of the Indiana Academy of Science, Indiana State University, Terre Haute.

Tomak, Curtis H. (2021). An Archaeological Excavation at the Early Woodland and Middle Woodland John Bender Site, Greene County, Indiana: The West Phase and Allison-LaMotte Components. Report prepared for the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology (DHPA), Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Indianapolis.

  Tomak, Curtis H. (n.d.). Unpublished research.

 The historic Salmon Lusk House site (12P735) lies within the confines of Turkey Run State Park in Parke County. The Lusk Home and Mill Site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under Criteria A and C, with an 1841 period of significance. This property (Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory [IHSSI] No. 121-659-06031) was listed on the NRHP on October 29, 1974 (NR-0016) (Indiana Department of Natural Resources/Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology [IDNR/DHPA] 2022). The property also lies within the Turkey Run State Park National Register Historic District (NR-2493; IHSSI No. 121-659-06001) (IDNR/DHPA 2022).

 ^{The Lusk Home, built in 1841 by Salmon Lusk Sr. with the help of his sons, is a two-story brick structure on the second plateau above Sugar Creek facing the ‘narrows to the south.’ This Federal style home, with some Greek Revival detailing, is built of bricks burned on site and laid in common bond on a foundation of native Mansfield sandstone quarried near the site. The rear of the house (north) accommodates a brick one-story shed-roofed extension with a shallow gable at the east end. The main house has a gabled roof with plain cornices and short returns. Two chimneys are located on the ridge, interior to the gable ends. A small gable-roofed cupola is centered on the ridge of the two-story section [NRHP 2022:Reference No. 74000017].} 

The house interior is finished in native black walnut, oak, and yellow poplar woods. The doors, trim work, and stairway are finished in black walnut. The floors are oak and poplar. The interior wood trim work exhibiting decorative motifs are hand carved and fastened with wooden pegs (NRHP 2022:Reference No. 74000017).

Salmon Lusk was born in Castleton, Vermont in 1788. He arrived in Indiana via the War of 1812 by his enlistment on August 20, 1814 in the 1 ^st  Regiment of the Vermont Militia (Ancestry 2022:US Army Register of Enlistments 1798-1914; Beckwith 1880:45). He was later stationed as part of the 3 ^rd  Regiment of the U.S. Infantry at Fort Harrison, a fortified stockade in what is today Terre Haute (Ancestry 2022:US Headstone Applications for Military Veterans 1925-1970). Honorably discharged in August 1817, he was granted a land allotment in Parke County for his military service. Shortly thereafter in 1818 he was working a farm he owned in Vermillion County; was co-owner of the Durkee ferry on the Wabash River; and worked for John Beard who owned the first mill on Sugar Creek (Beckwith 1880:445). By 1820 he had married Beard’s daughter, Mary (Chapman Brothers 1893:396). The 1820 census shows the couple farming in Vigo County (Ancestry 2022:1820 U.S. Federal Census).

There are conflicts in the historical record about when the Lusk’s actually relocated to Parke County. Some sources state he had built a cabin near the Sugar Creek narrows by 1822 or 1823 (e.g., Strange 2018; Wonning 2020). Other sources state it was in April of 1826 (Beckwith 1880:448; Chapman Brothers 1893:396; The Indiana Department of Conservation [IDOC] 1919:8). Regardless of the year, his arrival and the establishment of multiple business ventures proved successful. Beckwith (1880:448) writes, “… he removed to Sugar Creek township, settling at the narrows, and there erected a mill, which had three run of burrs and a saw, doing a very large business in grinding, sawing and packing pork, and sent as high as twenty flat-boats to New Orleans annually. The mill and all the surrounding buildings were swept away by what is known as the New Year's freshet [flood] on New Year's morning, at eight o'clock, 1847.”

Previous to this setback the Lusk family and land holdings had dramatically expanded. They had eight children (Ancestry 2022; Wonning 2020), and a search of just the original land patent records shows his earliest purchase on November 3, 1818, of 160 acres in Vermillion County (United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office [GLO] 2022). GLO (2022) records further reveal six other land acquisitions in Vermillion County, one in Vigo, and at least 39 land parcels in Parke County. The subject site was secured as part of an 80-acre parcel recorded on July 10, 1823.

His prosperity and family size resulted in the construction of the extant brick home in 1841. It is reported the brick for the home was fired on site while the wood and sandstone used in its construction was secured from nearby (IDOC 1930; Wonning 2020). In 1850 the Lusk’s local holdings were valued at $20,000 (Ancestry 2022:1850 Census). A decade later the real estate had an estimated worth of $14,000 with another $7,720 of personal property. Five of their children, the youngest Salmon Jr., aged 16, still lived in the home (Ancestry 2022:1860 Census). Some of their most prized property is what is now Turkey Run State Park.

Salmon died in 1869 leaving Mary and son John the homestead and approximately 1,000 acres of contiguous land (Strange 2018). Mary continued to live in the house with the business ventures and land overseen and protected by their son John. After Mary’s passing in 1883, John became, by all accounts, an eccentric recluse who treasured his inheritance and seclusion (IDOC 1919:9). He refused to sell any of the property to business interests such as timber buyers, but he is reported as generously allowing visitors to enjoy the natural setting of the property (IDOC 1919:9-10).

Upon John’s death in 1915 there was a realization that the property might be lost forever as his land holdings were parceled out and put up for auction (Lieber 1994:245-249; Strange 2018). Parke County native and conservationist Juliet Strauss gained the attention of Richard Lieber and Governor Ralston through the press (IDOC 1919:11; Lieber 1994:246; Strange 2018). Thus began an odyssey to raise funds to purchase Tract No. 3 encompassing 288 acres which contained most of the more scenic features and was planned to be the State of Indiana’s first state park (IDOC 1919:11). However, at auction the park focused group was outbid by the Hoosier Veneer Company of Indianapolis for the property, but public pressure and additional fundraising resulted in an agreement to transfer the parcel to the state (IDOC 1919:11-15; Lieber 1994:246). Between the time of the original auction and the deal struck to secure Turkey Run, the McCormick’s Creek property was purchased (July 1916), technically becoming Indiana’s first state park (Lieber 1994:246). However, the creation of Turkey Run State Park would not have been possible without Salmon Lusk’s original land acquisitions or son John’s guardianship. Hence a plaque on the property stating, “To the memory of John Lusk who saved the trees of Turkey Run (IDOC 1919:37).”

Two project driven archaeological studies have been completed at the Lusk homestead, each focused on the house structure. Both projects were completed prior to attempts to mitigate separate moisture issues impacting the house. The earlier of the two investigations (Riordan and Rothman 1981) was undertaken to assess the site areas to be impacted by damp proofing the porous sandstone basement foundation, installation of a septic tank, sewer lines, absorption field, utility lines, and the removal of a 1930s era wood-framed back porch addition (Riordan and Rothman 1981:1).

Ten hand excavated test units, totaling 14 square meters (m²), were placed around the house perimeter and in the proposed septic areas. The test units were excavated in arbitrary 10-centimeter (cm) (4-inch) levels to 30 cm below surface (cmbs) (12 inches), not necessarily into culturally sterile subsoils. A number of auger holes were placed near the northwest corner of the structure where a possible flagstone walkway, and a line of bricks was exposed in two of the hand excavated test units adjacent to the north wall. The artifact assemblage from the 1981 investigation revealed a multicomponent site by the recovery of both precontact and historical items. Work efforts recovered 117 precontact artifacts along with 1,505 historical specimens.

The investigation resulted in the identification of a work trench associated with the construction of the limestone block basement foundation. The 1841 construction of the basement was accomplished by opening a pit with sloped sides large enough to accommodate the sandstone foundation. The gravelly clay spoil initially removed from the basement excavation was later employed as backfill around the foundation or was landscaped to level the yard areas north of the structure once construction was complete. The brick line and flagstones on the northwest corner of the house are interpreted as the possible remnants of an outbuilding. Two potential activity areas were noted, one near the front entrance (south) and the second by the back stoop (north).

A second more recent Phase Ia reconnaissance was completed prior to the installation of water drainage lines around the perimeter of the house structure, and between the house and an heirloom garden to the north (Arnold 2013). Thirty-two shovel test probes were placed in a linear arrangement to complete the work. An artifact assemblage totaling 633 items was recovered from the probes. Of these, 606 artifacts are historical while the remaining 27 are from the precontact era.

In the yard north of the house, two consecutive probes exhibited soils having been heat altered by the firing of bricks utilized in the 1841 house construction (IDOC 1919:37). One probe contained a flat piece of sandstone with a heavy concentration of brick batting and burned soil to its northwest at 25 cmbs (10 inches). The second probe encountered an orangish colored heavily burned soil also at 25 cmbs. Subsequent Oakfield t-probing identified the burned area extended northwest of the shovel probe line, but less than one meter to the east. A realignment of the water line was recommended to avoid this brick clamp feature.

In summary, the Lusk Home stands as a testament to the conservation efforts of those who loved the beauty of the area and sought to preserve it. Without their knowledge the Lusk family’s settlement at the narrows resulted in not only the establishment of one of Indiana’s first state parks but arguably also one of the most scenic. This NRHP listed property has received to date only cursory archaeological studies to help preserve and understand the structure. However, a systematic survey of the property would likely reveal additional important information about the Lusk family and site planning. The information gained from these investigations may well aid park staff in future interpretation efforts at this important Parke County site.

References

Ancestry (2022). Documents related to Salmon, Mary, and John Lusk. Electronic documents, https://www.ancestry.com/, accessed February 2022.

Arnold, Craig R. (2013). Archaeological Records Check and Phase II Survey by Shovel Probe Method of Approximately 430 Linear Feet (130 Meters) for the Installation of Proposed Water Drainage Lines around the Historic Salmon Lusk House (12P735) in Turkey Run State Park, Parke County, Indiana. Report of Investigation C&L 13-2. C&L Archaeology, Columbia City, Indiana.

Beckwith, Hiram Williams (1880). History of Vigo and Parke Counties. H.H. Hill and N. Iddings, Chicago.

Chapman Brothers (1893). Portrait and Biographical Record of Montgomery, Parke, and Fountain Counties, Indiana. Chapman Brothers, Chicago.

Indiana Department of Natural Resources/Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology (IDNR/DHPA) (2022). The Indiana Historic Buildings, Bridges, and Cemeteries Map. Electronic document,  https://gisdata.in.gov/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5f2c93ba15a6423b906fec4a2e986b85 , accesssed February 2022.

Lieber, Richard (1994). Centennial Legacy: The State Park System in Indiana History, A Book of Readings, edited by Ralph D. Gray, pp. 245-249. Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis.

National Register of Historic Places (2022).Inventory Nomination Form for the Lusk Home and Mill Site. NRHP Inventory No. 74000017. Electronic   document, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/database-research.htm, accessed   February 2022.

Riordan, Timothy B., and Margaret L. Rothman (1981). Archaeological Investigations at the Salmon Lusk House, Turkey Run State Park, Indiana. Resource Analysts, Inc., Bloomington, Indiana.

Strange, Nathan D. (2018). The Complete Guide to Indiana State Parks. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

The Indiana Department of Conservation (Richard Lieber, editor) (1919). Turkey Run State Park: A History and Description. W.B. Burford, Contractor for State Printing and Binding, Indianapolis.

The Indiana Department of Conservation (Richard Lieber, editor) (1930). Turkey Run State Park: A History and Description. State of Indiana, Indianapolis.

United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office (2022). Land Patent Records of Salmon Lusk in the State of Indiana. Electronic document, https://glorecords.blm.gov/default.aspx, accessed February 2022.

Wonning, Paul R. (2020). Turkey Run Indiana State Park: Hiking, Canoeing and Covered Bridges in Parke County. Mossy Feet Books, Batesville, Indiana.

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This contribution highlights Terre Haute’s “Old Burial Ground” (12VI1821; Indian Orchard Cemetery; CR-84-20).  This Vigo County site is highlighted because it is unique and significant for a number of reasons. It represents the settlement, pioneer historical phase for an Indiana community, and is nestled between two unique events in Indiana history, the War of 1812 and the installation of the Wabash and Erie Canal. Furthermore, archaeological excavation of cemeteries recovers information not accessible from other sources. 

In January 2018 construction activities at a site near the Wabash River in Terre Haute resulted in impacts to human burials.  Historical records indicated the address, Lot 3 on the city plat map, was the same as Terre Haute’s first public cemetery. From that point all work progressed in consultation with DNR’s Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology office in accordance with Indiana’s historic preservation and archaeology codes. Approximately 20 intact and disturbed burials were identified in the process. Those burials were archaeologically excavated by Indiana State University staff and retained at Indiana State University laboratories for processing and scientific analyses. The artifacts, primarily nails, tacks, coffin wood, pins, and buttons, were sparse and indicative of the pioneer period of the 1810s to the 1830s. The skeletal remains were largely younger individuals, with infants, juveniles, adolescents, and young adults making up the largest component of the population (Phillips 2021). 

The period of possible interments for the “Terre Haute Burial Ground” is circa 1816-37. That time frame is classed as the community’s “pioneer” period, during which it was first platted in 1816 and incorporated as a “town” in 1832 (Condit 1900; Madison 1986;  McCormick 2005). Early settlers ranged from subsistence farmers, to merchants, to a variety of professionals such as lawyers, physicians, and bankers. Descriptions from that time paint images of abundant terrestrial and marine game and a valuable water route that provided trade access to New Orleans (McGregor 1992, 1999; McGregor and Cline 2001). Previous cemetery studies for the Midwest pioneer period (Buikstra 2000; Larsen et al. 1995; Phillips 2016) reported Christian style burials with sparse grave goods due to a paucity of available resources.  Such contexts report patterns of a healthy adulthood but a childhood at risk of sickness and possible death.  This suggests if one survived the health risks of infancy/childhood, there were fewer health risks for adults until old age.  These previous studies help to provide a comparative sample for this early pioneer cemetery. 

The cemetery appears within the platted properties as “Lot 3” (Figure 1) and was among the original 35 square blocks that defined the original 1816 community (Condit 1900).

This property, over the years, had three names and has been referred to as the “Old Cemetery,” the “Terre Haute Burial Ground,” and the “Indian Orchard Cemetery.” The location served as the community’s communal cemetery for a period of 21 years.  Aside from rural family cemeteries, this is the only communal cemetery as no churches, and, thus, associated church yard cemeteries, were established in Terre Haute until 1837 with the establishment of St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s Catholic Churches.  Although the “Terre Haute Burying Ground” is the City’s first cemetery, it is not the first historic cemetery in the immediate area. The cemetery associated with Ft. Harrison (War of 1812), partially excavated in the 1970s by Indiana State University archaeologist Robert Pace (Pace 1971; Phillips and Dearth 2007), had interments from approximately 1810 to 1812 and was located on what is now the town’s northern boundary adjacent to the Wabash River.  

 Early in the project there was concern burials from the 1760s might be present. A local story, passed through oral tradition, recounted a romantically involved interracial couple had planted an apple orchard before committing suicide (Beckwith1880). The cemetery acquired the name “Indian Orchard” as a result of this local legend.  In the story, the man in the couple was Native American, which required added attention for any possible evidence of Native American presence. No evidence, however, of burials from that time period was recovered. The cemetery was closed to interments in the late 1830s. The Wabash and Erie Canal, the first construction contract for which was in 1832, was planned to pass through Lot 3. The cemetery was described as being in a “declining” state (Beckwith 1880) by this point, and the opening of Woodlawn Cemetery in 1839 shifted the community interments there.  Families were invited to have their relatives interred in the Old Cemetery moved to Woodlawn. It is not possible to know how many individuals were disinterred and moved, but evidence of disinterments was encountered during the excavation.  During the excavation of the Canal through Lot 3 (see Figure 1) it was reported that 44 burials were encountered (Beckwith 1880; their deposition location was not reported). Again, when Lot 3 was developed for industrial use for the American Can Company in 1930, there were reports of burial disturbances.  That building, which is still standing, takes up nearly the entirety of Lot 3. 

 The environment of Terre Haute during the pioneer period is of great interest to this study.  Since this was a remote, rural community, communicable infectious diseases were unlikely to be endemic.  Condit (1900) indicates that aside from mundane conditions, the primary health concern for the period was malaria.  This is in agreement with Phillips and Dearth (2007) who report the disease was actually more of a risk factor for the soldiers on the western edge of the War of 1812 than the enemy.  The disease is easily spread by mosquitoes, and thus hard to control.  Populations can be easily infected and morbidity within a community can reach 100%.  Sickness tends to be worse among the very young, infants, and young adults (Dondorp et al. 2008).  Milk sickness was the other primary illness reported during the period under investigation (Condit 1900).  Unknown at the time, the sickness was caused by the consumption of snakeweed by cows, which rendered milk and meat products from those animals as potentially deadly (Christensex 1965). 

 Artifacts identified and recovered from the burials reflected historic period frontier cemetery/mortuary context.  No precontact or non-mortuary artifacts were identified or recovered.  Since the site has been in industrial use, there was a great deal of fill and soil disturbance with expected debris.  The mortuary artifacts were sparse, typical for a frontier period cemetery (Phillips 2016), lacking the opulence of the later Victorian period “beautification” of death (Sloane 1991). The most common materials included nails, pins, tacks, hinges, wood, buttons, and bricks (Figure 2).

Very little was recovered in terms of personal items, as is typical of a frontier/pioneer period context. Shroud pins (brass/copper/silver) were most commonly recovered from infant graves but were found with some adults as well.  Buttons (brass/copper) were recovered from most of the undisturbed adult burials. One notable feature was a brick burial vault that was a possible “Mason’s Vault.” The vault was disturbed from disinterment so specific details on its form were not possible to ascertain. 

The skeletal sample is largely well preserved considering the degree of disturbance to the area.  Good preservation is beneficial for observations of the most basic data recovery (age, sex, pathology, etc.). Notable aspects of the sample included the high proportion of younger individuals (56% of the sample were less than 20 years old) while most adults were young adults, 20-26 years old. Two individuals had been disinterred prior to this investigation and both were adult males, likely to have been 30-40 years old.  In the population overall, there were no observations of trauma, joint degeneration, or periostitis. This lack of those bony lesions is notable since they are commonly found in skeletal samples. The lack of trauma and periostitis could indicate pioneer life was not highly strenuous or prone to risk of injury.  Given the youth of the sample, the absence of joint degeneration is not outside of expectation.  Cribra orbitalia, an indication of iron deficiency, and the most common lesion, appears ubiquitous in infants and juveniles below seven years in age. Malaria is, perhaps, the most parsimonious explanation for this condition since the disease was present in the environment and is linked to that lesion (iron deficiency in infants and children can result from diseases such as malaria). Other notable conditions include spina bifida (a developmental condition), possible meningitis (a virulent infectious disease), Schmorl’s node (a biomechanical loading marker), and implications of maternal mortality.  

It is notable that the three adult females reported in this study are all under 26 years of age and that one of the three, Burial 13, was cradling a premature infant. It seems a safe assumption that the mother and infant both died during childbirth.  Maternal mortality was the greatest cause of death for women of childbearing age during the nineteenth  century (Leavitt 2016). Likewise, Phillips (2016) found that maternal mortality was the highest risk for women of childbearing age in a nineteenth century rural community. The causes of maternal mortality are typically birth injury, sepsis, or exsanguination. The mortality pattern observed in this sample suggests maternal mortality was a great risk to women on the Indiana frontier. 

During the period between the War of 1812 and the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal, the overall bioarchaeological picture of this community is one of specific risks such as malaria or maternal mortality which targeted the young or women of childbearing age.  Males, once they survived childhood, likely suffered the morbid effects of malaria but appear to have otherwise had a healthy adulthood.  The health patterns observed in this sample overlap with findings from the War of 1812 (Phillips and Dearth 2007) with evidence of the continued risk of malaria but differs greatly from the patterns reported from the community by the later  nineteenth century (Phillips et al. 2014). 

Construction activities continued once all evidence of burials were identified and archaeologically removed. The remains are currently retained at Indiana State University in a secure location. The remains will ultimately be reinterred.

References

Beckwith, H. W. (1880). History of Vigo and Parke Counties. HH Hill and N. Iddings, Chicago, IL.

Buikstra, J. E. , editor (2000). Never Anything so Solemn: An Archeological, Biological, and Historical Investigation of the Nineteenth-Century Grafton Cemetery. Center for American Archeology, Kampsville, IL.

Christensex, W. I. (1965). Milk Sickness: A Review of the Literature. Economic Botany 19(3):293-300.

Condit, B. (1900). The History of Early Terre Haute from 1816 to 1840 (No. 71). AS Barnes, New York, NY.

Dondorp, A. M., S. J. Lee, M. A. Faiz, S. Mishra, R. Price, E. Tjitra, and R. Rahman (2008). The Relationship between Age and the Manifestations of and Mortality Associated with Severe Malaria. Clinical Infectious Diseases 47(2):151-157.

Larsen, C. S., J. Craig, L. E. Sering,  M. J. Schoeninger,  K. F. Russell,  D. L. Hutchinson, and M. A. Williamson (1995). Cross Homestead: Life and Death on the Midwestern Frontier. In Bodies of Evidence: Reconstructing History through Skeletal Analysis, pp.139-159. Wiley-Liss, New York.

Leavitt, J. W. (2016). Brought to Bed: Childbearing in America, 1750-1950. Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

Madison, J. H. (1986). The Indiana Way: A State History. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN.

McCormick, M. (2005). Terre Haute: Queen City of the Wabash. Arcadia Publishing, Chicago, IL.

McGregor, J. R. (1992). Pioneer Industrial Complexes on the Lower Wabash. Material Culture 24(3):19-34.

McGregor, J. R. (1999). Locational Characteristics of Pioneer Rural Residential Sites in the Lower Wabash Valley. Material Culture 31(2):1-25.

McGregor, J. R., and R. E. Cline (2001). Western Indiana Examples of Small Community Impacts of the Mid-Nineteenth Century Industrial Transition.  The Great Lakes Geographer 8(1):1-13.

Pace, R. (1971). Archaeology of the Fort Harrison Cemetery.  Indiana History Bulletin 48(5):75-79.

Phillips, S. M. (2001). County Institutions as Crucibles of Social Judgment: Bioarchaeological Evidence of the Consequences of Disease and Social Sigma. Northeast Anthropology 61:27-47.

Phillips, S. M. (2016). Bioarchaeology of a Kentucky Pioneer Family: The Vardeman-Holmes-Stephenson Cemetery Project, Lincoln County, Kentucky. Ohio Valley Historical Archaeology 26:132-41.

Phillips, S. M. (2021). Report on the Archaeological Investigations of the Old Burial Ground (Indian Orchard Cemetery; CR-84-20) in Terre Haute, IN. Human Osteology Lab, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN. Report draft submitted to the DHPA-DNR.

Phillips, S. M., and E. Dearth (2007). The Indiana Frontier during the War of 1812:  A Bioarchaeological Study of the Siege of Fort Harrison.  Ohio Valley Historical Archaeology 22:82-87.

Phillips, S. M., E. Ellis,  M. Maynard, L. Newton,  K. Norton,  M. Moroz, and S. Rio (2014). Bioarchaeology of the Vigo County Home Cemetery: Recovering Social Systems of Care for the Impoverished, Infirm, and Disabled.  Indiana Archaeology (1):229-252.

Sloane, D. C. (1991). The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American history. Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, MD.

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