Today was my first time pulling prehistory out of the earth. Lithic fragments, pot sherds, and faunal remains. (Otherwise known as stone flakes, pottery fragments and animal bone!)
We sieved a lot, and troweled back more dirt than I ever have in my life… well… it is only my second dig!
We are working in the tall grass prarie of Illinois, finding remains of Native American Oneota tribal activities, with finds dating the site to the 1600’s. That means we have no trade materials, because the white/anglo traders had not yet made it to Illinois.
The area had and has rivers and wetlands where they collected muscles to crush into their clay to temper it for pottery. The pottery on this site is of Huber phase, meaning the decorations on it help give us diagnostic evidence to say who the people were and when they lived there.
Huber pottery is very often marked with fine lines or grooves made by tracing a point across the wet clay. We saw a piece today with the lines on it, which was exciting.
The best find today was a pretty pink colored point, perfectly preserved. I didn’t find it but if you wanna see it, it’ll probably be on the Kankakee protohistory project blog.
I am so exhausted after my travels and first day digging I am headed to bed with my bathrobe on and my tea in hand. Enjoy these pictures until tomorrow’s update!
Chronicles of Amber's Anthro Journey 