INO Masters Degree Thesis Proposal-University of Illinois at Springfield

A Demographic Study Comparing Pioneer and Mississippian Interments along the Illinois River in Greene County, Illinois

The committee members for this thesis were the best any graduate student could ask for. I will remember their dedication to myself and my thesis project with deep gratitude and have wonderful memories of this experience for the rest of my life.

I wish to acknowledge the dedication of friends, acquaintances and colleagues who have supported my research. Mr. Zurkammer has represented Lincoln College as my financial benefactor as well as supporting and following the progress of this degree. Dennis has generously given his time to edit my paper and to follow up with discussion and advice on my final copies. Pam is a life long friend who has been supportive of this endeavor from the beginning and has wonderfully added fine evenings to my life dedicated to taking time out from the books and papers that surround me at home. Dawn Cobb, Della Cook, and Mike Wiant have been very kind in giving their time, advice and guidance to this project. Gerald Wolfley is to be commended for his dedication in supporting my research, my students, and giving the Illinois River Project a home base. He has been there since the first day of research and we have worked together to build what I believe is the beginning of a wonderful data base of research at the Greene County Historical Society. Robert Schild has been part of this study also from day one and I owe him a great deal of gratitude as the Schild site landowner for lending his time and always being there for the students and myself. Candice Wright has acted as my student assistant and later field assistant during the last part of this research. Candice’s interest in this project and her ability to record perfect data made the work go much faster and certainly made working in the field a lot more fun. Gary always went with me to help with the grid in the field when I took students to Greene County and also gave up many week-ends to help collect data or to help me with the time consuming task of running off copies or working out problems with my computer and just being there for me. And last, my kids and their families who always support what I am doing.

There are many other people who have helped me or encouraged me along the way. Some I don’t even know your names but to all of you I thank you.

The present demographic study of early Pioneer and Mississippian interments, collected from eight Pioneer cemeteries and the Schild site Mississippian cemetery along the Illinois River in Greene County, compared the age profiles of the two burial populations. The purpose of this comparison was to determine the similarities and differences in the mortality rates of the individuals. Only the Pioneer individuals who died in the 1800’s were considered for this study because it was before the advent of modern medicine, and they were the earliest documented pre-industrial group living in environmental conditions similar to that of the Mississippian individuals from the Schild site. There were 291 Schild individuals compared with 291 early Pioneers in Greene County. All lived and were buried within a 6 mile radius of each other. The age categories used for this study were stillborn/live born, infant, child, adolescent, young adult, middle adult, old adult, and indeterminate. The data met the requirements for a chi–square analysis while following the paleodemographic guidelines for identifying age parameters in past populations. The results were found by the chi–square analysis to be statistically insignificant and failed to reject the null hypothesis providing strong support that the early Pioneers and Mississippians in the study area had similar mortality distributions in the categories of infant, child, adolescent, young adult, and middle adult.

Analysis of physical remains and cemetery inscriptions can give a great deal of insight into the health, diet, lifestyles, and burial patterns of populations. In some cases we can tell where the individuals came from and how or when they died. Many demographic studies have been completed on populations comparing and contrasting biological and mortuary data, biocultural interactions, ancient diseases, and spatial orientation of ancient sites and cemeteries. For example, Buikstra studied the nineteenth-century Grafton Cemetery, a Euro-American cemetery located in Grafton, Illinois near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Illinois River (Buikstra et al 2000). The study gave insight into the burial practices and artifacts present in a population of middle-class people of the 19^th century time period. Alan D. Harn in collaboration with Donald Dickson, studied the Middle Mississippians at Dickson Mounds along the Spoon River in Illinois. Their book contains complete studies of the individuals, artifacts and events surrounding the excavation at Dickson Mounds (1980).

The Illinois River Demographic Study is a comparison of mortality distributions in Mississippians and early Pioneers in Greene County, Illinois. We rarely compare prehistoric and historic populations. The goal is to compare and contrast these two groups in terms of lifeways and mortality rates. The early Pioneers in this study are in situ instead of being excavated. This study focuses on Greene County, Illinois, along the Illinois River and includes the inscription data of eight early Pioneer cemeteries A.D. (1800 - 1899) and the prehistoric Native American Mississippian burials A.D. (936 - 1200) found on Knoll A and B at the Schild site located on the property of Robert Schild of Eldred, Illinois. This study has compared interments of both populations, which lived in close proximity to each other approximately 730 years apart. This approach focuses specifically on comparing ages at death using accepted age categories for comparison.

This study combines information from inscription information on early Pioneer headstones in Greene County with demographic information obtained from skeletal remains in a Mississippian cemetery in the same region. early Pioneer inscription information was collected by locating, mapping, and photographing headstones in eight 19^th century cemeteries. Detailed data on early Pioneer cemeteries demographics are presented here. Mississippian data for comparison are derived from published work on Mississippian graves from the Schild site located in Greene County Illinois which was excavated by Gregory Perino (Perino 1971). The results were used to compare and contrast the mortality distributions of these two different cultures that had occupied the same geographic area and had adopted sedentary agricultural life styles at two different points in history. Inscription information from the headstones and the demographic information obtained for the Mississippians was then put in one format. This method of presenting information will enable both researchers and historians to convert the data into their layout design of choice to further their own research. Howell believes that there is no one standard for carrying out studies of populations whether contemporary or skeletal (1986). However, there is a need to develop standard methods and to preserve the stages of analysis as well as the conclusions so that these will be available for future studies.

This study has formulated specific methods that were used in this study and will be used in subsequent studies along the Illinois River. It has established ties with the local Historical Society and has been incorporated as part of the curriculum at Lincoln College.

Physical analysis of several prehistoric Mississippian sites including Cahokia, Beckstead, Emmonds, Moundville, Berry, Dickson, Crable, Kane, Fisher, Dradley, and Schild, as well as Pioneer sites such as Grafton and Cross begin to give us a clear picture of the diet, disease patterns, and socioeconomic conditions that prevailed during the time periods between A.D.800, and 1650 for the prehistoric Mississippian and between A. D.1800 and 1899 for the Historic period chosen to represent early Pioneers (Buikstra et al 2000 and Larsen et al 1995). The following literature review, beginning with the broad view of Illinois, focuses on the comparative sites of interest to the Illinois River Demographic Study in Greene, County Illinois and ends with a discussion of current demographic studies and thought.

Illinois was admitted to the Union as the 21^st state on December 3, 1818. Illinois was first settled by the French in 1673, but historians begin the history of Illinois at statehood (Franke 1995). French traders were not considered pioneers because they made no improvements and did not cultivate land (Franke 1995:54). Most pioneers moved into the area about 1815 and were of British descent (Franke 1995). Many other Pioneers were of Swiss, German, and Dutch descent.

The resident native population was no more than eighty in 1800. When the French explorers entered Illinois they found the Illinois Indians decimated by war with the Sioux and Iroquois (Davis 1998: 29). The Iroquois Confederacy in the 1570s had become a deadly fighting machine (Davis 1998: 28). Lethal diseases, warfare, and social and economic dislocation had taken their toll on the native population (Davis 1998: 42). In the early 800’s the native population had thrived, the Late Woodland culture numbered in the thousands and merged with the Mississippian culture in AD 1000. In fact the Schild Site contains Late Woodland interments as well as Mississippian interments. Pauketat believes that descendents of the Mississippians became the group of individuals that we call today the First Nations and these were the people the French married and traded with and that later the early Pioneer women wrote about in the their journals as people who lived in the same area they did. (Pauketat 2004:154).

This study found two interments which confirmed in the monument epitaph the statement that pioneers were of English decent and one which indicated the individual was from Switzerland. John Croft was from England (Fig. 1), Charles King was from England (Fig. 2) and Conrad Gyr was from Switzerland (Fig. 3).

A few interments stated the individual was born in a different state. This was addressed in some of the literature that stated that many times soldiers decided to return to Illinois with their families to homestead. The remainder of the interments did not state a place of birth.

The lives of the historic tribes of the Midwest revolved around planting, harvesting, hunting, and social activities organized according to a well documented pattern (Franke 1995:3). There isn’t a written record left telling us how the individuals felt about life in Illinois. The documented views of Illinois by the Pioneers vary greatly. One view states Illinois enjoyed all advantages--not only beauty, but also plenitude of all things needed to support human life (Franke 1995:56, citing Joutel Journal, 1684). In the early 1800’s some people saw Illinois as a golden opportunity to put past failures behind them, starting life anew. Others longed for conditions they had enjoyed elsewhere (Davis 1998). Another view of Illinois is found in Faragher’s book (1986) in a quote by an old settler named John Reynolds who acknowledged that “the idea that prevailed was that Illinois was a graveyard” (Faragher 1986:89). The variety of Pioneer views of Illinois is the result of their immigration. They had other places to compare their living conditions with. The homesteads were not always ideal. Epidemics were common and sanitation was lacking. The Mississippians had a long history in the area as their long standing mounds have shown us. Their ancestors were here, their roots were here. If we had been able to ask them how they felt about Illinois they might have looked off into the distance lost in thought and perhaps wondered why we were here.

Figure 4. The Illinois River at dusk. The photo was taken by the author at the Kampsville Ferry Landing. The view is from the bluffs side looking toward Kampsville. 2005

The Illinois River Demographic Study in Greene County focused on a segment of the Illinois River (see Figure 4), the nearby bluffs, and adjacent relatively flat land located in Southern Illinois in what is called the Lower Illinois River Region (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. The Lower Illinois River Region. The map is a publication of the Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology - Illinois State Museum.

The Illinois River is a fairly straight, 273 mile long river that is about 1000 feet wide from bank to bank (see Figure 6). The river begins south of Chicago at the confluence of the Des Plaines River and the Kankakee River. As it moves south it passes the towns of Marseilles, Ottawa, Starved Rock, Hennepin, Rome, Peoria, Pekin, Havana, Bath, Browning, Beardstown, Meredosia, Florence, Kampsville and Hardin. The river then descends to Grafton, Illinois, which is located on the Mississippi River 40 miles north of St. Louis. The entire Illinois River drops only about 90 feet or about four inches per mile on its way to the Mississippi River from its confluence of the Des Plaines River and the Kankakee River (McPhee 2004: 82, 90).

Figure 6. Map depicting the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee Rivers to form the Illinois River, and the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers at Grafton.

The Illinois River environment provided resources from two broad ecosystems for the Mississippian Indians A.D 800-1650, who are believed to have migrated to the study area from the southeastern United States. They established villages near the waterway and used the river as a trade route and a food source. The nearby bluffs were boundary markers as well as a place to build burial mounds. The surrounding floodplains and flat adjacent lands were used for planting their mainstay crop of corn and as an additional source of wild foods (Davis 1998:25).

The early Pioneer settlements began in southern Illinois and moved north (see Figure 7). Once again the river provided food, water and a nutrient-rich flood plain for planting their mainstay crop of corn. The earliest dates on cemetery stones indicate this occurred in the early 1800’s. To date, none of the stones in this study have a date of death earlier than the 1800’s. Speculation from this study is that no early Pioneers were homesteading in this area in the 1700’s or the settlements were just becoming established and newspapers, courthouses, and other recorders of births and deaths had not been organized. Cunningham, the local historian for Greene County, notes that General Fry erected the first house in Carrollton in 1821. In addition it is possible that the monument makers were not an established business earlier than the 1800’s. Figure 7 gives an idea of the settlement pattern for Illinois and we can see that in 1820 there were still few settlements in the study area. This study has also found that wooden markers might not have survived due to animal activity. The author made a wooden cemetery marker for Varble and came back to the cemetery later to find that squirrels and deer had been chewing on the wood.

Figure 7. The map on the left depicts the population of Illinois settlement pattern in 1820. The map on the right depicts the population of Illinois settlement pattern in 1840.

Greene County was organized in 1821 and named for General Nathanial Greene, a Revolutionary War hero. The first school was started in 1824 by Hartwell Hunicutt and eventually four towns were established: Carrollton in 1821, White Hall in 1832, Greenfield in 1843, and Roodhouse in 1866. Figure 8 shows the relationship of these first four towns to each other. Many villages also appeared with local trading centers, post offices, and churches. They were Athensville, Hillview, Kane, Rockbridge, Patterson, Eldred, Walkerville, and Haypress. The lives of the people centered around agriculture in this area then as well as today.

Figure 8. The map above shows Carrollton (est.1821), White Hall (est.1832), Greenfield (est.1843), and Roodhouse (est.1866).

The area the Schild site individuals occupied is on a bluff near the Illinois River in Greene County. Modern farming has changed the surrounding landscape somewhat but the area that is not accessible to farming probably looks much as it did when the Mississippian Mound Builders lived there. This is reasonable to presume because many of the Mississippians Mounds are still visible on the landscape and many are protected by the farmers that own the land they are on. It is hilly with large deposits of stone outcroppings smothered in small trees, berry bushes, and varieties of short vegetation. The Varble cemetery had been completely taken over by sassafras, wild flowers and some berry bushes. On the road side of the cemetery was a large patch of tiger lilies. Speculation is that this cemetery was a mix of native vegetation and wildflowers and cultivated flowers such as the lilies possibly planted by the early Pioneers. The Varble cemetery is notable for the variety of plant material, especially wildflowers. It is possible this cemetery could qualify as a “Prairie Cemetery” (McAndrew 2004).

The villages and burial mounds were located high on a river bluff which are still rich with nut trees, berry vines, and wildlife such as squirrel, deer, raccoon and possum.

The Illinois River is close at hand and provided food and easily cultivated alluvial soils (Fagan 2000:446) as well as a method of transportation much as it still does today.

The Mississippians had a tradition of maize growing mound–building societies (Goodman and Armelagos 1985) and they had a ranked form of social and religious organization (Fagan 2004:443,444). Droessler (1981), citing Peebles (1971), emphasized the role of ecological factors in Mississippian development, stressing the importance in the organization of Mississippian society of a redistribution and political network for the purpose of exploitation and control of various resource zones. The Mississippians arrived in Illinois about A.D. 500 from the southeastern United States bringing with them the mainstay crop of corn. They used the rivers for trade and the floodplains for agriculture ( Davis 1998:25). They entered central Illinois during what is known as the Eveland phase and replaced or acculturated indigenous Late Woodland populations (Steadman 1998:307).

The sociopolitical landscape before A.D. 1600 was probably not nearly urban enough to give rise to increased reliance on a hieroglyphic notational system for record-keeping purposes even though the nearby city of Cahokia (1050-1200) was thought to influence surrounding villages. (Pauketat 2004: 169). It has been discovered that the further away the villages were from Cahokia, the less similar they were to Cahokia in regards to pottery made, and projectile points, for example. This indicates that the villages were making their own decisions and were not united under one governing body. However, most archaeologists agree that the processes of civilization were underway in the Mississippian valley (Pauketat 2004:4). The Mississippians were at the level of “proto-writing’, a form of communication through symbols and pictures that precedes writing. Had the Mississippians continued on their own for a few more centuries, we might have seen a Mesoamerican-style of writing system and a social system equal to the early Pioneers (Pauketat 2004:169). As it happened the climate cooled around 1300 and the Mississippians dispersed slowly from the area looking for a warmer climate. The literature cites several reasons for this movement from Illinois, from the climate shortening the growing season to political and religious unrest and possibly a breakdown in ways to communicate with outlying villages. Some simply believe that the Mississippians slowly left Illinois for a warmer climate and assimilated with other cultures.

Gregory Perino (1971) believed that the Mississippians in the lower Illinois Valley were primarily farmers and occupied farmsteads. They most often settled in the bluff area along the Illinois River and lived in pole and thatch houses (Fagan 2004: 453). Goldstein examined 70 sites and found that Mississippian settlements were evenly spaced up and down creek and river bottoms with relatively even distances between them (Goldstein 1980:22). This logical spacing indicated that the farms and villages were perhaps supporting a larger unit of people. That large unit is believed to be Cahokia, a huge city believed to be home of possibly 16,000 people in the American Bottom on the Mississippi River, only 50 miles from the Schild Mississippian site in this study. Fagan (2004) concurs that during two or three decades around AD 1050, a three tiered settlement hierarchy appeared: a great capital at Cahokia, several smaller political and administrative centers, and rural homesteads in the northern part of the floodplain.

Maize, beans and squash, aquatic game such as fish, and migratory water fowl were a large part of the Mississippian diet. Terrestrial game included deer, raccoon, and turkey. Vegetable resources consisted of nuts, fruits, berries, and seed-bearing plants (Fagan 2004:446). Farming is indicated by the agricultural tools such as hoes discovered along with seeds and animal bone remains at village sites.

The diet of the Mississippians appears to have been poorer compared to the Late Woodland hunter–gatherer society which preceded the Mississippian. This was due to the dependence on one crop, maize, which is deficient in the amino acid lysine. Lysine is found in chicken, cheese and wheat germ improving calcium up-take (Enger et al, 2005). The one-crop dependency affects health in two other ways. The population is more subject to famine from drought years that reduce crop yield, and a sedentary farming life style provides conditions for the spread of crop diseases and pests (Fagan 2004:447). To check this, Goodman and Armelagos analyzed seven unbiased skeletal categories between two groups of people. One was a pre-agricultural group, the Early Woodland culture, and the other was the post-agricultural group, the Mississippians (see Table 1). Their findings support the hypothesis that the Mississippians experienced a poorer diet than did the Early Woodland culture. The literature is varied on the issue of the adoption of maize and its results on the health of the Mississippians. While the Mississippians did adopt agriculture and maize was the primary crop the only conclusion we can safely embrace is that any health issues were the result of the addition of maize into the diet and not the assumption it was the only food consumed.

Table 1. The table below sums up the comparisons of the Woodland people to the Mississippians by Goodman and Armelago.

1. Tibia-periosteal reaction resulting from a bacterial infection. The Early Woodland showed 26% and the Mississippians 84%.

2. Skull-porotic hyperostosis (anemia). The Early Woodland showed 25% and the Mississippians 50% around the eye socket in children and young females.

3. Traumatic lesions (healed fractures of long bones of legs and arms). The Mississippians had parry fractures in one out of every three males in the ulna/radius.

4. Degenerative pathologies (arthritic conditions). The Early Woodland people had 40% and the Mississippians had 70%. This category is associated with the physical labor involved with farming.

5. Skeletal growth and development. In ages five to ten the Mississippians had narrower tibias and femurs.

6. Dental enamel-hypoplasia (deficiency in enamel thickness from stress during enamel formation). 55% of Early Woodland and 80% of Mississippians had hypoplasia. (Goodman and Armelagos 1985: 15,16,17,18).

Bone analysis indicated there was also less zinc in the Mississippians, which is an element limited in maize. The Goodman and Armelagos comparison did not specify sample size but the outcome is significant in its account of the effect of the lysine deficiency in maize consumption and the resulting effects on the calcium-dependent tissue.

Skeletal analysis revealed Harris lines on limb bones, indicating stress periods in Mississippians (Fagan 2004:448). Harris lines are thought to be the results of arrested growth caused by nutritional disturbances or some acute illness that lasts at least 10 days (Morse 1969:15).

At the Schild site, individuals of all ages were buried in articulated and extended position in mounds (Perino 1971).The majority of Mississippians were buried and then dirt was brought in and placed on the mound leaving burials on top of burials in a stacked pattern. Many individuals were buried with artifacts such as shell spoons, shell beads, vessels, pipes, and projectile points.

The Schild site villages were facing each other across Dayton Hollow on high bluffs. Today Dayton cemetery, a cemetery in this study, is located where one of the Mississippian Schild villages had been. The Illinois River flood plain reached the edge of the bluffs and it is likely that before levees had been established that Dayton Hollow was a small lake. Buried in another part of the Schild Cemetery were Late Woodland interments. The burial positions of the individuals clearly indicate a transition occurred between the Late Woodland and Mississippian cultures in life.

Much of the riverine life style along the Illinois River continued into Historical times, with early Pioneers, A.D.1800-1899, also settling along waterways and tapping resources of the river, the prairie, and the timberland. (Davis 1998:25.)

Figure 9. A sunset- picture taken by the author looking across the river toward Kampsville. 2005.

Most of the Pioneers who located in Illinois were European. Unlike the Mississippians, who had settled along rivers and streams making their homes and burial mounds among the bluffs, the Pioneers sought the wooded areas. Figure 9 is a modern picture along the Illinois River, the villages of the Mississippians and the early Pioneers were not of course this close to the river. The event depicted in this photo was Pioneer Days in Greene County. While the Mississippian houses were thatch and pole, the view still seemed an interesting blend of Native American and Pioneer.

The early Pioneers valued timber as a resource. They made their homes of trees, made split rail fences and burned trees for fuel. While the two groups lived in the same area they chose different geographical areas to occupy.

Information on the Pioneer diet is available from Grauer (1995) analysis of the Cross cemetery, an early 19^th century Pioneer cemetery located near Springfield, Illinois. When the Cross family farm was sold in 1847, the appraisal of the land indicated the presence of 20 acres of corn and some oats. An analysis of the skeletons found on the Cross farm indicated that a main source of protein was fish, possibly from nearby Sugar Creek. Carbon isotope values for the Cross adults were compared with the Schild site Mississippians and they were found to be similar (Grauer, ed.,. 1995:151). This indicates that while both groups had adopted maize as their main crop they also harvested environmental resources such as wild berries, squash, deer, fish and water fowl, resulting in a similar diet.

The health of the Cross individuals was deemed to be poor but adequate. Cross family members suffered skeletal stress similar to those of the

Mississippians, including iron deficiency anemia, hypoplasia, and degenerative joint pathology (Grauer, ed., 1995). The cause of death is unknown concerning the Cross family remains but there were a variety of infectious diseases present in rural Illinois such as tuberculosis, typhoid fever, cholera, and malaria (Grauer, ed.. 1995:155). The current thinking is that the Cross family individuals possibly died from disease. The records of Alvin Cross’s Probate Records show that in March 1849, Alvin Cross became severely ill and, sensing death was near, ordered a coffin to be made ready for his burial. There is a slight contradiction in the literature regarding the death of Alvin Cross and the sale of the Cross Farm. The Cross family home was sold in 1847 and Alvin Cross died and was buried there in 1849. It is to be noted that disease was not the only hazard the Pioneers faced. Many descendants relayed stories of trampling by farm animals, prairie fires, and drowning (Gauer, ed.,1995: 143).

In general, disease was recorded in Pioneer Illinois as epidemic years such as the cholera years 1817–1823, 1826-1837, and 1849-1850. In 1833, cholera was reported in Carrollton, Illinois, which is in the area of study in Greene County (Buikstra et al. 2000:23). Other common diseases were typhoid, pneumonia, scarlet fever, and malaria (which was called the “pioneer shakes”) (Faragher 1986).

The Cross family and others presumed to be relatives were found in a family farm cemetery. The graves had been excavated when the cemetery was accidentally uncovered during land development. The Cross family was then moved to the Dickson Mounds museum for safe keeping and are currently awaiting reburial if family members claim them. The grave goods consisted of a few nails, nail fragments, wood fragments, and several coffin screws. Three individuals under the age of six were not interred in coffins, and only one infant showed evidence of having been buried in a burial garment with seed beads. Lack of grave goods may indicate limited resources or a custom of simple burial practices. It is interesting to note that beads are also a source of grave goods for Mississippian interments. Evidence of clothing was scarce, and only two adults had buttons counted among their grave goods. The 28 grave shafts revealed the interment of 11 adult and 18 juveniles. The 12 juveniles were represented by complete or partial skeletons. The remaining six contained no human remains due to lack of bone preservation. All 11 adult grave pits contained human remains (Grauer, ed.,1995:141-142).

A number of comparative studies of Mississippians and Early Pioneers have been done in the past. Buikstra et al. (2000) compared demographics of the following Pioneer cemeteries: Grafton, Cross, Highland Park, Cedar Grove, UxBridge, Dunning and Harvie. All are Pioneer cemeteries.

Larsen compared the Cross family Pioneer cemetery ratio of carbon stable isotopes with those of the Mississippian population at the Schild site. C⁴ photosynthetic pathways found in maize can be measured in bone samples. As noted above the comparison of the values of the Cross family and the Schild families were similar indicating Early Pioneers and Mississippians consumed about the same ratio of corn (Grauer, ed.,1995:150-151). There are several carbon pathways but the C⁴ pathway is specific to the question of maize in the diet. The analysis of ratios of C¹³ to C¹² in bone samples with a mass spectrometer and compared to a standard indicates the Cross family was

12.4 0/00 and the Schild Mississippians were 12.3 0/00. The average carbon ratio for C⁴ plants only is 12.5 0/00. The C⁴ plants are tropical grass, maize, millet and sugar cane.

Droessler’s investigation was concerned with interaction among Late Woodland and Mississippian populations in west-central Illinois, as reflected by inter-group biological relationships. Droessler’s study included the Schild site, which are the Mississippians individuals compared with the Early Pioneers in this study (Droessler 1981).

As noted, Goodman and Armelagos (1985) compared the skeletal remains of two groups of people: those who lived before the development of maize, the Late Woodland; and those who developed maize agriculture, the Mississippians. These results of the maize consumption of the Mississippians gave this study its base timeline of Native Americans to compare with the Early Pioneers.

Goldstein (1980) compared the spatial organization of the Moss and Schild site interments, both Mississippian sites. This study detailed the position of the Schild villages and cemeteries, lending valuable background information on the life of the Mississippians at the Schild site.

Perino compared Cahokia and other sites northward along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers with the Schild site to better understand how the Mississippian culture developed (Perino 1971:140). This comparison gave this study its overall view of the Mississippians as an entire culture and a better understanding of why the Schild site was occupied. The Mississippian culture compared nicely to the development of settlements of the Early Pioneers 735 years later in which the settlements Carrolton, White Hall, Greenfield and Roodhouse (refer back to Figure 8) developed along the Illinois River.

The objective of this Illinois River Demographic Study in Greene County, Illinois, is to compare the documented Mississippian mortality distribution with the mortality distribution of the early Pioneers to see if they are similar or different. Pioneer interments located along the Illinois River in Greene County Illinois were recorded for this study, entered into a database, and compared with the Mississippian interments.

The hypothesis for this study is that the Mississippians and the early Pioneers in the Lower Illinois River Region in Greene County, Illinois, had similar mortality distributions because they both had to survive in the same environment and both had developed corn as the primary food crop. This research paper discusses the differences and similarities in the mortality distribution of the people and gives a brief overview of the differences and similarities in the use of the environment they lived in. This research is placed in the domain of osteoarchaeology/ demographic anthropology.

1. Locate the Pioneer cemeteries in Greene County, Illinois and review the literature on cemeteries located in the Greene County Historical Society Records and select those to be studied.

2. Examine the literature related to the Mississippian Schild site located in Greene County.

3. Develop a common data form that can be used to record all burial information for each Mississippian and Pioneer interment selected.

4. Provide pictorial documentation of inscriptions and antiquities that personalize the early Pioneer individual interred.

5. Provide pictorial documentation of inscriptions and antiquities that personalize the Mississippian individual interred.

6. Compare and contrast how the similar environment which includes the topography, climate, fauna, and flora these people lived in might have offered them a similar mortality distribution based on the information from the first two objectives which required study of the Pioneers and Mississippians.

7. Present a statistical comparison of the Schild site mortality distribution with the Pioneer cemetery mortality distribution.

The Schild Mississippian and early Pioneer compared in this study are 730 years apart. New approaches to research are needed that increase the capacity to interpret the remains of past cultures (Droessler 1981). It is necessary to develop and test hypotheses that explain observed relationships within and between human biology and other disciplines (Droessler 1981). This study has crossed into several other spheres of interest, for example genealogy, history, math, botany, geology, scholastics Native American interest groups, and engineering just to mention a few and all can interpret and use the data provided by this study.

There are four main reasons for doing this study. The first is to ascertain in a comparative demographic study if there is any similarity between mortality distributions of two different cultural groups who occupied the same geographic area 730 years apart. The cultures were different, the people were different, the lifeways were different but the environment was the same so survival was the great equalizer.

The second is to create a study that uses the same criteria to evaluate the Mississippians and the Pioneers, thereby bridging the gap of what is now termed pre-historic and historic. The current thinking is a then and now division but in actual fact passing from pre-historic to historic was a step by step change. There was a passing of blended lifeways from generation to generation that has involved all people.

The third reason is to preserve this historic information for future generations. Pauketat expands on this idea when he discusses theoretical developments in archaeology. Most specifically we must have an acceptance of alternative, more humanistic theories to explain human history (2004: 22).This study has been designed to present scientific data and also acknowledge the small things that make us human, the beads on a small garment, loving epitaphs on tombstones, a small bowl buried with a child or a pipe buried with an old man. The reader can then relate past individual lives with their own life experiences.

The fourth reason is to incorporate the Illinois River Demographic Study into the curriculum of Lincoln College, Lincoln, Illinois, to teach the scientific method and to inspire students to preserve and record history and to understand the meaning of their results. This is a great opportunity to have college students not only do their own research and recording but to have the information they preserve used as a resource for future generations.

My purpose for choosing this study is an interest in skeletal material research and teaching and the opportunity to combine these interests into one study.

This thesis is an accumulation of my education, my interests, and my desire to do something worthwhile in my life and teach it to others. I graduated from Millikin University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology Education. My teaching assignments have centered on Biology, Anatomy/Physiology and Botany but have also included Environmental Biology, Algebra, Pre-Algebra, Zoology, General Science and Physical Science. I had begun accumulating graduate hours toward a Masters Degree in Biology from Western Illinois and to my credit had a paper, “Is Guaiacum sanctum Effective Against Arthritis? An Ethnobotany Case” by Eric Ribbens, Barbra Burdett, and Angela Green, published.

Fate intervened when I was offered a position at Lincoln College and moved to Lincoln Illinois. I started a new career path in Physical Anthropology-Biological & Physiological with the INO Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

There were three reasons for choosing the INO program. The main reason was that it is perfectly suited for working adults. The second was that I could incorporate Biology and Anatomy/Physiology courses into my degree path to satisfy the two main classes I teach. The third reason is that after teaching Anatomy for many years I had developed a “forensic style” of teaching my students to recognize and name skeletal systems. I wanted to take this “interest” a step further and complete a degree from Chicago University for Forensic Anthropology. To do this I needed the Anthropology courses.

A few weeks into my first class, using the text “Ancient North America-The Archaeology of a Continent” by Brian M. Fagan, with Dr. Martin at the Illinois State Museum was astonishing and fabulous. It was a door that opened to a new and fascinating area of study.

I found ALL my classes at U. of I. new and exciting and this rewarding experience has cumulated into new and interesting labs and lectures for my Biology students and a new course of Physical Anthropology which has included my students into the Illinois River Demographic Study comparing the Mississippians and the early Pioneers. I haven’t just attained my dream I have begun a new worthwhile journey.

In order to compile a comparative database on Mississippian and early Pioneer populations in Greene County, data on age at death was recorded for 291 individuals in each time period. Information was also collected on grave goods, with the goal of procuring a useful record of the interments.

The time period considered in this thesis is A.D. 1065 for the Mississippian interments who were buried in the Schild site cemetery listed in cemetery appendix HH. The date A. D. 1065 is the average of the radiocarbon dates for sample M-1393 from Knoll B which was A. D. 930+/-110 years ago and a sample M-1394-A from Knoll A of 1200+/- 110 years ago. The deciding factor that resulted in taking the average of these two dates was the Ramey Incised and Powell Plain pottery which was still being made at the Schild site (Perino 1971: 135 and 136, O’Brien, letter to author, appendix C). The interments to be considered for the Pioneers includes only those whose grave stone indicates they died in the 1800's and were buried in the cemeteries also listed in Cemetery Appendix HH. There is a gap of approximately 735 years between Mississippian occupation and an established Pioneer occupation of the area. Davis (1998) feels the Mississippian decline began in Illinois about A.D.1050 and accelerated in A.D.1150. The Mississippians were gone by about A.D.1400. Carrollton was the first town settled in Greene County, Illinois, in the year 1821. Other Indian groups occupied Illinois during A.D. 1400 to A.D. 1821, but the Mississippians were the first established group of agricultural people and that is why they were chosen for this study.

In order to apply a comparable method to the gravestones, the categories for the age of each individual were adopted as determined by Della Cook and Lynne Goldstein in a study of the mortality rates of the Schild site individuals (Goldstein 1980:54; Droessler 1981:46). Table 2 lists the age classifications used for the Schild site with one difference. The category of still born/live born has replaced the original data in Goldstein’s book of fetal/neonate/birth. The sex determinant categories were not used in this study because the author was interested in the mortality of the population as a whole. In addition, the sex ratio for the Schild site individuals has been recorded by Della Cook and the results were found to be unremarkable. The ratio of male and female interments is equal in all categories (Cook, personal interview). The data for the early Pioneers has been preserved and sex determination categories can later be added to this study or used by other researchers (refer to appendixes G, M, P, S, V, Y,BB, and GG for original data sheets of each individual). These categories were adopted for the clarification of Pioneer interments in order to compare the two groups statistically. Historical tombstones commonly include the persons name and the age at birth and death, and the graves seldom include grave goods used in life. The Native American interments do not give the name, the age of birth and death and the graves do contain grave goods used in life. This study has taken these differences into account and has designed charts to accommodate information from both life ways and put them in a unified format.

Table 2.The age categories as determined by Della Cook, Indiana University (Goldstein 1980).

The Schild site (Mississippian) is on the property of Mr. Bob Schild of Eldred, Illinois; Eldred is one of the small villages mentioned before. In addition to the Mississippian Schild site being located on his property there are two Pioneer cemeteries located on his property. They are Dayton and Clark. Mr. Schild is on the Cemetery Board for Dayton Cemetery.

The Schild site is noteworthy not only because of a new type of vessel found there, named the Schild Plain vessel, but because there are two burial patterns there, Late Woodland and Mississippian. (This study only considered the Mississippian interments located on Mound A and Mound B.)

The other Pioneer cemeteries chosen for this study of the hundred or more cemeteries available in Greene County were chosen for a variety of reasons. Dayton cemetery is located on the Schild village site; Clark is a small family cemetery nearby with only three interments, they all died in the 1800’s. Varble, mentioned before, was chosen because it was an abandoned Pioneer cemetery. It was used primarily to develop methods.

Busch cemetery was chosen because it is a Pioneer cemetery that is being cared for. Mulberry cemetery was chosen because it was a well organized cemetery and was perfect for student study. Admire cemetery was recorded as an example of what appears to be a destroyed Pioneer cemetery. Bushnell cemetery was recorded last semester by my students as their field study and their information has been typed and added to the demographic data recorded in this paper. Eldred was the last cemetery recorded for this study and was completed by myself and a student. Figure 10 indicates the location of the cemeteries in Greene County, Illinois.

Figure 10. The area labeled Greene County on the map above shows the area along the Illinois River where all nine cemeteries were studied.

There were many factors to consider in the selection of Pioneer Cemeteries. Size was a significant factor because when the grid is in place the cemetery must be read while someone is in the field. The grid ropes present a hazard to people who wish to visit the cemetery. Another factor to consider was its accessibility to the road. The equipment is heavy and awkward and there is a lot of it to carry to the field. Another factor is whether the cemetery contains interments earlier than 1900. Many were found that do not. Permission to enter the cemeteries was another factor. Some are fenced and have locked gates and it is difficult to find the contact person to ask permission to study the headstones.

The cemeteries for this study were selected after permission was gained for the first cemetery called, Varble. While reading Varble cemetery, individuals would stop out of curiosity and then tell me of other cemeteries. Mr. Wolfley, President of the Historical Society, was of course the main source for available cemeteries in the area. Often he would talk to the land owners first and then arrangements would be made to talk to them and confirm permission was given to be on their land. For this study, 8 cemeteries were chosen as listed in Table 3. Of the 8 selected, 1, 089 interments were documented and 295 interments were early Pioneer. The decision was made early in this study to document all the interments and other artifacts such as posts and fences within the study area. The reason for this decision was to give an accurate record of each cemetery as it stood in the year studied. Many artifacts such as fences and plot posts are being removed to make mowing easier. This is understandable because many old cemeteries are cared for on a volunteer basis and the author has met many individuals who are giving up week-ends or holidays to care for and preserve these Pioneer cemeteries.

A very big plus that came out of this decision to document all the interments and artifacts in the area is that all the interments for the 1900’s have also been recorded, and can eventually be added to this study or used by another researcher. Because there were only 291 Mississippians, the last four early Pioneer Interments were not counted in this study, bringing the total of early Pioneers to 291.

Table 3. Totals of Pioneer cemeteries, number of interments recorded and number of Early Pioneer interments.

The Schild Mississippian site was suggested by Dr. Michael Wiant during an initial interview early in the stages of the project. It became the corner stone for all the research methods developed to compare the mortality rates between the Mississippians and the Early Pioneers. This cemetery consisted of three sites. One site was Late Woodland, and the other two were Mississippian interments, Knoll A and Knoll B. All of the Mississippian interments represented were considered for this study.

The Early Pioneers created headstones with age inscriptions engraved on the front. For example:

This type of inscription was fine if the age of the person was legible. One of the problems with this type of inscription is that the stone sinks into the ground over time and the age is often covered. Another problem is that the stone with the inscription easily breaks away from the base and when it is repaired the age is often obliterated. Modern day mowing equipment very often makes a ridge across the front of the stone and it breaks at that ridge which is often at the place where the age of the person is located. Having only the age the person died leaves them in the category of Indeterminate because we know they died in the 1800’s, but that is all we know.

Another problem with age on the headstones was the condition of the stone. Many were hard to read especially certain letters or numbers such as a C and G. Many times the little ledge of the “G” was worn away. The number 4 is also confused with the number 1. A lot of confusion was due to the inconsistent depth of the letters and numbers used by the engravers. The down stroke of the 4 is very deep but the v shaped part of the 4 is very light. In the number 8, the s stroke is very heavy but the backward s connection is very light, making it look like a 3 or a 6.

Headstones with no names were common on statues of lambs or on small stones. Very often all that was inscribed was “INFANT”. The question that arises is, why doesn’t the infant have a name? It is possible that these graves are children that did not reach full term and the sex of the individual was not apparent. It is also possible that the infant was stillborn or was not full term and the tradition of burial was a lamb with just the word infant engraved on it for these deaths. Another speculation is that these are graves of children whose parents could not afford an elaborate inscription. The spatial relationship of these “Infant” stones within the cemetery would be an interesting study.

There isn’t any information concerning how many Early Pioneers could not afford headstones at all. An interesting observation of these cemeteries is that before a stone was erected, a tablet with the presumed initials of the person was placed at the burial site. All tablets were recorded as individuals because even though many had the initials of a nearby headstone, it is also impossible to know how many individuals only had a tablet that served as a headstone. This study did not presume to know which headstone was intended to go with which tablet. This worked well. Because the lack of birth and death date on any tablet, they could never become part of the age categories and so would not skew the results.

In this study, each artifact was taken at face value. It was not compared to any stones nearby or any available literature from the Historical Society. The purpose of this was to avoid bias. The method was simple, this is what is seen, this is what is recorded, and this is the photograph. Inferences can be made by anyone who studies the data as to who the person was related to, what the missing data could be, and the identity of faded letters and numbers on the headstones.

Goldstein does not provide a detailed explanation of age determining methods for describing the Schild Site skeletons, only that the age and sex determination for each individual was determined by Della Cook and students at Indiana University (Goldstein 1980:54). Another article by Cheryl Munson also cites Della Cook as the person who performed all the osteological analysis for the burials at Hovey Lake, another late Mississippian site in Posey County, Indiana. Within the same article, Cook’s forensic experience is noted and the Hovey Lake Mississippians age at death are compared and contrasted with the Schild Site Mississippians and Moundville in Alabama (2001).

With this in mind we turn to Ariane Kemkes-Grottenthaler’s article, “Aging through the ages: historical perspectives on age indicator methods” (2002). This article identifies most frequently used age indicators as: dental attrition, sternal rib end, auricular surfaces, pubic symphysis, (ecto)cranial sutures, proximal humerus, proximal femur and bone histology. This author has visited Dr. Cook’s lab and was graciously invited to see the notes kept on the Schild individuals and careful osteological measurements have been made and charted. In addition there is space for the results of new methods and technological advancements to be recorded, such as DNA studies. The study of the Schild Individuals is on going under the direction of Della Cook at Indiana University.

The majority of sub-adolescent individuals in the Schild series were aged by Della Cook. Estimates of age for the Schild site were completed by Judith Droessler (Droessler 1981: 45). The reliability of age estimates decreases significantly as age increases in adulthood (Droessler 1981:46; Della Cook, personal interview). In general, adult mortality patterns indicate that the highest frequency of adult deaths in prehistoric Americans occur in the 20–34 year age category (Droessler 1981 citing D. C. Cook 1974:6). Trauma related to childbirth was likely a frequent cause of death among young females, and possible causes of death among young males include hazardous activity patterns and warfare (Droessler 1981). Interestingly, the ratio of male to female mortality in the young adult category of the Schild Mississippians in Droessler’s study was equal (Droessler 1981: 53).

Further, age standards have been developed largely on the basis of data from modern, Caucasian cadaver series. This aging process is population–specific, and application of these standards to prehistoric American Indians involves an unknown degree of error (Droessler 1981: 46).

An 8 ft x 8 ft grid was laid out, and locations of all items were marked by a card. Data collection was carried out using prepared forms, and all headstones were photographed.

A general highway map of Greene County, Illinois, an index to topographical maps, and quadrangle maps of Kampsville, Hardin, Boyer Creek, and Carrolton were useful in locating cemeteries. A land atlas/plat book for Greene County made available by the Greene County Farm Bureau was useful in locating the land owners with cemeteries on their property.

Equipment used were 3x5 cards inscribed with numbers in consecutive sequence and labeled with the date and the name of the cemetery. When the grid was laid out, each headstone and/or artifact was noted with a card. The purpose of the card is to provide an accurate record of when and where each picture was taken and when and where the data were collected. It also assigns each individual or artifact a number. The cards were the last item picked up from the field, counted and stored with the other original field notes. The only problem with using the cards is the wind. Many methods of holding the cards in place were tried but the best way to get around this problem is to avoid reading the cemeteries on a windy or rainy day. Putting them down one at a time and having to pick them up again or having them blow away causes great confusion even if you are the only person in the field. The headstones are not often laid out in orderly rows and many that are buried or broken are in between stones and/or set beside them, making it difficult to remember where the last card was placed.

The grid ropes can be set out in many ways. Sometimes a transit was used, and sometimes a simple compass gave the corners to start the grid. The orientation for the grids was dependent upon the access to the cemetery. If the cemetery was along the road the first grid rope was placed parallel to the road. The reason for this decision was that visitors to the cemeteries could orient themselves and the stone they were looking for using the road. If the cemetery was off the road and in the woods or where there were obstacles, the grid was set up in the path of least resistance. Clothesline rope worked best for a grid, and flat garden stakes were easy to put in the ground and did not make large holes. There are many objects to go around and over, and the clothesline cotton ropes did not cause any damage and didn’t tangle. This author used permanent knots at 8 ft intervals on the perimeter ropes with numbered and lettered cattle ear tags attached to them. Other ropes were in 8ft sections and were easy to put in place once the stakes were set out throughout the study area.

Once the grid was set up, flags were set out for stones that were partially buried and the cards were set out by each headstone and artifact. A large grid paper with 8x8 squares was then used to record where each item in the study area was in relation to each other and to obvious land marks such as roads.

Pencils with clip boards and blank data sheets attached were used to record the data (see Figure 11).

Illinois River Demographic Study of Mississippians and Early Pioneers, -2004.

Principal Investigator: Barbra Burdett - Lincoln College: Lincoln, Illinois. Varble. Greene County, Illinois.

Figure 11. This blank data sheet includes a space for students to write in their names as the person who collected the data.

Most stones had to be cleared of dust, and aluminum foil was placed over the inscription and brushed lightly with a soft paint roller until the letters and words were apparent. Sometimes spades were used to dig carefully around the base of the stones to reveal information, and sometimes brushes were used to clean off the soil. These methods are the least invasive and leave the cemetery as it was found. When the stone is ready, it is photographed with a camera. The author used a Canon 35 mm SLR and had all film processed at Walgreens in Lincoln, Illinois.

Data sheets were typed for each individual or artifact. The film was developed and compared to this information for accuracy. It was very interesting to find that when the pictures were developed they could be put under a magnifying lamp and details missed in the field would show up very well. The pictures are a great addition to this study because a lot is going on in the field and people can be rushed because of time frames or the light can be poor for reading the stones or the weather can suddenly change, causing everyone to rush. There is also the consideration that some people are much better at reading the old script type on cemetery stones than others, and when working with students they are just learning the process. The camera gives them a chance to review their data with others and make necessary changes on the final typed copies that we use as our data base. It also gives the instructor a way to check all work before the typed copies are accepted. In the Illinois River Study, the author has checked all data and edited data where necessary to maintain consistency. Figures 12, 13, and 14 are examples of the information available for each Pioneer interment.

Illinois River Demographic Study of Mississippians and Early Pioneers, 2004.

Figure 13. Picture example for Pioneer cemetery, Varble. (Pictures for Varble cemetery are available from the Greene County Historical Society, Greene County, Illinois).

Note: The grid indicates the position of the stones observed in approximate relationship to one another. In the field, each grid square was 8 feet by 8 feet.

One cemetery not included in this study is in a small fenced-in enclosure full of evergreens. The light was very poor for reading stones and the camera flash added just the light needed for good pictures. In another cemetery the stone face was in an evergreen and in places there was only room to push the camera in and wait for the picture to verify data that could barely be made out through the tangle of branches.

For the Schild site, existing pictures of artifacts were used, such as a picture of a shell spoon. Then a grid sheet showing the location of each numbered individual was added to the data. Figures 15, 16, and 17 are examples of the information available for each Mississippian interment.

Figure 15. The information for the burial and the age of the individual was obtained from the June 1976 Dissertation by Lynne Gail Goldstein (pathologies compiled by Della Cook) and from the original field study done by Gregory Perino in 1962.

Principal Investigator: Barbra Burdett – Lincoln College: Lincoln, Illinois. N

The Mississippian site data and the Pioneer data were kept separate until the number of early Pioneers equaled the number of Mississippians then a statistical analysis was completed to compare mortality distributions.

The original field notes, the typed field notes, the original grid, the typed grid, and the original photographs all compiled into 3-ring notebooks are in the possession of the author. The copies of the compiled notebooks are located at the Green County Historical Society in Greene County Illinois.

The quantitative data has followed all the requirements for a chi-square analysis (Connor-Linton 2003).

1. The data was drawn from the population of Mississippians along the Illinois River-291 individuals, and the data was randomly drawn from the population of Early Pioneers-291 individuals in the same area along the Illinois River. Total sample size is 582 individuals.

3. Measured variables must be independent. Each observation is counted only once. In some kinds of analysis there may be an “uncodable” category. This study included independent age categories and an uncodable “Indeterminate” age category.

4. Categories on independent and dependent variable must be mutually exclusive and exhaustive. No category is dependent upon or influenced by another.

5. Observed frequencies cannot be too small. Frequencies cannot be negative or close to zero. Connor-Linton suggests an observed frequency of 5 or below is not appropriate for chi-square analysis (2003)

The statistical method used for this study was chi-square (suggested by Della Cook, personal interview). The chi-square method was used because it provides the best comparison for the data used in this study. The question being asked in this paper is, “are the age categories the same for the Mississippian as for the early Pioneers?” Putting the results in a bar graph gave a good visual comparison but this data must be then statistically analyzed to see if the results are due to chance alone or some other factor (Cooper and Mertens 1974:78).

The demographic structure of the skeletal series should reflect the general pattern of human mortuary experience. Human populations typically have a “U” shaped mortality profile (Droessler 1981:47; Cook, personal interview). The lowest probability of death is during or just prior to adolescence (Droessler 1981).

Figure 19. The bar graph above presents the results of the Illinois River Demographic Study in Greene County, Illinois.

Results of determinations of age at death for the Mississippian and Pioneer sample are shown in figure 19. The graph indicates an expected fairly “U” shaped distribution of mortality rates for both populations and shows all categories including 32 Mississippians and 17 early Pioneer individuals of indeterminate age.

For significance at the .05 level, chi-square should be greater than or equal to 14.07.

Figure 20. The Chi–Square calculations for all categories (Conner-Linton 2003).

The calculations in figure 20 show that for all age categories, including individuals for whom age could not be determined, the data are not statistically significant at the < .05 level but are significant at the < .10 level.

Indeterminate is classified as an “uncodable” category which means that we do not know the age of death of these individuals. This category is necessary in order to acknowledge unknowns but is not relevant to our study and we are allowed to omit this category. In the case of the Pioneers, the information indicates the death occurred in the 1800’s but no date is given for birth. In the case of the Mississippians the skeletal remains are fragmented or in such a state of decomposition that age is impossible to estimate.

There are two other age categories that have too much bias to be considered in this study. In the case of the Mississippians the skeletons of still/live born individuals are fragile and incompletely formed. Skulls are not fused and the bones are so small that they are often unnoticed or lost over time and the early Pioneers did not always record the age of infant deaths.

The other category that contains too much bias to be considered in this study is old adults. Old adults are difficult to age due to the susceptibility of remains to decay because of bone mineral depletion. Figure 19 appears to show more “old adult” individuals among early Pioneers than Mississippians. This age category may not represent the true statistics of how many Mississippians actually survived into old age. This author feels that many Mississippians who have been placed in the Indeterminate age group could possibly be placed in the old adult group. The reason for this is that 23 interments in the indeterminate classification were labeled adult but were not given a classification of years.

Figure 21. Categories have been combined into juvenile, adolescent, and adult.

Figure 21 shows the same mortality distributions combined into three major categories of data, as suggested by Della Cook in a personal interview. Infant and child have been combined as “juveniles”, adolescents remain one group, and young adult and middle adult have been combined into “adult”. The categories “still born/live born” and “old adult” have been omitted from the analysis. The graph indicates the expected “U” shaped distribution of mortality rates for both populations and show all relevant categories where age has been determined (Droessler 1981: 52,47).

For significance at the .05 level, chi-square should be greater than or equal to 5.99.

Figure 22. The chi–Square results after the categories have been combined.

The calculations in Figure 22 show that for combined categories, the data are not statistically significant at the > .05 level but are significant at the > 1.0 level.

In conclusion, Figure 20 showing all categories, results in a probability of the sample deviation being less than a 10% but greater than 5% due to chance alone and therefore not being statistically significant at the less than 5% level.

Figure 22 showing combined categories that can be used to evaluate this study results in the probability being less than 100% but greater than 99% due to chance alone and is not statistically significant.

These results indicate that eliminating categories does increase the probability of deviation being due to chance alone, however all of the results in the study still hold true to the null hypothesis.

There are several possible sources of error affecting this study: unknown information concerning individuals who died in battle outside the study area; deaths due to accident, disease, and congenital defects which could have affected one population but not the other; emigration and immigration from the area; and graves in the area that have not been found or are unmarked or with the remains in such a state that reading them is impossible. In the case of the Mississippians this latter source of error would be skeletal remains and in the case of the Pioneers this would be headstone remains. There is also the margin for human error in regards to sexing and aging the individual: Pioneer stones could have been moved on occasion leaving the individual not at the site indicated, and the sex of the person cannot always be interpreted correctly by the name or initials given; Mississippian skeletal remains could also have been misidentified.

Pioneer stones may have been moved, destroyed, disintegrated, or originally made of wood which has rotted away over the years. Stones could have been used from the landscape without inscriptions put on them at all, or an inscription could have been hard to notice, such as the one in Varble cemetery. Initially, this artifact was recorded as “stone,” but when the pictures were developed it clearly showed an “X” had been inscribed on it. There are several possibilities for this burial. Not all early Pioneers could read and write, some were too poor to afford a stone, or perhaps they were passing through the area and stopped to bury someone. There are two stones in a front yard in Greene County that are simple slabs of rock. These are understood to be the graves of two people buried by people passing through the area. The story has not been proven, however it does give credence to the idea that at times travelers may have been interred in places other than cemeteries (see Figure 23).

Figure 23. Individual 19 found in Varble Cemetery is located at the grid coordinates D-5.

Uneven documentation of historical graveyards is a common source of error. Documents at the Greene County Historical Society show that some stones were recorded by family members while others in the same cemetery were not recorded. In addition, stones in the same cemetery have been recorded in different years, causing a breakdown of continuity in data collecting.

The first early Pioneer cemetery chosen to study was Varble. The cemetery was abandoned, overgrown, and had not been recorded. A few relatives had recorded some information from a few stones and that was all the information there was. In the course of the field study, information was given by a local resident that some of the stones may have been removed long ago and put in a smoke house which later burned and the remains of the building and stones were buried in a hole where the smoke house once stood.

Older people and babies may not have stones. In the Sugar Creek area, genealogists ignored terminated pregnancies and even deaths in their family charts. There is no precise way of measuring infant and fetal mortality. But contemporary patterns suggest that at least 50 miscarriages and stillbirths and from 150 to 250 infant deaths occurred for every 1000 live births in the early Pioneers (Faragher 1995). Lillian Schlissel (1982:82) found another surprising detail in her chronicles of women’s diaries. There is little revealed in the diaries about the care of infants and small children. Schlissel believes that the children were part of that private world that women committed to oral exchange along with information about menstruation, marriage, and pregnancy and childbirth. This societal silence could be hiding a great deal of data. In the case of older people, it is possible no one was left to memorialize them. There have been stones where the date of birth for an individual’s spouse was given, but no death date was given. It could have been neglected, or the person may have never been buried there. Young men may be buried someplace else, there were many military stones in the cemeteries in this study but history tell us not all soldiers are sent home. Cemeteries are a culture and the position the individual holds in life dictates their place in a cemetery (Della Cook, personal interview).

The mortality rate in childhood and of women during child-bearing years is known to be high. Illinois did not keep statistics on mortality before the late nineteenth century, but available contemporary statistics suggest that for every thousand live births, five to ten mothers perished, a rate compatible with the incident of death among women of childbearing age in Sugar Creek

(Faragher 1993). Stones do not make note of a fetus or an expectant female, leaving this category unrecorded.

There were three points of data most useful to this study when justifying the comparison of the Mississippians and the early Pioneers: the age at which a person died; diseases or aspects of life style that influenced the duration of a normal life span; and the characteristics of the environment (topography, climate, fauna, flora) that determine the sources and style of obtaining nutrition and comfort from the elements.

In addition to these three points, there is inferred information on Mississippian lifeways and written and oral history of the Pioneers of Greene County. For example, in his book Frontier Illinois, Davis mentions that in 1841 a Circus came to Carrolton Illinois (1998:393). There must have been well traveled roads, the people must have had leisure time, and they must have had a “gathering” place to view the circus. Community identities and cultural constructions always involve the filtering of individual memories through collective gatherings and performances. Inevitably the memories of some are given greater weight or emphasis than others (Pauketat 2004:47). Whose memories will define social experiences and whose will not? (Pauketat 2004: 47).

The Mississippians left behind discoidals, also called chunkey stones that were believed to have been part of a game played on hard packed dirt courts (Perino 1962:112). The Mississippians had leisure time and played an active outside game for which the discoidals were used.

An example of early transportation came from a resident, Gerald Wolfley, of the area (personal interview.1 Dec. 2004). Gerald Wolfley said that there used to be a train station down by the Kampsville Ferry and it was possible to buy a train ticket for a calf and put the animal on the train to go to market in St. Louis. This information indicates that there were trains used for transportation early in the history of Greene County.

Gregory Perino found disc beads made from conch shells, (Perino 1962:100-103) among the Mississippian grave goods. These beads reflect the changes in transportation and trade that developed during the Mississippian Period. The inference is that one of the Mississippians methods of transportation was the waterways.

The conclusion of this brief comparison of information on the lifeways of the Mississippians and Pioneers is that in the broader sense the lifeways were similar. Games were played, crops were grown, children were raised, individuals traveled, and their dead were mourned. Life expectancy may be improved over time but is the quality of life? If it were not for modern medicine would the life expectancy of the Mississippians still be comparable to ours?

The hypothesis for this thesis stated that the Mississippians and the early Pioneers in the Lower Illinois River Region in Greene County Illinois had similar mortality distributions because they both had to survive the same environment and both had developed corn as the primary food crop.

Combining the mortality data for two groups of individuals who lived 730 years apart, one group leaving a written record and one group not, has challenged this author to evaluate which mortality distributions can be deemed valid enough to be statistically combined to test this hypothesis.

The conclusion for this study is that the mortality distributions for infants, children, adolescents, young adult and middle adult for the Mississippians are the same as the mortality distributions for the early Pioneers in these same categories.

The statistical analysis provides strong support for the null hypothesis for these individuals and in fact gives credence to the statement that the Mississippians and the early Pioneers did have similar mortality distributions.

At this time the author cannot commit to evaluation of the mortality distribution in the omitted categories. The literature agrees that one of the two areas neglected most by demographic historians is North American Indians, and that the demographic sources for these populations are considerably worse than for Pioneer populations so at this time the author is not comfortable with the results for the Mississippians (Vinovskis, Maris A. 1978:608).

The author intends to continue collecting data along the Illinois River in the same format as presented in this thesis maintaining continuity while increasing the population size. These stages of analysis as well as the conclusions will be preserved for new methods that will be developed in the future. Paleodemography is still an inexact art, and there are still important discoveries to be made in the process of determining the age and sex of individual skeletal remains (Baker and Sanders 1972: 159). At this time there is no standard methodology for carrying out studies of populations, contemporary or skeletal and we must conclude that the complete answer to this thesis question must wait.

The text book: Images of the Past (Price 2001) was chosen as an Introductory Anthropology course for Lincoln College. In the spring of 2003 the class began with seven students. In the first field study, the students visited the Koster site and the Kampsville Center for Archaeology in Greene County. Figure 24 is a view of the Koster site as it is today and Figure 25 shows the Lincoln College students entering the Kampsville museum. Figure 26 shows the Lincoln College students after a presentation of the area by a member of area archeology by a member of the Kampsville Center staff.

Figure 24. The Koster Site as it looks today, 2003. The original site was located to the left of the old brick structure. Greene County, Illinois.

Figure 26 Students after a presentation at the Kampsville Center for Archaeology. 2003.

In Fall of 2004, five students enrolled in the anthropology course and were included in the study in Greene County, Illinois. They successfully put up a grid and recorded 20 stones in Mulberry cemetery. Figure 27 shows students hard at work trying to free a stone from tree roots in an effort to record the data. They were successful and their careful work resulted in the stone being photographed, the data collected and the stone being returned to its original resting site.

Figure 27. Students have discovered and uncovered a stone that was buried deep in the ground and was held by a root system. Left to right, Jody B. Stenitzer and Jordan Johnson. Greene County, Illinois, 2004.

In Spring of 2005, the class of six students and 2 former students successfully mapped and recorded the entire Bushnell cemetery. (see appendices W, X, and Y. and Figure 28.)

Figure 28 Students have gathered in front of the Olive Garden Restaurant for a group picture and a presentation of their work. Left to right David Appleman, Maxine Schlea, Jordan Johnson, Chris Rivera, Liz Adametz, Dustin Gordon, Mrs. Burdett, Chamario Dickerson and Rich Ennis. Springfield, Illinois, 2005.

In Spring of 2006 the class increased to 12 students (see Figures 29-33).These students are the first group to continue the Illinois River Demographic Study beyond the scope of this thesis. Their Pioneer data from cemeteries Fry and Mills will be added to the original thesis data.

Figure 29. Student is setting up the grid rope for Fry cemetery, Greene County, Illinois, 2006.

In Figure 29, student Money Grant is using a transit to set up the grid line under the watchful eye of Engineer Gary Burdett.

Figure 30. Fry cemetery needed extensive clearing before the stones could be found. Greene County, Illinois, 2006.

In Figure 30 students have begun the process of clearing the cemetery while watching carefully for stones.

Figure 31. The grid lines had to be set up outside the cemetery fence. Greene County, Illinois, 2006.

In Figure 31 students Danasha Griffin and Brandon Alexander work to set up the grid. The grid was difficult to set up for Fry cemetery because the cemetery was located in the field and had a fence around it and was very overgrown. Also around the perimeter were many field stones that had been pushed up close to the cemetery fence.

Figure 32. Students found stones beneath the grass in Fry cemetery. Greene County, Illinois, 2006.

In Figure 32, students Catharine Clark and Tyrone Willis came across several buried stones and carefully examined each one. None were found to have an inscription of any kind. Simple excavation methods are used for buried stones. The soil and vegetation is removed from around the stone or stones, they are photographed and set aside if possible, until all stones are exposed by layers and photographed. After all information is documented the stones, soil and vegetation is set back in the ground and left as it was found.

Figure 33. Students pose for a picture that will be added to the notebooks donated to the Historical Society. Greene County, Illinois, 2006.

Figure 33 shows students, Money Grant, Tyrone Willis, Danasha Griffin Catharine Clark, Lizzie Van Housen, Chris Agate, Spencer Greenberg, Malcom Collins, Brandon Alexander, Colleen Kabbes, Cassidy Young, Kevin Petzold, and Tyler Burton. Lincoln College students that participated in the Spring 2006 Illinois River Study and contributed information from the Mills and Fry cemetery that will be added to this study along with another group of Mississippians in the same area.

The importance of the additional information this semester class collected is twofold. The number of Lincoln College students involved in preserving history has increased and their data has increased the sample size for the Illinois River Study.

Factors considered as a benefit to Lincoln College and noted by Droessler (1981) as key factors to be considered when selecting an area for long term archaeological research are:

2. Accessibility to cooperating scientists. Kampsville is just across the river from Greene County.

3. Accessibility to supplies and equipment. So far, the supplies and equipment have been manageable with the small number of students through the school and donations. The school donates sack lunches and a bus, the author donates field supplies, dinners, and anthropology shirts and Gary Burdett lends his survey equipment and time.

In the process of collecting data and researching the Mississippian sites along the Illinois River, the students will become familiar with the concept of the scientific method, will become familiar with the people along the Illinois River learning some of their history, and making unexpected discoveries in the field, and above all will learn to work as a team. As one student, Danasha Griffin, said, “we started our study and finished it, it was a great sense of accomplishment.” Their work will be added to the original thesis database and their names recorded and their pictures added to the collection at the Greene County Historical Society in Carrollton, Illinois.

4. Cost of maintaining students in the field has been manageable through the school and donations.

5. Ability to maintain continuity in the field program. So far, the study has maintained continuity in the field and the classroom. The integrity of the study has been maintained. Each semester a cemetery is recorded and each semester the students present themselves well and their work is cherished and appreciated by the people of Greene County.

6. Availability of information. The Historical Society generously donates information to the students, for example one student, Jody Stenitzer, found a burial of a relative on her maternal side. All the information related to that individual was copied and given to her. The President of the Historical Society, Gerald Wolfley, is always on site with the students to talk to them about the people and to point out interesting land marks.

7. Ease of transporting artifacts. In this study the artifacts are field notes and pictures. (Droessler 1981:xiii).

With respect to all these factors, the Illinois River is an ideal location for teaching demographic methods to college students.

Additionally, Pauketat (2004) believes that history is biased in its minimization of the significance of the American Indian accomplishments (Pauketat 2004:174). Only since the 1980’s have the Mississippians been included among the world civilizations and recognized in high school and college level texts (Pauketat 2004:174).

Most summers were spent in the chosen area of study in Greene County. Many people have helped with information and advice. The first investigative study for this thesis was based on the information at the Greene County Historical Society and the project was greatly supported by Gerald Wolfley, President of the Greene County Historical Society. Mr. Wolfley has been instrumental in assisting with developing the project to include Lincoln College students. He is also working with us as we try to develop copies to present to the Greene County Historical Society. The Greene County Historical Society has different approaches related to storing and recording data and each idea for this study requires first consulting with Mr. Wolfley so we can discuss the numerous questions we encounter while blending the two projects. His support is of monumental value in bridging the gap with people who have cemeteries on their land, the Historical Society, and Lincoln College Students.

Mr. Wolfley generously agreed to let the Greene County Historical Society become the center for the Illinois River Demographic Study, and the Historical Society will be housing all the research information from the study for future researchers and historians. Mr. Wolfley, the staff at the Historical Society, the people of Greene County, myself, and my students have all “pioneered” a new study of the past.

The importance of this study is to preserve the history of the early Pioneers and the Mississippians who lived in this area. In the past many of the archaeological research projects focused on the skeletal remains and artifacts as study objects. It is hoped that by combining the Mississippians and early Pioneers in this study that the Schild cemetery will be looked upon in the same light as the Pioneer cemeteries. With the advent of DNA Ancestry Projects such as “genebase” and the DNA testing currently being done on the Schild individuals at Indiana University it is hoped that one day all people can look through the archives of this study and find their ancestors all represented in the same format and under the same roof.

The Mississippian information together with the Pioneer information is located on the bookcases the Historical Society has set aside for the Illinois River Demographic Study. Figure 34 shows the interior of the Greene County Historical Society and figure 35 shows one of the many of the notebooks already presented to them.

data were stored in museums where they are safe, but the local people never get to see them. For example, some of the Schild site artifacts are located in the Gilcrease Intitute in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nothing remains of the site except a hill and a few people who remember where it is.

Figure 34 Picture taken at the Greene County Historical Society. In the foreground are some of the binders holding the data gathered in Greene County that were given to the Historical Society. From left to right: Bob Schild, Barbra Burdett, Jerry Wolfley.

The Illinois River Demographic Study is dedicated to keeping the information uncovered available to the Greene County Historical Society that first welcomed and encouraged this study.

Figure 35 A close up of the donated notebook for the Pioneer cemetery Bushnell.

The students enrolled in the Anthropology course at Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois, will continue the Demographic Study along the Illinois River comparing the Mississippians and the early Pioneers. As the data is collected, copies will be presented to the Greene County Historical Society, making the information gathered available to all. Mr. Wolfley, President of the Historical Society, has agreed that the Greene County Historical Society will be the repository of all the information gathered on this and all future studies connected with the Illinois River Demographic Study.

A web page documenting each semester’s efforts will be developed and maintained as the students’ progress along the Illinois River. It is hoped this study will eventually become part of the largest sample size of mortality distribution between the Mississippians and the early Pioneers along the Illinois River.

1972 Demographic Studies in Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology Vol.1:151-178.

1973 The Perrins Ledge Crematory. Reports of Investigations No.28.Springfield, Illinois State Museum.

2000 Never Anything So Solemn: An Archeological, Biological, and Historical Investigation of the Nineteenth-Century Grafton Cemetery: Kampsville Studies in Archeology and History, No 3.

2003 Chi Square Tutorial. Department of Linguistics, Georgetown University. Electronic. www.georgetown.edu/cball/webtools/web-chi-test.htm/ retrieved June, 2006.

1974 Probability and Chi-Square for Biology Students. 2^nd edition. Chicago: Educational Methods.

1976 Old Settlers Association of Greene County, Illinois Coda of the Deep Snow of 1830. Kane: Umphress Printing Company.

1996 Statistics for Archaeologists: A Common Sense Approach. New York: Plenum Press.

1981 Craniometry and Biological Distance: Bicultural Continuity and Change at the Late - Woodland - Mississippian Interface. Evanston: Northwestern University.

2000 Ancient North America: The Archaeology of a Continent. New York: Thames and Hudson.

1986 Sugar Creek: Life on the Illinois Prairie. New Haven: Yale University Press.

1995 French Peoria and the Illinois Country 1673-1846. Springfield: Illinois State Museum.

1976 Spatial Structure and Social Organization: Regional Manifestations of Mississippian Society. Ph. D. dissertation, Northwestern University.

1980 Mississippian Mortuary Practices: A Case Study of Two Cemeteries in the Lower Illinois Valley. Evanston: Northwestern University.

1995 Bodies of Evidence-Reconstructing History through Skeletal Analysis, pp.139-159. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

1980 The Prehistory of Dickson Mounds: The Dickson Excavation. Reports of Investigations No. 35 Springfield: Illinois State Museum.

2002 Aging through the ages: historical perspectives on age indicator methods. In Paleodemography: age distributions from skeletal samples. Robert D. Hoppa & James W. Vaupel, eds. Pp.48-72. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

France: Readex Micropient Corp. “English translation of a 1713 French original.”

1995 The term “perpetual care” takes on new meaning in the state’s oldest cemeteries. Springfield: Illinois Issues/23.

1969 Ancient Disease in the Midwest. Reports of Investigations No 15. Springfield: Illinois State Museum.

2001 Residential mortuary practices and skeletal biology at the late Mississippian Hovey Lake site, Posey County, Indiana. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology.

1971 Moundville and Surrounding Sites: Some Structural Considerations of Mortuary Practices II. In Approaches to the Scocial Dimensions of Mortuary Practices, J. A. Brown ed. American Archaeology 25:68-91.

1971 Mississippian Site: Archaeology in Illinois: 1. Illinois Archaeological Survey, Inc. No. 8.Urbana: University of Illinois.

1998 The Population Shuffle in the Central Illinois Valley: A Diachronic Model of Mississippian Biocultural Interactions. World Archaeology 30: 306-326.

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1 Goldstein, Lynne Gail. Mississippian Mortuary Practices: A Case Study of Two Cemeteries in the Lower Illinois Valley. Illinois: Northwestern University, 1980.

2Note: The grid indicates the position of the individuals observed in approximate relationship to one another. In the field study each grid was 8’ by 8’.

AGE	AGE CLASSIFICATION
0-Birth	Still Born/Live Born
Up to one year	Infant
1-12 years	Child
12-20 years	Adolescent
20-35 years	Young Adult
35-50 years	Middle Adult
50+ years	Old adult
Unknown	Indeterminate

Cemetery	Total Number of Interments	Number of Mississippians

Schild Site	331	291

Totals	331	291

	6	5	4	3	2	1
A					3,2,1
B
C			6	5	4
D		7 19	8 18	10 17	12 14 15	13
E		20	21,22, 54	23	24,25	26
F
G					27 28
H			33 34		31 35 36	30 29 37 38 39
I			46	44 45	42 43	40 41
J			49	48 50	51 52
K			55 56		53
L	57 58	59	63 62 61	65 64	67 66 68
M				73 74	71 72	69 70

1
2			42	41 47	44 43 45
3					46 50	48 69 49 70
4		52	85 51 84 81 83		67 68	53 58 54 57 56 55	73 72 74 75 89 92 71 61 62 87 88	95 111 93 94 103 104 105 106 109 110 96
5			86 82 80 79 161 160 159	78 151 150 162 155 152	77 131 142 143 149 144 138 146 137	76 59 60 66 139 140 141 129	63 90 91 64 65 97 99 100 121 98	108 101 102 107
6			163	156 157 158 154 153	147 145 128 130 148 136 133	127 134 115	112
7					135 132	126 124 125	113 114 118 117	119 120
8						123	116 122
A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I

Pioneer Cemetery	Number of Interments Recorded	Number of Early Pioneers

Varble	79	20
Admire	Unknown	Unknown
Clark	3	2
Bush	29	8
Mulberry	168	52
Dayton	374	69
Bushnell	144	48
Eldred	292	96-Note: the last four recorded were not used in this study.

Totals	1089	295

	Still/Live Born	Infant	Child	Adolescent	Young Adult	Middle Adult	Old Adult	Indeterminate	Total
Mississippian	8	44	58	16	55	38	40	32	291
Pioneer	2	42	55	16	52	46	61	17	291
Total	10	86	113	32	107	84	101	49	582

	Juvenile	Adolescent	Adult	Total
Mississippian	102	16	93	211
Pioneer	97	16	98	211
Total	199	32	191	422