Prehistoric Plant Use in the American Bottom: New Thoughts and Interpretations

Abstract

More than three decades of systematic archaeological research in the American Bottom region of southwestern Illinois have produced a continuous flow of new archaeobotanical information. Pioneering syntheses by Sissel Johannessen (1984 and 1988) offered the first insights into rich and complex relationships between prehistoric humans and plants in this region. Since that time, our appreciation for the depth and intricacy of prehistoric plant use strategies has grown along with the increasing specificity of new geographic and chronological botanical data. However, along with an enhanced appreciation, there is also the realization that some of the previous models of prehistoric cultural continuity were in error. Pre- Late Woodland Period occupations in the American Bottom area, especially, are best understood as a series of pulses rather than products of in situ cultural evolution. The non-continuous model has proven helpful in assessing apparent anomalies or inconsistencies in early prehistoric, Archaic through Middle Woodland, plant use patterns. Understanding of post-Late Woodland adaptive strategies has benefited generally from the sheer wealth of data, and also from greater attention given to context of that data. Although subsistence must continue to be a central focus of interpretive efforts, plant remains have also proven useful for examining broad issues of prehistoric economics, technology and ritual. In this paper, we present a revised synthesis of American Bottom archaeobotanical data, explore the revisions in terms of previous interpretations, and outline some ideas for new directions. In 1984, Sissel Johannessen produced a synthesis of the archaeobotanical data recovered during excavations of sites impacted by the FAI-270 highway construction project located in the American Bottom region of southwest Illinois (Johannessen 1984a). In that report, and in subsequent analyses (Johannessen 1988, 1993a, 1993b, 2003; Rindos and Johannessen 1991), she ably demonstrated that the philosophy of entire site excavation adopted by the project directors (Bareis and Porter 1984), in combination with large-scale collection of floatation samples and comprehensive analytical strategies, could produce archaeobotanical assemblages of incredible interpretive value. Since that time, excavation of sites in the American Bottom locality and the analyses of plant remains recovered have continued at a rapid pace (for syntheses of these data, see, for example, Lopinot 1992, 1994, 1997; Parker 1991b, 2001b, 2003a; Parker and Simon 1994; Simon 200Ob; Simon and Parker 1995). As a result of research conducted under the auspices of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program alone, the American Bottom database has doubled since 1984. Research conducted by other entities, including Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, National Science Foundation grantfunded projects, and private cultural resource management firms, has also contributed significantly to the explosion of archaeological and archaeobotanical information. Whereas Johannessen's 1984 sequence began in the Late Archaic and incorporated 34 components, the botanical data base now spans the prehistoric sequence from the Early Archaic through Oneota and includes plant remains from more than 100 sites, many of them multicomponent. These ever-expanding records continue to provide new insights into prehistoric plant use practices, often refining, revising, or otherwise building on earlier interpretations offered by Johannessen, Lopinot, and others. Because the archaeobotanical database from the greater American Bottom region is so extraordinarily rich, it is impossible here to present a comprehensive description of the entire data set or to fully explore and evaluate all the potential areas of study. Instead, the objective is to provide a broad, chronologically organized summary, highlighting some recent contributions as they relate to earlier studies and as they present possibilities for future investigations. …