Animal exploitation and the Middle to Late Woodland transition: A comparison of animal use at mound centers and hamlets in the lower and central Illinois Valleys

This dissertation examines shifts in the socioeconomy at the Middle to Late Woodland transition in the Illinois Valley by considering the changing role of animal products. This is accomplished by analyzing faunal remains from Ogden-Fettie, a mounded Havana site in the central Illinois Valley, and Baehr-Gust, a mounded Havana and early White Hall site located at the juncture of the central and lower Illinois Valleys. Faunal data from these sites are compared with faunal data from other Havana, White Hall, and Weaver sites, including both mounded and non-mounded sites. Results of field work and radiometric dating of materials from Baehr-Gust and Ogden-Fettie are also presented and discussed.; Two models of the socioeconomy are tested. These differ primarily in the level of sociopolitical and economic complexity perceived to exist during the Middle Woodland period, and in how they perceive the role of mounded sites in the settlement system. One model sees the Havana sociopolitical and economic system as essentially egalitarian. Each settlement was responsible for its own subsistence, and mounded sites were vacant ceremonial centers used for ritual and feasting. The other model sees greater evidence of stratification in the Havana sociopolitical and economic system. An elite class (probably ritual specialists) and craft specialists lived at the mounded sites, which were centers of ritual, trade, and craft manufacture. The subsistence needs of the elite were met by the support of non-elites. Both models suggest disruption of these practices along with the disappearance of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere at the end of the Middle Woodland period.; Results suggest that neither model accurately portrays the Middle Woodland sociopolitical and economic system. Middle Woodland mounded sites were not vacant ceremonial centers, nor were they centers for the trade and manufacture of bone or shell artifacts. There is no evidence that inhabitants of mound centers were provided with animal products. There is greater evidence of feasting and ritual at Havana sites than at White Hall and Weaver sites, but this evidence is found at both Havana mounded and non-mounded sites. A new model of the socioeconomy at the Middle to Late Woodland transition is suggested.