Animal Remains from the Carter Creek Site: Late Woodland Adaptive Strategies in the Upland Frontier of West Central Illinois

Abstract

The Carter Creek site (11-Md-817) was a village located at the prairie edge in west central Illinois during the early Late Woodland Weaver phase (Esarey et al. 1984). This occupation represents a frontier upland community (Green 1987, 1993). Animal remains recovered from the Carter Creek site are compared to contemporaneous samples from the region in order to test hypotheses proposed by Green (1987, 1993) and Styles (2000). It is found that the “pioneers” at Carter Creek continued to hunt and fish as their ancestors had (cf. Green 1987, 1993), but with some adjustments to optimize local resources (cf. Styles 2000). There is no evidence of venison trading or tribute found at this or any contemporaneous sites.