The Floyd Site: A Terminal Archaic Habitation in the Northern American Bottom (Transportation Archaeological Research Reports)

The Floyd site, located along a paleochannel of Cahokia Creek in the American Bottom, was occupied at the end of the Late Archaic period. Radiocarbon analyses and recovered artifacts indicate that most of the site occupations occurred during the Terminal Archaic Prairie Lake phase (c. 1200-900 B.C.). This report describes research priorities, site-excavation methodology, stratigraphy, features, artifacts, and internal site structure. Site excavation results are compared to and contrasted with previously studied contemporaneous American Bottom sites. The result is a comprehensive review of Terminal Archaic occupation in the region. The site appears to have been occupied by small family groups, who used it as a base camp nearly year round. The Floyd site excavations add significant information to current subsistence/settlement models for the American Bottom. These models are discussed in the concluding chapter of the report. "Evans and his collaborators are to be congratulated on producing a highly readable and comprehensive analysis of the extensive work at the Floyd site, and providing new and interesting information and interpretation on the nature of Terminal Archaic adaptation and community organization in the American Bottom.... This volume is worth reading, not just by regional specialists, but also by those with broad ranging interests in the Archaic or other time periods." ---William A. Lovis, Illinois Archaeology 14, 2002