The Woodland Ridge Site and Late Woodland Land Use in the Southern American Bottom (Transportation Archaeological Research Reports)

The Woodland Ridge site is located on a narrow, sinuous bluff-top ridge and adjacent bluff spurs along the northern flank of Salt Lick Point in western Monroe County, Illinois. Archaeological investigations conducted in 1996-1997 prior to construction for the relocated town of Valmeyer included the excavation of 108 late prehistoric pit features arranged in 15 distinct clusters. Based on ceramics, radiocarbon dates, feature fills, and feature organization, it appears that the site was used periodically for brief periods during the full length of the Patrick phase (ca. A.D. 600-800). The common occurrence of large ceramic bowls and charred masses of starchy seeds supports the notion that Woodland Ridge was a periodic aggregation site, and that individual feature clusters were probably reused by individual families or larger social groups. The great number of large bowls is especially significant: proportionately more of these vessels were recovered from Woodland Ridge than from any previously reported Patrick phase site. --------- By addressing multiple traditional and contemporary themes or problem issues (including landscape and resources, settlement organization, aggregative group behavior, feasting and ritual, indigenous plant cultivation, exchange and the use of herbal medicines, among others) Koldehoff and his collaborators enrich our insights into the Late Woodland of the American Bottom.... For those of us who harbor a predilection for complex egalitarian Late Woodland systems, particularly in the greater Midwest, The Woodland Ridge Site...is essential reading. -William A. Lovis, Professor and Curator of Anthropology, Michigan State University