The Lawhorn Site - free ebook by John Moselage

SOCIETY OFFICERS

Henry W. Hamilton, President Vice-Presidents J. Allen Eichenberger Walter M. Davis Richard A. Marshall, Secretary Leonard W. Blake Leo J. Roedl Dale R. Henning, Treasurer...

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TRUSTEES

O. D. Evans, Chairman Leo Anderson Royal D. M. Bauer C. L. Blanton, Jr. Bartlett Boder Dr. H. E. Calkin Archie K. Cameron R. I. Colburn Harry L. Collins J. L. Connelly Dr. G. F. Cresswell Jake M. Crick Judge S. P. Dalton Mrs. W. L. Davidson Bruce Debo Richard V. Dolby Ralph J. Duerr Terrance Dyche William K. Erickson Charles R. Fiorita Franklin H. Flora J. W. Gerhardt Dr. Ernest B. Hanan H. F. Hansen Harry Harner Dr. M. M. Hart Leonard Haslag Leo P. Hopper Sam C. Irvine Edwin Johnson C. T. Kelly

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PRESERVATION OF SITES COMMITTEE

J. J. McKinny, Chairman Lee M. Adams Roy E. Coy William R. Denslow Robert L. Elgin Arthur L. Freeman Sam F. Hamra Dr. H. Lee Hoover M. E. Morris Clyde C. Norman Haysler A. Poague Art L. Wallhausen C. H. Turner Robert L. Seelen Haysler A. Poague Art L. Wallhausen C. H. Turner Robert L. Seelen...

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FRONTISPIECE

The author John Moselage, center, with assistants Charles Scheel, right, and Dan Printup, left....

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PREFACE by Carl H. Chapman

The events leading to the publication of the following report by John H. Moselage has been one of the highlights of many years of work with amateur archaeologists. At first meeting it seemed that he protested too much that he wanted to do “real archaeology,” but this desire turned out to be quite genuine. He really wanted help. He wanted to do the job right at any cost. Enthusiasm and determination clothed the man almost completely. Working with him was a challenge. During the few days of vacati

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THE LAWHORN SITE

by John Moselage...

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FOREWORD

The success of the Lawhorn endeavors is due to the encouragement and efforts of many people. However, without the guidance of Carl H. Chapman, this venture could not have been undertaken. From its beginning, he always found time in his busy schedule to help me with the many problems which arose during the course of the excavation and narration of the site. Mr. Charles Nash, Tennessee State Parks Archaeologist, aided in preliminary analysis of the material remains, analyzed the burial complex and

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LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION

The Lawhorn site is located on the Leachville-Arkansas-Missouri Quadrangle of the U.S. Army Engineer Map in the NW SW Sec. 5, T15N, R7E. This lies along the watercourse of the St. Francis River, in Craighead County four miles north of Monette, Arkansas. In all probability, at the time the site was occupied, the main river channel was not far away. Figure 1 shows the general location of the site in northeast Arkansas just below the boot-heel of Missouri. The larger and better known sites shown on

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GEOLOGICAL SETTING

The geology of the Monette area along the St. Francis River is that of a complex river valley. It is further complicated by the New Madrid earthquake of 1812 and perhaps some earlier disturbances of the same nature. On a substratum of undifferentiated plio-miocene deposits, the cross-sectional profile of the valley (Fisk 1944, Plate 15, Sheet 1) shows an elevation of 100 to 125 feet above the present mean sea level as the base of the alluvial deposit. The top of this extensive graveliferous allu

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Sunday, October 21, 1956

We began the little project with the first crew, Mr. Irby Long, surveyor; C. B. and R. E. Gaylon; J. R. Marret of Caldwell, Missouri; Josephine, Carolyn, J. H., Jr., and myself (John Moselage). The work consisted of determining the extent of the site, putting up the map table, and staking out the boundaries of the site and recording them on the map. We had expected to have started the contour lines on the map but determining the boundaries of the site required most of the day. The above mentione

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Saturday October 27, 1956

On the site early this A.M. were Mr. Long our surveyor, the Gaylons, John Jr., J. T. King, E. R. Deen, and myself. We all worked hard this day. We divided up into smaller crews and mapped in the contour lines, while the others staked out the R 8 line. This line, as before mentioned, began on the southwest corner of the site. The 32 line appeared to be about the center of the site due to the angles of the site. It was the likely point to begin the test trench, as we thought, and we began at the l

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November 25, 1956

In company of J. L. Henson, we staked out square 38R9 of which over half was in the seep ditch. With such a small crew we decided on that small part of a square to excavate. We recorded the datum depths on the NW and SW corners—the others being in the ditch—and removed the plow zone. At the bottom of the plow zone there were strips that measured approximately two inches, running in a straight line. With lots of concern we finally figured that it was where the bottom of the plow had sloped off to

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38R5, Sunday, April 28, 1957

Accompanied by J. L. Henson, Chas. Scheel and John Jr., we began work on the site. For the last few weeks we have removed our stakes after each day’s work because of the farming expected on the site. This causes an extra amount of work each trip that could have been used so badly in the excavation. After removing the plowzone, the square was scraped off, and there was no pattern or postmold to be seen. We removed all potsherds, bone, and stone F. S. (Field Specimen) 83 DD 6.5 to 7.0, and again s

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15R8, June 21, 1957

Accompanied by J. L. Henson and son, Charles, James Vorus, and John, Jr., we moved to the part of the site that I rented for the summer, and decided on a square on the highest part on this end of the site. We established the square 15R8 and put up the shelter over the square to protect us from the sun. We removed all potsherds from the plow zone to DD 4.7, at DD 4.7. There appeared a black area in the NW ¼ of the square. The NE ¼ had indications of burned clay. The black area suggested a pit but

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7R13, July 14, 1957

James Vorus, Mr. F. N. Davis, John, Jr., and myself arrived at the site early this A.M. We had discussed moving to the edge of the site on the south end, which we did. We established square 7R13 and set up for work. The plowzone produced little material. The potsherds were scarce at the bottom of the plowzone. There was no pattern of pits, or other features to be found. The next level, DD 6.2 to DD 6.5 produced several possible postmolds, but when cross-sectioned, they were either tree roots or

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31R17, March 15, 1958

The crew on the site early this A.M., and we decided to work on the east side of the ditch and in the vicinity of the burials that had been found previously. We staked out square 31R17, and began work; we removed the plow zone. We scraped off the new surface in search of any possible pattern of pit outline, or postmold, and there was none to be found. Potsherds, and other items, were collected for that level F. S. 185 which was the plow zone. With no visible pattern in the horizontal profile at

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27R32, January 25, 1959

J. T. King, Dan Printup, and myself returned to the site. Continuation was in square 27R32 beginning at DD 5.5. There had been some disturbance to the square since we were there last. A large potsherd had been removed from the ground plan DD 5.5, and a portion of the skull that was showing in the east wall of the square had been dug out. Most of the skull remained. Otherwise things were just as we had left it. We began removing the level DD 5.5-6.0. The soil was in the best of condition to work

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32R36, March 20, 1960

From an aerial photograph of the site made in January, 1960, there appeared to be several dark areas along the east line of the site. These could have been damp spots or could have been patterns representing refuse pits, houses or some other features. They were in a straight line and uniformly spaced. It was difficult to locate the spot from the ground, but using photographs from two angles, we were able to find the approximate location of one of these dark areas. Then the grid system was staked

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41R21, March 22, 1960

Charles Scheel and myself began work this A.M. Plowzone removed and potsherds etc., F. S. 400, were not too numerous in the plowzone. Also in the plowzone were fragments of glass, bottles, chinaware and crockery. At one time there was a house located some one hundred feet from this square, and this possibly accounts for this disturbance. Also in the plowzone at the south center of the square were found fragments of a skull and fragments of a pottery vessel (this bone fragment listed as Burial 40

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41R22, March 22, 1960

The west 4 feet of this square was opened and the house presented a problem. The fired floor as well as the color representing the soil under the fired floor was not evident, but being careful, following the vertical profile we were able to determine the approximate west line of the house. For safety’s sake we listed the east wall as indeterminate. There was no evidence to be seen of any postmolds. The south end of the house pattern was in this same condition. Further work on the adjoining squar

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EXCAVATIONS

A north-south cross sectional profile along the R22 line shows a rise of 3.4 feet from the south base line to a point of maximum elevation some 400 feet north. The midden deposit shows a corresponding increase in depth. The zero base line was on the south end of the site in an area that appears to have been destroyed by an early St. Francis River meander. Excavation was carried on from this point to square 40R22, a distance of 400 feet north, but not to the northern end of the site which is some

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Pottery

Pottery from the Lawhorn site represents two distinct traditions. By far the biggest is the standard shell tempered ware of this area, while a minor type is a sand tempered ware present as a plain, cord marked and textile marked series. The total sherd count was 10,423 of all types of which 9461 or 91% were of the familiar Mississippian shell tempered types and 962 or 9% were of the sand tempered series. The sand tempered series are summarized in Table 1 . Similar plain and cord marked sherds (

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Effigies

Five modeled effigy pottery decorations or attachments were found in the general excavations. Two were painted while the other three were of Neeley’s Ferry paste. One was a human effigy of the full face with a rounded open mouth, quite large and prominent nose and eyes defined only by overhanging brows ( Fig. 11 ). The hair arrangement was similar to bangs indicated along the line of the top of the forehead. One of the painted heads was of a bird, perhaps turkey, showing a trace of red, white an

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DESCRIPTION AND COMPARISON

As a check against interpretation and as a means of getting an idea of possible relationships of the Neeley’s Ferry Plain vessels found elsewhere, each vessel was taken up separately. The procedure used consisted first in describing the vessel, and secondly any comparisons that could be made. The vessels were roughly classified and then evaluated in order. First was a broken water bottle that has had an angular ring base which has a fillet at the base of the neck. The body is sub-globular, tendi

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Pottery Disks

These were quite common on the site, particularly in areas of house concentration. A total of 33 either whole or fragmentary specimens were catalogued. Of these, six were the plain disks so common to Mississippian sites ( Fig. 17 :1) while 27 were perforated. All of the perforated specimens had a hole through the center of the disk and may well have been spindle whorls ( Fig. 17 :2). These ranged in size from 3 to 8 cm. in diameter. Nine of the spindle whorl type disks had well smoothed edges wh

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Projectile Points

The projectile points found at the Lawhorn site presented a variety of forms and sizes. The wide range of types seemed at first very difficult to explain. Further, pictures and written definitions of points were very hard to reconcile with the specimens at hand. An example of this difficulty was a point that seemed to answer all the requirements of the Motley type (Ford, Phillips, Haag 1955; p. 129), but which failed the test of visual examination by Ford. How many of the others originally typed

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Other Chipped Stone Artifacts

Chipped stone tools were relatively uncommon at Lawhorn and are typified in Figure 22 . Number 1 and 2 are unifacial thumb nail scrapers. Number 3 is a reworked projectile point while numbers 4 and 5, are fine pointed drills or scrapers. Number 6 is a graver. One large tool showed a good work polish and also indications that it had been resharpened ( Fig. 22 ;7). It was 7 cm. wide and 15.5 cm. long. There were several flint fragments showing a high degree of work polish which came from similar t

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Mortars and Pestles

There were five sandstone mortars found on this site, two of which were surface finds and which measured respectively (1) 15 cm. in diameter, 6.5 thick with a central depression of 1.5 cm. and (2) 7.5 cm. × 13 cm. × 6 cm. thick. The latter was utilized on both surfaces. The first of these two specimens, made of red sandstone, was the best of the mortars from this site ( Fig. 23 ;2). Figure 21. Projectile Points (1-2. Unclassified. 3. Hardin-like. 4. Motley. 5. Snyders Notched. 6. Burkett-like. 7

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Stone Abraders and Whetstones

There were nine abraders, two of which are of particular interest. One showed heavy use as an abrader on one side and three edges. Much of this use was as a sharpener for small pointed objects. The other side, while showing use as an abrader, was also cupped for grinding purposes. Over much of the surface, powdered yellow ochre had become impregnated into the porous sandstone. Another specimen showed long wide grooves on two surfaces while another had been ground flat. This portion of the stone

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Pottery and Clay Abraders

The use of potsherds for abrading is reported from the Mississippi alluvial valley area as far south as Memphis. It is a very minor trait. The occasional finds point up this usage as a stop-gap measure when a good stone abrader was not immediately available. This is a thing to be expected in the relatively stoneless alluvial valley. At the Lawhorn site 16 sherd abraders have been found. These show the same haphazard use over their surfaces as do the stone abraders. Ten of them were from Neeley’s

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Anvilstones

Two anvilstones were found on the surface, one made from limestone and the other from sandstone. Their opposing surfaces seemed to have been used as grinders or pestles. Here again, there is multiple usage of rough unmodified stones. They were seldom pecked or ground to a shape, rather they were modified through use....

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Hammerstones

Seven pebble hammerstones were found in the general excavations. Most of them were either sandstone or chert and of nondescript shape ranging in size from 4 to 8 cm. in diameter. Many of the sandstone specimens showed use as grinding Stones as well as hammerstones, again pointing up the multiple tool use of pebbles. The chert pieces were not shaped, showing only the natural weathered surfaces except where they had been used....

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Groundstone Celts

Six fragments of celts were found, five of which were granite and one hematite. The five granite specimens consisted of three bit ends and two poll ends and the hematite specimen was only the central shaft section. These celts were all small, probably not over 10 to 18 cm. long. The bits were about 4.8 cm. wide with thickness averaging 2.5 cm. The poll ends were somewhat narrower than the bits but not pronouncedly so....

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Pipes

Only one pipe was found but it may be of considerable value for interpretation of the relationship of the site to other areas. It was picked up by Mr. Lawhorn when his plow turned over a burial. The pipe is made of stone and has a non-functional stem projection commonly seen on pipes from Spiro (Baerreis, 1957 p. 25). The bowl is quite large and at right angles to the stem ( Fig. 24 ;3). The bowl is slightly elliptical in outline with both sides flattened on their lower portions. The bottom of t

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Bone and Antler Artifacts

Bone tools were of common occurrence in the general midden of the site and were also associated with house patterns 1 and 3. Six deer ulna awls and three ulna awls from small animals ( Fig. 25 ;1); ten splinter awls ( Fig. 25 ;4) and a single fish fin awl; a deer cannon bone beamer ( Fig. 25 ;2) and a deer scapula hoe ( Fig. 25 ;3) make up most of the inventory of bone tools. One deer mandible appeared to have been utilized since a dull work polish is noticeable on it. The teeth are fractured on

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Brickette and Daub

Brickette and daub were so scarce that many pieces were catalogued as specimens. These present an interesting class of materials and give aid far beyond their intrinsic worth in telling the Lawhorn story. Once again this points up the value of saving everything found during the course of field work. There is no way of knowing how much of this material has been lost as a result of erosion and the almost melting away of softer pieces in the heavy rains of the passing centuries. Slightly over 100 p

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Shell Artifacts

Six beads were made from marine shell ( Fig. 28 ;1). These were small, being from 7 to 10 mm. in diameter and 10 to 16 mm. long. One drilled mussel shell hoe or scraper was found in the general digging and this is typical of the specimens commonly found on Mississippian sites ( Fig. 28 ;2)....

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Vegetal Remains

Carbonized food occurred in several instances. A few acorn hulls were found in Feature 18, a nut shell in Feature 5, both fire basin and a small number of corn cobs in the general midden excavation. The corn cobs according to Nash, seem typical of the Eastern Complex corn. They are all fragmentary but three specimens show a tapering cob. The first of these had twelve rows of kernels spaced as pairs. The cob was probably not over 6 cm. in length and had a diameter of 2 cm. some distance from the

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Refuse Pits

Eight refuse pits were identified during the course of excavation. The shapes varied from circular to oblong with considerable range in depth. In most instances, however, the bottoms were flat, or nearly so. The five examples of pits with a circular outline ranged from 1.2 feet to 3 feet in diameter and from 1 to 1.5 feet in depth. The three oblong pits ranged from 2.5 to 3.8 feet wide, from 4 to 5 feet long, and from 1.8 to 2.7 feet in depth. Two of the refuse pits were associated with houses—o

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Ash Pits

There were a number of ash dumps which were always associated with fireplaces. They were present in all three of the houses excavated. One outstanding characteristic is the completeness of combustion represented by the ashes. In no instance were small charred pieces of wood found with the ash, a thing to be expected unless the fire burned under forced draft or was carefully tended. While the ash in the dumps could have been selectively collected so that only the completely burned ash was thrown

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Firebasins

The firebasins at Lawhorn are quite definite and well formed of puddled clay and are good examples of those so common to Mississippian sites of the area. Rebuilding was common, with new construction leaving the remains of some portion of the old basin to one side. Often this was a half-moon shaped affair that may have continued in use. In all instances these basins were filled with a white wood ash which showed complete combustion so that there were no bits of unburned charcoal left in the ash.

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House 1

This house was built on top of subsoil and was rectangular in shape ( Fig. 31 ). The area of charred remains was ten feet by fifteen feet so that the house itself must have been at least that large and probably somewhat larger. Final excavation showed that no posts had been placed in the ground to support the superstructure. The charred material found on the floor indicated a house built of light poles, cane and thatch. There was no evidence of the use of daub on either walls or roof of the buil

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House 2

This house had been built on top of subsoil and apparently, it partially underlay the northern portion of house 3 (Fig. 33 and 35 ). No new information came to light here but the size and shape apparently agreed with that of house 1. Here, the central section of the floor was hard burned and had been puddled with a clay and grass mixture before firing. Central to this floor area was an irregular and poorly shaped fire basin which was filled with white wood ash. Partially buried in this ash was a

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House 3

This house was thirteen by fifteen feet as indicated by the charred remains of the superstructure ( Fig. 35 ). Many of the poles appeared to be rafters and were about .2 foot in diameter. Interwoven between them were small poles forming a loose lattice work wall or roof ( Fig. 36 ). Several small sections of cane matting were found near the basal ends of many poles. Typically these were of small whole cane laid at right angles to the poles. At one location there was some split cane matting but i

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BURIALS

The human skeletal material and the field notes concerning the burials were turned over to Charles Nash, Tennessee State Parks Archaeologist, for study and interpretation. The result of his study has been included as Appendix C . Figures 41 through 45 have been included here to illustrate the burial types at the Lawhorn site. Figure 40. Drawing Showing Hypothetical Reconstruction of the House Type at the Lawhorn Site Figure 41. Burials 21 and 22 on the Bank of the Diversion Ditch Figure 42. Buri

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SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AREA CHRONOLOGY

It was not expected that the information contained here is the final answer to the story of the Lawhorn site or more than a start to finding out about the people who lived in the Malden Plain area of the St. Francis valley. It is hoped that this information will be at least a base from which others can work and that it adds enough new information that it will stimulate more people to do similar jobs within this area and surrounding areas. During the final stages of editing, three radio-carbon da

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APPENDIX A IDENTIFICATION OF THE FAUNAL REMAINS FROM THE LAWHORN SITE

by Paul W. Parmalee Curator of Zoology Illinois State Museum, Springfield...

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APPENDIX B ANALYSIS OF VEGETAL REMAINS FROM LAWHORN SITE

by Leonard W. Blake St. Louis, Missouri There is always a possibility that any sample, particularly a small one, may not be fully representative. The collection from the Lawhorn site consists of fragments of seven cobs, all either 10 or 12 rowed. Three of the cobs have cupule widths ranging from 7.7 to 8.6 mm. It differs from a larger sample from the Banks site, which is in nearby Crittenden County and which may have been occupied at about the same time ( Table 6 ), in having a higher mean row n

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APPENDIX C BURIALS AT THE LAWHORN SITE

by Charles H. Nash Memphis, Tennessee The 35 burials from which we can get some data concerning sex and age groups seem to represent a relatively homogeneous group. Over half of the 26 adult burials were either too fragmentary for any further determination or the bone was not recovered during the course of excavation. In such instances, age group associations were made in the field. Burial determinations in Tables 8-11 were made in the laboratory. Of the 35 burials, twelve, or 34% had grave good

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REFERENCES CITED

FIGURE 48. Missouri Archaeological Society Achievement Award—1960 Be it known to all whom these presents come that FRANCIS L. STUBBS in recognition of his sustained and active interest in the preservation of archaeological materials; for his very active participation in the survey, excavation, and exhibit work of the Society; for his many contributions to public information and education through work with the News Letter and by lectures; and for his help in Society business matters—is hereby acc

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