Historic (Shawnee and Delaware)
Late Mississippi (Nodena)
Middle Mississippi (Cairo Lowland) Lawhorn Mississippian Component
Early Mississippi (Malden Plain)
Late Baytown (Black Bayou)
Middle Baytown (Barnes Ridge) Lawhorn Sand Tempered Component
Early Baytown (Hoecake)
Tchula (Burkett and Pascola)
Pre-Ceramic (O’Bryan Ridge) Dalton
Early Hunters (Fluted Points)
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 dates were
received from the University of Michigan Memorial—Phoenix Project Radio
Carbon Laboratory, H. R. Crane, Director. As these are of interest with
regard to Lawhorn and, no doubt, to persons with commitments in that
area, the dates are given below.
M-1156 Lawhorn site General Midden 625±150 Charred log (F. S. 78).
General Midden west of drainage ditch. Collected by John
Moselage, March, 1957.
M-1157 Lawhorn Site House 3 375±150 Charred Pole, possibly oak (F. S.
408) from floor of house 3. Collected March, 1960, by John
Moselage.
M-1158 Lawhorn Site House 1 750±150 Charred pole, possibly oak (F. S.
518) from floor of House 1. Collected December, 1957, by John
Moselage.
APPENDIX A
IDENTIFICATION OF THE FAUNAL REMAINS FROM THE LAWHORN SITE
by
Paul W. Parmalee
Curator of Zoology
Illinois State Museum, Springfield
Bone
_Mammals_
White-tailed deer, _Odocoileus virginianus_ 393
Raccoon, _Procyon lotor_ 42
Cottontail, _Sylvilagus floridanus_ 15
Canid, probably dog, _Canis familiaris_ 14
Man, _Homo sapiens_ 10
Beaver, _Cantor canadensis_ 10
Mink, _Mustela vison_ 7
Muskrat, _Ondatra zibethicus_ 9
Swamp Rabbit, _Sylvilagus aquaticus_ 4
Gray squirrel, _Sciurus carolinensis_ 5
Opossum, _Didelphis marsupialis_ 3
Bobcat, _Lynx rufus_ 1
Striped skunk, _Mephitis mephitis_ 1
Fox Squirrel, _Sciurus niger_ 1
Gray Fox, _Urocyon cinereoargenteus_ 1
Marsh Rice Rat, _Oryzomys palustris_ 1
_Birds_
Turkey, _Meleagris gallopavo_ 14
Mallard, _Anas platyrhynchos_ and/or Black Duck _Anas
rubripes_ 6
Duck, spp; 5
Prairie Chicken, _Tympanuchus cupido_ (probably) 5
Canada Goose, _Branta canadensis_ (probably) 3
King Rail, _Rallus elegans_ 1
Wood Duck, _Aix sponsa_ 1
Ring-necked Duck, _Aythya collaris_, or lesser Scaup,
_Aythya affinis_ 1
_Turtles_
Box Turtle, _Terrapene_ sp. 50
Turtle, _Pseudemys_, _Chrysesemys_, _Graptemys_ group 34
Turtle spp. 14
Pond Terrapin, _Pseudemys_ sp. 24
Soft-shelled Turtle, _Trionyx_ sp. 4
Snapping Turtle, _Chelydra serpentina_ 4
_Fishes_
Bowfin, _Amia calva_ 25
Gar, _Lepisosteus_ sp. 6
Fresh-water Drum, _Aplodinotus grunniens_ 3
Northern Pike, _Esox lucius_ 2
Catfish, _Ictalurus_ sp. 6
Sunfish, Bluegill group, Centrarchidae 2
Unidentifiable large mammal bone fragments, most probably
deer 1,126
Unidentifiable bird bone fragments 30
Unidentifiable fish bone fragments 14
Shell
_Mussels_
_Amblema_ cf. _costata_, Three ridge 80
_Actinonaias carinata_, Mucket 8
_Elliptio dilatatus_, Spike 4
_Plectomerus dombryanum_, Bank crawler 4
_Lampsilis ventricosa_ (or l. _ovata_) Pocketbook 3
_Ligumia recta_, Black sand shell 2
_Pleurobema cordatum_, Small Niggerhead 1
_Plagiola lineolata_, Butterfly 1
_Obliquaria reflexa_, Three-horned Warty-back 1
_Tritogonia verrucosa_, Buckhorn 1
_Elliptio crassidens_, Elephant’s Ear 1
_Quadrula quadrula_, Maple-leaf 1
_Snails_
_Campeloma_ sp. 2
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 number and greater median cupule width.
Corn from both these sites shows evidence of a mixture with low rowed
varieties to a lesser extent than that from the other sites shown in
Table 6, except that from Mound 34 at Cahokia, which is presumably
earlier (Table 7).
Previous work on corn from the Northern Mississippi Valley indicates
that row number tended to decrease and cupule width to increase in that
area in time in the protohistoric and historic periods. This has been
interpreted as being the result of an increasing mixture of
predominantly 8 rowed Northern Flint with wide cupules with earlier 14
rowed Tropical Flints slightly modified by possible traces of Mexican
Pyramidal Dent. It is reasonable to expect that the proportion of the
hardier Northern Flints would increase more rapidly in the Northern part
of the valley than in the Southern, particularly, if there was a minor
climatic cooling trend in the period of about 1200-1700 A.D., as Griffin
(1960, p. 27) has suggested.
Northern Flint was present in the Southeast as well as in the North
before European settlement. Brown and Anderson (1947, pp. 8-13) found
Northern Flint in collections of corn from archaeological sites in
Northeastern Alabama, Eastern Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia as
well as in greater concentrations in Western New York and the Upper Ohio
Valley. Actually, a lot of corn at the Missouri Botanical Garden from a
Georgia site poses some of the same problems as that from Lawhorn. Mean
row number is just under 11 and there are no 14 rowed ears. Cupule width
of all but a few of the cobs ranges from 7 to 11 mm. with a median of 9
mm. It is suspected that the wide cupules on the three Lawhorn cobs
might be attributed to diffusion of Northern Flint from the Southeast as
readily as from the North, possibly in diluted form. In the case of the
Banks site, Cutler and Blake (1961) suggested that the influence of
Northern Flint may have reached there in the form of a mixture rather
than directly or, alternatively, that low row numbered corn may have
entered from the Southwest where 8 and 10 rowed corn was dominant after
700 A.D.
TABLE 6—COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF CORN FROM LAWHORN AND FOUR AREA
SITES
Row No. % total Cobs Median (in mm.)
Site No. 8 10 12 14 16 Mean K. Th. C.W.[1]
Cobs Row No.
Lawhorn 7 — 28.6 71.4 — — 11.4 3.3 6.8
Banks 51 3.9 47.1 43.1 5.9 — 11.0 3.3 5.4
Mound 34 27 7.4 18.5 48.2 22.2 3.7 11.9 3.6 6.4
Crosno 16 31.3 43.7 25.0 — — 9.9 3.4 7.0
Plum Island 17 35.3 29.4 35.3 — — 10.0 3.8 7.4
[1]K. Th. = Kernel Thickness
C.W. = Cupule Width, a measure of the cob cavity in which a pair of
grains is borne.
TABLE 7—COMPARATIVE DATES FROM LAWHORN AND FOUR AREA SITES
Site Location Estimated Date
Lawhorn Craighead Co., Ark. On Channel B, 1550 A.D. Plus.
(Phillips et al., 1951, p. 304)
Banks Crittenden Co., Ark. C14, 1535 A.D. ± 150 years. (Letter
G. Perino, Oct. 27, 1959)
Crosno Mississippi Co., Mo. Middle Mississippi. (Date?)
Mound 34 Madison Co., Ill. Submound pit, C14, 700-900 B.P. ± 300
years. (Griffin, 1952, p. 367)
Plum Island LaSalle Co., Ill. Protohistoric
(11LS2) Circa 1600-1650 A.D.
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 goods which included, in all
cases, pottery vessels. Two burials had single beads with them but these
were probably items of dress and not mortuary offerings. The only other
object found was a questionable association of a flint drill. There were
only three burials, 9%, which had more than one vessel in association
and, of these, one had two bowls, another had a bottle and a bowl and
the third had a bottle, a bowl and a small jar. Twenty three, or 66%, of
the burials had no grave goods with them. The pottery vessels were
divided about evenly between bottles and bowls.
There were fourteen adult burials from which closer age criteria were
available.
The two females in their early twenties were not representative of the
burial customs of these people, being in fact depositions of scattered
bone showing little or no orientation and obviously not articulated. The
crushing of the bone was probably due to earth moving machinery of
recent years, but the general broken nature of the bones may more likely
be the work of the Indians themselves. These bones appeared to have been
laid on the ground and then covered over and it would seem that both had
been interred at the same time. Both individuals show heavy charring of
the bone; in one instance the feet were intensely charred with the rest
of the bone showing progressively less toward the skull and the skull
showing none. The most intense heat was obviously at the feet. The hands
and lower arms also show heavy charring. The other individual was more
generally charred but once again little or no burning appeared around
the skull. These burials were not cremated at the spot at which they
were found since there was no evidence of a heavy fire there. It must be
assumed that the burning occurred elsewhere and that after further
mutilation the bones were finally interred at this place. It is
difficult not to conclude that these young ladies were victims of tribal
displeasure.
Insufficient skeletal material has been recovered and is in too
fragmentary condition to yield a great deal of information. It might be
well to mention at this point that ‘week end’ archaeology is hard put to
produce a satisfactory record of this type of material. The days’
activities of locating and staking a square, preliminary excavation and
organization take up so much time that once a skeleton is located there
is insufficient time to uncover it properly, record it and remove the
bones with minimum damage. Even if the material is in good condition it
is hard to do an adequate job in one day; if the bone is in a poor state
of preservation the job becomes much more complicated. The specimens
come easy but to clean, photograph, record and remove skeletal material
will almost always require a second day. The thought comes to mind that
with proper preparation much could be removed encased in protective
materials for further processing at home thereby speeding up the process
in the field. There are a number of ways this can be done, from using
plaster impregnated burlap over the entire burial to wrapping bones in
crumpled newspaper with much of the surrounding earth still in place and
carefully placing in cartons large enough to hold them freely.
Transportation must be handled with equal care. Much important
information concerning the people themselves, their diet and health can
be learned from skeletal material and no amateur “week end”
archaeologist should feel free to ignore this class of data or throw it
away.
This sampling of skeletons is perhaps ample to give a general picture of
the burial customs of these people. The universal position was supine
and apparently laid out on top of the ground or in a shallow scooped out
grave no deeper than the body itself. This then was presumably covered
with a mound of earth and possibly marked by logs until decay had once
again leveled the ground. There was no evidence of the use of pits.
Grave goods, when present, were always pottery vessels presumably
containing food and water for the departed. These were placed at the
head. There was little or no evidence of clothing or decoration other
than the two beads mentioned before.
This burial complex is more like the extended burials of the Walls focus
to the south than other comparable groups. Even the use of bottles and
bowls together is suggestive. The almost total absence of grave goods
other than pottery and the positioning around the head is again a Walls
trait, as is the complete absence of other grave goods with many
burials. This is the major evidence of Walls focus traits among the
Lawhorn folk and even here the bottle form is at quite some variance.
TABLE 8—BURIAL DATA
Burial Age Sex Position Condition and Grave Goods
Number Completeness
6 adult ? ? frag. and poor none
7 9-12 yr child ext. on back poor—legs missing small bowl,
bone bead
8 35-40 male ext. on back lower legs missing none
9 8-9 yr child ext. on back lower legs none
missing—poor
10 25-30 yr female ext. on back disturbed but none
complete
11 -6 yr child ext. on back hands and feet none
missing—poor
12 25-30 yr female ext. on back both legs two bowls
missing—poor
13 -2 yr infant on back incomplete none
14 adult ? ext. on back all above pelvis none
missing
15 adult ? ext. on back complete—poor bottle
16 adult ? ext. on back complete—very poor none
17 plus 50 male ext. on back poor complete bottle and
bowl
18 adult ? ext. on back fragmentary none
19 adult ? ext. on back fragmentary none
20 ? ? ? very frag. disturbed none
21 adult ? ext. on back crushed by machinery bottle
22 adult ? ext. on back completely crushed bowl
23 plus 30 female ext. on back no hands or bottle and
feet—disturbed shell bead
24 plus 30 male ext. on back no feet present flint
drill,
bottle jar,
bowl
25 adult ? ext. on back complete bowl
26 pre-natal infant ? none
27
28 25-30 yr male
29 3 yr child
30
31 pre-natal infant in a
firebasin
32 35 yr male ext. on back complete but crushed none
plus
33 35-40 male ext. on back pathological suture bowl
closure only
squamous open
34 25-30 yr male ext. on back complete but poor bottle
condition
35 adult ? ? only an arm present bottle
36 plus 60 male ext. on back complete—all none
sutures closed—no
upper teeth—no
lower molars
37 adult ? ? not worked out shallow bowl
38 plus 20 female scattered burned none
bone bone—heaviest at
feet—none on skull
39 plus 20 female scattered burned bone—deep none
bone charring general
some over body—not on
placement of skull
long bones?
40 plus 50 male ? ?
41-42 pre-natal infants bundled complete—42 covered none
with a sherd
TABLE 9—AGE AND SEX GROUPS
35 Burials
Total Male Female Indeterminate 2-6 yr Infant Pre-natal
Percent
Adults 74 22 14 37
Children 11 5.5 5.5
Infants 14 3 11
TABLE 10—MORTUARY VESSELS
Bottles Bowls Jars Total
Adult Male 4 4 1 9
Adult Female 1 2 3
Adult Indet. 2 2 4
Children 1 1
Infants 0
Totals 7 9 1 17
TABLE 11—AVERAGE AGE OF FOURTEEN BURIALS
Age Group Percentage Male Female Total Remarks
20 yr 14 0 2 2 See discussion
25-30 yr 29 2 2 4
30-35 yr 14 1 1 2
35-40 21 3 3
40-46 0 0
50 plus 21 3 3
Totals 9 5 14