Archaeological Investigations of a Mississippian Period Production for Exchange System

查尔斯·科布博士将在伊利诺伊州南部的米尔克里克地区进行两个季度的考古遗址调查和挖掘。这一地区对考古学家来说很重要，因为它包含了采石场，这些石头被加工成锄头。许多其他遗址的发现表明，这些珍贵的物品当时分布在俄亥俄州下游和密西西比河流域。柯布博士将首先对该地区进行密集的抽样调查，以获得与挖掘机具生产相关的场地的种类、分布和功能的信息。在这项工作的第二阶段，他将挖掘一小部分遗址，以了解这些工具的实际生产是如何组织的。收集的材料还将有助于确定遗址的年代，并阐明所遵循的生存做法。找回非本地的打火石、方铅矿、贝壳文物和铜等交换物品将提供有关贸易网络的信息。美国中西部的史前晚期社会(约公元900-1500年)虽然没有发展出通常被认为是“文明”的所有特征，但它们发展了高度的社会复杂性，其中单个群体被捆绑在一起，形成更大的有组织的贸易网络。考古学家认为，社会复杂性的发展、政治集中化和贸易控制之间存在着密切的联系。由于Mill Creek含有如此有价值的产品，因此它是研究这一问题的绝佳地区。通过他的挖掘，科布博士希望了解石斧的生产及其交换是如何在地方和区域间两级组织和运作的。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供对复杂社会是如何发展和维持的洞察。它将产生许多美国考古学家非常感兴趣的数据。

Dr. Charles Cobb will conduct two seasons of archaeological site survey and excavation in the Mill Creek region of Southern Illinois. The region is important to archeologists because it contains quarries for stone which was manufactured into hoes. Finds from numerous other sites demonstated that these prized objects were then distributed throughout the lower Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys. Dr. Cobb will first conduct an intensive sample survey of the area to obtain information on the variety, distribution and function of sites related to digging implement production. In the second stage of the work he will excavate a small sample of sites to learn how actual production of the implements was organized. Materials collected will also help to date the sites and shed light on the subsistence practices followed. Recovery of exchange items such as non-local flint, galena, shell artifacts and copper will provide information on trade networks. Although they did not develop all the features commonly attributed to "civilizations", late prehistoric (ca. 900-1500 AD) societies in the American Midwest developed a high degree of social complexity in which individual groups were bound together into larger organized trade networks. Archaeologists have postuated that a tight link exists between the development of social complexity, political centralization and control of trade. Because Mill Creek contained such a valuable product, it makes an excellent region to examine this issue. Through his excavations Dr. Cobb wishes to learn how the production of stone hoes and their exchange was organized and functioned at both a local and an interregional level. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide insight into how complex societies were developed and maintained. It will yield data of great interest to many U.S. archaeologists.