The Crib Mound Site (12 Sp 1-2) is a shell mound that contains a major Mid-Late Archaic element. This site has been largely destroyed over the past few decades as a result of erosion by the Ohio River, development, artifact collecting and blatant looting. Collections of artifacts from the mound, and much of the relevant information about the site, are located in the private sector. Only minimal artifact representations from Crib Mound reside in universities or museums.This site has received little in-depth professional investigation or study. Although it is one of several significant multi-component archaeological sites in the Lower Ohio Drainage with an indication of a significant Mid-Late Archaic component, it has not been accurately incorporated into discussions of Mid-Late Archaic settlement systems. The underlying reason for this omission relates to the information from the site not having been systematically recorded or synthesized into a usable format for archaeological research.This thesis analyzes, documents and evaluates the chronologically sensitive data from Crib Mound as a means of defining the mound's relationship to other (already documented) Mid-Late Archaic sites that are found in the region of theLower Ohio River Basin. This research also explores the relationship between tradition and phase (as it existed in this area), perhaps identifying an earlier phase or phases that can be distinguished from within the tradition. All information from the Crib Mound Site is integrated into the regional prehistory by either expanding on the anomaly of the mound or by clarifying and supporting the mound's relationship with the current regional settlement patterns. / Department of Anthropology

Archaeological test excavations were conducted at 12Vi194 (Northwood Site) in a portion of the site where residential development is planned or has taken place. Thirty four 2x2 m units were excavated to the base of midden deposits, exposing eight features. Six of these features proved to be of aboriginal origin, with their terminal function as refuse pits. Materials recovered from the site span some 4000 years, from the Late Archaic period through the Late Woodland period. The majority of materials, as well as all aboriginal features, date to the late Middle Woodland Allison-LaMotte culture (AD 100-600), and include ten Lowe Flared base projectile points, 1700+ pieces of lithic debris, 4500 ceramic sherds, a vast quantity of floral and faunal debris, and the remains of one badly deteriorated human interment (pre-natal infant).The investigations at this site were carried out to assess the significance of the deposits. Based on the quantity of artifacts, size and density of pit features and well defined midden deposits, this site is considered significant and therefore eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (see Appendix). Due to developers plans on this and adjacent sites, a management plan outlining future impacts and lternatives is also provided. / Department of Anthropology

The wane of the North American Fur Trade (ca. 1800-1850) was the result of resource depletion, military action, social unrest, increased European settlement and the increased proximity of diverse cultural groups. The effects of these occurrences upon the residents of Aussom Cabin Site have been analyzed. Both historical and archaeological analyses were utilized, offering a verified and accurate account of the demise of the fur trade and its effect upon a specific population.Attention is paid to the development of the fur trade industry, as well as to the manner in which it affected regional lifeways. The location of the Aussom Cabin, both chronologically and socially, within this process has been explicated. The chain of occupation at the site has been established, the morphology of the cabin, and the lifeways of its inhabitants have been surmised. The manner in which the cabin was razed and the depositional integrity of the Aussom Cabin have also been determined. / Department of Anthropology

This study tested two hypotheses related to Woodland settlement trends and ritual development in East Central Indiana through the example of Mounds State Park in Anderson, Indiana. The first hypothesis was that earthwork enclosure complexes, such as at Anderson, were utilized as central places within a defined territory for the redistribution of resources. The second hypothesis was that a link existed between increasing social stratification in a mixed foraging and horticultural economy and a shift in the function of earthwork complexes resultant from a change in subsistence. It was determined that no conclusions could be made about the validity of these hypotheses due to incomplete data. Suggestions for obtaining relevant data and a theoretical model of earthwork function based on available data are presented. / Department of Anthropology

During the nineteenth century, Indiana was home to nearly two dozen agricultural communities comprised of primarily African American residents. These short lived communities represented one of the few contexts in which both African American and non-African American groups lived and worked together within a viable rural community. By analyzing one such settlement, this study presents a basis for comparative functional analysis at the household level through the use of pattern identification of material culture. This study utilized both probate inventory assessments of the period and archeological material within the same classification scheme. Advantages and disadvantages of both data sources are also presented. While the data between the two groups showed little differentiation concerning household material composition, slight differences, particularly at the class level, was evident. These differences may have been based in socio-economic concerns or may have exhibited active consumer choice, reflecting minute aspects of cultural identity. / Department of Anthropology

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / A foreign concept to most twenty-first century individuals, a saddletree provides support and acts as the framework to saddles, giving saddlers a base on which to add cushioning, stretch leather, and create beautiful or functional saddles. Saddletree factories were an integral part of Madison, Indiana’s late nineteenth-century economy. As one of the Ohio River town’s leading industries, saddletree shops employed approximately 125 men during 1879, Madison’s peak saddletree production year, and made Madison a national center of saddletree production. However, the industry faded into oblivion as the beginning of the twentieth century, leaving the men drawn to these shops in the 1870s and 1880s to find new opportunities. While past historians contributed to the fields of industrial and economic history by studying large industries engaged in mass production in major urban areas, Madison’s saddletree workers represent a view of nineteenth-century specialized production. This thesis examines the saddletree industry’s place in Madison during the late nineteenth century and the lives of saddletree workers during and after the industry’s peak. My findings, based off extensive digital research and tools utilized in earlier social mobility studies, create a nuanced view of Madison’s relationship to the saddletree industry, saddletree makers, and what the industry’s collapse meant to saddletree factory employees.