The Fisher Mound Group is a group of burial mounds with an associated village site located on the DesPlaines River near its convergence with the Kankakee River where they combine to form the Illinois River, in Will County, Illinois, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago. It is a multi-component stratified site representing several Prehistoric Upper Mississippian occupations as well as minor Late Woodland and Early Historic components.
The site contains a total of 12 burial mounds, the main ones being the Big East Mound and the Big West Mound. Around the mounds are 50 house pits.
History of archaeological investigations
George Langford, a mechanical engineer, located the site and excavated it for several years, eventually bringing it to the attention of the archaeological world. According to Langford, he first visited the site in 1898 and by 1906-1907 he was excavating on a small scale with the assistance of Howard Calmer.
In 1922 the site began to be impacted by farming activities and Langford realized the loss of information that was taking place. This spurred him into large-scale excavations with his associate Albert Tennik, starting in 1924. In 1927 Langford issued the first site report. After Langford's work, additional excavations took place under the auspices of the University of Chicago and the WPA.
Results of data analysis
Excavations at the site yielded Prehistoric and Historic artifacts, burials, house structures, pit features, animal bone and plant remains.
Stratigraphy
Three distinct Upper Mississippian levels were observed in Langford's excavations, each with its own diagnostic artifacts, especially related to changes in pottery styles. There were also differences in skeletal morphology, especially in the shape of the skull. J.W. Griffin in a 1948 paper referred to these levels as “Periods A, B and C”, with Period B having by far the most material.
The surface soil formed a layer to a depth of 3 feet, which Langford called the “Upper Level”. Underneath was a one-inch layer of blackened soil which was called the “Black Seam”. Underneath the Black Seam was 1-1/2 feet of soil and gravel underlain by a 6-inch layer of white ashes, black charcoal, brown earth, bone and shell called the “Ash Layer”. Following these layers carefully, Langford was able to assign each burial to its correct stratigraphic level.
The earliest phase is represented by several “long head” burials without grave goods, in the gravel beneath the Upper Mississippian layers. The upper levels contain small amounts of Late Woodland and Historic materials in disturbed contexts. In between laid the Upper Mississippian deposits.
Period A
Period A represents the earliest Upper Mississippian phase represented at Fisher. It is located below the Ash Level close to and below the actual ground level. There are no radiocarbon dates available at the Fisher site, but comparisons with sites yielding similar artifacts with radiocarbon dates suggest a time period of approximately A.D. 1100–1300.
The burials associated with Period A are extended burials with short high heads. Most of the pots have shell spoons and had a greasy texture and small fragments of bone, as if they originally contained food when they were buried.
The primary diagnostic artifact of Period A is the distinctive shell-tempered cordmarked pottery with elaborate decoration originally termed “antler-point” pottery by Langford since he assumed the incised lines of decoration were applied in the wet clay by the tip of an antler prior to firing in the kiln. The predominant vessel form was globular with restricted orifice and vertical to excurved rim profile. Lips were frequently notched.
The following non-pottery artifacts were recovered from the Period A deposits. Most of these were grave goods. Significantly, bone artifacts outnumber stone artifacts in both Periods A and B:
Bone artifacts - detached antler tines, worked fish spine, fish hooks, cut animal jaws, socketed antler projectile points, “golf-tee”-style antler projectile points and celt-like antler scrapers Shell artifacts - beads, pendants, hoes, scrapers and spoons Chipped stone artifacts - triangular projectile points Ground stone artifacts - celts and hammerstones Copper artifacts - beads and ear discs Mineral - red ochre
Period B
Period B corresponds to the deposits between the Black Seam and the Ash Layer. It dates to a time period of approximately A.D. 1200-1500 based on comparisons with sites yielding similar artifacts with radiocarbon dates.