Hoxie Farm site facts for kids

The Hoxie Farm site (11Ck-4) is located on Thorn Creek in Thornton, Illinois Cook County Forest Preserve in Cook County, Illinois, near the city of Chicago. It is classified as a late prehistoric to Protohistoric/Early Historic site with Upper Mississippian Huber affiliation.

History of archaeological investigations

Excavations were carried out in 1953 as a salvage project before the site was destroyed by the construction of a highway in the area.

Huber phase within the Upper Mississippian culture

Huber ware (and Huber culture) are often mentioned together with Fisher. Both Fisher and Huber are Upper Mississippian cultures which existed in the southern Lake Michigan region in the states of northern Illinois and Indiana and southwest Michigan. Both have shell-tempered pottery but Huber is predominantly plain surface with fine-line decoration and Fisher is predominantly cordmarked surface with wide-line decoration.

The relationship of Huber and Fisher both with each other and with other Upper Mississippian cultures in the area has long been a matter of debate and speculation among archaeologists. James Griffin, upon examining the artifacts from the original 1929 excavations, felt that Huber was a Component of the Oneota Aspect based on the form and design of the pottery, close to the Orr and Lake Winnebago foci, and that Fisher was part of a separate focus. Since that date, we've obtained a great deal more information and now we know that Fisher is the older of the two and Huber is the only one that has been found in association with early Historic European trade goods. Nevertheless, both Fisher and Huber coexist at the same sites seemingly at the same time. Hoxie Farm, Griesmer and Moccasin Bluff are examples of this.

Most archaeologists now believe that both Fisher and Huber are taxonomically-related phases within the Oneota tradition. The relationship between the two is time-related in that Huber is derived from Fisher; but there are also late Fisher sites like Fifield, where Fisher pottery is associated with late Prehistoric artifacts, so it is possible that Fisher also survived until the Protohistoric or early Historic period.

Significance

The artifacts present at Hoxie Farm represent a well-rounded view of life in the Huber culture. Several items of personal adornment were found here, such as hair accessories, bracelets, and pendants. Domestic items include knives, scrapers, chisels, needles, and awls. The bone or antler dice implies games or gambling went on at the site; gambling among Native American tribes has been well-documented. A bone rasp indicates music was being performed for entertainment or for ceremonial purposes. The presence of stemmed pipes and several pieces of art with magical or spiritual overtones reflects on the spiritual life of the community.

There is direct evidence of cultivated plants at Hoxie Farm. The remains of maize were found along with hoes made of bison scapula and elk scapula. Deer bone was also present in abundance, along with arrowheads for bows-and-arrows, indicating the site residents still relied on hunting; and fish and turtle were also present in the animal bone remains, so they were also exploiting food resources of the nearby marshes and creeks.

With regards to seasonality of occupation, based on an analysis of the animal bone remains, the researchers determined the site was occupied from at least spring through fall. In fact the site may have been occupied year-round since there are storage pits to keep food during the winter. The presence of non-utilitarian items for music, games and religion also implies an extended residence.

Despite the fact that the Hoxie Farm site had European trade goods and thus was occupied at a very late date in prehistory, the pottery traits indicate an early placement in the Huber sequence. The answer may be that the site was occupied longer than the other Huber sites, and therefore the pottery from the entire Huber sequence is present, with early and late types intermixed. Since the site was not stratified, there was no way for the researchers to segregate artifacts from different time periods.