The Huber Site (11Ck-1) is located on Tinley Creek 2 miles west of Blue Island in Cook County, Illinois, near the city of Chicago. It is classified as a late prehistoric site with Upper Mississippian affiliation.
History of archaeological investigations
The site was excavated under the auspices of the University of Chicago by W.C. Bennet, but no comprehensive site report was published. Further excavations took place in 1956 and in 1990 an analysis was published by the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Center for American Archaeology including data from both excavations.
Results of data analysis
Excavations at the site yielded prehistoric artifacts, pit features, burials and animal bone.
Features
A total of 27 pit features were identified at the site. Some of these had ash and carbonized material within their fill, and are classified as fire pits. The remainder were classified as refuse pits.
Burials
Three “jumbled” burials (possibly an ossuary) were reported from the site. One of them was a child burial which contained grave goods in the form of copper ornaments (these ornaments were not among the artifacts presented in the site report).
Animal remains
Remains from several species were recovered from the site. The main species present were bowfin, turtle, beaver, deer, dog, elk, muskrat and raccoon. These remains were not modified into tools like the bone tools described in the Artifacts section below, and may be considered food remains or, in the case of the dog, the remains of ceremonial activities. Dog sacrifice and dog meat consumption was observed to have ceremonial and religious implications in early Native American tribes.
Artifacts
Artifacts recovered from the site included:
Pottery - total of 6,077 sherds, almost all of it Huber ware (described below). Stone tools - including projectile points, scrapers, gravers, knives, and punches/awls. Of the projectile points, the most numerous category was the small triangular Madison point. Ground stone artifacts - including celts, axes, hammerstones/manos, smoking pipes, abraders, a paintstone made of ground limonite and a maul. Bone and antler tools - a wide variety of bone and antler tools were recovered from the site, including elk and bison scapula hoes, antler flakers, elk antler punches, and antler tine, matting needles, an antler digging tool, and bone and antler awls. Non-utilitarian bone artifacts - several items were recovered that were used for personal adornment or other social purposes, including a bone rasp (musical instrument), bone bracelet, bone tubes (possibly hair adornments), hair pins made from turkey long bones, a bone disc and an antler pendant. There was also a bone or antler dice or game piece. Shell artifacts - including spoons, scrapers, a gorget, pendant and bead. Metal artifacts - a small piece of sheet brass is a possible (but inconclusive) indicator of European presence at the site.
The non-pottery artifacts found at an archaeological site can provide useful cultural context as well as a glimpse into the domestic tasks performed at a site; ceremonial or religious activities; recreational activities; and clothing or personal adornment.
Some of the most prominent and diagnostic non-pottery artifacts are presented here in more detail. Due to copyright restrictions, images of the items cannot be shown, but links are provided to public domain images (when available) of similar items from other Upper Mississippian sites:
Upper Mississippian Huber pottery
Archaeologists often find pottery to be a very useful tool in analyzing a prehistoric culture. It is usually very plentiful at a site and the details of manufacture and decoration are very sensitive indicators of time, space and culture.
The Huber site is the type site for an Upper Mississippian culture known for its distinctive shell-tempered pottery. Although the Huber tradition was well known by archaeologists for decades following the original excavations, a formalized typology was not developed until Charles Faulkner devised one in his 1972 report on the Griesmer site in northwestern Indiana, just to the east of Chicago.