460:. Furthermore, riverside villagers have easier access to water for drinking and washing, and they could supplement their diet by fishing and hunting animals that came to drink at the river, rather than depending solely on the chase. While the Angels site was the premier settlement of the region, hamlets such as Ellerbusch were established for the sake of efficiency: had everyone lived at Angel, the time spent each day walking to distant fields would have been excessive, but by establishing villages amidst the fields, the people were able to use their time far more efficiently. Moreover, the upland area immediately surrounding the site was suitable for short-term cultivation, as Alford loess soil is easily cultivated and can be as fertile as floodplains. It seems that warfare was the only restraint on the further spread of Ellerbusch-type sites to a greater distance — because they were frequently in conflict with other peoples, the Angel Phase population needed to be able to take refuge at the stockaded Angel site instead of remaining at defenseless small villages. Consequently, Ellerbusch and related sites were more intensively occupied during what appear to have been periods of peace. While excavations at Ellerbusch could not be used to provide a conclusive interpretation of certain features at Angel, they permitted a better understanding of yet smaller sites.
290:
their communities, and the times of year when they were occupied. Moreover, the excavation of a small site was deemed necessary for a broader awareness of typical
Mississippian settlement patterns, because scholars' concentration on large sites meant that nothing more than hypotheses could be offered to understand relationships between such centers and the small outlying sites surrounding them. Besides the work done by the owners, Green's reasons for choosing Ellerbusch included its upland location beside a lake, its proximity to Angel, the fact that virtually everything collected from the site was owned by the property owners (thus permitting a unified collection of artifacts, in contrast to the dispersion of artifacts among many collections that is typical of such sites), and the evidence from previous work that the houses had not been rebuilt numerous times as they had at Angel.
420:
structures, including two other houses, remained at the site, but plowing had greatly reduced the amount of area with surviving features from these structures. All of the houses were generally rectangular in shape, with the sides being built first and the corners either being filled in later without support posts or left open as doorways; none of the sides of any of the houses showed openings that were likely to have been doorways. The presence of houses is the primary basis for Green's argument that
Ellerbusch was a farming hamlet instead of a processing center for hunters: stone tools found at the site could have been used for animal processing, but the construction of houses at a site just a few miles away from Angel would have represented wasted effort for wide-roaming hunters but a worthwhile investment of time for sedentary farmers.
356:, the same is true of just six pieces of Ellerbusch pottery. Most sherds found at the site were small; of the 151 pieces of shell-tempered pottery, only 19 were large enough for the excavation team to determine the shape of the pottery from which the sherds came. As a result, the number of pottery objects originally present at the site could not be estimated reliably; most comparable sites yield larger sherds with fewer fractures, although as a high proportion of Ellerbusch sherds were found in or above the plow zone, their small size is comparable to sherds found in the upper levels at Angel, which typically had been broken into smaller pieces by repeated plowing.
859:
501:
three of its four houses were used at any given time. Because such a figure yields ten or fifteen residents in the site's ½-acre area, slightly larger populations have been proposed for hamlets with twice the area. Likewise, a hamlet's lack of extensive occupation (resulting in little cultural material on the surface) was defined from the small influence that its residents exercised on the surrounding terrain. Out of sixty-eight Angel Phase sites that were known in 1977, Green classified six as hamlets.
70:
95:
53:
237:, which led some townspeople to leave their homes for new villages that were more convenient for resource gathering. Researched partly because of its small size, Ellerbusch has produced information that greatly increases present awareness of other small sites and of its culture's overall patterns of settlement in the region. Because of its archaeological value, the site was declared a
866:
102:
77:
429:
shows no evidence of the common
Mississippian practice of building houses on a specially prepared floor below the surface of the ground. The usefulness of the site for research purposes was hindered by a combination of two factors: because the site sits atop a hill, erosion from rainwater and modern plowing had destroyed most of its
468:
Two radiocarbon dates were realized for the site, placing the
Mississippian occupation at points between AD 200-320 and 990-1110. While Green stated that the first was plainly an error, the second he saw as disputable: it seemed somewhat early but was comparable to other early Mississippian sites in
368:
or pieces thereof; Green reports that 3,907 stone artifacts (out of a total of 7,379) were found at the site. Unfortunately, more than five out of every six were recovered by surface collection instead of excavation, demonstrating the substantial amount of damage done by plowing and natural erosion.
500:
Having defined
Ellerbusch as a hamlet, he determined its population and used the resulting figure as his basis for estimating the population of other hamlets. Previous studies proposed that households at the culture's sites averaged five members, and evidence at Ellerbusch suggests that only two or
406:
Among the portions of the site excavated in 1973 was the house that the
Ellerbusches had revealed. The superimposition of certain features demonstrated that two houses had occupied the site, with one seemingly having been built immediately after the other's destruction; both were approximately the
428:
A group of small pits was found at the site; while they could have been used for storage, these pits' small size likely precludes any purpose for them aside from refuse holes. Unusually for a
Mississippian site, the houses appear to have been built simply on the surface of the ground; Ellerbusch
289:
In June 1973, IU doctoral student Thomas J. Green began to study the possibility of renewing work at the now-overgrown
Ellerbusch site, funded by the Black Laboratory, which wanted to excavate a small site extensively in order to understand smaller sites' economic activities, the organization of
419:
to the east. Rather than being identical in form, the houses were either of two or three different types, and because no useful distinction between house types appears to have existed, it seems that the different types of houses were constructed at different times. Partial remains of other
377:
without any sign of modification after creation. Another 124 pieces were projectile points of a wide range of forms, as well as 164 items that appear to be fragments of other points. Other forms of identifiable chipped-stone tools recovered at
Ellerbusch include knives, drills,
407:
same size (22 by 19 feet (6.7 by 5.8 m) by 19 feet (5.8 m)) and were oriented in the same direction. Both houses appear to have relied on the structural support of vertical posts and supports located in wall trenches; only one pit (which appears to have been a
351:
without decoration. This is comparable to the pottery found at Angel, where less than one percent of the many thousands of pieces of pottery bore ornamental ceramic elements. Conversely, while many of the decorated remnant of Angel sherds bear either a red film or
1122:
411:) was found in a house at the site. Another house site excavated in 1973 had been the site of three or four different houses in turn; besides its own postholes, the second house site is associated with ten nearby pits and a pile of stone chips of a type of
1417:
527:
455:
or modern fertilizers, upland fields would be depleted in just a few growing seasons. Moreover, people of the Angel Phase typically used wood as fuel, and residents of a floodplain can find wood more easily than upland peoples by utilizing
450:
above the floodplain of the Ohio or of other rivers. The inhabitants appear to have favored floodplains partly because of their productivity: uplands are more susceptible to erosion and tend to dry out more rapidly, and without the use of
1292:
1272:
892:
1322:
1297:
1277:
1237:
1152:
1052:
1092:
1072:
1037:
902:
1267:
1222:
1132:
1112:
1097:
1077:
1032:
1022:
997:
992:
967:
952:
942:
796:
1437:
1342:
1317:
1262:
1252:
1212:
1117:
1107:
1082:
1057:
1027:
982:
977:
957:
947:
937:
917:
1312:
1307:
1282:
1257:
1247:
1227:
1217:
1202:
1177:
1162:
1157:
1147:
1137:
1127:
1062:
1047:
1017:
1007:
1002:
972:
962:
897:
1358:
1337:
1332:
1327:
1287:
1242:
1207:
1192:
1187:
1167:
1142:
1042:
1012:
987:
927:
912:
907:
887:
882:
1302:
1232:
1197:
1182:
1172:
1102:
1087:
932:
922:
1067:
285:
in the summer of 1957; this initial excavation was published in the following year. Comparatively little was done in 1958 and 1959, and no further work was performed except for a very limited excavation in 1962.
382:, one shredder (a tool similar to a scraper, but used for tearing instead of scraping), and numerous flakes with signs of having once been parts of hoes. Ground stone artifacts were observed of types such as
513:
because of its significance as an important archaeological site. It is one of three
Warrick County archaeological sites on the Register, along with a small part of the Angel site and the entirety of the
789:
433:
by mixing artifacts from different periods, and because the soil was strongly acidic, one bone was the only significant survivor of all animal materials that had once been located at the site.
257:, it revealed four substantial sites in adjacent sections, including a village on the riverbank about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the southwest of where Ellerbusch was later discovered.
809:
782:
281:. The Martins arranged for the aid of an IU graduate student in the early excavations, and with his help they revealed the site of one house, part of another, and a pit with decorated
307:
sandy pieces, 61 cord-marked, 18 plain, and 9 small decorated pieces that could not easily be classified — 23 stone tools, most of which were knives, and occasional pieces of
1386:
1381:
848:
838:
343:
such as pits. However, excavations through 1977 yielded 3,466 sherds of pottery, including 582 from the Woodland period, and 2,884 shards that were attributable to the
249:
The immediate vicinity is known to be archaeologically rich; although a cursory survey in 1954 failed to find Ellerbusch and revealed nothing in any other part of
1363:
1422:
1432:
586:
1391:
833:
143:
254:
250:
94:
269:
at the site were undertaken by the Ellerbusch family, who owned the property, working with their neighbors George and Francis Martin of the
805:
554:
510:
39:
69:
727:
1427:
702:
274:
348:
699:
Economic Relationships Underlying Mississippian Settlement Patterns in Southwestern Indiana and North-Central Kentucky
233:. Its existence appears to have been the result of the coincidence of periods of peace and growth in the related
339:
Green's excavation demonstrated that all artifacts not found on the surface were located in the plow zone or in
416:
315:. Based on the pottery that they found, Frances Martin proposed that the site originated primarily during the
266:
398:, a single copper bead, and a small pipe of a form frequently found at Angel and similar Mississippian sites.
1376:
828:
484:
469:
the region. Later authors, including Green himself, have seen the third-century result as evidence for a
430:
304:
226:
123:
446:
Ellerbusch's location near the Ohio River is typical of Angel Phase communities, which commonly occupied
1396:
843:
823:
559:
379:
340:
210:
774:
328:
278:
324:
214:
320:
270:
52:
751:
Martin, Frances. "The Southern Affinities of the Ellerbusch Site, Warrick County, Indiana".
383:
353:
127:
731:
515:
470:
447:
316:
724:
769:
The Angel Phase: Analysis of a Middle Mississippian Occupation in Southwestern Indiana.
476:
Green calls Ellerbusch a hamlet, a classification that he assigns to Angel sites with:
303:
The initial excavations by the Ellerbusches and Martins revealed 129 sherds — 41 clay-
189:
1411:
739:
452:
364:
Virtually all of the non-pottery artifacts recovered at Ellerbusch through 1977 were
238:
582:
528:
List of archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana
374:
234:
391:
370:
344:
323:
peoples, and she saw certain elements of the pottery as linking the site to the
312:
365:
230:
218:
158:
145:
457:
1418:
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana
387:
222:
131:
408:
395:
369:
More than 3,800 of the stone artifacts were chipped stone (either
412:
394:, as well as miscellaneous objects such as pieces of two Woodland
282:
549:
480:
Sizes between 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) and 1 acre (0.40 ha)
308:
1438:
National Register of Historic Places in Warrick County, Indiana
778:
493:
Evidence of activities such as hunting, farming, and gathering
473:
occupation of the site, rather than as an erroneous reading.
725:
Mississippian Settlement Patterns in Southwestern Indiana
373:
or smaller pieces), and three of every four chips were
509:
In early 1991, the Ellerbusch site was listed on the
496:
An estimated population of ten to twenty-five people
1382:
History of the National Register of Historic Places
1351:
873:
839:
History of the National Register of Historic Places
816:
225:. Unlike many sites created by people of the same
195:
182:
174:
137:
118:
518:, located along the Ohio River to the southeast.
229:, it occupies an upland site near a major river
579:Archaeological Notes on Warrick County Indiana
790:
753:Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science
8:
122:Atop the bluff northwest of the junction of
723:Green, Thomas J., and Cheryl Ann Munson. "
797:
783:
775:
51:
806:U.S. National Register of Historic Places
719:
717:
715:
713:
711:
40:U.S. National Register of Historic Places
693:
691:
689:
687:
685:
683:
681:
679:
677:
675:
673:
671:
669:
667:
665:
663:
661:
659:
657:
655:
653:
651:
649:
647:
645:
643:
641:
639:
637:
635:
633:
631:
629:
627:
625:
623:
621:
619:
617:
615:
415:comparable to what is commonly found in
613:
611:
609:
607:
605:
603:
601:
599:
597:
595:
573:
571:
569:
538:
101:
76:
57:Overview of the site from the southeast
550:"National Register Information System"
544:
542:
23:
32:Ellerbusch archeological site (12W56)
7:
1423:Geography of Warrick County, Indiana
555:National Register of Historic Places
511:National Register of Historic Places
1433:Native American history of Indiana
16:Archaeological site in Indiana, US
14:
736:Mississippian Settlement Patterns
864:
857:
217:in the southwestern part of the
100:
93:
75:
68:
319:in an occupation influenced by
241:in the late twentieth century.
184:
1:
273:Laboratory of Archaeology at
213:) is a small but significant
126:and Ellerbursch Rd., west of
109:Show map of the United States
21:United States historic place
1364:National Historic Landmarks
1454:
742:: Academic, 1978, 293-330.
1372:
855:
587:Indiana Historical Bureau
464:Dating and classification
183:NRHP reference
62:
50:
46:
37:
30:
26:
738:. Ed. Bruce D. Smith.
442:Relationships with Angel
178:0.8 acres (0.32 ha)
1123:Marion: Center Township
767:Honerkamp, Marjory W.
483:Only a small number of
347:; over 98% of them are
1377:Keeper of the Register
829:Keeper of the Register
771:Diss. Indiana U, 1975.
317:Middle Woodland period
1428:Mississippian culture
1397:Contributing property
844:National Park Service
824:Contributing property
560:National Park Service
159:37.95222°N 87.42556°W
325:Swift Creek culture
294:Artifacts recovered
215:archaeological site
164:37.95222; -87.42556
155: /
84:Show map of Indiana
730:2012-07-22 at the
697:Green, Thomas J.
327:that was based in
275:Indiana University
1405:
1404:
1392:Historic district
834:Historic district
577:Curry, Hilda J.
490:Remains of houses
354:negative painting
299:Early excavations
203:
202:
1445:
868:
867:
861:
860:
799:
792:
785:
776:
756:
749:
743:
721:
706:
695:
590:
575:
564:
563:
546:
186:
170:
169:
167:
166:
165:
160:
156:
153:
152:
151:
148:
110:
104:
103:
97:
85:
79:
78:
72:
55:
24:
1453:
1452:
1448:
1447:
1446:
1444:
1443:
1442:
1408:
1407:
1406:
1401:
1368:
1347:
875:
869:
865:
863:
862:
858:
853:
812:
803:
764:
762:Further reading
759:
750:
746:
732:Wayback Machine
722:
709:
696:
593:
576:
567:
562:. July 9, 2010.
548:
547:
540:
536:
524:
516:Yankeetown site
507:
471:Woodland period
466:
444:
439:
426:
417:Harrison County
404:
362:
337:
301:
296:
263:
247:
207:Ellerbusch site
163:
161:
157:
154:
149:
146:
144:
142:
141:
114:
113:
112:
111:
108:
107:
106:
105:
88:
87:
86:
83:
82:
81:
80:
58:
42:
33:
22:
17:
12:
11:
5:
1451:
1449:
1441:
1440:
1435:
1430:
1425:
1420:
1410:
1409:
1403:
1402:
1400:
1399:
1394:
1389:
1387:Property types
1384:
1379:
1373:
1370:
1369:
1367:
1366:
1361:
1355:
1353:
1349:
1348:
1346:
1345:
1340:
1335:
1330:
1325:
1320:
1315:
1310:
1305:
1300:
1295:
1290:
1285:
1280:
1275:
1270:
1265:
1260:
1255:
1250:
1245:
1240:
1235:
1230:
1225:
1220:
1215:
1210:
1205:
1200:
1195:
1190:
1185:
1180:
1175:
1170:
1165:
1160:
1155:
1150:
1145:
1140:
1135:
1130:
1125:
1120:
1115:
1110:
1105:
1100:
1095:
1090:
1085:
1080:
1075:
1070:
1065:
1060:
1055:
1050:
1045:
1040:
1035:
1030:
1025:
1020:
1015:
1010:
1005:
1000:
995:
990:
985:
980:
975:
970:
965:
960:
955:
950:
945:
940:
935:
930:
925:
920:
915:
910:
905:
900:
895:
890:
885:
879:
877:
871:
870:
856:
854:
852:
851:
849:Property types
846:
841:
836:
831:
826:
820:
818:
814:
813:
804:
802:
801:
794:
787:
779:
773:
772:
763:
760:
758:
757:
755:67 (1957): 90.
744:
707:
591:
565:
537:
535:
532:
531:
530:
523:
520:
506:
503:
498:
497:
494:
491:
488:
487:on the surface
481:
465:
462:
443:
440:
438:
435:
425:
422:
403:
400:
388:nutting stones
361:
358:
349:shell-tempered
336:
333:
300:
297:
295:
292:
262:
259:
246:
243:
201:
200:
199:March 14, 1991
197:
193:
192:
187:
180:
179:
176:
172:
171:
139:
135:
134:
124:State Road 662
120:
116:
115:
99:
98:
92:
91:
90:
89:
74:
73:
67:
66:
65:
64:
63:
60:
59:
56:
48:
47:
44:
43:
38:
35:
34:
31:
28:
27:
20:
15:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1450:
1439:
1436:
1434:
1431:
1429:
1426:
1424:
1421:
1419:
1416:
1415:
1413:
1398:
1395:
1393:
1390:
1388:
1385:
1383:
1380:
1378:
1375:
1374:
1371:
1365:
1362:
1360:
1357:
1356:
1354:
1350:
1344:
1341:
1339:
1336:
1334:
1331:
1329:
1326:
1324:
1321:
1319:
1316:
1314:
1311:
1309:
1306:
1304:
1301:
1299:
1296:
1294:
1291:
1289:
1286:
1284:
1281:
1279:
1276:
1274:
1271:
1269:
1266:
1264:
1261:
1259:
1256:
1254:
1251:
1249:
1246:
1244:
1241:
1239:
1236:
1234:
1231:
1229:
1226:
1224:
1221:
1219:
1216:
1214:
1211:
1209:
1206:
1204:
1201:
1199:
1196:
1194:
1191:
1189:
1186:
1184:
1181:
1179:
1176:
1174:
1171:
1169:
1166:
1164:
1161:
1159:
1156:
1154:
1151:
1149:
1146:
1144:
1141:
1139:
1136:
1134:
1131:
1129:
1128:Marion: Other
1126:
1124:
1121:
1119:
1116:
1114:
1111:
1109:
1106:
1104:
1101:
1099:
1096:
1094:
1091:
1089:
1086:
1084:
1081:
1079:
1076:
1074:
1071:
1069:
1066:
1064:
1061:
1059:
1056:
1054:
1051:
1049:
1046:
1044:
1041:
1039:
1036:
1034:
1031:
1029:
1026:
1024:
1021:
1019:
1016:
1014:
1011:
1009:
1006:
1004:
1001:
999:
996:
994:
991:
989:
986:
984:
981:
979:
976:
974:
971:
969:
966:
964:
961:
959:
956:
954:
951:
949:
946:
944:
941:
939:
936:
934:
931:
929:
926:
924:
921:
919:
916:
914:
911:
909:
906:
904:
901:
899:
896:
894:
891:
889:
886:
884:
881:
880:
878:
872:
850:
847:
845:
842:
840:
837:
835:
832:
830:
827:
825:
822:
821:
819:
815:
811:
807:
800:
795:
793:
788:
786:
781:
780:
777:
770:
766:
765:
761:
754:
748:
745:
741:
737:
733:
729:
726:
720:
718:
716:
714:
712:
708:
704:
700:
694:
692:
690:
688:
686:
684:
682:
680:
678:
676:
674:
672:
670:
668:
666:
664:
662:
660:
658:
656:
654:
652:
650:
648:
646:
644:
642:
640:
638:
636:
634:
632:
630:
628:
626:
624:
622:
620:
618:
616:
614:
612:
610:
608:
606:
604:
602:
600:
598:
596:
592:
588:
584:
580:
574:
572:
570:
566:
561:
557:
556:
551:
545:
543:
539:
533:
529:
526:
525:
521:
519:
517:
512:
504:
502:
495:
492:
489:
486:
482:
479:
478:
477:
474:
472:
463:
461:
459:
454:
453:crop rotation
449:
441:
436:
434:
432:
423:
421:
418:
414:
410:
401:
399:
397:
393:
389:
385:
381:
376:
375:lithic flakes
372:
367:
359:
357:
355:
350:
346:
342:
334:
332:
330:
326:
322:
318:
314:
310:
306:
298:
293:
291:
287:
284:
280:
276:
272:
268:
260:
258:
256:
255:Ohio Township
252:
244:
242:
240:
239:historic site
236:
232:
228:
224:
220:
216:
212:
208:
198:
196:Added to NRHP
194:
191:
188:
181:
177:
173:
168:
140:
136:
133:
129:
125:
121:
117:
96:
71:
61:
54:
49:
45:
41:
36:
29:
25:
19:
768:
752:
747:
735:
698:
583:Indianapolis
578:
553:
508:
499:
475:
467:
445:
427:
405:
392:hammerstones
363:
338:
302:
288:
264:
248:
206:
204:
18:
1352:Other lists
1293:Vanderburgh
1273:Switzerland
893:Bartholomew
505:Recognition
437:Conclusions
366:stone tools
345:Angel Phase
321:Hopewellian
313:cannel coal
279:Bloomington
271:Glenn Black
267:excavations
245:Environment
162: /
138:Coordinates
1412:Categories
1323:Washington
1298:Vermillion
1278:Tippecanoe
1238:St. Joseph
1153:Montgomery
1053:Huntington
534:References
265:The first
261:Excavation
235:Angel site
231:floodplain
219:U.S. state
150:87°25′32″W
1093:Kosciusko
1073:Jefferson
1038:Hendricks
903:Blackford
876:by county
703:Indiana U
701:. Diss.
485:artifacts
458:driftwood
283:potsherds
147:37°57′8″N
1268:Sullivan
1223:Randolph
1133:Marshall
1113:Lawrence
1098:LaGrange
1078:Jennings
1033:Harrison
1023:Hamilton
998:Franklin
993:Fountain
968:Delaware
953:Dearborn
943:Crawford
740:New York
728:Archived
522:See also
448:terraces
380:scrapers
341:features
305:tempered
190:91000270
128:Newburgh
119:Location
1359:Bridges
1343:Whitley
1318:Warrick
1263:Steuben
1253:Spencer
1213:Pulaski
1118:Madison
1108:LaPorte
1083:Johnson
1058:Jackson
1028:Hancock
983:Fayette
978:Elkhart
958:Decatur
948:Daviess
938:Clinton
918:Carroll
810:Indiana
705:, 1977.
589:, 1954.
431:context
396:gorgets
384:pestles
360:Lithics
335:Pottery
329:Georgia
251:section
227:culture
223:Indiana
211:12-W-56
132:Indiana
1313:Warren
1308:Wabash
1283:Tipton
1258:Starke
1248:Shelby
1228:Ripley
1218:Putnam
1203:Porter
1178:Orange
1163:Newton
1158:Morgan
1148:Monroe
1138:Martin
1063:Jasper
1048:Howard
1018:Greene
1008:Gibson
1003:Fulton
973:Dubois
963:DeKalb
898:Benton
817:Topics
409:hearth
402:Houses
390:, and
253:33 of
1338:White
1333:Wells
1328:Wayne
1288:Union
1243:Scott
1208:Posey
1193:Perry
1188:Parke
1168:Noble
1143:Miami
1043:Henry
1013:Grant
988:Floyd
928:Clark
913:Brown
908:Boone
888:Allen
883:Adams
874:Lists
424:Other
413:chert
371:cores
1303:Vigo
1233:Rush
1198:Pike
1183:Owen
1173:Ohio
1103:Lake
1088:Knox
933:Clay
923:Cass
734:".
311:and
309:mica
205:The
175:Area
1068:Jay
808:in
581:.
277:in
221:of
185:No.
1414::
710:^
594:^
585::
568:^
558:.
552:.
541:^
386:,
331:.
130:,
798:e
791:t
784:v
209:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
