The site was occupied byNative Americans as late as the 1820s and 1830s, when theHo-Chunk tribe resided there. At that time, it was called "White Crow's village" after the name of the chief.[1]
For many years Carcajou Point was known as a locality where Native American and early European antiquities were present.[1] The archaeologist W.C. McKern referred to the Carcajou Village site on a list of uninvestigated sites in 1945.[2] In 1957 the site was excavated under the auspices of the Wisconsin Archaeological Society, and in 1962 Robert Hall created a site report to discuss the findings and compare them to otherOneota sites inWisconsin.[1]
Three types of house structures were identified at the site.[1] The first is a mat-covered wigwam with pole frame-based foundation; this type was based on observation of circular placement of post-molds. The second type is a rectangular structure resembling abark summer-house described from the early Historic period. The third is a square structure with wall-trench construction which resembles the house structures found in the Heally component of theZimmerman site[3] and theMiddle MississippianAztalan site about 13 miles north of Carcajou Point.[4] This type is associated with radiocarbon dates of A.D. 998 and A.D. 1028 at Carcajou Point.[1]
79 pitfeatures were excavated in the 1957 fieldwork. Hall's report did not provide a typology of feature types but it was implied that the main type was refuse pits. The refuse pits at Carcajou Point were thought to have started out asstorage pits constructed to store food for later consumption; which were converted to refuse pits as their contents soured.[1]
Threeburials were excavated representing both primary and secondary (ie "bundle") interments. The first was a fragmentary burial found in a basin-shaped pit with no grave goods. The second was a bundle burial with 6 individuals andgrave goods consisting ofpottery vessels and an arrow shaft straightener. The third was a primary interment of an infant in a refuse pit.[1]
A full listing of animal remains was not provided in the site report, butdeer,elk,bison andturtle are mentioned specifically, with deer identified as the dietary staple.[1]
Very few plant remains were recovered during excavations, because flotation techniques were not yet in widespread use among archaeologists. One kernel ofmaize was recovered from feature contexts, along with charred seeds which were not identified.[1]
Archaeologists often findpottery to be a very useful tool in analyzing aprehistoric 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.[5]
3,685 sherds and one complete vessel were recovered in the 1957 excavations. Of these, 48 wereLate Woodland in affiliation, 39 came from miniature children's vessels and the remaining 3,594 are from the Upper Mississippian Oneota component.[1]
Almost all of the Upper Mississippian Oneotasherds wereshell-tempered with smooth surface. 14 sherds werecordmarked, 3 sherds were observed to have traces of red paint, and 3 sherds had black paint.[1]
During the artifact analysis, sherds were categorized into 27 different groups, but only 7 of these groups are actually recognized potterytypes. The remainder are mostly body sherds which did not have enough information to be assigned to a definite type.[1]
The following types were identified or created to classify the pottery at Carcajou Point:[1]
Carcajou Curvilinear - based on 11 vessels from Carcajou Point and 2 vessels from theWalker-Hooper Site, located inGreen Lake County, Wisconsin. Consists of shell-tempered, globular jars with restricted orifice, well-defined shoulders, everted rim profile and notched lips. Surface finish is smooth and decoration is applied between the neck and shoulder in the form of interlocking scrolls sometimes with hatched areas, and meanders. Occasionally handles are present. Early examples have angular shoulders. Grand River Trailed is similar except for the notched lips.
Time period: Prehistoric to Protohistoric/Early Historic.
Prehistoric cultural affiliation: Upper Mississippian Oneota (Koshkonong and Grand River Foci).
Protohistoric/historic Cultural affiliation: unknown, possiblyHo-Chunk.
Carcajou Plain - based on 1 complete vessel and 9 rim sherds. Same as Carcajou Curvilinear except decoration is limited to lip notching, and some other vessel forms are present including small vertical-sided bowls and shallow pans.
Time period: Prehistoric to Protohistoric/Early Historic.
Prehistoric cultural affiliation: Upper Mississippian Oneota (Koshkonong and Grand River Foci).
Protohistoric/historic Cultural affiliation: unknown, possibly Ho-Chunk.
Grand River Trailed - based on 4 vessels from Carcajou Point and 25 vessels from otherWisconsin sites. Consists of shell-tempered, globular jars with restricted orifice, well-defined shoulders and everted rim profile. Rims are not notched. Surface finish is smooth and decoration is applied between the neck and shoulder in the form of interlocking scrolls, meanders, linear and circular, crescent-shaped and similar elements arranged in patterns. Handles are rare. Carcajou Curvilinear is similar except for the notched lips.
Time period: Prehistoric to Protohistoric/Early Historic.
Prehistoric cultural affiliation: Upper Mississippian Oneota (Koshkonong and Grand River Foci).
Protohistoric/historic Cultural affiliation: unknown, possibly Ho-Chunk.
Grand River Plain - based on 7 vessels from Carcajou Point and 36 vessels from other Wisconsin sites. Same as Grand River Trailed except no decoration. Bowl shapes are also present.
Time period: Prehistoric to Protohistoric/Early Historic.
Prehistoric cultural affiliation: Upper Mississippian Oneota (Koshkonong and Grand River Foci).
Protohistoric/historic Cultural affiliation: unknown, possibly Ho-Chunk.
Koshkonong Bold - based on 6 vessels from Carcajou Point and other sites in Wisconsin. Consists of shell-tempered, globular jars with restricted orifice and everted rims. Lips are sometimes notched. Handles are rare. Decoration consists of wide-trailed ("finger-trailed") lines applied vertically or diagonally from the neck to shoulder. This type is associated with aradiocarbon date of A.D. 1528 at Carcajou Point. Finger-trailed vessels have been found at the Midway site inLaCrosse County, Wisconsin, as well as other Oneota sites, and in Huber Phase sites around theChicago area.
Time period: Prehistoric to Protohistoric/Early Historic.
Prehistoric cultural affiliation: Upper Mississippian Oneota (Koshkonong and Grand River Foci).
Protohistoric/historic Cultural affiliation: unknown, possibly Ho-Chunk.
Busseyville Grooved Paddle - based on 11 body sherds from the 1957 excavations at Carcajou Point as well as numerous body sherds in surface collections from Carcajou Point and otherWisconsin sites. Consists of shell-tempered, globular vessels with everted rim profile, squared lip and grooved-paddle impressed surface finish. Similar toFort Ancient pottery from the Madisonville Focus[6] and Danner Paddle-Impressed from the Danner Component of theZimmerman site.[3]
Time period: Early Historic.
Cultural affiliation: unknown.
Madison Cord-Impressed - based on 2 rim sherds. Grit-tempered vessels with cord-impressed surface finish, decorated by bands of cord impressions.
Non-pottery artifacts recovered from the site included:[1]
Chipped stone artifacts - includingprojectile points,scrapers andknives (subdivided into variants based on manufacturing technique),drills (subdivided into variants based on manufacturing technique) and percussion-flaked core tools. Of the projectile points, the most numerous category was the small triangular Madison point.
Ground stone artifacts - including arrow shaft straighteners,manos,hammerstones,celts, abraders and anadze.
Bone andantler artifacts - includingbeaver-toothchisels,deer toe projectile points, beamers,awls (includingulna,metapodial,scapula, spatulate, bird bone, flat splinter and spindle), a deermandible sheller, ascapulascraper, bone ornaments, a roulette possibly made from a fish bone (a distinctive artifact also noted at the Zimmerman and Plum Island sites in Illinois), bone punches, antler punches, misc. antler point implements and misc. cut antler pieces.
Shell artifacts - including a notched shell and apendant.
Pipes - micmac pipes,calumets and an equal-arm elbow pipe.
Pot sherd artifacts - there were several pottery discs formed by the working of a broken pot into disks. 15 discs were found with perforations in the center and were possibly used as aspindle whorl. One disk was notched, and 2 discs were plain. In addition, there was a potsherd fragment that was thought to be aclay scraping tool used in smoothing the surface of a pot prior to firing in thekiln.
European trade goods - including aglassbead,ironax, iron awl, sheetbrass fragments, a gunflint and brass wires. In addition, there were much more numerous artifacts collected on the surface prior to excavation by professional archaeologists.
The Carcajou Component is the prehistoricUpper MississippianOneota occupation present at Carcajou Point. The diagnostic artifact of this occupation is the Oneota shell-temperedpottery, which is decorated with curvilinear motifs suggestive of the pottery from theMiddle Mississippian Aztalan and Cahokia sites. The timeframe of this occupation isradiocarbon-dated by 3 dates ranging from A.D. 998-A.D. 1528. Hall felt that this occupation was probably the ancestors of the HistoricHo-Chunk tribe.[1]
The White Crow component refers to theHistoricHo-Chunk village that existed from approximately A.D. 1728-A.D. 1828. This component was separated from the prehistoric component by approximately 200 years. It consists of severalfeatures with historicEuropean trade goods in association with shell-temperedpottery.[1]
The pottery at Carcajou Point helped to provide some detail to theOneota cultural identity. The distinctive curvilinear decorations on the shell-tempered pottery indicated a clear influence to localMiddle Mississippian sites and was used by Hall to define the Koshkonong Focus of the Oneota Aspect. Theradiocarbon dates obtained from the site were the first in the region, and helped archaeologists provide a chronology for the Oneota culture.[7]
^abcdefghijklmnopqrHall, Robert L. (1962).The Archaeology of Carcajou Point. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.
^McKern, Will C. (1945). "Preliminary Report on the Upper Mississippi Phase in Wisconsin".Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee.16 (3):109–285.
^abBrown, James A., ed. (1961).The Zimmerman Site: A Report on Excavations at the Grand Village of Kaskaskia, LaSalle County, Illinois. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Museum, Report of Investigations No. 9.
^Barrett, S.A. (1933). "Ancient Aztalan".Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee.13.
^Shepard, Anna O. (1954).Ceramics for the Archaeologist. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication No. 609.
^Griffin, James Bennett (1943).The Fort Ancient Aspect: Its Cultural and Chronological Position in Mississippi Valley Archaeology (1966 ed.). Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.
^Jeske, Robert J.; Sterner, Katherine M.; Edwards, Richard W. IV (2020)."New Perspectives from Lake Koshkonong"(PDF).Midwest Archaeological Conference Occasional Papers (4):1–26.
