Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site - History of Kincaid

History of Kincaid

The Chicago excavators in the 1930s documented a prehistory in the Kincaid area stretching back thousands of years, into what is now known as the Archaic Period (8000 BCE to 2000 BCE). The Chicago crew recognized this period as the Faulkner Component, which was described as a pre-pottery culture. Except for the lack of pottery, it was otherwise very like the subsequent cultures of the Early Woodland, such as the Adena culture (1000 BCE to 200 BCE).

Teams documented more intensive occupation in the ensuing Early Woodland and Middle Woodland periods. This involved a sedentary, semi-agricultural culture characterized by the use of limestone-tempered ceramics and the presence of permanent wooden houses. The Baumer culture, as it was called, was similar to the Adena and Hopewell cultures, with which it was contemporary. The Baumer occupation at Kincaid was shown to be extensive.

Occupation continued into the Late Woodland period. This period is known as the Lewis culture. The most notable occupation at Kincaid, however, is the Mississippian culture that developed out of the local Lewis community about 1050 CE. Kincaid was a near neighbor of Cahokia, only 140 miles (230 km) away, and is thought to have been influenced by developments there. The people built at least 19 earthwork mounds during this period, mostly the characteristic Mississippian platform mounds. Since 2003 teams from Southern Illinois University have been conducting more intensive research. A large central plaza, constructed by filling and leveling, occupies the center of the community. It is surrounded by the major mounds, which are as much as 30 feet (9.1 m) tall and one is almost 500 feet (150 m) long. None rivals the size of Monks Mound at Cahokia but they are very large by Mississippian standards.

Large buildings atop the main mounds seemed to indicate temples or council houses. Carved figurines in coal and fluorite seemed to characterize the local iconography, with images showing connections to the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC). Trade for chert resources appeared to extend into Missouri, Tennessee, and other parts of Illinois. Several examples of Mill Creek chert, which came from quarries very near by, were found at the site. Mississippian culture pottery painted with a negative resist are also characteristic of the site. In the 1930s, the Chicago team excavated a major burial mound, Pope Mound 2, yielding further evidence for hierarchical social structures and showing that Kincaid was a chiefdom. The mound contained a number of stone box graves and log lined tombs similar to those frequently found to the south in the Middle Cumberland Valley of Tennessee.

Mississippian-culture occupation at the site appears to have ended by 1400-1450 CE. No documented occupation by historic Native American tribes exists. The site was evidently abandoned, perhaps because of exhaustion of timber and game resources. It remained uninhabited until the arrival of European-American and African-American settlers three centuries later. Most arrived more than 400 years after the site was abandoned.