Griesmer site

The site was excavated under the auspices of the Indiana Historical Society in 1962. Five years later, the site was completely destroyed by sand removal activities. == Results of 1962 excavations ==

The excavations yielded features, prehistoric artifacts, animal bone, and plant remains. The Havana Culture was thought to be a local variant of the main Middle Woodland, which was dominated by the Adena and Hopewell cultures of the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys. Middle Woodland cultures are characterized by their large burial mounds, some of which are still visible today; as well as their distinctive pottery forms, ceremonial practices, agricultural activities, and widespread trade networks. It has also been noted at the Anker and Boumanville sites near Chicago, Illinois, and the Fifield Site in Indiana. Anker, and Hoxie Farm sites and Schwerdt in southwestern Michigan where it is part of the Berrien Phase. At the Oak Forest Site, this ware has been associated with early Historic artifacts, which indicates the pottery was still being made at the time of European contact. The exact cultural affiliation has not been determined but it has been suggested that the makers of this pottery may be the Miami or Potawatomi tribe. This pottery is characterized by shell tempering, predominantly smooth surfaces either plain or decorated by fine vertical incised lines, excurved or flared rims, and often fine notching on the lip. Strap handles or loops are present on some vessels. Some of the Upper Mississippian vessels found at Griesmer are identified as coranders based on sherds with holes in them. Coranders are a very rare vessel form in the area. Most of these sherds came from Huber ware. Miniature vessels are also present at Griesmer, and most of them appear to be Huber ware as well. Four specific types of Huber ware were identified at Griesmer: • Huber plain (2 vessels) – characterized by plain smooth surfaces with notched lips being the only decoration. • Huber cordmarked (4 vessels) – characterized by cordmarked shoulder and body and notched or cordmarked lip. This type is very similar to Fisher Cordmarked except for small details in the manufacture and appearance of the cordmarked surfaces, and the fact that Huber Cordmarked surfaces are more often smoothed-over. • Huber trailed (12 vessels) – characterized by smooth surfaces with fine trailed or incised lines. The lines most often vertical or slant to the right. • Huber bold – this type was identified only on the basis of body sherds, none of them which could be matched to a rim. The lines are finger-trailed and mostly appear to have been applied vertically. == Significance ==

The Griesmer Site is a multi-component Prehistoric site with the large Upper Mississippian occupation being the most prominent. The Fisher and Huber pottery, along with the radiocarbon dates, indicate the site was occupied almost to the time of European contact. The excavators felt that the season of occupation was late spring to early summer, and that the site was a short-term encampment instead of a permanent agricultural village. A similar short-term encampment has been identified at the Schwerdt Site on the Kalamazoo River in southwestern Michigan. Schwerdt had similar deep roasting pits with water lily tubers present along with sturgeon bone. The ceramics at Schwerdt were designated as Berrien Phase; including shell-tempered pottery which can be assigned to Huber ware, along with grit-tempered local Late Woodland types. Unfortunately it cannot be said with confidence which cultural or tribal entities created the Fisher and Huber pottery at Griesmer, but the Potawatomi and Miami have been suggested, based on the fact that both of these tribes were present in the area during early Historic times. ==References==