The Bone Bank Archaeological Project, Posey County, Indiana:
Rescue Investigations at a Late Mississippian Site
The Bone Bank archaeological site, named by historic Wabash River travelers for the Mississippian cemeteries eroding from the riverbank, was the locus of Indiana's first archaeological excavations - in 1828. The primary component represents one of the largest villages of the protohistoric Caborn-Welborn culture (A.D. 1400-1700). Although long considered destroyed, riverbank surveys and test excavations in the 1990s revealed buried midden deposits and several surviving pit features.
Geomorphic reconstruction of the site remnant guided Indiana's first state-funded rescue excavations. Stratigraphic comparisons of radiocarbon dates, botanical remains, ceramics, and fabric impressions show limited temporal variation within the recovered assemblages. Intersite comparisons reveal temporal distinctions within the Caborn-Welborn phase. Comparisons of plant foods and fabrics distinguish four Caborn-Welborn sites from earlier Mississippian sites.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Survey & Testing
  3. The Rescue Investigations
  4. The Recovered Collections
  5. Conclusions
 Bone Bank, Posey County, Indiana
Enter SiteEnter site Bone Bank, Posey County, Indiana
Text and images from:

"Overview of the Bone Bank Archaeological Project, Posey County, Indiana: Rescue Investigations at a Late Mississippian Site." Poster presented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Montreal, Canada, by:

  • Cheryl Ann Munson (Indiana-University-Bloomington)
  • Patrick J. Munson (Indiana-University-Bloomington)
  • Leslie L. Bush (Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology)
  • A. Gwynn Henderson (Kentucky Archaeological Survey)
Website designed and coded by:
  • Chad Ryan Thomas (Arizona State University)
(The old Bone Bank website is available here.)