Subsistence Ecology of Scovill, a Terminal Middle Woodland Village

Abstract

Scovill is a Weaver focus site in west-central Illinois. Various techniques were employed to extract maximal amounts and kinds of food remains from the site, and these remains, identified and quantified, are then compared with the estimated food potential from the 10 mi2 area surrounding the site in an attempt to determine both the ecology and the subsistence pattern of the inhabitants. Certain hypotheses concerning the overall settlement-subsistence system of the Weaver focus are presented, and problems involved in the recovery, differential preservation, and quantification of archaeological food remains from open sites are discussed.