The Duffy site is a substantial

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

along the

Wabash River The Wabash River (French: Ouabache) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana in the United States. It flows from ...

in the southeastern part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. Located near the village of

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

in Gallatin County, it is the

type site In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron A ...

for the Duffy Complex,Winters, Howard D. ''An Archaeological Survey of the Wabash Valley in Illinois''. Springfield: Illinois State Museum Society, 1963. a group of similar sites on the Illinois side of the Wabash near its confluence with the Ohio River. Duffy is distinctive largely because of its

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

: the site's inhabitants typically produced ceramics of various thicknesses and comparatively few decorative elements, tempered with

grog Grog is a term used for a variety of alcoholic beverages. The word originally referred to rum diluted with water (and later on long sea voyages, also added the juice of limes or lemons), which British Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon introduced ...

. What decorations exist are typically limited to one or two rows of simple lines or bars that have been incised or stamped on the side of the piece of pottery.

Projectile point In North American archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have ...

s found at the site are small triangular "Mounds Stemless" points, and the inhabitants produced

celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

of a vaguely rectangular shape. The site is believed to have been inhabited circa AD 1000. Duffy is clearly related to sites of the Yankeetown Complex, which is named for the Yankeetown site on the Ohio River east of

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

. Like Duffy, the people of Yankeetown produced grog-tempered pottery with few details other than incisions,Kellar, James H. ''National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Yankeetown Archaeological Site (12W1)''.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

, 1975-02-20. although differences between Duffy and Yankeetown pottery are substantial enough to rule out a close connection between the two peoples. Nevertheless, the two sites share certain cultural influences: both feature

Late Woodland In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...

elements,Muller, Jon. ''Archaeology of the Lower Ohio River Valley''.

Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...

: Left Coast, 2009. and as Yankeetown appears to show the beginnings of an indigenous form of the Mississippian culture, Duffy bears some evidence of Mississippian influence. Other Illinois sites potentially related to the Duffy Complex include Carrier Mills in Saline County, which shows some Duffy influence, and Gallatin County's

Illinois Salines The Illinois Salines, also known as the Saline Springs or Great Salt Springs, is a salt spring site located along the Saline River in Gallatin County, Illinois. The site was a source of salt for Illinois' prehistoric settlers and is now an arch ...

, which has yielded pottery more closely resembling that of Duffy than that of Yankeetown. The latter site appears to have been under Duffy control as the region was transitioning from terminal Late Woodland to Mississippian. In 1977, the Duffy site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, qualifying because of its archaeological importance; it is one of seven Gallatin County locations on the Register, as is the Great Salt Spring.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Geography of Gallatin County, Illinois Archaeological type sites Wabash River Woodland period National Register of Historic Places in Gallatin County, Illinois

See also

References