THE GEOCHEMISTRY AND HISTORICAL ECOLOGY OF A BURNT MISSISSIPPIAN HOUSE AT THE LAWRENZ GUN CLUB SITE IN THE CENTRAL ILLINOIS RIVER VALLEY

This research examines effects of human habitation on soil geochemistry at Lawrenz Gun Club (11Cs4) - a fortified, Mississippian period village in the central Illinois River Valley. This work aims to determine the time of relationship between mollisol formation, which appears to have occurred shortly after site abandonment, relative to habitation of the site through comparison of samples from both inside and outside of the structure. One research focus will be the estimation of relative soil age between the interior and exterior of the house by the amount of calcium carbonate precipitation in the B Horizon of the soil profiles. Two continuous columns of geochemical samples were collected from the east and west profile walls of an excavation block placed atop the corner of a burnt house structure stratigraphically superimposed by natural mollisol. Total nitrogen and total inorganic carbon as well as elemental Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Al, Mn, and Pb and organic P concentrations will be measured using Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the geochemical differences between the interior and exterior of the structure. Samples will be burned at 550° C to determine loss on ignition for organic enrichment estimation and digested in 1M HCl acid for ICP-MS analysis.