This picture was taken sometime in the 1950's in an area designated as area C down below the bluffs and on the village site. Walter Wadlow, at right, is the discoverer of the Snyders site in 1940. His wife found what is probably the best effigy pipe discovered on the site while surface collecting in one of the plowed fields seen in the background. Greg Perino, on the left, probably wrote as much or more than anyone else about the Snyders site.

Abstract image of Snyders & North points.

ABSTRACT
SNYDERS SITE
CALHOUN COUNTY, ILLINOIS
MIDDLE WOODLAND HOPEWELL
2100 TO 1600 YEARS BEFORE PRESENT

People were living on the Snyders site beginning sometime during the Late Archaic Period and continued to be occupied into the Late Woodland Period. The site is most famous for the extensive Middle Woodland Hopewell village that once flourished there. The Snyders site is located in Calhoun County, Illinois between the Mississippi River to the west and the Illinois River to the east. Most of the artifacts illustrated in this article were found on the Snyders site and are from the Hopewell culture.

    "In the summer of 1940 I made an archaeological survey trip through Calhoun County, and by a "chance step" at the home of Andrew Snyders was rewarded by information which led to an investigation of the old Indian village occupying lands on both Snyders and Freidel farms."---1952, W. L. Wadlow, "The Snyders Site," The Greater St. Louis Archaeological Society, p. 2.
    "The Snyders site was discovered and recorded by Walter L. Wadlow, Bunker Hill, Illinois, in 1940."---1961, William G. Fecht, "The Snyders Mound Group and Village Site," Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 84.
      "The Snyders site in Calhoun County was one of the most important in the St. Louis area from the standpoint of providing information about the time relationship between a number of the recognized cultural groups."---1952, James B. Griffin, PhD, "The Snyders Site," The Greater St. Louis Archaeological Society, p. 2.
    "Because of his earlier excavation experience at the Snyders village with GSLAS (Greater St. Louis Archaeological Society), and because Mr. Snyders allowed interested collectors to dig in the site's deep bluffbase midden areas for a small fee during the 1950's, Greg (Perino) was personally familiar with the artifact richness of the site's midden and well aware that extraordinary artifacts being recovered there by casual excavators"---2006, Kenneth B. Farnsworth, "Introduction: Gregory Perino's Archaeological Career and Illinois-Excavation Photo Essay," Certain Hopewell And Late Woodland Sites In Illinois, Perino Memorial Volume, p. 4
    "During the summer of 1960 the writer, together with a crew of college and high school students, excavated a portion of the Snyders site."---1961, Stuart Struever, PhD., "Further Excavations at the Snyders Site; An Analysis of Snyders Ceramics," Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 94.
    "Certainly as exciting as any of the hundreds of artifacts recovered was a quantity of carbonized plant remains taken from three Middle Woodland features. Plant remains have seldom survived, or at least seldom have been recovered, from sites on on a Woodland horizon in eastern North America."---1961, Stuart Struever, PhD., "Further Excavations at the Snyders Site; An Analysis of Snyders Ceramics," Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 94.

THE SNYDERS SITE
CALHOUN COUNTY, ILLINOIS
MIDDLE WOODLAND HOPEWELL CULTURE

The Snyders site is one of several important Middle Woodland Hopewell sites in Illinois. The large amount of organic and inorganic materials excavated there has contributed a considerable amount of knowledge to archaeological record in this region. The Snyders site was discovered in 1940 by Walter Wadlow when, as he says he, "made an archaeological survey trip through Calhoun County, and by a "chance step" at the home of Andrew Snyders was rewarded by information which led to an investigation of the old Indian village occupying lands on both Snyders and Freidel farms."

MR. ANDREW SNYDERS
OF BATCHTOWN, ILLINOIS
THE OWNER OF THE SNYDERS SITE
DURING THE EXCAVATION YEARS

Mr. Snyders was the owner of the Snyders site during the period of time when Wadlow, Titterington, Perino, Struever, Griffin, Fecht and many other people were digging there, beginning in 1940 through to the 60's or 70's. "Mr. Snyders allowed interested collectors to dig in the site's deep bluff-base midden areas for a small fee during the 1950's (2006 Farnsworth)." The Snyders name was used in 1951 by Scully to name one of the point types found on the site. Snyders points are found on Hopewell sites in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Northeastern Oklahoma, Missouri, northwestern Arkansas and southeastern Kansas. The name Snyders has become quite famous and can be found in many books that describe eastern Middle Woodland culture.

The Snyders site is located in Calhoun County, Illinois five miles north of Batchtown. It's situated at the foot of the eastern Mississippi River bluff on a sloping terrace. It covers approximately six to eight acres of the bluff-base slope. Hopewell culture burial mounds are located on top of the bluff.

CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGER IMAGE
THE SNYDERS SITE
CALHOUN COUNTY, ILLINOIS

Most of the Snyders site can be seen in this picture. The areas designated A, B, C & D are the locations where most of the digging occurred over a period of approximately 30 years. A series of mounds are located on the bluff top, at location D. Several burials and some of the finer crafted artifacts were found there. The locations below, A, B & C, produced artifacts from the village site. The Snyders farm house is located to the right of the picture. The building at the lower left is a club house.

Over a period of thirty to forty years, the Snyders site was extensively excavated. The owner of the site, Mr. Andrew Snyders, allowed people to dig there, sometimes for a small fee. The excavators included archaeologists James B. Griffin, University of Michigan (1948 & 1949) and Stuart Struever, University of Chicago (1960). Serious amateur archaeologists, who published reports, include Greg Perino (1950's), Walter Wadlow (1940 & 50's), Dr. Paul F. Titterington and William Fecht. Other people dug there primarily to add to their private collections or to sell the artifacts on the commercial market.

CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGER IMAGE
SNYDERS POINT
JERSEY COUNTY, ILLINOIS
MIDDLE WOODLAND HOPEWELL
PRIVATE COLLECTION

This fine and "classic" example of a Snyders point was found just across the Illinois River to the east of the site in Jersey County. It's made of heat treated Burlington chert and measures 3 1/16 inches (7.7 cm) long and 1 13/16 inches (4.6 cm) wide. Snyders points were made in a wide range of shapes but most of them have large corner notches and rounded bases. The Snyders site produced large numbers of these points. Most of them are broken at their bases. Only a small percentage are complete.
The Snyders point was named by Edward G. Scully in 1951 after the Snyders site.

The earliest inhabitants of the Snyders site are represented by Late Archaic "Titterington focus" artifacts. Perino reports that a red ochre blade was found and William Fecht discovered a cache of three Morse knives. Both of these finds date to the Late Archaic and Early Woodland periods. The latest component of the site is assigned to the Late Woodland Jersey Bluff culture. Griffin writes in his 1952 summary about the site that, "---we can say that the Snyders site is predominantly Hopewell with a significant occupation of Jersey Bluff which postdates Hopewell." An estimated age of the site is somewhere between 920 B.C. and A.D. 600.

PLATFORM FROG EFFIGY PIPE
SNYDERS SITE
CALHOUN COUNTY, ILLINOIS
MIDDLE WOODLAND HOPEWELL
PRIVATE COLLECTION

Mrs. Walter Wadlow found this frog effigy pipe in the Spring of 1951 after heavy rains on a freshly plowed field. It's made of what William Fecht described as "an unusual texture of banded limestone." It represents the best complete example of a pipe found on the site. Several complete and fragments of pipes are reported to have been found on the Snyders site. It's probable that not all of them have been recorded. Walter Wadlow writes about the subject in 1952, "The contribution of folk lore to the history of the Snyders site is: that pipes, and portions of pipes, have been found there since the beginning of its cultivation. Specimens not badly damaged being sold to "horse and buggy" buyers of Indian relics, who cared but little about a pipe's history. Badly broken specimens possessed no commercial value (and in those days scientific value) and were thrown away, lost or destroyed." The Snyders site has produced pipes made of pipestone, limestone, clay and even one fragment made of pink Quartzite.

The Hopewell village and the prolific numbers of artifacts that could be found there are what drew so many people to dig on the Snyders site. Farnsworth writes, "Greg (Perino) was personally familiar with the artifact richness of the site's midden and well aware that extraordinary artifacts being recovered there by casual excavators. Thus Snyders was the first Gilcrease sponsored Illinois Valley site excavation he carried out during May and June 1955 with local hired labor." The Snyders burial mound group is located on the bluff top overlooking the village site below. An estimated age for the Snyders site Hopewell component is somewhere between 100 B.C. and A.D. 400.

ROSS BLADE
SNYDERS SITE
CALHOUN COUNTY, ILLINOIS
PHOTO BY DENNIS VESPER--OF CLEM CALDWELL'S COLLECTION

The large wide brown/amber colored point at left of center in this picture is one of the most famous artifacts ever found on the Snyders site. This Ross blade is extraordinary for its fine craftsmanship and the fact that it's made of Knife River Chalcedony from North Dakota. It's one of the finest crafted points ever found in North America. A high level of skill was needed to make it. It represents good evidence that there must have been full time craftsmen within the Hopewell community. Some people were able to develop very specific skills, in this case flintknapping. This point was excavated in 1944 by Dr. Paul F. Titterington from Snyders Mound C 114. It measures approximately 6 7/8 inches long. The other points in the picture were, at the time the picture was taken, in the collection of Clem Caldwell.

The Snyders site produced a very wide range of both organic and inorganic artifacts. Organic materials like antler, bone, teeth and shell are very well preserved. Bone artifacts include awls, pins, combs, beads, gorges & carved effigies of bear teeth. Antler artifacts include barbed antler projectile points and flintknapping tools such as billets and pressure flakers. Drilled teeth were found from several different animals such as bear, dog, wolf and even alligator. Most of the teeth were drilled for suspension. Shell artifacts were found in the form of beads, hoes, spoons & a carved effigy of a bear tooth. Turtle-carapaces were also found that were used as vessels. Stuart Struever was impressed with the organic preservation at the Snyders site and wrote, "Certainly as exciting as any of the hundreds of artifacts recovered was a quantity of carbonized plant remains taken from three Middle Woodland features. Plant remains have seldom survived, or at least seldom have been recovered, from sites on a Woodland horizon in eastern North America."

NORTH POINT CACHE
SNYDERS SITE
CALHOUN COUNTY, ILLINOIS
MIDDLE WOODLAND HOPEWELL
PRIVATE COLLECTION

This cache of North points were found by Harvey Suhling on the Snyders site. They represent some of the finest flint-work ever found on a Hopewell site in Illinois. Their thinness to width ratio is quite exceptional. They are made from heat treated Burlington chert.

Large numbers of broken ceramic pots were collected on the Snyders site. They were found in a wide variety of designs. The counting and cataloging of the broken fragments helped identify the different cultural groups that once lived there. The variety of pottery designs allowed archaeologists to separate different periods of occupation. By far the most elaborately designed ceramics were made by the Middle Woodland Hopewell people. Probably more than 99% of the pots found on the Snyders site are broken fragments. But from these fragments the site produced what were once engraved pots with stylized versions of birds and pots with a variety of artistically stamped designs. Another decoration technique used a stick to push small round protrusions from the inside to the outside of the rim of the pot. Some of the descriptive terms used to describe Hopewell ceramic designs are rocker-dentate stamped, bar stamped, zone-incised, cord-wrapped-stick decorated, Montezuma punctated, and many many more.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO

"REFERENCES"

1952, Wadlow, W. L. "The Snyders Site," The Greater St. Louis Archaeological Society, p. 2.
1952, Griffin, James B., PhD, "The Snyders Site," The Greater St. Louis Archaeological Society, p. 2.
1961, Fecht, William G. "The Snyders Mound Group and Village Site," Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 84.
1961, Struever, Stuart PhD., "Further Excavations at the Snyders Site; An Analysis of Snyders Ceramics," Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 94.
1968, Montet-White, Anta, "The Lithic Industries of the Illinois Valley in the Early and Middle Woodland Period," pp. 93, 119 & 124-127.
1969, Fecht, William G. "Additional Information From The Snyders Site," Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 16, No. 2, p. 63-77.
1985, Perino, Gregory, "Selected Preforms, Points and Knives of the North American Indians, Vol. 1" pp. 17, 262 & 358.
2006, Farnsworth, Kenneth B., "Certain Hopewell And Late Woodland Sites In Illinois, Perino Memorial Volume," Introduction: Gregory Perino's Archaeological Career and Illinois-Excavation Photo Essay, p. 4, and The 1955 Snyders Village Site Excavations, Calhoun County, Illinois, pp. 71-80.
2006, Farnsworth, Kenneth B., "Certain Hopewell And Late Woodland Sites In Illinois, Perino Memorial Volume," The Snyders Site Walter L. Wadlow, pp. 120-126.

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