From Wet Lands to Dry Spaces (and Back Again): Archaeological Perspectives on the Use, Drainage, and Restoration of the Kankakee Wetlands, USA

ABSTRACT

The Kankakee River in the midcontinent of the United States was once home to one of the largest wetlands in the world, the Grand Kankakee Marsh, as well as countless smaller wetlands along its margins. Beginning in the mid nineteenth century, over 200,000 ha of the Marsh was drained along with an untold number of smaller wetlands. Yet, while wetlands were devalued in the nineteenth century, these ecosystems were prized hunting, plant collection, and horticultural grounds prior to Euro-American settlement, and are increasingly recognized for their ecosystem services today. This paper investigates the Kankakee wetlands and their use by late precolonial Indigenous communities using data compiled from a large, public archaeological project conducted at an active restoration site, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, in Illinois. Findings provide key floral and faunal reference data, highlight the land use strategies of this seventeenth century Native American agricultural community, and indicate increased precipitation trends favourable to the success of wetland restoration.

KEYWORDS:

• Grand Kankakee Marsh
• restoration ecology
• late precolonial
• American Midwest
• Little Ice Age
• Oneota
• Joliet Arsenal
• ancestral Native American archaeology

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff and volunteers at MNTP whose dedication continues to restore the Prairie and whose work makes our own possible. Many thanks to Rick Short, Allison Cisneros, Kathryn Gorman, Wade Spang, Brandon Curry, and Michelle Pearion for their assistance. We are tremendously grateful to our collaborators who assisted with aspects of the work presented: Leslie Bush, Wendy Munson-Scullin, Dana Biasatti, Pete Geraci, Jamie Countryman, Chad Hill, and Jesse Casana. We also would like to thank Michael Stratigos, organizers, and participants in this special edition as well as Bill Green, Alison Anastasio, and the anonymous reviewers for their feedback. The isotopic analysis mentioned in this article was conducted at the Center for Environmental Science at the University of Notre Dame.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Our research was funded by the University of Notre Dame and the Forest Service, USDA.