Archaeology at the Whitley Site: An Early Historic Farmstead on the Prairies of Eastern Illinois (Transportation Archaeological Research Reports, 5)

The Whitley site, located near the headwaters of Sugar Creek in the upland "Grand Prairie" area of Edgar County near the east-central border of Illinois, represents the remains of a homestead established by one of the area's earliest European settlers. William Whitley purchased the 80-acre farm in 1829, although evidence suggests the family was living there as early as 1823. They sold the land in 1833, after which the homestead lay abandoned for about 20 years. From the recovered artifacts, the farm was later briefly reoccupied, probably in the 1850s by Silas Elliott and his family. Archaeological investigations at the Whitley site revealed the farmstead plan including remains of the house, two smokehouses, two wells, four cisterns, and other features enclosed by fences. Artifacts were abundant, and the recovered ceramic assemblage-consisting primarily of decorated pearlware and other early nineteenth century wares-is of particular interest. [A]n excellent technical cultural resource management report in that it fully discussed the range of features and the material culture recovered.... Its major strength is that it more than adequately documents the spatial plan of this early nineteenth-century farmstead. It will be an extremely useful work for other researchers interested in farmstead archaeology. -Mary R. McCorvie, Illinois Archaeology 13:163, 2001