The Conservancy Partners To Obtain Ninth Wisconsin Preserve The Cade Archaeological District contains several prehistoric sites.
Jim Theler
T
he Conservancy has partnered with the Mississippi Valley Conservancy (MVC) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to acquire 70 acres along the Bad Axe River in southwestern Wisconsin. The property, the Bernice Cade farm, is the central portion of the Cade Archaeological District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The property has several significant archaeological resources including two effigy mound groups, two late prehistoric habitation sites, and an unexplored rockshelter that shows signs of prehistoric occupation. The two well-preserved effigy mound groups are located in the wooded slopes overlooking the river. Effigy mounds date from about a.d. 750 to 1100 and are primarily found in Wisconsin. About 85 percent of Wisconsin’s effigy mounds have been destroyed, so the Cade property is “an opportunity to preserve what has become a rare and unique resource,” according to Joe Tiffany, Director of the Mississippi Valley Archaeological Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Paul Gardner, the Conservancy’s Midwest Regional Director, The habitation sites in the river bottom were the focus of and Mississippi Valley Conservancy conservation specialist a field school lead by Jim Theler, an archaeologist with the Mis- Abbie Church at the rockshelter. sissippi Valley Archaeology Center. The excavation revealed, among other things, the presence of another habitation area purchase the property by each contributing $41,250, which that yielded pottery characteristic of the Great Oasis Culture was matched by a $82,500 Knowles-Nelson Stewardship of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. This was the first Grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. time Great Oasis pottery was discovered in Wisconsin, and it Future use of the property is governed by a management is also the farthest east that the pottery has been found. plan endorsed by the Wisconsin DNR that provides for The radiocarbon dates from the Cade site’s Great Oasis future archaeological research. features indicate an occupation at about a.d. 1050, the time According to MVC conservation specialist Abbie Church, when the culture disappears from Minnesota and Iowa. The her organization’s goal “is to involve and serve the needs of possibility that the Cade site holds important clues to the the public to the greatest extent possible while protecting disappearance of the Great Oasis Culture makes its acquisi- all natural and cultural resources.” —Paul Gardner tion particularly rewarding. When Theler learned that the Cade Conservancy property was on the market for $210,000 he notified the Conservancy and suggested that we contact the MVC, a local SITE: Cade Archaeological District land trust preserving natural areas in CULTURE AND TIME PERIOD: southwestern Wisconsin. The MVC was Principally Effigy Mound Culture familiar with the Cade property, which and Great Oasis Culture, is considered particularly desirable circa a.d. 600–1100. STATUS: The sites are threatened because it includes a large, unspoiled by residential development. stretch of the river, and harbors at least ACQUISITION: The Conservancy seven species of state-endangered or needs to raise $60,000. threatened plants and animals. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Please send Wanting to preserve her property, contributions to The Archaeological Bernice Cade agreed to a bargain-saleConservancy, Attn: Cade, 5301 Central Ave. NE, to-charity price of $165,000, and this Suite 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1530. allowed the Conservancy and MVC to
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