"Another type (of hoe) has a semi-elliptical blade with a square or flat top, in the sides of which deep notches are cut for securing the handle."---1912, Frederick Webb Hodge, "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico," p. 555. 
    "This chert (Mill Creek chert) was basic to Mississippian hoe agriculture in the Central Valley." ---1983, Dan F. & Phyllis A. Morse, "Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley," p. 205.
    "The beginnings of agriculture are too remote for the primitive processes to be followed; but they can be observed  among barbaric races nowadays and, in large degree, in remote parts of civilized countries, where the steam plough has not superseded the crooked branch."---1895, Edward Clodd, "Primitive Man," p. 150.

CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE OF FOUR EXAMPLES
ST. CLAIR SIDE-NOTCHED HOES FROM ILLINOIS & MISSOURI
MILL CREEK CHERT
ST. CLAIR SIDE-NOTCHED HOES
MIDDLE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

     St. Clair side-notched hoes represent one of the rarer forms of digging tools that have been found on Mississippian sites in the Middle Mississippi Valley. Most of these "Cahokia style" notched hoes seem to be found on sites in and around the Cahokia Mounds sphere of influence. The majority of all the hoes that have been found in this region do not have notches and are ovoid in form. The Dr. Henry Milton Whelpley collection illustrates this fairly well with their large number of hoes.  Dr. Whelpley was born in 1861 and spent much of his life putting together a very large collection of Stone Age artifacts from the Cahokia Mounds area. The collection now resides within the St. Louis Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri (not on display). The collection contains 1,110 unnotched hoes and 379 notched hoes, which would be just about a three to one ratio.

    The side-notched forms of hoes that have been found in and around the Cahokia Mounds site were named "St. Clair side-notched hoes" by Howard Winters. He named them after one of the counties within which the Cahokia site is located. Another term that has been used to describe them is "Cahokia notched hoes."

"REFERENCES"

1895, Clodd, Edward, "Primitive Man," p. 150.
1912, Hodge, Frederick Webb, "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico," p. 555.
1919, Holmes, W. H., "Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities," "Part I Introductory The Lithic Industries," "Mill Creek Quarries, Illinois," pp. 187-194.
1978, Blake, Leonard W. & Houser, James G., "The Whelpley Collection of Indian Artifacts," plate 34.
1979, Winters, Howard D., "Preliminary Observations on Mississippian Hoes" (unpublished report) 7 pages.
1981, Winters, Howard D., "Excavating in Museums: Notes on Mississippian Hoes and Middle Woodland Copper Gouges and Celts," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 376, pp. 17-34.
1983, Morse, Dan F. & Phyllis A., "Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley," p. 205.
1984, Bareis, Charles J, & Porter, James W., "American Bottom Archaeology," "Mississippian and Oneota Period," pp.159, 170-171.
1986, "The Birger Figurine," "Central States Archaeological Journal," Vo. 33, no. 4, p. 178.
1988, "Domestication," "Encyclopedia of Human Evolution & Prehistory," by Ian Tattersall, Eric Delson & John Van Couvering, pp. 160-161.
2000, Onken, Bobby, "Legends of Prehistoric Art," pp. 176 & 186.
2001, "Prehistoric American," Vol. 35, No.2, pp.12 & 14.

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