Ware Mounds and Village Site

{{short description|Archaeological site in Illinois, United States}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox ancient site

| name = Ware Mounds and Village Site
(11 U 31)

| alternate_name = Running Lake Site

| image = Ware Mounds and Village Site.jpg

| image_size = 250px

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| map_type = USA Illinois

| map_alt =

| map_caption = Location in Illinois today

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| coordinates = {{coord|37|26|47|N|89|24|00|W|display=inline,title}}

| location = Ware, Union County, Illinois, USA

| region = Southern Illinois

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| cultures = Mississippian culture

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| architectural_details = Number of monuments: 4

{{Infobox NRHP

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| name = Ware Mounds and Village Site (11 U 31)

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| added = October 18, 1977

| area = {{convert|160|acre}}

| refnum = 77000490{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

}}

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The Ware Mounds and Village Site (11U31), also known as the Running Lake Site,{{Cite book |title= Speaking with the Ancestors-Mississippian Stone Statuary of the Tennessee-Cumberland region| author1=Kevin E. Smith| author2= James V. Miller| page= 148 | isbn = 978-0-8173-5465-7| publisher= University of Alabama Press|year= 2009}} located west of Ware, Illinois, is an archaeological site comprising three platform mounds and a {{convert|160|acre|adj=on}} village site. The site was inhabited by the Late Woodland and Mississippian cultures from c. 800 to c. 1300. The village may be the only Mississippian village known to have existed in the Mississippi River valley in Southern Illinois. As the village was located near two major sources of chert, which Mississippian cultures used to make agricultural tools, it was likely a trading center for the mineral.Maruszak, Kathleen. National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Ware Mounds and Village Site. National Park Service, 1976-11.

The first of the site's three mounds is {{convert|200|ft}} in diameter. The graves of indigenous peoples have been found in this mound, which was later used as a cemetery by European settlers. The second mound is {{convert|75|ft}} in diameter, while the third is {{convert|250|ft}} long and {{convert|150|ft}} wide. A fourth mound, which was smaller than the other three, was originally located at the site but was demolished by the construction of Illinois Route 3.

The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 18, 1977.