The Orendorf Site is a prehistoric archaeological site located near the city of Canton, Fulton County, Illinois. The site includes four distinct areas of Middle Mississippian settlement; the settlement area was one of seven major sites in the Spoon River tradition. The four settlement sites within the larger site came as the result of a single village relocating multiple times; this movement became useful to archaeologists, as artifacts from different periods are spread out rather than mixed together at a single site. The settlement functioned as a regional center within the Spoon River culture, making it a hub in its hierarchal political organization and part of many important trade routes. Trade and migration linked the settlement to the large Mississippian city of Cahokia; while the settlement's culture had much in common with Cahokian culture, it was also a distinct regional culture in its own right.[2]
