North America - Midwest (Geographic Keyword)
276-300 (329 Records)
The historical archaeology of domesticity and consumption rests heavily on the analysis of ceramic tableware artifacts. Few archaeologists have seriously incorporated analyses of glass tableware into this body of research, even though glass tableware was a common, durable, and heavily marketed domestic artifact class. My research addresses this problem through a study of glass tableware from Victorian Age (1830s – 1900s) residential sites in St. Louis, Missouri. This is done, in part, by...
Shell Bead Production at Cahokia (2016)
Cahokia (c. 1050-1400AD) was the largest pre-Columbian city in North America and had far-reaching influence across the Mississippian world. Initially considered a chiefdom, recent reappraisals have cast doubt on the applicability of traditional social evolutionary models to Cahokia, suggesting it is best understood on its own terms as a historical phenomenon. One significant facet of the Cahokian prestige goods economy involved the production, distribution, and circulation of large numbers of...
Shifting the Interpretation of Ohio Hopewell Copper Use (2017)
The dramatic uses of copper by Ohio Hopewell social networks have been studied for over one hundred years and have resulted in a diversity of archaeological perspectives. Our recent physiochemical study of particular Hopewell artifact classes is the most extensive to date and has resulted in source identifications that require that extant models be revised in light of our findings. Particular attention will be given to the implications that: 1) a diversity of Lake Superior outcrops were...
Situating and Explaining the Sacred Pipestone Quarries of Southwestern Minnesota within a Greater Cultural Landscape (2015)
Evidence of American Indian occupation and use of the pipestone quarries (now Pipestone National Monument) has been dated to least 3,000 years ago. For centuries Indians have considered the quarries a sacred site. Today the quarries are also considered ethnographic resources as members of numerous federally recognized American Indian tribes continue to express their right to quarry pipestone (catlinite) and carve this stone owing to its spiritual value. Although numerous studies have been...
The Sky is Falling: Site formation processes at Woodpecker Cave, Johnson County, Iowa (2017)
Woodpecker Cave is a small, limestone rock shelter occurring on a drainage of the Coralville Reservoir in Johnson Country, Iowa. The site was originally excavated in 1956 by Warren Caldwell and has been the home of the University of Iowa archaeological field school from 2012 to 2016. The University of Iowa excavations identified Late and Terminal Woodland materials with a high concentration of roofspall contributing to the archaeological deposits. When combined with recent terrestrial LIDAR...
Sourcing Burlington chert in Missouri and Arkansas (2015)
This presentation is a continuation of research on the intersource and intrasource variability of Burlington chert and its implications for interpretations of pre-contact period settlement and procurement. Our results presented in 2013 suggest that Burlington look-a-like cherts (e.g., Lafayette Fomation chert, etc.) display the same mid-infrared spectral range as Burlington Formation chert from quarries and secondary deposits (St. Louis area, northern-central Missouri, and southwest Missouri)....
The Spatial Analysis of Debris from the Mound 34 Copper Workshop (2017)
During the 2007-2009 excavations at Mound 34, Washington University students and Museum Society volunteers piece plotted each individual artifact associated with the copper workshop at this mound. This information allowed for an in-depth macroscopic analysis of the debris associated with this activity area. This analysis focused on the spatial analysis of the copper and other debris within the workshop. Distribution maps of the debris were created to determine the relationships between the...
The Spatial Distribution of Domestic Facilities in the Multiethnic Morton Village Site (2015)
With mounting evidence demonstrating cohabitation between Mississippian and Oneota groups at the Morton Village site, data regarding domestic facilities are crucial for examining how these two distinct groups interacted and influenced one another in their daily lives. The distribution of house types (wall trench versus single post) provides interesting evidence for some degree of segregation between the two, while data from features suggests a more complex and intermingled relationship. This...
Spatial, Architectural, and Economic Dimensions of Neighborhoods: A Comparison of Three Large Mississippian Sites in Indiana (2016)
The vast majority of Mississippian research in southwestern Indiana has focused on Angel Mounds, specifically the extensive excavations of the Eastern Village and analysis of decorated ceramics. Recently, a site wide magnetometry survey and large scale analysis of Mississippian Plain Pottery from the Angel site were completed by the first and second author of this paper. Additionally, recent magnetometry and excavations at the Stephan-Steinkamp site, the second largest Angel phase site in the...
The Spiritual Economy of Shell in Native North America: Still Circulating (2016)
Shell material, particularly marine shell, has long been recognized in the archaeology of pre-colonial America as a “prestige” good of complex meaning. Particularly in the Mississippian world, shell traveled great distances and appeared in richly meaningful contexts of use. Even in areas abundant in shellfish, however, it played a complex role: food, adornment, pottery temper, landscape alteration. After colonization shell use did not disappear, and oral traditions indicate some of the ways in...
Standardization and Variability of Decorated and Undecorated Pottery Vessels from Angel Mounds, Indiana (2015)
At the Mississippian site of Angel Mounds (12Vg1), people crafted both plain, utilitarian-appearing vessels, and a variety of highly decorated wares, including Negative Painted plates that are frequently associated with the site. Previous researchers have suggested that Negative Painted vessels were made by ceramic or ritual specialists, who were perhaps sponsored by a chief or other elite individual. These decorated vessels are indeed rare at Angel Mounds, but no evidence has been found to...
Stewarding Past Places into the Future – Cultural Landscapes, Byways, and Heritage Studies in Archaeological Practice (2016)
Between 2010 and 2013 archaeologists at the University of Iowa, Office of the State Archaeologist collaborated with local communities, traditionally associated peoples, and other stakeholders in planning processes involving archaeological sites, cultural resource districts, and archaeological preserves in Iowa and Illinois. Each project built on and extended partnerships with and between Native American communities and fostered new multidisciplinary relationships between archaeologists,...
The Strange and Terrible Tale of the Davenport Iowa Danish Hall Site: A Lesson in Urban Archaeology from the Farm State (2017)
The Davenport Danish Hall was considered eligible for the NRHP under Criterion A for its "association with the Danish ethnic population in Davenport, and with the history of city politics, specifically the impact of the Socialist Party in the 1920s." This structure was scheduled for demolition to allow for the construction of a new apartment complex as part of the redevelopment of downtown Davenport. As part of the mitigation, a small 30 x 50 ft parcel behind the structure was scheduled for...
Strangers in a Strange Land: The Lake Koshkonong Oneota Locality in Context (2017)
The distribution of Oneota sites in Wisconsin has long been recognized as clustered within distinct areas referred to as Localities. At least seven localities are now generally accepted by Oneota researchers in Wisconsin; several others appear to exist in northern Illinois. However, recent research at the Lake Koshkonong locality shows that it stands as a distinctive outlier among all of the other localities. It is unique in terms of landscape patterns, subsistence strategies, distance from...
The Study of Temper and its Wider Implications at the Cahokian Lunsford-Pulcher Site (2015)
Lunsford-Pulcher (11-S-40) is a Mississippian mound center located in the American Bottom, near modern day Dupo, Illinois. To date there has been limited excavation and analysis conducted at this important ceremonial village. For this study, 181 rim sherds from a surface collection by Timothy R. Pauketat and Bobby Pauketat were analyzed and then compared to other nearby Mississippian sites (the Washausen, Peiper, and Morrison sites), with a focus on the differences in temper usage. This paper...
The sum of their parts: reconstituting individuality from atypical mixed burials at the Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Poor Farm Cemetery (2015)
Excavations in 2013 at the Milwaukee County Institution Grounds cemetery recovered 650 burials from one of four locations used by Milwaukee County officials for burial of more than 7000 individuals from the mid-1800s through 1925. Of those recovered during the 2013 excavations, at least 25% have been identified as multiple interments. The diverse depositional contexts of several of these burials are indicative of a variety of mortuary behaviors atypical for a historic cemetery during this...
The Sun Fish Site: Phase III Investigations of 46MR155, a Late Woodland Period Site, Located In Franklin District, Marshall County, West Virginia (2013)
Acting on behalf of Dominion Transmission, Inc., Stantec Consulting Services, Inc., contracted Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc. to complete archaeological data recovery of the Sun Fish site (46MR155), located on a first terrace of the Ohio River near the communities of Kent and Natrium in Wells Bottom, Franklin District, Marshall County, West Virginia. The field investigation was conducted between June 6 and July 14, 201, in advance of anticipated impacts to the site resulting from the...
Survey intervals and the world of Section 106: Eligible site size as a factor in survey design (2017)
Cultural resources management companies are routinely caught between a proverbial rock and a hard place in NHPA Section 106 compliance projects. On one hand, SHPOs prefer to evaluate a project based on the results of 100-percent survey at their preferred survey interval, often requiring shovel testing at 15-meter intervals or closer (especially in the eastern US, where surface visibility is typically low), in order to identify all archaeological sites, whether they end up eligible for the NRHP...
Symbols of Ferociousness: Oneota Trophy Taking (2017)
The late prehistoric Oneota tradition developed and spread rapidly across an immense territory in a very short period of time. That expansion, and the period of territorial stability which followed were marked by violence on large and small scales. Taking of human trophies was an integral component of the violence of the time and was steeped in warrior tradition, religious ritual and symbolism reflecting broadly held ideologies. Trophy taking was likely more common than has been acknowledged....
Synthesis and Assessment of the Folsom Record in Illinois and Wisconsin (2017)
Census of avocational and public collections for Folsom and Midland artifacts from Illinois and Wisconsin signals a substantial Folsom occupation in the Upper Midwest. Over 200 points and preforms demonstrate a southwest–northeast pattern of point manufacture, use, discard, and loss across much of Illinois and the southern third of Wisconsin. The distribution of these artifacts overlaps to a large extent; however, most Midland points occur in Wisconsin. This non-fluted weaponry is interpreted as...
The tale of a Rock: Backdirt, Backfill and Intrusive Historic Occupations of Woodpecker Cave (2017)
Prehistoric occupations in rock shelter deposits are frequently of interest to archaeologists because of potentially good preservation of material culture and the possibility of multiple occupations in stratigraphic succession. Those sought-after phenomena are frequently occluded by subsequent accretional or intrusive historic occupations. This is particularly complicating when modern investigations are carried out in the context of poorly documented earlier archaeological excavations....
Task, Activity, and Context: Integrated Approaches to Use-wear Analysis (2017)
Use-wear has often been used to try to understand stone tools and tool types themselves. By focusing on lithics as used in specific tasks within activities that are part of larger contexts, relationships can be demonstrated and mapped using concept mapping tools. Use-wear studies deriving from complex agricultural sites in the Midwest are coupled with looks at activities performed by modern Native Americans.
Technological Approach to Fire Cracked Rock (2017)
Fire cracked rock (FCR) is an artifact category that has not received much attention, normally reduced to counts and weights. However, FCR is a dynamic material that undergoes a specific sequence of changes. In this poster, the authors propose different ‘stages’ corresponding to different hot rock technologies and features, such as hot rock cookery, hearths, and limestone temper. An experiment is designed to identify the physical and geochemical changes that occur during hearth construction and...
Tethered Nomadism, Logistical Mobility, or Sedentism: Wetland Resources and Territoriality among Oneota Populations at Lake Koshkonong, Southeastern Wisconsin (2015)
In the Lake Koshkonong locality, Oneota sites are commonly placed near abundant ecotones. Preliminary analyses have compared the diverse suite of resources utilized by the Oneota groups in the region. Just as maize agriculture can tether groups to the landscape (e.g., planting, harvesting, defending surplus), we explore the possibility that the harvesting of watershed resources (e.g., wild rice, fish) could have a similar effect, as both a draw and a tethering agent to a particular location. ...
There and Back Again: Dick Jefferies, Winchester Farm, and Middle Woodland Interaction Across Central Kentucky (2017)
Adena-Hopewell enclosure complexes have inspired much conjecture and some well-supported inferences concerning the rise of Middle Woodland ceremonialism, interaction, and social organization in the Eastern Woodlands. After examining Hopewellian interaction at Tunnacunnee in Northwest Georgia, Dick Jefferies turned his focus to Adena-Hopewell mound and enclosure sites in Central Kentucky. Dick’s examination of the Winchester Farm Enclosure in the early 1980s with George Milner was the first...