North America - Midwest (Geographic Keyword)
51-75 (329 Records)
Sitting one quarter of a mile from the banks of the Ohio River in New Richmond, Ohio, are the foundational remnants of a 19th century school house and associated dormitory.The historical and archaeological work of this site are part of an ongoing transdisciplinary project, named for the school, The Parker Academy Project. The college preparatory academy, opened in 1839 by Reverend Daniel Parker and his wife, Priscilla Parker, is the first known documented school in Ohio to accept anyone...
Coming Together: Evidence of Ritual and Public Space as a Mechanism of Social Integration (2015)
Structure 16 at the Morton Village site (11F2) provides a unique opportunity to examine social interactions between Oneota and Mississippian populations situated within the Central Illinois River Valley. Prior to our work, the nature of these interactions at this site was poorly understood. Burgeoning data supports our interpretation of a cohabitation at Morton Village between these populations following Oneota in-migration. A method of this integration is demonstrated through ritualistic...
Community-based Research in the Archaeological Classroom (2016)
This poster focuses on the pedagogical challenges and educational outcomes of including excavations at a 19th century cemetery in an Introduction to Archaeology class. The research project was initiated by a local family when their cemetery was destroyed for farmland. Community-based research is archaeology for, by, and of local communities, a collaboration between community members and researchers. The Anthropology program at the University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) -- a small, public liberal...
A Comparative Ceramic Analysis of Motifs from Three Sites in the Cambria Locality, Minnesota (2017)
The Cambria phase (AD 1050-1300) is an archaeological complex primarily centered on the elevated terraces of the Minnesota River in south-central Minnesota. Cambria phase pottery demonstrates technical and stylistic influences from several different late prehistoric cultural traditions, including Mississippian, Plains Village and Late Woodland. Cambria ceramics are currently classified as part of the Initial Middle Missouri Variant, but certain affinities are evident between the grit-tempered,...
Comparative Compositional Analysis of Parkin Phase Red-slipped Pottery and Red Ochre Deposits Using PXRF and Petrography (2017)
Portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) was used in conjunction with petrographic analysis of ceramic thin sections to characterize a sample of red-slipped potsherds from selected late Mississippian sites in northeast Arkansas. Data from this analysis is compared to a similar characterization of two separate hematite rich deposits from the same region. Results are used to evaluate the potential of this type of analysis to distinguish ochre sources from one another and to identify deposits that were...
A Comparison of Two Late Woodland Features: Helton 20-36 and Carter 2-15 (2016)
While the structure of Middle Woodland (2050-1600 BP) burial mounds from the lower Illinois River valley (LIV) is widely understood in terms of ramps, tombs, and peripheral interment facilities, those for the subsequent Late Woodland period (1600-1000 BP) remain poorly characterized. To illustrate commonalities between Late Woodland sites from the LIV, we here compare Feature 36 from Helton Md 20 and Feature 15 from Carter Md 2. The detailed excavation notes from the Helton excavation are used...
Compositional Analysis of Copper-base Metal Artifacts from Michigan (2017)
Compositional analysis of copper-base metal artifacts using portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) is an accurate and non-destructive way to identify "protohistoric" European-trade items in early contexts and to assess the continuity of native copper object use on historic-era archaeological sites (Dussubieux and Walder 2015). This poster presents new results from pXRF analysis of artifacts from two late 17th century archaeological sites in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: the Cloudman Site, a...
Computational Simulation Methods for Exploring Small Artifact Assemblages (2015)
Archaeologists often decline to work with artifact assemblages considered too small to analyze in favor of working with larger assemblages that ostensibly allow for more confident statements about the past. This paper discusses the role of Agent Based Modeling (ABM) and the potential it holds as an important new analytic tool through which to explore small artifact assemblages in a meaningful way. SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and...
A Concealed Landscape: New Evidence from the North Plaza (2017)
Recent soil coring and reexamination of mound height changes through time have revealed an extremely high historic sedimentation rate of 5.2 cm per year in the North Plaza, resulting in deep burial (around four meters) of the Mississippian landscape. Modernly, the North Plaza is noticeably lower than other plazas surrounding Monks Mounds; however, the North Plaza would have been a dramatic topographic feature during Mississippian occupation. The discovery of landscape six meters lower than the...
Confirmation of Mitochondrial Haplotype C4c in Samples from Norris Farms #36, Illinois (2016)
The Norris Farms #36 site in northern Illinois (ca. AD 1300) has been widely featured in archaeological investigations, including foundational ancient DNA analyses. We built on these studies, analyzing mitochondrial DNA hypervariable regions I and II from 98 individuals. The Norris Farms #36 site demonstrates high levels of mitochondrial diversity, with all five major founding lineages present. Included in this diversity are individuals belonging to mitochondrial haplogroup C who demonstrate the...
Constructing Archaeological Knowledge: Interpretating Hopewell in the Illinois Valley (2017)
Through several books and articles, Martin Byers has developed an interpretation of the Hopewell phenomenon in the American Midwest that radically departs from the general consensus. To date he has focused almost exclusively on Ohio Hopewell. Many of the important sites in that region were excavated almost a century ago and the reports and records are less detailed than we would wish. In his latest book, Reclaiming the Hopewell Ceremonial Sphere, Byers seeks to extend his vision beyond Ohio to...
Constructing Narratives: archaeology's relationship with the ontological turn at Cahokia (2016)
The goal of archaeology, rigorous in its method and theory, is to reconstruct past practices and events. Our pre-conceptions, knowledge, and training channel our analyses through varying theoretical lenses. These perspectives provide context within which to hypothesize about the past, creating narratives about human relationships with the environment, materials, places, and practices. While these theoretical perspectives add nuance and structure to archaeological analyses they sometimes miss,...
Consuming the French New World (2015)
All of France’s New World colonies were based on relationships with particular geographies, from eastern New France, to the western Great Lakes, to the Illinois Country, to Lower Louisiana and the Caribbean, according to the particular products and resources wanted by the Crown, which may be thought of as the ultimate "consumer" of French colonial landscapes. Colonists and French descendant communities engaged with these different landscapes for both commercial and family subsistence purposes....
Cooking and Cuisine: Culinary Clues and Contexts in the Archaeological Record (2017)
Identifying specific foods exploited and consumed by people from past societies is important, but decisions concerning nutrition and social identity can only be fully understood through the study of food preparation techniques and recipe development and traditions. Cooking and cuisine embody the intersection of the biological and the cultural. Their centrality in both everyday and ritual life makes them ideal thoroughfares into the exploration of adaptive, social, political, and ideological...
Cooperation or Competition? The Underwater Archaeology of Communal Hunting Structures (2017)
Forager cooperation can be difficult to detect in archaeological contexts. One approach is to focus on built structures, such as drive lanes or fishing weirs, which required the participation of multiple persons. Yet such features are ephemeral and vulnerable to disturbance and destruction. One way to circumvent these challenges is to target areas with excellent preservation, such as underwater contexts. For example, the cold, fresh water of the Great Lakes preserved 9,000 year old stone built...
The Countless Perceptions of Archaeology in Archaeological Societies: A Case Study Involving the Oklahoma Anthropological Society (2015)
The public has a genuine interest in archaeology of which avocational and amateur archaeological groups are among the most vocal. The greatest area of interest among avocationalists is in participating in archaeological research, which has led eight states to develop and implement archaeology certification programs. These program are designed to train avocationals on how to contribute to the professional field and laboratory projects. However, while these state certification programs seek to...
Creating a Cahokian Community: Rethinking Mississippian Storage Practices (2016)
The procurement, processing, preparation and most importantly here, the storage of food, are inextricably tied to the everyday lived experiences of peoples of the past and cannot be disentangled from larger social, economic, and political processes. Storage pits and structures feature prominently in prior studies of Mississippian households but they are mostly regarded as utilitarian and economic spaces rather than integral to communities. Similarly, previous interpretations of Mississippian...
Creating Collaborative Learning Opportunities for Indigenous Youth with Archaeology-based Environmental Education (2016)
Midwest archaeologists and Native American communities have recently initiated successful community-based and collaborative research endeavors. Through such collaborations, tribal leaders have expressed an interest in providing ways for youth in their communities to engage in contemporary cultural and natural resources work to inspire future stewardship and introduce potential professional pathways. Many archaeologists are in a unique position to promote heritage and preservation through...
The Creation of a Comparative Resource for 1000 BCE – 1600 CE Indiana Ceramics (2015)
This poster explains the work being conducted for the creation of a booklet about the Indiana (and likely surrounding states) ceramic types and varieties from approximately 1000 BCE – 1600 CE. We anticipate this booklet being utilized as a field guide and a comparative resource for those studying pre-Columbian people in the area. Because archaeologists so often encounter unfamiliar types and hybrid ceramic formations, this resource could be extremely beneficial for any researchers studying...
Crossing the Line (Part II): Taphonomies of toxicity in Contemporary Archaeology (2015)
This paper is the second part of a two-part dialogue on the use of taphonomy as an archaeological technique in both prehistoric archaeology and the archaeology of the contemporary. Part II explores how using the concept of taphonomy to study the accumulation of harmful toxins in the environment and in the human body opens up new avenues of study for an archaeology of human-environment interactions in the contemporary nuclear and industrial age. Intimately tied to the waste of human activity,...
Cultivating Methods for New Conclusions: An Analysis of Oneota Copper Artifacts of the Lake Koshkonong Region in Southeastern Wisconsin (2017)
Despite almost two centuries of North American prehistoric copper research, intensive archaeological investigations focusing specifically on Oneota copper are less abundant. Building upon previous studies, this project documented and analyzed over 500 Oneota copper artifacts in an effort to assess the production, utilization, and ideological and social significance of this copper materials. The artifacts of this study were recovered from four Oneota sites adjacent to Lake Koshkonong in Jefferson...
Cultural Resource Protection Responsibilities: On Being a Federal Archeologist (2015)
Archeologists who have chosen a career with a Federal agency have many responsibilities that are different than those of academics, chief among which is to be the subject matter expert and/or champion/advocate for the protection of the non-renewable resource. It’s not a question of which is better, more relevant, or more important, but that we as Federal archeologists have a compelling need to be conversant in cultural resource law, to assist in investigations, and educate our peers, our...
Current Approaches to the Study of Late Prehistoric North American Copper Materials: Contributions from the Hoxie Farm Site, Cook County, Illinois (2017)
In North America, contemporary archaeometallurgical approaches to the interpretation of native and copper-base metals go far beyond simply recording the artifacts to probing longstanding and emerging questions related to the multiple and complex role(s) metal working and metals play in the social lives of ancient peoples. Research on the appropriate application of scientific or laboratory-based methodologies whose results augment descriptions and provide robustness to inferences is developing...
Dealing with Reality: Managing Education at the National Park Service-Midwest Archeological Center (2015)
The National Park Service takes pride in high caliber interpretation of natural and cultural resources, and is known as the major supplier of informal education in the United States. With the centennial of the NPS approaching in 2016, the Service is directing all parks and programs to intensify education efforts. In addition, the NPS Call to Action of 2012 establishes the increasing of NPS relevancy to young people as a priority. Maximizing educational products and impacts is of particular...
"Dear, Honored Guest": Archaeological Models of Bear Ceremonialism in Minnesota (2017)
Archaeological expressions of bear ceremonialism in Minnesota include: ritual sites with dozens to hundreds of bear skulls, calcined fragments of burned bear paws, effigy earthworks, rock art and portable art. These were created by Siouan and Algonquian speaking peoples, including the Dakota and Ojibwe, who are still resident in the state. Some finds relate to the bear hunt, feast and funeral that are the focus of A. Irving Hallowell’s (1926) concept of bear ceremonialism. Others appear to...