Troubled Times in Late Prehistoric Wisconsin: Violent Skeletal Trauma Among the Winnebago Phase Oneota

Summary

In 1991, Milner et al. published a groundbreaking article that showed the Native American Oneota culture in a new light. Their research at the Norris Farms #36 cemetery in west-central Illinois indicated that the Oneota there were plagued by intergroup violence and small-scale tribal warfare. Milner et al. examined 264 skeletons and discovered evidence for trauma on 43 (16.29%). At least one-third of adults at Norris Farms #36 died violent deaths. However, the group at Norris Farms #36 was part of Oneota expansion southward and may not be representative of the archaeological culture as a whole. It appears that the Norris Farms #36 population was actually intruding on the local Mississippian culture, which may explain the high levels of conflict and violence. To test the hypothesis, we examined skeletal remains of 126 individuals from five Oneota sites in eastern Wisconsin, Oneota heartland. Within the sample, 26 individuals showed evidence of trauma. This shows an overall trauma rate of 20.63%, which is not statistically significantly different from that documented at Norris Farms #36. This suggests that the high rates of violent trauma documented at Norris Farms #36 may not be an anomaly, but rather that violence was widespread among the Oneota.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage