Disregarded Ritual: A Critical Reassessment of North American Subterranean Features

Summary

This paper critically reassesses the use of subterranean features among prehistoric Native Americans of North America. A survey of the archaeological and ethnographic literature suggests that pre-historic Native Americans used subterranean features in a ritual context, although the ritual component is rarely acknowledged directly. The significance of the features becomes apparent when the context, mainly construction and artifact deposition, is considered. Many of these subterranean features have been created naturally through geologic processes. However, it is significant that in areas devoid of natural subterranean features, pre-historic Native Americans constructed subterranean features to substitute for their natural counter parts. The archaeological and ethnographic literature document that ritual subterranean features are distributed throughout North America. Evidence includes ritually deposited cordage and sandals in the south and western portion of the United States, origin myths associated with Wind Cave in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and in New England where artificial subterranean features were created. When these data are compared to Mesoamerica, it becomes clear that subterranean features are an essential component of pre-historic Native American ritual practices. I propose that an Amerindian Subterranean Complex exists as part of a ritual circuit related to group origin myths.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22307