The Missing Years: Continuity and/or Change in Woodland Funerals in the LIV

Summary

Lynne Goldstein has significantly advanced knowledge of ancient peoples in many theoretical and empirical domains, including her seminal studies of ancient cemeteries, especially their spatial organization and interpretation through the judicious use of ethnographic sources, critically evaluated. The senior author has had the pleasure of collaborating with Dr. Goldstein in several of these ventures, some under challenging conditions of heat and cold, which were bearable only due to Lynne’s remarkable energy and good humor.

In this paper, we address a long intractable issue for Lower Illinois Valley (LIV) mortuary archaeology, in a region that anchored Dr. Goldstein’s long and productive career. While Middle Woodland (Hopewell) and late Late Woodland mounded tumuli are well represented in the archaeological record, not so for cemeteries from the several intervening centuries. Relying on data from the archaeological record, primarily radiocarbon dates, variation in cemetery structure, mound location, and material culture, we address this issue. Possible explanations range from the simple, depopulation and regional cultural discontinuity, to nuanced, complex interpretations of funerary activities and interment facilities from throughout the Middle and Late Woodland periods. Our perspectives are also enhanced through the judicious use of ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18847