The Reuse of Indian Mounds as Historic and Modern Cemeteries

Summary

Stephen Williams had strong interests in the history of archaeology, prehistoric Indian mounds, and historical archaeology. This paper combines aspects of each of these interests. Cemeteries associated with Indian mounds commonly occur in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Numerous reasons have been put forth over the years as to why early Anglo-American settlers decided to bury their dead on mounds, ranging from flooding issues, to avoidance of valuable farmland, to a preference for burying on high land. The fact that a number of mound sites along the bluffs of western Mississippi also have non-Indian cemeteries on them, despite even higher land occurring nearby, suggests that the story is far more complex than perceived. I suggest here that the use of mounds for burial purposes may be related to early nineteenth-century Anglo-American populations having made symbolic power statements over land that was still either being occupied or claimed by Indians. The erection of gravestones on prehistoric mounds targeted what were clearly the most visible and curious monuments of this contested landscape.

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): 20699