Vibrant Recipes: The Variability and Composition of Special Clay Linings in Mississippian Shrines from the Illinois Uplands of Greater Cahokia

Author(s): Rebecca Barzilai

Year: 2019

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In several Mississippian sites circa 1050 CE, shrine houses and some other features were lined with a special bright yellow clay or clay mixture. This study looks at the variability and composition of these clay linings to determine what is the key vibrant ingredient in these ceremonially active clay linings. In this study methods of texture analysis, X-Ray Diffraction, and X-Ray Fluorescence to quantify the composition of 17 samples from a range of sites in the Illinois Uplands of the Greater Cahokia area in Illinois.

Cite this Record

Vibrant Recipes: The Variability and Composition of Special Clay Linings in Mississippian Shrines from the Illinois Uplands of Greater Cahokia. Rebecca Barzilai. Presented at The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, NM. 2019 ( tDAR id: 450359)

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Keywords

General
Archaeometry & Materials Analysis • Clay Composition • Mississippian • Ritual and Symbolism

Geographic Keywords
North America: Midwest

Spatial Coverage

min long: -103.975; min lat: 36.598 ; max long: -80.42; max lat: 48.922 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26286