Symbolic and Iconographic Perspectives on the Burials from Mound 2 at the Hopewell Site

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Dancing through Iconographic Corpora: A Symposium in Honor of F. Kent Reilly III" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This presentation explores the significance of the Middle Woodland burials found on the lower floor under Mound 2 at the Hopewell Earthworks, including their grave goods, mortuary furniture, spatial patterning, and postmortem treatment. It investigates how certain aspects of these burials’ ceremonial regalia and funerary treatment might reflect Native American narratives regarding Sun and Morning Star, which have been associated with the Late Woodland/Mississippian Birdman theme. Accordingly, we illustrate how some of the ceremonial regalia interred with the burials from Hopewell Mound 2 were represented on a statuette from Mound City, which also has avian (falconoid) imagery emblazoned on its visage. Additionally, we discuss how Middle Woodland avian-anthropomorphic imagery appears to be associated with headless figures and/or decapitated heads, which could have some continuities with the subsequent (Late Woodland/Mississippian) Birdman theme. In this vein, we delve into the way the treatment of the burials from Hopewell Mound 2 might symbolically reflect these narratives, including the spatial organization of the charnel facilities, treatment of certain burials’ skulls, and their interment with ceremonial regalia, such as sagittal copper head plates, quadriconcave plates, and beaded necklaces.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Dancing through Iconographic Corpora: A Symposium in Honor of F. Kent Reilly III

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32377