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2020
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This report presents the results of a large-area magnetic gradient survey at Hopewell Mound Group, a unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ross County, Ohio. The survey was conducted by Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc., under contract with the Midwest Archeological Center, National Park Service, during 18 days of work spread across the period from October 18, 2012 through March 27, 2013. Along with an additional 3.1 acres of data collected in September and October of 2011, the results presented here cover 73.4 acres of the eastern half of the site on the lower terrace (the landform containing the bulk of the earthworks). Hundreds of magnetic anomalies of potential archaeological interest were detected during the magnetic surveys, including known features from nineteenth century maps that have since disappeared from the ground surface (e.g., the square) and many other new features of interest. Chief among these new features are a post circle and central pit cluster within the medium-sized circle, a cluster of pits located outside the small circle detected in 2001, a complex of features associated with Mound 4, at least four possible burned structures just north of the square, and one or perhaps two possible prepared/burned surfaces or floors located near the main enclosure wall to the south of Mound 1. Many other anomalies detected during the survey are associated with possible cultural or landform features that are not fully understood. Two long linear features could be natural linear depressions or soil borrow features intermittently filled with refuse. Numerous large-area positive anomalies appear to be arranged in an oval pattern to the north of the square. The source of these large anomalies is uncertain. In addition to providing numerous maps of the results and an appendix containing information about anomalies of interest, several recommendations for additional kinds of geophysical survey and ground-truthing work also are presented.
2009
2014, Archaeological Prospection
In the past twenty years, lithic use-wear studies have been used to determine the function of Hopewell bladelets. These studies have uniformly shown that the bladelets were multipurpose, utilitarian tools in domestic contexts. Debate arises as to their function in ritual or ceremonial contexts. The question of bladelet function in ceremonial contexts remains unanswered because use-wear studies of bladelets have not been extensively applied to well-provenienced ceremonial assemblages. Microwear analysis was conducted on a sample of bladelets recovered from the Moorehead Circle within the Fort Ancient Earthworks in order to comment on the above debate as well as to determine the activities that occurred there prehistorically. The Moorehead Circle was a center of intensive activity as evidenced by the high rate of utilization and numerous tasks performed with bladelets. Intersite comparison indicates that the Moorehead Circle bladelets were utilized for the same range of tasks as bladelets from other sites in Ohio.
2019, Encountering Hopewell in the Twenty-first Century: Ohio and Beyond. Volume 1: Monuments and Ceremony, pp. 79-116, edited by Brian G. Redmond, Bret J. Ruby, and Jarrod Burks. University of Akron Press.
Hopewell archaeology in the early twenty-first century is radically transforming our vision of the monumental mounds and earthwork enclosures of the Ohio Valley. It is increasingly apparent that the mounds and earthworks-the above-ground architectural features-are only one aspect of the ritual landscapes at these great centers. The recent availability of hardware and software capable of conducting landscape-scale geophysical survey is demonstrating that the vast spaces between the monuments were filled with wooden architecture: wooden post circles and roofed buildings devoted to a range of public ritual and ceremony. Recent landscape-scale geomagnetic surveys demonstrate that many plowed-down mounds and earthworks retain considerable subsurface integrity, and the spaces between the monuments are filled with a host of magnetic anomalies.This chapter describes three seasons of ground-truth excavations focused on these anomalies between the mounds. One of these is a gigantic pit feature with an estimated volume approaching 15 cubic meters, apparently a borrow pit where distinctive sands were quarried. Another of these is the Great Circle, a circular earthwork nearly 120 meters in diameter thought to have been entirely obliterated by plowing before 1891. Our excavations revealed that the plowed-down earthwork was flanked on the exterior by a deep ditch, and bordered on the interior by a row of huge wooden posts—an enormous Hopewell woodhenge, interpreted here as a World Center shrine. Four outsized pits at the center of the circle likely served as earth ovens capable of provisioning large gatherings. A causeway across the encircling ditch is aligned to the summer solstice sunset, perhaps a clue to the timing of these grand feasts. These recent investigations are revealing ritual landscapes at the Hopewell Mound Group on a scale heretofore unheralded.
This report presents the results of magnetic gradient surveys covering 74.6 acres at the Great Circle and octagon of the High Bank Works earthwork site, a unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ross County, Ohio. The Great Circle survey was conducted under contract with the Midwest Archeological Center and the octagon survey is the result of a collaboration between Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc., the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Ohio State University, and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. To date, all of the ground around the Great Circle (46.3 acres) has been surveyed and 28.3 acres of the fields containing the octagon have been covered. The magnetic surveys have detected many anomalies of archaeological interest, including the main earthwork embankments, one probable and another possible small enclosure, feature clusters at the centers of the Great Circle and the octagon, and hundreds of possible pit and posthole features spread all across the survey area. Some of the possible pits, including several that appear to be especially large, fall along important lines of astronomical observation identified by Hively and Horn (1984). The report concludes with a further discussion of the results and suggestions for additional work, including geophysical survey and ground-truthing techniques.
Ritual economy provides a powerful framework for examining aspects of the organization of craft production, especially in the absence of a strong, centralized political economy. This paper outlines the basic tenants of ritual economy and describes how this framework can expand the understanding of the organization of production in small scale societies. I apply these concepts in a case study based largely on microwear analysis of Hopewell bladelets from the Fort Ancient earthworks in southwest Ohio. Microwear analysis from many different localities excavated within and near the earthworks demonstrates that craft production was an important activity conducted using bladelets. Each of the localities in which crafts were produced concentrated on media distinct from the others. These findings have important implications for our understanding of Hopewell economy and social structure as well as craft production in general.
2019, Indiana Archaeology
The Applied Anthropology Laboratories at Ball State University conducted a data enhancement project for archaeological resources in Benton County, Indiana for a FY2015 Historic Preservation Fund Grant (Grant #18-15FFY-03). This Historic Preservation Fund grant project investigated the archaeological resources of Benton County, Indiana with a focus on the northern half of the county. Approximately 841.29 acres (ac) (340.46 hectares [ha]) of agricultural land were surveyed, and 85 new archaeological sites were recorded. The survey recovered 81 precontact artifacts and 442 historic artifacts from 12 parcels of land within Benton County. Cultural periods that are represented in the artifact assemblage include precontact components dating to the Late Archaic, Terminal Middle Woodland/Late Woodland, and possibly the Early Archaic, in addition to 54 Historic components. The average site density recorded in the project area for precontact sites was one site per 20.03 ac. The average site density recorded in the project area for Historic sites was one site per 15.58 ac. Through these surveys we have been able to document special use of unique microenvironments that are characterized by dry upland rises surrounded by a combination of diverse ecozones within a small area providing rich and diverse resource for precontact inhabitants of northwest Indiana.
This report details the results of the 1971, 72, and 74 investigations at the multicomponent Kuester site. The most significant of these occupations is a Mann phase habitation component, dating to the late Middle Woodland / early Late Woodland transition. The upper component contains late Late Woodland Yankeetown and Mississippian Angel phase materials.
From 2009 through 2013, Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc. conducted three different archaeological projects at the Holder-Wright farm. Work began in 2009 with geophysical surveys of the farm’s 1700 year old Hopewell earthworks. These surveys found clear evidence of the intact remains of the earthworks, and other associated features, just beneath the plow layer. Surface surveys in 2011 of the southern farm fields located over 800 artifacts representing perhaps three or more occupations of the farm stretching back at least as far as 4000 B.C., well before the construction and use of the earthworks. Excavations also were conducted around the house during the project to restore it to its near-original configuration. These excavations involved a 1x8 meter trench off the northwest corner of the house and down into the adjacent earthwork ditch, as well as serval small excavations conducted underneath the later house additions. These small excavations found numerous artifacts dating back to the early occupation of the house in the early-to-mid 1800s. The 1x8 meter trench produced some of the most interesting results of the project, with sealed layers of nineteenth century refuse in the ditch and the first ever radiocarbon date from the Holder-Wright Group earthworks: calibrated AD 230 to 382.
2005, Gathering Hopewell
2015, Southeastern Archaeology
2009, In the Footprints of Squier and Davis: Archeological Fieldwork in Ross County, Ohio, edited by Mark Lynott
2021, Anthropological archaeology
Long-term interactions between people and places has been a focal point for archaeologists since the beginnings of the discipline. Monuments are one analytical unit of analysis that archaeologists regularly study and interpret as evidence for the ways people organize cooperative labor and inscribe on the landscape their connections to it. However, it is rare to acquire data that affords a rich and long-term description of the landscape before, during, and after a monument was built. In addition, archaeologists who study pre-textual societies are seldom afforded an opportunity to explore detailed questions relating to how monuments were engaged with after social dis-positions toward them changed. In this article we present diverse datasets obtained from a small Middle Woodland (ca. 200 cal BC-cal AD 500) ditch and embankment enclosure in the Middle Ohio Valley, USA. Drawing on those data, we offer a detailed biographical description of the site that illustrates how pre-construction use of the area influenced construction of the enclosure, describes how the enclosure was used after construction, and indicates what happened when the enclosure became evaluated differently in society.
The Reinhardt Tract, owned by the City of Columbus, Department of Public Utilities, Water Division, is a 94 acre (~31.5 ha) area located in Harrison Township, Pickaway County, Ohio. A Certified Local Government (CLG) grant was awarded to the City of Columbus by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office (OHPO) in 2008 to conduct archaeological survey of the Tract. The survey and the interpreted results are intended to inform the City of the nature of these resources and their potential eligibility for listing to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). All land within the 94 acre tract was examined and evaluated with the exception of the inhabited farmstead adjacent U.S. Route 23. This report describes the results of the investigations on this property, including additional studies and preliminary and background work conducted in 2007. Previously identified sites within the Tract was a known Fort Ancient village (33 PI 880) and a recently discovered (2007) square earthen enclosure (33 PI 917). The CLG funded survey re-identified these two sites, and additionally identified a total of 11 newly discovered archaeological sites, including the Campbell Circle, an earthen circular enclosure (33 PI 1013). Ohio Archaeological Inventory (OAI) site forms were completed and submitted for all identified site locations. Revised Forms were submitted for the previously identified sites Reinhardt Village site (33 PI 880) and the Keith Peters Square (33 PI 917) and new forms were submitted for 33 PI 1012 through PI 1021. Of the 13 total identified sites, the two earthworks [the Keith Peters Square (33 PI 917) and the Campbell Circle (33 PI 1013)], and two habitation sites (33 PI 1014 and 1021) likely date to the Early and/or Middle Woodland period. The Reinhardt Village site (33 PI 880) dates to the Middle Fort Ancient period, and the remainder of sites are habitation sites or are sites of an unknown nature, spanning the Early Archaic through Late Woodland or are of unknown prehistoric temporal affiliation. Site 33 PI 1015 is a combined prehistoric and historic site with historic components dating to the 19th and 20th century. This property is near to and may have possible association with a carriage path (to become U.S. 23) and the Ohio Canal. Much of the Reinhardt Tract is a significant property with the potential to inform ongoing debates in Ohio Valley prehistory, including those of subsistence strategies and settlement patterning within the Early and Middle Woodland and Fort Ancient periods. All but two of the identified sites (33 PI 1016 and 1019) are considered to possess information potential to aid in local or regional questions in Ohio prehistory. 33 PI 880, 917, 1013, 1014, and 1021 will aid in questions of regional and local Ohio prehistory and are considered eligible for listing to the NRHP. Recovered information indicates 33 PI 1012, 1015, 1017 and 1018 have information potential to answer regional and local questions in prehistory and/or historic settlement (33 PI 1015) and are considered eligible with recommendations for additional study. Lack of remains and/or depositional integrity indicate that 33 PI 1016 and 1019 are considered not eligible for listing to the NRHP.
2020, MIDCONTINENTAL JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
This article presents a reconstruction and analysis of the Caldwell Mound located in the central Scioto River valley of southern Ohio. The mound contained a log tomb, at least four burials, and associated funerary objects. Four AMS radiocarbon dates place the Caldwell Mound within the last century BC and first century AD, and the mound contains evidence of practices historically associated with “Adena” and “Hopewell.” Few other records exist from this period in the region despite it experiencing perhaps some of the most dramatic socioreligious transformations in precolumbian North America. This analysis documents early evidence for the diversification and segregation of leadership roles based on the interpretation of three buried individuals. It also demonstrates the utility and efficacy of working with amateur-produced records and collections, even when incomplete, to reconstruct and glean insight from important Woodland period sites.
2014, American Antiquity
The Middle Woodland period in eastern North America witnessed a fluorescence of monumental architecture and material exchange linked to widespread networks of ritual interaction. Although these networks encompassed large geographic areas and persisted for several centuries, extant archaeological models have tended to characterize Middle Woodland interaction as an historically unitary process. Using new data from the Garden Creek site in North Carolina, I argue that these frameworks obscure important historical shifts in Middle Woodland interaction. Recent collections-based research, geophysical survey, targeted excavation, and 14C dating (including Bayesian modeling) of this site reveal two coeval diachronic changes: a shift from geometric earthwork construction to platform mound construction; and a shift from the production of special artifacts (mica, crystal quartz), to the consumption of exotic artifacts in association with platform mound ceremonialism. These data hint at important changes in interregional relationships between the Appalachian Summit, the Hopewellian Midwest, and the greater Southeast during the Middle Woodland period, and provide a springboard for considering how processes of culture contact contributed to pre-Columbian cultural change.
2009, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology
ABSTRACT The 1971 -1977 Ohio Historical Society excavations at the Seip earthworks in Ross County, Ohio uncovered seven Hopewell structures and numerous associated features. While the associated features have played a role in previous interpretations of structure function, they have not been adequately described in publications. In this article we provide detailed descriptions of the features based on archived field notes and photographs. We also consider the functions of these features and bring into the discussion more recent data from excavations conducted in the same general area of Seip by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Arizona State University. We conclude that many of the large features inside the Seip structures are probably large post holes, rather than pits used for other, perhaps craft-productionrelated, functions.
2020, Journal of Ohio Archaeology
Serpent Mound (33AD1) is one of the most recognizable icons of American archaeology, yet there is ongoing debate over its age. Without an understanding of its antiquity and thus its cultural context it is difficult to address the broader question of what it might have meant to its builders. Various attempts to obtain radiocarbon dates for Serpent Mound have yielded more or less inconclusive results. A panel of Mississippian pictographs in Picture Cave in Missouri includes three motifs that are strikingly similar to the three principal components of Serpent Mound. Radiocarbon dates for the Picture Cave pictographs are contemporaneous with dates from Serpent Mound. When considered in the light of Dhegiha Siouan traditions, these pictographs offer insights into the original purpose and meaning of Serpent Mound. The general relevance of this iconography for the Late Prehistoric Ohio valley is affirmed by a fragment of an effigy pipe depicting a humanoid in association with a snake, which was found in Morgan County, Ohio. Serpent Mound was built during a period of severe droughts in the Mississippi valley, which resulted in Mississippian refugees migrating to the Ohio valley. I suggest that these refugees, or a local Fort Ancient community they influenced, created Serpent Mound as a means of calling upon the Great Serpent, Lord of the Beneath World, to maintain favorable environmental conditions in the Ohio valley.
2020, Journal of Ohio Archaeology
Recent archaeological investigations, building on previous work, establish more clearly that the Serpent Mound plateau has been a focus of intensive, repeated activity both in prehistory and more recently. In the 1880s, Frederic Ward Putnam conducted the first archaeological investigation of the Great Serpent Mound and the surrounding plateau. Subsequent analyses established that the Adena constructed a conical mound on the plateau to the south of the Serpent effigy. An Adena, and later, a Fort Ancient settlement were established nearby. In 2011, ASC Group, Inc. (ASC) conducted archaeological investigations in the areas around the conical mound prior to the installation of utilities at the Serpent Mound State Memorial. The utility work was planned to support the increased tourism expected due to the pending World Heritage nomination of the site. The excavations shed light on activities in the circum-mound area around the conical mound by both the Early Woodland Adena and Late Prehistoric Fort Ancient peoples. Adena activities involved lithic reduction and tool use, while a buried A horizon appears to relate to a burned area Putnam investigated north of the Adena mound. However, a radiocarbon analysis returned a Fort Ancient period date, suggesting the re-use of the area around the conical moundis circum-mound area.
2012
2020, American Antiquity
This article offers insights into the organization of Scioto Hopewell craft production and examines the implications of this organization through the lens of ritual economy. We present a novel analysis of investigations at the North 40 site, concluding that it is a craft production site located on the outskirts of the renowned Mound City Group. High-resolution landscape-scale magnetic survey revealed a cluster of three large structures and two rows of associated pits; one of the buildings and three of the pits were sampled in excavations. Evidence from the North 40 site marks this as the best-documented Scioto Hopewell craft production site. Mica, chert, and copper were crafted here in contexts organized outside the realm of domestic household production and consumption. Other material remains from the site suggest that crafting was specialized and embedded in ceremonial contexts. This analysis of the complex organization of Scioto Hopewell craft production provides grounds for furt...
Prehistoric architecture in the Eastern United States has been investigated since in the early 1940s when William S. Webb excavated several Woodland structures in Kentucky. For the past 70 years archaeologists have debated the configuration and function of these structures and produced several renderings and reconstructions of their forms based on historic Native American examples, modern Bedouin settlements, and from “archaeological imagination”. The premise of this thesis is to offer a comprehensive interpretation for the form and function of the McCammon Circle structure through comparative data on Woodland prehistoric structures in the Eastern United States. The McCammon Circle represents the subsurface remains of a large circular structure, which was excavated by Weller & Associates, Inc. in 2005, that dates to the Middle Woodland period. These remains include various post holes, features (pits/basins), and a somewhat sparse artifact assemblage, including various lithic and ceramic artifacts from the site. The first part of this study will involve a comparison of the structural attributes of floor area, average posthole diameter, and average posthole depth for each of the 36 analogous structures within the regional study to the McCammon Circle. The McCammon Circle will be placed contextually with the interpretations for form and function of the other structures in the comparison. The form of the McCammon Circle will be compared to five building forms in the region. The function of the McCammon Circle will then be compared to other researcher’s interpretations for the similar structures within the aforementioned comparison. These comparisons will allow for a comprehensive interpretation for the McCammon Circle in regards to the most widely accepted viewpoints in the regional archaeological community. These comparisons indicated that the McCammon Circle was most similar to structures that have been interpreted as unroofed in form and ceremonial in function. I hypothesize that based on the overbuilt, immense nature of the structure, the presence of mica and red ochre, the absence of a midden and cooking hearths, and the lack of an identifiable roof support posthole pattern, as well as the similarity to other ceremonial structures in the region, the original interpretation of the building as a roofed domestic “house” is faulty. A hypaethral “woodhenge” non-mound mortuary facility, serving as a territorial marker in the region as well, is a more plausible reconstruction for the function of the McCammon Circle. The second part of the study will be to test the ability of an engineering analysis utilizing Euler’s formula in determining the possible form of the McCammon Circle. Euler’s formula will be used to determine whether or not the structure could have supported a roof by testing the load bearing capabilities of the structural posts. Euler’s formula will be used to see whether or not it is applicable to aiding in the interpretation of prehistoric structures in general. This will hopefully allow future researchers to decide whether or not Euler’s formula should be included within their own engineering analysis of prehistoric architecture based upon its merits and shortcomings. Euler’s formula proved to be unreliable in ascertaining the form of the McCammon Circle because it failed to take into account several other variables, such as horizontal loads and soil dynamics, which are integral to determining possible building form. However, Euler’s formula may prove complementary to interpreting prehistoric structural form when combined with other engineering analyses. The structural engineering analysis of the McCammon Circle may have proved unreliable, however it represents a heuristic endeavor that will hopefully prompt other researchers to look towards engineering principles and analyses for future reconstructions of prehistoric architecture. The significance of this research also lies in the insistence that all conclusions must be grounded in relevant archaeological and ethnographic analogy. Any and all avenues for research that lead to a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of prehistory should be investigated and employed.
The article presents new evidence from two recent, rescue excavations of Early Neolithic gathering and burial sites at Almhov and Döserygg in Scania, southern Sweden. Along with previous excavations of the Danish enclosures at Sarup, these central sites provide a sequence witnessing substantial development of monumental landscapes during a period of relatively low population density in Southern Scandinavia. An explanation for this rather surprising development is placed within a political economy approach: In situations of low-density populations, resource circumscription is thought to be ineffective as a means of political control. Rather, ceremonial monuments were built to create a strong and permanent allure of ritual spaces and ceremonies associated with mortuary practice, inheritance rights, and emergent leaders. Although inherently unstable, positive feedback apparently existed between the collection of food for feasts, labor to build ritual landscapes, and some central power based on authority. The construction of permanent monumental places helped create, we argue, overarching ownership rights represented in the engineered landscape. To demonstrate the generality of these hypothetical relations, the Southern Scandinavian sequence is compared to similar patterns of monumental construction associated with low-density populations during the prehistory of eastern North America.
This paper presents the results of an archaeological excavation conducted in 2004–2006 at Clashanimud (Cashel) hillfort, Co. Cork. The site is typical of what Raftery (1972) termed a Class 2a hillfort, comprised here of two concentric, widely-spaced enclosures over an area of 8.9 ha. Excavation revealed important details of the hillfort defences, which are radiocarbon dated to the twelfth century BC. The site history is of particular interest, with massive wooden palisades deliberately destroyed by fire soon after construction. The Clashanimud project is part of a new investigation of Irish hillforts based in University College Cork. This research includes sample excavation and radiocarbon dating of selected Class 2 hillforts across Ireland. The results from Clashanimud are discussed in relation to three similar hillforts elsewhere in Munster. The deliberate destruction of some of these strongholds offers a new insight into the regional wars of the later Bronze Age in Ireland.
2010
Middle Woodland geometric enclosures are among the most complex earthen monuments ever built in Eastern North America. Well-known 19th century maps have long provided archaeologists with a view of their shape, size, and scope, in their final forms. However, because relatively few of these enclosures have been systematically excavated, their early life histories and the ways they may have evolved through time remain enigmatic. In this paper, I seek to document a more complete biography of enclosure by combining the results of geophysical survey and excavation of a pair of small geometric enclosures at the Garden Creek site in western North Carolina. There, in the first century AD, raw materials, human labor, and specialized ritual knowledge were marshalled at different stages of these enclosures’ life histories, from the earliest construction of ditches and possible embankments, to the emplacement of an associated post alignment, to the eventual dismantling of the earthwork and posts and the effective erasure of the monument from the landscape. Specifically, I consider the labor energetics of earthmoving and post setting alongside the precise layout and possible astronomical alignments of the enclosures themselves to show the diverse ways in which Middle Woodland architects shaped these biographies of enclosure.
This final volume of my PhD thesis (Appendix G) is the Gazetteer, divided up into a few Iron Age and Romano-British sites from North Yorkshire; but with the majority from West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Many of these sites have never been published before; and are so-called 'grey literature' - the client or archive reports produced by commercial archaeological units and held in the relevant Historic Environment Records office for each county. In a few instances not even reports exist, just archive records.
2012, Indiana Archaeology, Vol. 7, No. 1: 158-165
Ballylin hillfort near Ardagh is the largest prehistoric monument in Co. Limerick. This paper presents the results of an archaeological investigation conducted there in 2012 by a research team from University College Cork. The surface features of the hillfort are presented by aerial LiDAR survey, with geophysical prospection also undertaken at the site. The defences, including one of the original entrances, were excavated to recover dating evidence, and to understand details of design and construction. Radiocarbon results suggest the hillfort was built in or around the twelfth century BC, during the transition from the Middle to Late Bronze Age in Ireland.
Biltmore Mound, located on the Swannanoa River in Asheville, North Carolina, was constructed over a Connestee phase habitation, the earliest evidence dating to about A.D. 300. Mound construction began sometime between A.D. 400 and 550, with the second to last mound stage constructed about A.D. 580–600. Because of the diverse contexts and the excellent preservation of faunal remains, we are able to provide some insights into Connestee ritualism at Biltmore Mound. The Biltmore Mound was a platform used to support large public structures for ritual and ceremonial activities. It was constructed of varying colored and textured soils from a variety of source areas that arguably had symbolic importance. The mound was primarily built out (rather than up) with several mantles that may have comprised a complete ritual cycle of mound construction.
2008
In this paper it is shown how three ancient earthworks in Ohio incorporate alignments to the Milky Way in their design. These earthworks are: Serpent Mound, the Great Hopewell Road at Newark, and Mound City. It is suggested that the Milky Way alignments at these sites reference aspects of an ancient narrative concerning the Milky Way Path of Souls. The Milky Way Path of Souls was the path that souls of the deceased had to travel in order to reach the Land of the Dead. The narrative was (and is) widely known across North America. The findings in this paper represent updated and in some cases, revised findings using the computer simulation program, Stellarium.
Minimum Analytical Nodule Analysis (MANA) continues to gain popularity among lithic analysts as a compliment to refitting. Despite the increased use of MANA in the last two decades, all implementations focus on the same types of sites, those occupied by hunter-gatherers and our foraging ancestors. This paper represents the first formal attempt to explore the utility of MANA among groups with different levels of mobility and social organization. This is accomplished by examining the bladelet industry utilized by horticultural groups at two ceremonially oriented Hopewell earthworks. This attempt to expand the scope of MANA can be labeled as a success which yielded information on bladelet production and discard processes, as well as an additional line of evidence on temporal relationships at the sites. Issues were encountered, however, in data integration common when multiple archaeologists lead independent investigations at large sites. Additional issues arose with relatively few artifacts assigned to individual nodules and the subsequent difficulties in examining production skill and exchange. But even these issues point to new possibilities for research elsewhere to address new types of questions.
2021, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 114: 81-121
After a gap of almost two decades further investigations were initiated at this remarkable late prehistoric midden site, supported by Operation Nightingale/Breaking Ground Heritage. Geophysical survey clarified the extent of the broadly contemporary enclosure surrounding the midden, as well as other related features, while subsequent excavations provided new information on the midden, the enclosure and settlement. Two small trenches in the northeast half of the midden revealed a different sequence and produced far fewer finds than the 1992−3 excavations in the southwest half, demonstrating that it is not a homogeneous mound. A substantial ditch and associated bank, largely levelled by the late Roman period, may have been contemporary with or pre-dated the early development of the midden, while some 150 postholes attested to the presence of numerous roundhouses and other structures within the enclosure. Overall, a date range of c. 1000−500 cal. BC and possibly later is suggested from radiocarbon dating and pottery, the main phase of midden development perhaps later than the majority of the settlement. Furthermore, recent results of radiocarbon dating of material from the earlier excavations suggest the site sequence may continue as late as c. 400 cal. BC. Radiocarbon dating of the few human remains has also highlighted the likelihood that some were curated, the probable intervals between the dates of death and deposition ranging from a few decades to three centuries. Finds and environmental assemblages are generally consistent with those previously found, but a few sherds of scratch cordoned bowl represent a significant new discovery, as does a unique copper alloy 'pendant' of possible continental origin. Evidence now indicates that cattle, as well as sheep and pigs, were intensively managed and slaughtered on site, with the isotope data suggesting local origins for most of the animals, though some cattle may have been raised on pasturage further afield.
Co-author Gordon Maxwell. Report on survey and excavation of the Cleaven Dyke, a Neolithic bank barrow/cursus, and the Littleour timber enclosure, in Perth & Kinross. Also sets these monuments in their wider context. Many specialist contributors on artefacts and palaeo-environment.
2009, Indiana Archaeology, Vol. 4, No. 1: 159-177
2009, Indiana Archaeology
INDIANA ARCHAEOLOGY
The Mound A Enclosure area is an approximately 100-meter by 100-meter square tract of land just east of and adjacent to Mound A at the Carson Mound Group, a Mississippian mound complex, located in Coahoma County, Mississippi. Excavations at this site over the past seven years have yielded an abundance of information regarding the use and development of this site over the course of its occupation. Furthermore, new and existing architectural data were used for this research in order to develop a temporal sequence and help understand the evolution of this site over the span of approximately 500 years of use. A GIS of the site was developed and used as a basis for this architectural and temporal analysis. In addition, the construction of an architectural grammar and focused space syntax analysis also aided in the development of this research.
2018, American Antiquity
Hopewell bladelets may be the most common diagnostic artifact of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere. As such, they are often recognized as a Middle Woodland "index fossil" and a key materialized indication of Hopewell ceremonialism. However, few formal analyses of their occurrence across space and time exist. Drawing on published reports, as well as an extensive review of the unpublished gray literature, I present a Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon-dated, bladelet-bearing features from across Ohio. The Bayesian model provides insight into previously unrecognized temporal variation in this element of Hopewell material culture. Results indicate that bladelets are present from around the BC/AD switch to nearly AD 500 in certain portions of the state. Analysis by major drainages indicates that bladelets occur earliest in southern and central Ohio before subsequently spreading north to the Lake Erie region. Understanding the spatial and temporal variation in artifact classes such as Hopewell bladelets is essential to explaining prehistoric cultural processes.