Cultural and chronological variation in Woodland and Mississippian mortuary practices on the edge of Greater Cahokia

A reanalysis of the Kane Mounds mortuary complex, long thought to be late Mississippian, reveals it was not a mound but a natural bluff-top burial site used continuously for over a millennium. The study, leveraging legacy field records and analytical data, demonstrates significant cultural and chronological variation in Woodland and Mississippian mortuary practices on the periphery of Greater Cahokia. Findings indicate shifts from hunting-and-gathering to maize-based subsistence, increased social complexity, and diverse burial practices including in-the-flesh interments, ossuaries, excarnation, postmortem manipulations, and extensive fire use. The research highlights the site's enduring significance as an ancestral burial place, reflecting both temporal and geographic diversity.

Emerson, T. E., Hedman, K. M., & Fort, M. A. (2024). Cultural and chronological variation in Woodland and Mississippian mortuary practices on the edge of Greater Cahokia. Southeastern Archaeology, 43(3), 145–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/0734578x.2024.2380144