Ceramics, Chronology, and Horizon Markers at Wickliffe Mounds

Abstract

The area around the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers has become a sharp focus of discussion about late Mississippian developments. The debate largely is based on the presence or absence of artifacts thought to be protohistoric or contact period horizon markers. Late deposits at Wickliffe Mounds (15BA4) have produced two such artifacts: astragalus dice and a head-effigy pot. Close study of the ceramic sequence and associated radiocarbon dates indicates that both “horizon markers” belong to the late prehistoric period of western Kentucky, and that neither can settle the debate about protohistoric occupation.

Current Research on Late Precontact Societies of the Midcontinental United States

“…Debates over taxonomy are part of the professional atmosphere of archaeology in the Midcontinent and are particularly heated in the literature on the Lake Erie basin (Brose, 1997;Murphy and Ferris, 1990;Stothers et al, 1994), but they flare up in other parts of the Midcontinent as well, particularly in the vicinity of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers (e.g., Lewis, 1990Lewis, , 1991Wesler, 1991). Refinement of chronologies is not the ultimate goal of contemporary archaeological research, but for some archaeologists it has been the primary objective (cf.…”

“…For parts of the Midcontinent, archaeologists recently have modified the local ceramic chronologies through seriation and stylistic analyses as well as spatial distribution studies, often developed in conjunction with large suites of AMS radiocarbon dates (e.g., Hilgeman, 2000;Kreisa, 1998;M. J. O'Brien, 1994;Wesler, 1991Wesler, , 1994. In some cases (e.g., McCullough, 2000), the impetus to improve regional ceramic chronologies derived from a concern with studying small-scale transformations and the variable pace of change in the past.…”

“…The remaining parts of the Mississippi and Ohio confluence area appear to be largely abandoned shortly after A.D. 1400 (Mainfort, 2001, pp. 183-185;Wesler, 1991;contra Edging, 1990;Lewis, 1990). However, there is evidence of at least small occupations at a couple of sites (Lawrence and Mainfort, 1995;, perhaps mirroring the pattern seen in southeastern Missouri of small groups remaining at principal settlements after the area had been largely abandoned.…”

The Wickliffe Mounds Project: Implications for Late Mississippi Period Chronology, Settlement, and Mortuary Patterns in Western Kentucky

“…A synthesis of radiocarbon assays and the ceramic assemblages at Wickliffe supports the following threeperiod intra-site sequence (Wesler 1991a). Period boundaries are arbitrarily rounded to quarter-century units.…”

“…Excavations in 1990 on the north side of Mound B (Wesler 1990a;1991a) defined a stratigraphic sequence visually more complex than, but chronologically similar to, that of Mound A. An underlying Early Wickliffe midden was sealed by an Early Wickliffe mound and three or four Middle Wickliffe mound zones, capped by a Late Wickliffe final mantle (Fig.…”