Ohio Hopewell Depictions of Composite Creatures: Part II–Archaeological Context and a Journey to an Afterlife

Carr, Christopher; McCord, Robert

doi:10.1179/2327427114y.0000000015

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Such spectres may require placation and/or support through small-(or large-) scale ceremonies and rites (see Harvey 2006;Taussig 2001). These events and practices leave material traces on the landscape accessible in mourning rites, burial practices and soul keeping and release (see Hall 1997 for a review; see also Carr & McCord 2015;Hallowell 1960;Neihardt [1932] 2008). Ethnographic records and archaeological studies can be helpful in deciphering such practices, but with caution as regards drawing one-to-one correlations that may essentialize past Amerindian practices (see Pauketat 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Native North America, animals and animal bodies constitute beings with souls to be cared for after death (Claassen 2015;Underhill 1957; see also Carr & McCord 2015). Non-mammalian animals, directly involved in death rites and performances, were of significant importance to Eastern Woodlands peoples (Carr & McCord 2015, 19-20).…”

Section: Introduction: Microhistories Bodies and Soulsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Building on these complex associations of whelk shells, death and the afterlife, I examine bodies and souls through a microhistorical analysis of mortuary practice to explore the parallel partitioning of two life forms-gastropods and humans-in Cahokia's unique ridge-top burial mounds. I engage with these other-than-human beings-thousands of marine shell beads and Busycon sinistrum shells-as active participants in Cahokia's new religious practices by examining the physical disarticulation of flesh from bone (or shell/calcium carbonate) and the release of the soul through this process (see Carr & McCord 2015). I argue that the presence of gastropods buried alongside human bodies served to connect the living world of humans with the watery underworld of the dead and to facilitate the release of both the human and gastropod soul (see also Claassen 2011; 2015).…”

Section: Introduction: Microhistories Bodies and Soulsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Microhistory of Human and Gastropod Bodies and Souls During Cahokia's Emergence

Baires¹

2016

CAJ

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This article examines the role of mortuary practice in the emergence (c. ad 1050–1100) of Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian Native American city north of Mexico. The parallel partitioning of human and gastropod bodies in ridge-top mortuary mounds is examined and I argue that the presence of gastropods buried alongside human bodies served to connect the living world of humans with the watery underworld of the dead. From a microhistorical perspective, this paper focuses on the processing and deposition of bodies and their subsequent interment in ridge-top burials to parse the potential relationships between such mortuary practice and Cahokia's emergence as a complex polity. The paper presents data on the association of shell materials with human bodies from six previously excavated ridge-tops for comparison with new data on shell materials and human burials from Wilson Mound, a small ridge-top located on the western edge of Cahokia. Together, these data suggest the emergence of Cahokia was embedded in newly articulated relationships with persons enacted through the process of disarticulating the dead for burial mediated with mollusc shell.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction: Microhistories Bodies and Soulsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction: Microhistories Bodies and Soulsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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