The Illinois State Archaeological Survey has reprinted two popular out-of-print publications and both are available for purchase on Amazon.
Modified Predator Mandible and Maxilla Artifacts and Predator Symbolism in Illinois Hopewell by Kenneth B. Farnsworth, Terrance J. Martin, and Angela R. Perri
Species reidentification and burial-context analysis of 34 artifacts made from the cut-and-drilled mandibles and maxillae of coyotes, wolves, cougars, and bears recovered from Illinois Hopewellian mounds over the past century provide new perspectives on the variety of forms, mortuary associations, species-specific uses, and symbolic significance of these artifacts. Fragments of eight modified canid and felid “predator jaw” artifacts, including those from five canids (three probable coyotes and two wolves), a cougar, and a bobcat, are also documented from four west-central Illinois Middle Woodland habitation sites. Correcting the distressingly common species misidentifications of these artifacts in the archaeological literature has also led to new interpretations of the modification and use of 14 black bear–maxillae artifacts, many of which are identified here for the first time, found in Illinois Hopewellian mortuary contexts.
This slim but well-illustrated monograph is tightly focused on a small but intriguing dataset from the Middle Woodland period of Illinois: large carnivore (dog, coyote, wolf, cougar, bobcat, and bear) mandibles and maxillae that were intentionally modified by cutting, grinding, drilling, or painting.
"…[T]his book is intended to be primarily a descriptive report, and at this it succeeds brilliantly. Farnsworth, Martin, and Perri have compiled a thorough review of their subject, presented quality data on ritual artifacts, and corrected earlier errors in identification. Anyone who wants to try to decipher animal symbolism during the Middle Woodland will need to consult this book." —T. Cregg Madrigal, Trenton, New Jersey, MCJA Book Reviews Vol. 41, 2016
Available for purchase on Amazon for $25.
Excavations at the Blue Island and Naples-Russell Mounds and Related Hopewellian Sites in the Lower Illinois Valley by Kenneth B. Farnsworth and Karen A. Atwell with contributions by Paula G. Cross and Steven R. Leigh
This volume presents and evaluates the results of mound-restoration projects carried out in 1986 and 1990 at Blue lsland Mound 6 (11PK513)—two bluff-top early Hopewellian burial mounds located along the western bluff line of the Illinois River Valley in northern Pike County. The singular internal mound structures and mortuary artifacts documented by these two excavation projects are evaluated in light of several smaller-scale surveys and excavations at nearby Middle Woodland mortuary sites and ritual-staging areas in an effort to chronicle the early development of Hopwellian mortuary ritual in the lower Illinois Valley.
From the published evidence of 36 modern calibrated radiocarbon dates, Hopewellian mounds were first constructed in northern Pike County during the early Mound House phase (ca. 50 BC–AD 100). The early Mound House phase was an era of far-reaching and diverse interregional exchange in exotic artifacts and raw materials associated with Hopewellian mortuary ritual—an exchange pattern that may largely predate the advent of village-based bluff-top mound cemeteries of the later Mound House phase (ca. AD 100–350). Thus, our study also evaluates regional origins and distributions of distinctive symbolic artifacts associated with early Hopewellian mortuary ritual at the Naples-Russell and Blue Island mounds and at ritual-staging areas near the mounds to aid recognition of other regional ritual and mortuary sites that date to the time of the first appearance of Hopewellian mortuary ritual in the lower Illinois Valley.
Available for purchase on Amazon for $40.
CONTACT: Sarah Boyer, 217-244-0058, sboyer3@illinois.edu