Common ground, contesting visions: the emergence of burial mound ritual in late prehistoric central Virginia

The late prehistoric period (ca. A.D. 900-1600) in central Virginia witnessed the gradual construction of a group of earth-stone and earthen accretional burial mounds, many of which contained the remains of over one thousand individuals. Their appearance coincides with a number of fundamental and relatively rapid cultural transformations, including decreasing mobility, increasing reliance on agriculture, and growing social inequality and heterogeneity. Despite the steady attention of archaeologists since the eighteenth-century excavation of Thomas Jefferson, the cultural significance of the mounds, and their relation to such far-reaching changes in their surroundings, are largely unknown. On an empirical level, this study represents the first comprehensive synthesis of the various burial forms contained within and under the accretional mounds. On a theoretical level, this study represents an extended critique of current approaches to mortuary ritual and assumptions about symbolism in archaeology. An alternative, middle-range model of mortuary ritual, based largely on post-structuralist assumptions about ritual and meaning, is developed to link the documented, longterm changes in the form of mound burial practices to the concurrent transformations in social organization, mobility, and subsistence occurring outside of the grave.

Note: Abstract extracted from PDF file via OCR.

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