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Ceramics, Chronology, and Horizon Markers at Wickliffe Mounds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kit W. Wesler
Kit W. Wesler*
Affiliation:
Wickliffe Mounds Research Center, Murray State University, Wickliffe, KY 42087
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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.

Résumé

Résumé

El área alrededor de la confluencia de los ríos Ohio y Misisipi se ha tornado en elfoco de discusión sobre los desarrollos del período Misisipiano Tardío. El debate se basa en gran parte en la presencia o ausencia de artefactos considerados como protohistóricos o marcadores temporales del período de contacto. Depósitos tardíos en Wickliffe Mounds (15BA4) han producido dos de dichos artefactos: unos dados de astrágalo y una olla efigie antropomorfa. El estudio riguroso del orden de sucesión de la cerámica y de las fechas de radiocarbón asociadas a ella indica que ambos “marcadores temporales” pertenecen al último período prehistórico del oeste de Kentucky, y que ninguno de los dos puede resolver el debate sobre la ocupación protohistórica.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , April 1991 , pp. 278 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1991

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