"Some of the earliest archaeology conducted on the North American continent focused on earthen enclosure sites, yet ironically, in many ways such enclosures remain poorly understood to this day. Here is an insightful volume that takes a major step towards a more subtle comprehension of the purpose and uses, both sacred and secular, of earthwork sites spanning three millenia of Eastern Woodlands prehistory."--Vernon James Knight, University of Alabama

Early speculation about the pre-Columbian earthen enclosures of the eastern United States attributed them to ancient races of...

"An important addition to the history of southeastern archaeology, bringing to light the often undervalued or forgotten contributions of the many women who helped to make archaeology what it is today."-- Mary L. Kwas, Bulletin of the History of Archaeology

"A readable book that provides a lot of interesting material on the history of southeastern archaeology. It convinced me that, even though some women were treated in ways which today would be regarded as highly exploitative or discriminatory, many of their experiences were similar to those of male archaeologists, and that...

"A richly detailed edited volume that reexamines Mississippian mortuary practices in light of current anthropological and archaeological theoretical perspectives."--C. Cliff Boyd, Radford University

"Shows that instead of reflecting status, mortuary programs actually use the dead to refract, realign, and repurpose the roles and relations of the living."--Alex W. Barker, University of Missouri

The residents of Mississippian towns principally located in the southeastern and midwestern United States from 900 to1500 A.D. made many beautiful objects, which included elaborate and...