Constructing community and cosmos: A bioarchaeological analysis of Wisconsin Effigy Mound mortuary practices and mound construction

This dissertation presents an analysis of the mounds, human skeletal remains, grave goods, and ritual paraphernalia interred within mounds traditionally categorized as belonging to the Wisconsin Effigy Mound Tradition. The term `Effigy Mound Tradition' commonly refers to a widespread mound building and ritual phenomenon that spanned the Upper Midwest during the Late Woodland (A.D. 600-A.D. 1150). Specifically, this study explores how features of mound construction and burial may have operated in the social structure of communities participating in this panregional ceremonial movement.;The study uses previously excavated skeletal material, published archaeological reports, unpublished field notes, and photographs housed at the Milwaukee Public Museum to examine the social connotations of various mound forms and mortuary ritual among Wisconsin Effigy Mound communities. The archaeological and skeletal datasets consisted of data collected from seven mound sites with an aggregate sample of 197 mounds and a minimum number of individuals of 329.;The mortuary analysis in this study explores whether the patterning of human remains interred within mounds were part of a system involved with the 1) creation of collective/ corporate identity, 2) denoting individual distinction and/or social inequality, or 3) a combination of both processes occurring simultaneously within Effigy Mound communities.;The results from the mortuary analysis suggests that Effigy Mound monumentalism and mortuary practices likely played a role in the creation and celebration of both corporate and individual identities within communities participating in this ceremonial movement. The findings also suggest that mound building was not performed solely for burial; rather mound construction and ceremonialism were possibly part of a panregional world renewal ceremonial and religious movement that sometimes included human burial. This study also illustrates how the Effigy Mound religious movement may have permeated other aspects of the social structure, particularly the creation of social inequality and/or 'masked hierarchy' within communities participating in this movement.;This study suggests that burial within mounds was a communicative act to those responsible for mound construction and burial. Burial within conical and oval mounds was likely symbolic of collective identity creation. Burial within effigy mound forms, on the other hand, was much more limited and likely reflective of a system of individual distinction. The differential treatment of those buried within mounds belonging to the Effigy Mound Movement reveals that mound construction and burial likely performed processes of integration and distinction simultaneously among communities participating in this ceremonial movement.