The Myrick Park Mounds (47Lc10), an Effigy Mound Site in Western Wisconsin

The earliest documented excavation of an effigy mound group by a professional archaeologist occurred in 1883 when Frederic Ward Putnam and local acquaintances excavated portions of four mounds at the Myrick Park site (47Lc10) in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Putnam worked on one effigy (similar to the short-tailed turtle form) and three conical mounds. Theodore H. Lewis visited the site in 1885 and mapped one additional conical mound. We examined documentation and collections housed at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Artifacts include a portion of a Madison Cord Impressed jar (a common Effigy Mound offering) and a trailed rim sherd similar to terminal Late Woodland types. Human remains represent a minimum of 23 individuals: 18 adults and 5 subadults. Dental and skeletal evidence indicates a relatively healthy population with low levels of nutritional deficiency, early life stress, and trauma, similar to other regional Late Woodland populations.     

Understanding the Spatial Patterning of English Archaeology: Modelling Mass Data, 1500 BC to AD 1086

Variation in the density of archaeological evidence is caused by a multitude of interacting factors, some of which reinforce each other and some of which act to disguise genuine patterns of past practice. This paper initially presents a set of density models for England constructed by the members of the English Landscape and Identities (EngLaId) project and then goes on to discuss three possible explanations for the variation seen: modern affordance, variability in past usage of material culture, and past population density. The various members of the project team (with the aid of Andrew Lowerre) then provide their thoughts on the models and ideas presented from their own specific period specialist perspectives. The article is presented in this discursive format to reflect the differing opinions and approaches across an unusual multi-period project, in the spirit of multi-vocality and healthy debate.