Clovis Comet Debate - The Archaeological Conservancy

Mound
Excavations
at Moundville:
Architecture, Elites, and Social Order
By Vernon James Knight, Jr.
(University of Alabama Press, 2010; 496 pgs., illus.;
$75 cloth, $60 ebook; www.uapress.ua.edu)
Located on a high bank of the Black Warrior River in west-central
Alabama, Moundville is the nation’s second largest mound complex
after Cahokia. A wooden palisade enclosed some 185 acres
with 32 mounds that are symmetrically arranged around a huge
plaza. It was continuously occupied by Mississippians from roughly
a.d. 1120 through 1520. The site, along with a small museum, is
owned by the University of Alabama and is open to the public. It’s
certainly worth a visit. It is a monumental place, and there is no
doubt that it was one on the most important places in the Eastern
United States for several centuries.
More than a century of research has taken place at Moundville,
and this volume reports on that research in general and the most
recent explorations in particular. Between 1989 and 1998, Vernon
“Jim” Knight of the University of Alabama led a major archaeological
project at Moundville that included limited excavations at
five mounds and other studies, including examinations of previously
recovered materials. The 10-year project produced tons of
material and immensely increased our understanding of this great
complex. It is also a guide to mound excavation techniques that
will serve students and scholars for years to come.
Knight tested two major hypotheses in this study. The first
proposes that the mounds are laid out as a sociogram, and the
principal ones are contemporaneous. Because of numerous additions
and rebuildings, it is a difficult question to answer. The second
hypothesis has to do with specialization of the mounds. It
appears that smaller burial mounds alternate with large platform
mounds that supported buildings.
This volume is a major addition to the understanding of
Moundville and the archaeology of the entire region. It is firstclass
scholarship that researchers and lay people alike will want
to have on their bookshelves. —Mark Michel
Reviews
mining Archaeology
in the American West:
A view from the silver state
By Donald L. Hardesty
(University of Nebraska Press, 2010; 240 pgs.,
illus.; $45 cloth; www.nebraskapress.unl.edu)
Utilizing the various methodologies that inform
historical archaeology, Donald Hardesty provides
a close look at mining practices and the human
culture that developed during the boom years
of the Nevada frontier. Hardesty employs an
abundance of historical documents, including
government maps and records, Sanborn
insurance documents, industrial and mechanical
drawings, archived photographs, diaries and
letters, technical handbooks, company records,
newspapers, and census records, to name only
a few. By reading the physical landscape of
mining ruins, the author interprets social, cultural,
and physical/spatial environments, leading to
a deep analysis that utilizes a broad array of
interdisciplinary theoretical models.
Evaluating the archaeological record,
Hardesty, who is an archaeologist at the
University of Nevada at Reno, also provides a
close, detailed look at the physical environment.
From these various sources, the reader is
given a clear and in-depth understanding of
the technological, social, cultural, historical,
environmental, and archaeological aspects of
19th-century American industry, and the qualitative
experience of the humans who worked and lived
in these remote Western communities. The
numerous photographs, charts, drawings, maps,
tables and other visual aids help to bring the
story to life. —Cynthia Martin
american archaeology 53