Lynne P. Sullivan – författare

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 well-crafted copper and shell ornaments, pottery vessels, and stonework. Some of these objects were socially valued goods and often were placed in ritual context, such as graves.

The funerary context of these artifacts has sparked considerable study and debate among archaeologists, raising questions about the place in society of the individuals interred with such items, as well as the nature of the societies in which these people lived.

By focusing on how mortuary practices serve as symbols of beliefs and values for the living, the contributors to Mississippian Mortuary Practices explore how burial of the dead reflects and reinforces the cosmology of specific cultures, the status of living participants in the burial ceremony, ongoing kin relationships, and other aspects of social organization.

This volume documents the lives and work of pioneering womenarchaeologists in the southeastern United States from the 1920s through the1960s.

A landmark portrayal of pioneeringwomen in science, reissued on its 25th anniversary

Praise for the firstedition:

“Highlyrecommended for any archaeologist interested in the history of thediscipline.”—Choice

“Animportant addition to the history of southeastern archaeology, bringing tolight the often undervalued or forgotten contributions of the many women whohelped to make archaeology what it is today.”—Bulletin of the History ofArchaeology

“Thisis a needed history, providing details both mundane and critical, personal andprofessional, feminist and archaeological.”—Journal of the History of theBehavioral Sciences

“Demonstrat[es]that each woman, regardless of how, when, or why she came to Southeasternarchaeology, has made significant contributions to the field, clearing the pathfor women today to pursue successful careers in archaeology.”—NorthAmerican Archaeologist

“Theregional focus lends an intimate and immediate quality to this series ofbiographical-historical narratives. . . . [It is] heartening to know that someamong us have thought to capture these women’s stories for others to tell inthe future and to provide a basis for better understanding how our roles andhistories influence our work as archaeologists.”—Journal of AnthropologicalResearch

“Thesefascinating brief portraits, variously based on documents, interviews, orautobiographical statements, reveal much of the changing circumstances in thecontext of which women’s work must be understood.”—National Women’s StudiesAssociation Journal

“Areadable book that provides a lot of interesting material on the history ofSoutheastern archaeology.”—Journal of Alabama Archaeology

“Adelight to read, often humorous, sometimes sobering. It has much to offerreaders, ranging from the history of archaeology and the role of the WPA insoutheastern archaeology, to an intimate view of careers of influential womenin science, to discussions of the study of gender in history and archaeology.It is a volume to be read and shared.”—Arkansas Historical Quarterly

“Aneasily read, thought-provoking book.”—St. Augustine Archaeological AssociationQuarterly Book Review

Updatedwith a new preface on the 25th anniversary of its first publication, thisvolume documents the lives and work of pioneering women archaeologists in thesoutheastern United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Some of thesewomen were working at the time of the book’s first publication in 1999, andthey either wrote their own stories or were interviewed. Others were no longerliving; their biographies are gleaned from archival research. Rich with humor,tragedy, and important information for the history of archaeology in the Southand beyond, as well as anthropology in general, this book includes the story ofAfrican American women excavators on WPA crews during the Great Depression;tales of innovative lab work, adventurous fieldwork, and public archaeology;and provocative discussions of women in archaeology and of gender in thearchaeological record.