Placing the dead on the Green River: a consideration of Archaic burial on the Middle Green River of Kentucky

ABSTRACT

I suggest that all or most of the tightly flexed human burials in Middle Green River Archaic sites represent secondary interments which had been exposed for variable periods of time, a modification of general opinion. Because of this, their delayed burial in the large, impressive mortuary sites of the Middle Green River like Chiggerville, Indian Knoll, and Carlston Annis reflect potentially variable, contingent, historical acts of placement of the dead which are not transparent. These acts concern how Archaic societies symbolically constructed and maintained themselves through the actions of individuals and burial parties by preparing, transporting, and placing the remains of their dead. How we approach them reflects as well on how we reconstruct Archaic “histories” and the overall “History” of the Green River Archaic.

KEYWORDS:

• Eastern Archaic
• Green River Archaic
• Middle Green River Archaic
• Archaic burial
• Archaic burial practices

Acknowledgments

I very much appreciate the helpful comments of Cheryl Claassen to an earlier version of this manuscript and the equally helpful suggestions from two reviewers of this final version. All errors in fact and interpretation remain my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on the contributor

R. Berle Clay (retired) was a senior researcher and geophysical specialist for Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., of Lexington, Kentucky. With a career spanning teaching, administration, and cultural resource evaluation, his research interests have included fieldwork in the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, the French Upper Paleolithic, and New Ireland (New Guinea), and focused on later precontact periods of Eastern United States, architecture, ceramics, and burial patterns in the Ohio Valley Middle Woodland, and geophysical survey.

Data availability statement

No original data was used.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.