The Archaeology of Missouri, Vol. 2

This is the second volume of the definitive account of Missouri archaeology by the master of the subject. (The first volume describes the physical environment and prehistory of Missouri through the Archaic period.) This volume takes up the record of Missouri's human population at the beginning of the Woodland period, in 1000 B.V., and ends with protohistoric times, just prior to European contact.

Because of its central location and favorable environment, the lower Missouri - central Mississippi Valley played a vital role in the development of a succession of North American cultures. The period covered here saw the first great cultural climax of North America, the Hopewellian Interaction Sphere, which affected Missouri during the Middle Woodland period, 500 B.C.-A.D. 400. During this peak of cultural florescence, extensive trade networks reached from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Ideas as well as trade goods were continuously exchanged between different regions of the New World.

A second period of considerable cultural sophistication occurred in Missouri between the tenth and thirteenth centuries A.D. The Prairie Village Farmers of this Classic Mississippi period used flat-topped mounds as the bases for their important buildings and lived in village settlements that surrounded ceremonial centers. These patterns suggest cultural borrowings from Mesoamerica and South America.

Clearly written and profusely illustrated with maps and drawings by Eleanor F. Chapman as well as photographs of sites and artifacts, this book is certain to become a standard reference both for archaeologist and for lay readers.