Death and rebirth of structures in the Middle Woodland period of the Appalachian Summit

ABSTRACT

Postholes that were filled with sand or rocks after pulling the posts have been found on two Middle Woodland sites with Hopewell connections in the Appalachian Summit of western North Carolina. Previous interpretations are that the dismantling of the structures and filling of the postholes was an act of ritual closure or termination of the structures’ lives. Experimental replication of posthole excavation, filling, and re-excavation support the hypothesis that these structures were dismantled with the intent of rebuilding them as part of a ritual performance cycle, possibly related to seasonal or cosmological events.

KEYWORDS:

• Appalachian
• Hopewell
• postholes
• experimental
• rebuilding
• ritual

Acknowledgments

Conversations with Seth B. Grooms, Timothy K. Perttula, Brett H. Riggs, and Christopher B. Rodning provided much-needed food for thought. We are also grateful for data and images provided by M. Scott Shumate, archaeologist for the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Two anonymous reviewers of this manuscript offered necessary advice and comments.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Data supporting the findings from the Garden Creek site are available from the second author (APW) upon reasonable request. Those relating to the Biltmore Mound site are maintained by the Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina. Data pertaining to the experimental replication of posthole excavation are maintained by the first author (TRW).

Additional information

Funding

Recent research at Garden Creek was funded by the National Science Foundation [grant number BCS-1225872] and the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology Griffin Fellowship.