TY - JOUR
T1 - Archaeological Investigations on the Emerald Avenue, a Potential Mississippian Period Roadway in Southwestern Illinois
AU - Skousen, B. Jacob
AU - Larson, Timothy H
AU - Watts Malouchos, Elizabeth
AU - Kruchten, Jeffery D.
AU - Barzilai, Rebecca M.
AU - Alt, Susan M.
AU - Pauketat, Timothy R.
N1 - Funding Information:
The Emerald site, also known as the Emerald Acropolis, is located in the uplands 24 km east of Cahokia (see ). Over the last few decades, a number of archaeological projects have taken place at the site. Salvage excavations, performed by the Illinois State Archaeological Survey in 1998, were conducted on portions of the site before drainage tiles were installed; data from these excavations was reported by Skousen as part of a National Science Foundation grant (Skousen ). Alt and Pauketat conducted extensive excavations at the site from 2012–2016, which included an electrical resistivity tomography survey performed by Larson on the Emerald Avenue and the identification and excavation of an outlying site (11S1980) by Kruchten and Barzilai, as part of two grants from the John Templeton Foundation (Alt ; Alt and Pauketat , ; Barzilai and Kruchten ; Pauketat and Alt ; Pauketat, Alt, and Kruchten ). Finally, the National Science Foundation funded a magnetometry survey (performed by Watts Malouchos) and excavations (performed by Skousen) on the Emerald Avenue in 2014 (Skousen ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, © Trustees of Boston University 2020.
PY - 2020/7/3
Y1 - 2020/7/3
N2 - In this paper, we present our investigations on the Emerald Avenue, a potential Mississippian period (a.d. 1050–1400) roadway in southwestern Illinois. It is hypothesized that this road connected the pre-Columbian city of Cahokia to the Emerald Acropolis, a shrine complex 24 km to the east. To confirm the presence of the Emerald Avenue and document its physical characteristics and chronology, we performed an electrical resistivity tomography survey, magnetometer survey, and excavations on portions of the Avenue near the Acropolis. These investigations revealed that the Avenue is an early 19th century road that was used by early Euro-American settlers in the area. We present evidence that suggests that this historic road was actually a reused pre-Columbian route, possibly the Mississippian period Emerald Avenue. The presence of a Mississippian period road connecting the Emerald Acropolis to other important places throughout the region indicates that religious journeys were conducted throughout Cahokia’s history.
AB - In this paper, we present our investigations on the Emerald Avenue, a potential Mississippian period (a.d. 1050–1400) roadway in southwestern Illinois. It is hypothesized that this road connected the pre-Columbian city of Cahokia to the Emerald Acropolis, a shrine complex 24 km to the east. To confirm the presence of the Emerald Avenue and document its physical characteristics and chronology, we performed an electrical resistivity tomography survey, magnetometer survey, and excavations on portions of the Avenue near the Acropolis. These investigations revealed that the Avenue is an early 19th century road that was used by early Euro-American settlers in the area. We present evidence that suggests that this historic road was actually a reused pre-Columbian route, possibly the Mississippian period Emerald Avenue. The presence of a Mississippian period road connecting the Emerald Acropolis to other important places throughout the region indicates that religious journeys were conducted throughout Cahokia’s history.
KW - Cahokia
KW - Emerald Acropolis
KW - Roads
KW - pilgrimage
KW - procession
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U2 - 10.1080/00934690.2020.1722361
DO - 10.1080/00934690.2020.1722361
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85079240430
SN - 0093-4690
VL - 45
SP - 372
EP - 393
JO - Journal of Field Archaeology
JF - Journal of Field Archaeology
IS - 5
ER -