Reevaluating the Rosewood phase in the initial late Woodland period in the American Bottom

This report is divided into two primary parts. The first part represents the first attempt at providing information about the Rosewood site, the type site for the Initial Late Woodland Rosewood phase. In the early 1980s, the then-unanalyzed materials from this site, and others excavated as part of the FAI-270 Project, formed the basis of the Rosewood phase that denoted the first phase in the American Bottom Late Woodland sequence, circa cal AD 400–550. The second part of this report represents a reevaluation of the ceramics, lithics, feature types, and subsistence recovered from 19 Rosewood phase sites. Errors of identification of ceramic types and their associated phases and/or pit clusters have been identified and rectified in this report. The second part of this report, in fact, should be utilized as the baseline for future research associated with the Rosewood phase. Normally, phases in the American Bottom are based on published reports detailing all ceramics, lithics, subsistence, etc. That was not the case for the Rosewood phase. This report is therefore significant because it finally brings all these assemblages, including other Rosewood assemblages, collectively to light for the first time. This report really provides the most complete basis for defining the entire Initial Late Woodland sequence, including information about the Mund and Cunningham phases that denote the end of the Initial Late Woodland period. This report is also a testament to the perseverance of a team of researchers and administrators aimed at keeping Rosewood in our collective memories. It also supports the notion that old collections can have significant value and reinforces the importance of reviving older unanalyzed collections from this area.