The Bioarchaeology of Midwestern Archaic Rockshelters 30 Years Later-‐Revisi ng Modoc Rockshelter, Randolph County, Illinois

The Archaic Period in the Midwest is a period of fluctuating population movements, development of trade networks, and innovations in technology and ritual. Holm W. Neumann’s 1967 report on the 28 burials excavated from the Modoc Rockshelter represented the earliest detailed skeletal report of an Archaic population in Illinois. For 35 years, Neumann’s report continued to influence evolving theories of Archaic population movement, health, and mortuary practices and remained unique among Archaic mortuary sites for the unusual absence of subadults in the burial assemblage.