Ball, Stephen J. (Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University,
Bloomington)
THE RAY SITE: ANGEL PHASE MORTUARY BEHAVIOR AT AN OUTLYING SITE
Knowledge of Angel phase (A.D. 1100-1450) mortuary behavior is based exclusively
onexcavations conducted at the Angel Mounds site (12 Vg 1), a stockaded Mississippian
town and mound center located near the confluence of the Green and Ohio rivers.
Angel site burials consist of primarily fleshed inhumations with little patterning
in orientation or treatment. Secondary burials do occur but are not common. The
Angel phase itself has a wide geographical extent (Figure
1) but little is known of the outlying sites.
The Ray site (12 W 6) is located six miles east of the Angel site and one mile
north of the Yankeetown site (12 W 1) in Warrick county, Indiana (Figure
2) An Indiana University-Indiana Historical Society excavation in 1953 revealed
a cemetery precinct containing at least six clusters of multiple, disarticulated,
secondary burials (Figure 3). Most of
the burial clusters experienced some plow damage, and six intrusive Euro-American
coffins were also uncovered. The materials from the 1953 excavation have remained
unanalyzed until now.
Initially, the Ray site graves were culturally affiliated with the Emergent Mississippian
Yankeetown phase based on the predominance of Yankeetown sherds recovered from
the excavation. But it is now clear that the Yankeetown phase sherds were found
in large numbers throughout the excavation, whereas the shell-tempered, Mississippian
pottery was concentrated in the plow zone and the burials. At least four of the
burial groups intruded upon Yankeetown features that contained domestic refuse.
The Mississippian nature of the graves was indicated by the inclusion of shell-tempered,
Mississippian artifacts. Mississippian artifacts (three shell-tempered miniature
pots and a pottery trowel) were recovered from secure context in three of the
graves: Burials 3, 4, and 12. Fragments of a Middle Mississippian, Ramey Incised
pot were also recovered from the plowzone and were found in association with bone.
The presence of the Mississippian artifacts in burials 3, 4, and 12, supports
an Angel phase identification for these features. Several factors support an Angel
phase identification for the other burial clusters. Their spatial proximity could
indicate a cultural relationship, but, even more convincing, is the occurrence
of stone slab burials and circular stone graves at the Angel site which are similar
to burials 5 and 11 at the Ray site.
An intriguing aspect of the Ray site burials is the presence of perforated bones.
Five perforated longbones were recovered from Burial 4, and a perforated skull
fragment and long bone were recovered from Burial 3. No perforated longbones have
been recovered from the Angel site burials, but two drilled skull fragments were
found at the Angel site in 1951. The post-mortem perforation of longbones is a
practice which has been widely reported in the Lower Great Lakes region where
it has a broad geographical and temporal span; however, evidence of similar kinds
of mortuary treatment is not commonly found in Mississippian burials.
The few Mississippian artifacts that were recovered from the Ray site date to
the early portion of the Angel phase. The small Mississippian pot recovered from
Burial 12 had loop handles which would place it in the Angel I period (ca. A.D.
1100 1200). The Ramey pot, if it is associated with the burials, would suggest
a similarly early date.
The predominance of multiple, disarticulated burials at the Ray site superficially
appear to be quite different from the Angel site mortuary pattern. Two hundred
and thirty (81.9%) of the burials at the Angel site were single inhumations, while
only fifteen (17.1%) were multiple interments and nine of these contained only
two individuals. Only six of the multiple interments at Angel contained more than
two burials, and, of these, four were stone-slab graves, and one was a slab-covered,
multiple burial. The burial treatments found at the Ray site are part of the Angel
site mortuary program but are expressed in a minor way.
Based on the scanty number of diagnostics at the Ray site, there appears to be
a temporal gap between its own occupation and the Angel site occupation. The predominance
of multiple, disarticulated bundle burials at the Ray site could, therefore, represent
an earlier pattern of mortuary ceremonialism that was later retained in the burial
program at the Angel site but practiced infrequently. Excavations at the Angel
site have not recovered any pottery belonging to the Angel I pottery assemblage.
The initial development of the Angel phase pottery assemblage is known primarily
from the excavations at the Southwind site (12 Po 265), an early Angel phase village
in Posey County, Indiana. Approximately 40% of this village was excavated which
revealed a bastioned stockade wall and 65 house structures, but no human burials
were uncovered during the excavation.
The early Angel phase populations appear to have buried their dead away from their
villages. The Ray site may represent an early Angel phase mortuary facility which
serviced the scattered inhabitants of the bottom lands. The placement of this
facility over an Emergent Mississippian Yankeetown domestic occupation may provide
some insight into the Mississippianization of the local Yankeetown population
in the lower Ohio Valley. [return to 1993 abstracts menu][continue to next]