Ancestral mounds : vitality and volatility of Native America /

Ancestral mounds : vitality and volatility of Native America /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Miller, Jay, 1947-
Imprint:	Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, [2015]
Description:	xxviii, 187 pages ; 24 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	Mounds -- Oklahoma. Indians of North America -- Oklahoma -- Antiquities. Ethnology -- Oklahoma. Indians of North America -- Funeral customs and rites -- Oklahoma. Indians of North America -- Oklahoma -- Religion. Indians of North America -- Oklahoma -- Social life and customs. Community life -- Oklahoma. Monuments -- Social aspects -- Oklahoma. Antiquities. Community life. Ethnology. Indians of North America -- Antiquities. Indians of North America -- Funeral customs and rites. Indians of North America -- Religion. Indians of North America -- Social life and customs. Manners and customs. Mounds. Oklahoma -- Antiquities. Oklahoma -- Social life and customs. Oklahoma.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10386228

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780803278660 0803278667 9780803278998
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:	"Ancestral Mounds deconstructs earthen mounds and myths in examining their importance in contemporary Native communities. Two centuries of academic scholarship regarding mounds have examined who, what, where, when, and how, but no serious investigations have addressed the basic question, why? Drawing on ethnographic and archaeological studies, Jay Miller explores the wide-ranging themes and variations of mounds, from those built thousands of years ago to contemporary mounds, focusing on Native southeastern and Oklahoma towns. Native peoples continue to build and refurbish mounds each summer as part of their New Year's celebrations to honor and give thanks for ripening maize and other crops and to offer public atonement. The mound is the heart of the Native community, which is sustained by song, dance, labor, and prayer. The basic purpose of mounds across North America is the same: to serve as a locus where community effort can be engaged in creating a monument of vitality and a safe haven in the volatile world"--

Table of Contents:

Archaeological Time Frame
Kinship Codes
Graphic Codes
Mounding Up
Breaking Ground
SEeing Mounds
Modern Mounding
Mounds in Full.