Death at distance: Mobility, memory, and place among the late precontact Oneota in the central Illinois River Valley

Abstract

AbstractDrawing on literatures on mobility and memory, I present a theoretical and interpretive reframing of skeletal taphonomy and mortuary process previously reported for a precontact Oneota cemetery in the North American midcontinent. Most burials here were single inhumations, with individuals apparently interred promptly after death. Others were placed in graves containing multiple individuals who died violently and whose bones bore taphonomic signatures of extended exposure, suggesting they were killed away from home and not recovered or interred until significant time had passed after their deaths. These burials were previously interpreted as haphazard and carelessly executed, possibly owing to circumstances of death. In this paper, I seek to better understand acts of encountering, collecting, transporting, and interring these decomposed remains as discursive practices, conditioned by localized mobility and charged with social memory. Rather than representing an aberrant burial treatment employed solely for expedient disposal, I suggest that their taphonomy and presence in the cemetery offer insights into intentional and repeated engagement with the landscape, invoking/perpetuating traditional Oneota practices involving skeletonized remains. This interpretation provides a case study on how osteologists can contribute to social perspectives on the power of mobile dead bodies in the deployment of memory and construction of place in the ancient past.