Employing biomolecular analyses and radiocarbon AMS chronologies to disentangle complex mortuary assemblages: Reinterpreting the Kane mortuary complex enigma in greater Cahokia

Abstract

The acknowledged importance of documenting legacy assemblages led to efforts in the mid-1990s to re-examine such collections from Illinois. In some cases this involved applying traditional methods and emerging techniques to address complex questions of context, chronology, and aspects of identity for American Indian ancestral sites and individuals. These efforts included the Kane Mounds mortuary complex salvaged in the early 1960s and long interpreted as a late Mississippian mortuary area related to Cahokia. Drawing on available data from original field and analysis records, past biomolecular analysis, and combined with an evolving understanding of the people and culture history of the American Bottom, we use results from isotopic analyses and radiocarbon AMS chronologies obtained prior to 2018 to disentangle complex multicomponent mortuary settings. These studies revealed the mortuary importance of Kane spanned 1500 years, from as early as 500 BCE into the 14th century CE, a period that saw a major shift in diet with the increased consumption of maize and a population comprised of individuals local to the American Bottom and as well as immigrants. Available biomolecular information and radiocarbon AMS chronologies demonstrate both temporal and geographic diversity within the Kane mortuary complex, as well as continuity in the importance of this mortuary location.