After the last Ice Age, the southern Lake Erie basin and the Ohio valley were characterized by biotic zones that influenced cultural development of archaic Native American populations. This text looks at the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering to the rise of food production in this area.

In this provocative work, Cheryl Claassen challenges long-standing notions n this provocative work, Cheryl Claassen challenges long-standing notions Iabout hunter-gatherer life in the southern Ohio Valley as it unfolded some Iabout hunter-gatherer life in the southern Ohio Valley as it unfolded some I8,000 to 3,500 years ago. Focusing on freshwater shell mounds scattered 8,000 to 3,500 years ago. Focusing on freshwater shell mounds scattered along the Tennessee, Ohio, Green, and Harpeth rivers, Claassen draws on the latest archaeological research to offer penetrating new insights into the sacred world of Archaic peoples. Some of the most striking ideas are that there were no villages in the southern Ohio Valley during the Archaic period, that all of the trading and killing were for ritual purposes, and that body positioning in graves reflects cause of death primarily. Mid-twentieth-century assessments of the shell mounds saw them as the products of culturally simple societies that cared little about their dead and were concerned only with food. More recent interpretations, while attributing greater complexity to these peoples, have viewed the sites as mere villages and stressed such factors as population growth and climate change in analyzing the way these societies and their practices evolved. Claassen, however, makes a persuasive case that the sites were actually the settings for sacred rituals of burial and renewal and that their large shell accumulations are evidence of feasts associated with those ceremonies. She argues that the physical evidence—including the location of the sites, the largely undisturbed nature of the deposits, the high incidence of dog burials, the number of tools per body found at the sites, and the indications of human sacrifice and violent death—not only supports this view but reveals how ritual practices developed over time. The seemingly sudden demise of shellfish consumption, Claassen contends, was not due to overharvesting and environmental change; it ended, rather, because the sacred rituals changed. Feasting with Shellfish in the Southern Ohio Valley is a work bound to stir controversy and debate among scholars of the Archaic period. Just as surely, it will encourage a new appreciation for the spiritual life of ancient peoples—how they thought about the cosmos and the mysterious forces that surrounded them.

Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State explores the breadth of Ohio’s past, tracing the course of history from its earliest geological periods to the present day in an accessible, single-volume format. Features the most up-to-date research on Ohio, drawing on material in the disciplines of history, archaeology, and political science Includes thematic chapters focusing on major social, economic, and political trends Amply illustrated with maps, drawings, and photographs Receipient of the Ohio Geneological Society's Henry Howe Award in 2014

This book has been developed from a core of papers selected for the paleodemographic session of the 25th World Population Congress (July 2005, Tours, France). It covers recent paleodemographic innovations, in terms of data, techniques and the detection of patterns making it possible to highlight hitherto unknown prehistoric demographic processes.

Native American societies, often viewed as unchanging, in fact experienced a rich process of cultural innovation in the millennia prior to recorded history. Societies of the Hocking River Valley in southeastern Ohio, part of the Ohio River Valley, created a tribal organization beginning about 2000 bc. Edited by Elliot M. Abrams and AnnCorinne Freter, The Emergence of the Moundbuilders: The Archaeology of Tribal Societies in Southeastern Ohio presents the process of tribal formation and change in the region based on analyses of all available archaeological data from the Hocking River Valley. Drawing on the work of scholars in archaeology, anthropology, geography, geology, and botany, the collection addresses tribal society formation through such topics as the first pottery made in the valley, aggregate feasting by nomadic groups, the social context for burying their dead in earthen mounds, the formation of religious ceremonial centers, and the earliest adoption of corn. Providing the most current research on indigenous societies in the Hocking Valley, The Emergence of the Moundbuilders is distinguished by its broad, comparative overview of tribal life.

Holocene Hunter-Gatherers of the Lower Ohio River Valley addresses the approximately 7,000 years of the prehistory of eastern North America, termed the Archaic Period by archaeologists.

"This book is virtually required reading for biological anthropologists and will be a useful, up-to-date primer on osteological analyses for a wider audience." —The Quarterly Review of Biology, March 2009 "... a comprehensive guide to the ever-changing discipline of physical anthropology... provides an in depth introduction to human skeletal biology. The structure of the book makes it easy for the reader to follow the progression of the field of human skeletal biology." —PaleoAnthropology, 2009 Issue The First Edition of Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton is the market-leading reference and textbook on the scientific analysis of human skeletal remains recovered from archaeological sites. Now, featuring scores of new or thoroughly revised content, this Second Edition provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the topic available. Like the previous edition, this Second Edition is organized into five parts with contributing chapters written by experts in the field of human skeletal biology: Part One covers theory and application; Part Two discusses morphological analyses of bone, teeth, and age changes; Part Three reviews prehistoric health and disease; Part Four examines chemical and genetic analysis of hard tissues; and Part Five closes with coverage of quantitative methods and population studies. Each chapter includes a review of recent studies, descriptions of analytical techniques and underlying assumptions, theory, methodological advances, and speculation about future research. New or thoroughly revised content includes: Techniques in the analysis of human skeletal and dental remains Extensive coverage of new technologies, including modern morphometric techniques Advances in the field of forensic anthropology Enhanced discussion of ethical terms regarding the study of aboriginal peoples' remains where those people are no longer the dominant culture This book serves as an indispensable research guide to biological anthropologists, osteologists, paleoanthropologists, and archaeologists. Now with a stronger focus on teaching complex material to students, this revised edition provides enhanced case studies and discussions for future directions, making it an invaluable textbook for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in biological anthropology and forensic anthropology programs.