Bear's Journey and the Study of Ritual in Archaeology
Abstract
This paper considers the archaeological study of ritual and explores the interrelationships that exist between ideologically meaningful accounts of ritual and the material representations of ritual practice that remain for archaeological evaluation. Specifically, the paper addresses the development and antiquity of the Midewiwin ritual, a ceremonial complex that is known historically throughout the Great Lakes region. The serendipitous discovery of a linkage between the Mide origin tale of Bear's Journey and the layout of the Late Prehistoric earthwork enclosures of northern Michigan provides an opportunity to document how a ritual system is represented in the archaeological record and to evaluate how the understanding of the archaeology is altered by having access to the meaning underpinning the ritual performance. The research provides unambiguous evidence for the prehistoric antiquity of the Mide ceremony and illustrates the contribution archaeology can make to understanding the long-term processes of ritual practice and change.
Department
Earth Systems Research Center, Anthropology
Publication Date
4-1-2006
Journal Title
American Antiquity
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
2006 Howey, Meghan C.L. and John O’Shea. Bear’s Journey and the Study of Ritual in Archaeology. American Antiquity 71(2): 261-282.
Rights
© The Society for American Archaeology 2006