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A Contextual and Iconographic Reassessment of the Headdress on Burial 11 From Hopewell Mound 25

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Bretton T. Giles*
Affiliation:
CEMML, Colorado State University, 407 Pershing Court, Fort Riley, KS 66442-6016 (bretton.giles@colostate.edu)

Abstract

I explore in this paper the significance of the headdress interred on Burial 11 under Hopewell Mound 25 by reexamining its archaeological context and the history of its interpretation. Following Shetrone’s (1926) initial interpretation, I argue that it was an avian headdress that specifically portrayed a two-headed raptor. I support this reassessment with an iconographie analysis of related representations from the Central Ohio River Valley, especially the imagery engraved on a femur from Hopewell Mound 25. I also delve into what these two-headed raptors might have meant to people in the Eastern Woodlands.

Resumen

Resumen

Con el fin de determinar su importancia, el presente estudio examina la historia y el contexto de los tocados encontrados en el entierro 11 del túmulo Hopewell 25. Basándome en la interpretación inicial de Shetrone (1926), propongo que uno de estos tocados representa una ave raptora de dos cabezas. Esta interpretación se fundamenta no sólo en este tocado, sino también en en el análisis iconográfico de otras representaciones que provienen del Valle Central del Rio Ohio. Entre ellas deśtaca la imagen en bajo relieve tallada en un femur del Túmulo Hopewell 25. El presente estudio indaga además en el posible significado que estos motivos de pájaros de dos cabezas pueden haber tenido para los grupos del Woodland Oriental.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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References

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