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Bear's Journey and the Study of Ritual in Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Meghan C. L. Howey  and
John M. O'Shea
Meghan C. L. Howey
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079mhowey@umich.edu and joshea@umich.edu
John M. O'Shea
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079mhowey@umich.edu and joshea@umich.edu
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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.

Este trabajo considera el estudio arqueológico de rituales y explora las existentes interrelaciones entre las consideraciones ideológicamente significativas de actos rituales y las representaciones materiales de las prácticas de rituales que encontramos y evaluamos arqueológicamente. Específicamente, se enfoca en el desarrollo y antigüedad del ritual de Midewiwin, un complejo ceremonial que se es conocido históricamente en las regiones próximas a los Great Lakes. El descubrimiento casual de la relación entre la narrativa de origen Bear's Journey y el patrón arquitectónico de los recintos de tierra ubicados en el norte de Michigan ofrece una oportunidad para documentar cómo un sistema ritual se manifiesta en los restos arqueológicos, y de ahí se evalúa como es que el entendimiento arqueológico se modifica con el acceso a los significados culturales que apuntalan los actos rituales. Esta investigación ofrece evidencias para evaluar la antigüedad prehistórica de la ceremonia Mide, y hace una demostración de los beneficios de cómo la arqueología apoya el entendimiento de procesos asociados a las prácticas rituales y la transformación de ritos al largo plazo.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 261 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2006

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