Abstract

During the late seventeenth century Oneota groups at the Blood Run site in northwestern Iowa embarked on a renewed program of mound building at a rate that greatly exceeded that of the earlier Woodland traditions. An explanation for the paradoxical nature of this phenomenon can be found in the intersection of the symbolic meaning and ritual purpose of mound construction and the impact of European contact. It is posited that protohistoric mound construction represented an early revitalization movement that, like the later Ghost Dances, was stimulated by a preceding period of population loss. The inhabitants of Blood Run sought to mitigate concerns about cultural survival by effecting a demographic revival, fostering social cohesion, and legitimizing territorial claims through the process of mound construction.