Placing the dead on the Green River: a consideration of Archaic burial on the Middle Green River of Kentucky

ABSTRACT I suggest that all or most of the tightly flexed human burials in Middle Green River Archaic sites represent secondary interments which had been exposed for variable periods of time, a modification of general opinion. Because of this, their delayed burial in the large, impressive mortuary sites of the Middle Green River like Chiggerville, Indian Knoll, and Carlston Annis reflect potentially variable, contingent, historical acts of placement of the dead which are not transparent. These acts concern how Archaic societies symbolically constructed and maintained themselves through the actions of individuals and burial parties by preparing, transporting, and placing the remains of their dead. How we approach them reflects as well on how we reconstruct Archaic “histories” and the overall “History” of the Green River Archaic.