A Mississippian Hooded Bottle and the Genesis of Iowa Archaeology

Abstract

A Mississippian hooded bottle from the Henry Aicher Mound Group in eastern Iowa is significant to the study of Mississippian interactions with non-Mississippian groups in the upper Mississippi Valley. The mound excavations by M. W. Davis in 1863–1864 were the first research-oriented archaeological projects in Iowa, and the mounds were among the first mapped in the state. The excavation methods, analysis, reporting, and outreach by Davis and later researchers were exemplary for their time. Although undated, comparison of the decorated hooded bottle recovered from the 1864 excavations with artifacts from other regional cultures with Mississippian Stirling phase contacts, notably the Mill Creek culture of northwest Iowa, supports a date of AD 1100–1200 for this vessel associated with a child burial.