CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS—A team of researchers examined the maps, notes, and reports associated with the excavation of Cahokia’s Mound 72 by Melvin Fowler in 1967. They also conducted independent skeletal analysis of the remains Fowler unearthed from the so-called beaded burial, which he thought contained the remains of two high-status males surrounded by the bodies of additional warriors and 20,000 marine-shell disc beads. “Fowler’s and others’ interpretation of these mounds became the model in terms of understanding status and gender roles and symbolism among Native American groups,” Thomas Emerson of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey told International Business Times. The new skeletal analysis, however, suggests that the beaded burial’s two central bodies belonged to a man and a woman, who were surrounded by the remains of other male-female pairs along with disarticulated, bundled bones that had been buried near the important couples. “Now we realize we don’t have a system in which males are these dominant figures and females are playing bit parts,” Emerson said. He explained that this interpretation of the beaded burial is more in line with what is known about the fertility and agricultural symbolism found in the rest of the ancient city. For more on Cahokia, go to "Mississippian Burning."
