A Note from the Editor

It is finally a beautiful spring day and I am thinking of upcoming research plans and fieldwork beginning in just a couple weeks. The papers in this issue emerge from several different kinds of field and collections research, once again illustrating the variety of interesting and innovative research occurring in the midcontinent. The first article by Shannon Fie looks at the exchange of ceramics in the lower Illinois River valley, relying on existing collections generated by 50 years of fieldwork in the area, coupled with sampling and analysis of day raw materials. Using INAA, Fie concludes, counter to what conventional wisdom might have us believe, that special purpose/mortuary vessels were being manufactured using raw materials local to where they were found while utilitarian ceramics appear to have been transported regularly within and into the lower Illinois valley region.

Also writing about ceramics, Matt Purtill draws on data from two sites (one in Ohio and one in Kentucky) to investigate Early Woodland ceramic variation and typology. His data suggest that sherd thickness could have potential for dating Early Woodland assemblages in this area.

Chris Moore also addresses issues of exchange, focusing on a collection of bifaces from Caroll County, Indiana, in light of hunter-gatherer exchange and mobility models.

In Ohio, work by Nicole Peoples et al. on the Taber Well site suggests that there is evidence of developing resource specialization and surplus lithic production at the site, and discusses the evidence in the context of Middle Woodland exchange and resource distribution.

As this issue goes to press I am thinking about plans to transfer the editorship into the capable hands of Mark Schurr in October. I would like to be able to hand off an impressive number of articles for him to work with for the 2009 volume. We have a few articles in various stages of review and revision, but we need more contributions to guarantee the continued excellence of our journal. Please consider spending some of your precious time working on your first or next MCJA contribution.

Janet G. Brashler

Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan

April, 2008

Copyright Office of the State Archaeologist Spring 2008
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