Melissa R Baltus
Biographic Data
| ID | 134889 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melissa R Baltus |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melissa R |
| FAMILY NAME | Baltus |
| SIGNATURE | BALTUS M R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toledo |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9949-9611 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Cahokian Neighborhood Dynamics: New Geophysical Data from Rouch Mound Group and Rattlesnake West Neighborhoods
In this article we present the results of two geophysical surveys conducted at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. The goal was to reveal neighborhood settlement patterns at two locales located on the periphery of 'Downtown' Cahokia-the densely populated administrative core-and to further understand the type and chronological affiliation of these settlements. We compared structure length and width ratios from Rattlesnake West and the Rouch Mound …
Joe Louis: A Late Fisher Phase Village on the Little Calumet River
Excavations at the Joe Louis site (11CK284) in northeastern Illinois provide insight into village life along the Little Calumet River between the mid-fourteenth and late fifteenth centuries AD. In addition to evidence for their horticultural and other subsistence activities, the assemblage shows that site occupants were making stone tools and pottery, processing hides, making clothing, and possibly producing bird-wing fans. Structured deposits of…
The Role of Plants and Animals in the Termination of Three Buildings at the Spring Lake Tract Neighborhood, Cahokia
Plants and animals play a vital role in the human experience, from providing basic sustenance to creating unique social practices that may govern familial, political, or religious experiences; reconstitute identities; or forge social relationships. In this article, we present analyses on the ethnobotanical and zoological remains recently recovered from the Spring Lake Tract, Cahokia, a neighborhood populated from approximately AD 900 to 1275. The…
Cahokian Dispersions: Diasporic Connections in the Mississippian Southeast
Diasporic Connections: Cahokia and the Greater Southeast
Creating and Abandoning “Homeland”: Cahokia as Place of Origin
The Cahokian Crucible: Burning Ritual and the Emergence of Cahokian Power in the Mississippian Midwest
Much of what is known about the Indigenous city of Cahokia, located in and influential on the North American midcontinent during the eleventh through fourteenth centuries AD, derives from decades of salvage, research, and CRM excavations in the surrounding American Bottom region. We use this robust dataset to explore patterns of building conflagration that suggest these practices of burning were part of pre-Mississippian traditions that were bund…
Archaeology and Ancient Religion in the American Midcontinent
Exploring New Cahokian Neighborhoods: Structure Density Estimates From the Spring Lake Tract, Cahokia
We present the recent results of a magnetometry survey of the Spring Lake Tract conducted during the summer of 2015 at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site located along the Mississippi River Floodplain in southern Illinois. This tract, located southeast of Woodhenge and west of the Grand Plaza, is situated north of two known borrow pits and includes an additional, previously unidentified borrow pit. Through comparing our gradiometer results with o…
Matter, Places, and Persons in Cahokian Depositional Acts
Elements of ancient power in the Cahokian world
Power in ancient eastern North America cannot be segregated a priori into political, social, and religious dimensions. Rather, it was a commonly dispersed attribute of human/non-human social fields that might be transferred, gathered, embodied, or emplaced. Thus, political power was realized, at least in part, through socio-religious practices involving ancestors, elements, and otherworldly forces. Deconstructing the dichotomy of religion and pol…
Elements of ancient power in the Cahokian world
Power in ancient eastern North America cannot be segregated a priori into political, social, and religious dimensions. Rather, it was a commonly dispersed attribute of human/non-human social fields that might be transferred, gathered, embodied, or emplaced. Thus, political power was realized, at least in part, through socio-religious practices involving ancestors, elements, and otherworldly forces. Deconstructing the dichotomy of religion and pol…
Matter, Places, and Persons in Cahokian Depositional Acts
Diasporic Connections: Cahokia and the Greater Southeast
Exploring New Cahokian Neighborhoods: Structure Density Estimates From the Spring Lake Tract, Cahokia
We present the recent results of a magnetometry survey of the Spring Lake Tract conducted during the summer of 2015 at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site located along the Mississippi River Floodplain in southern Illinois. This tract, located southeast of Woodhenge and west of the Grand Plaza, is situated north of two known borrow pits and includes an additional, previously unidentified borrow pit. Through comparing our gradiometer results with o…
The Cahokian Crucible: Burning Ritual and the Emergence of Cahokian Power in the Mississippian Midwest
Much of what is known about the Indigenous city of Cahokia, located in and influential on the North American midcontinent during the eleventh through fourteenth centuries AD, derives from decades of salvage, research, and CRM excavations in the surrounding American Bottom region. We use this robust dataset to explore patterns of building conflagration that suggest these practices of burning were part of pre-Mississippian traditions that were bund…
Creating and Abandoning “Homeland”: Cahokia as Place of Origin
The Role of Plants and Animals in the Termination of Three Buildings at the Spring Lake Tract Neighborhood, Cahokia
Plants and animals play a vital role in the human experience, from providing basic sustenance to creating unique social practices that may govern familial, political, or religious experiences; reconstitute identities; or forge social relationships. In this article, we present analyses on the ethnobotanical and zoological remains recently recovered from the Spring Lake Tract, Cahokia, a neighborhood populated from approximately AD 900 to 1275. The…
Elements of ancient power in the Cahokian world
Power in ancient eastern North America cannot be segregated a priori into political, social, and religious dimensions. Rather, it was a commonly dispersed attribute of human/non-human social fields that might be transferred, gathered, embodied, or emplaced. Thus, political power was realized, at least in part, through socio-religious practices involving ancestors, elements, and otherworldly forces. Deconstructing the dichotomy of religion and pol…
Matter, Places, and Persons in Cahokian Depositional Acts
Exploring New Cahokian Neighborhoods: Structure Density Estimates From the Spring Lake Tract, Cahokia
We present the recent results of a magnetometry survey of the Spring Lake Tract conducted during the summer of 2015 at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site located along the Mississippi River Floodplain in southern Illinois. This tract, located southeast of Woodhenge and west of the Grand Plaza, is situated north of two known borrow pits and includes an additional, previously unidentified borrow pit. Through comparing our gradiometer results with o…
Archaeology and Ancient Religion in the American Midcontinent
Creating and Abandoning “Homeland”: Cahokia as Place of Origin
The Cahokian Crucible: Burning Ritual and the Emergence of Cahokian Power in the Mississippian Midwest
Much of what is known about the Indigenous city of Cahokia, located in and influential on the North American midcontinent during the eleventh through fourteenth centuries AD, derives from decades of salvage, research, and CRM excavations in the surrounding American Bottom region. We use this robust dataset to explore patterns of building conflagration that suggest these practices of burning were part of pre-Mississippian traditions that were bund…
Diasporic Connections: Cahokia and the Greater Southeast
Cahokian Dispersions: Diasporic Connections in the Mississippian Southeast
The Role of Plants and Animals in the Termination of Three Buildings at the Spring Lake Tract Neighborhood, Cahokia
Plants and animals play a vital role in the human experience, from providing basic sustenance to creating unique social practices that may govern familial, political, or religious experiences; reconstitute identities; or forge social relationships. In this article, we present analyses on the ethnobotanical and zoological remains recently recovered from the Spring Lake Tract, Cahokia, a neighborhood populated from approximately AD 900 to 1275. The…
Joe Louis: A Late Fisher Phase Village on the Little Calumet River
Excavations at the Joe Louis site (11CK284) in northeastern Illinois provide insight into village life along the Little Calumet River between the mid-fourteenth and late fifteenth centuries AD. In addition to evidence for their horticultural and other subsistence activities, the assemblage shows that site occupants were making stone tools and pottery, processing hides, making clothing, and possibly producing bird-wing fans. Structured deposits of…
Cahokian Neighborhood Dynamics: New Geophysical Data from Rouch Mound Group and Rattlesnake West Neighborhoods
In this article we present the results of two geophysical surveys conducted at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. The goal was to reveal neighborhood settlement patterns at two locales located on the periphery of 'Downtown' Cahokia-the densely populated administrative core-and to further understand the type and chronological affiliation of these settlements. We compared structure length and width ratios from Rattlesnake West and the Rouch Mound …
Archaeology (10 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · History (7 works) · History (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (4 works) · Politics (4 works) · Sociology (4 works)