Abstract:
The focus of this book is a site called Anderson Mounds. This site contains several earthen monuments (earthworks) about 2,000 years old and is unique because it is so well preserved. The earliest historic settlers of the land, the Bronnenberg family, preserved the site in its original wooded setting. In the 1890s the land passed into the hands of the Union Traction Company who built an amusement park around the earthworks but still managed to preserve them relatively unharmed. They passed into the protective care of the State of Indiana in 1930 and the site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Today the site is within Mounds State Park, the second smallest park in the state park system, but one of the most heavily used. The earthworks have suffered some damage from walking trails, but by comparison with the other earthworks in the area, they are pristine.
In this book we will relate one archaeological story, a story with a plot and outcome that is guided by the discipline of Anthropology, the holistic study of human beings. In the pages that follow, we will present our story based on the archaeological information from Anderson Mounds. The story we tell is at once both personal and a reflection of the pursuit of archaeological knowledge. Our primary objectives in writing this book were to make the information about the Anderson Mounds site accessible to the public and to offer our interpretations of the site.
