4. Notes and News

The Bellinger Site and the Goodall Tradition

In 1941, George Quimby defined the Goodall Focus and brought attention to Hopewellian sites in northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan. The Goodall focus was defined on the basis of ten sites, all with mounds, which produced pottery similar to that found in the Illinois River Valley. The Goodall Focus has been generally regarded as a regional variant of Havana Hopewell.

Mark R. Schurr has recently published a paper titled "The Bellinger Site (12SJ6) and the Origin of the Goodall Focus." The paper appeared in Archaeology of Eastern North America (1997), Volume 25, pages 125-142. The paper describes field investigations by the Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, at the Bellinger site. The field investigations included geophysical survey using a Geoscan FM36 gradiometer and an RM15 resistance meter. The study also included excavations of a mound and a habitation area associated with the mound. The paper describes the field investigations and artifacts that were collected. Schurr offers interpretations about the sequence of mound construction, the nature and affiliation of ceramics from the site, and the nature of Middle Woodland occupation in the Kankakee Valley.

Aboriginal Use of Metals

A recent issue of The Michigan Archaeologist (Volume 41, Number 1, March 1996), contains a paper by John R. Halsey titled "Without Forge or Crucible: Aboriginal Native American Use of Metals and Metallic Ores in the Eastern Woodlands." The paper explores Native American use of metals and ores prior to European contact. Much of the paper is devoted to prehistoric uses of copper, which are well documented in the literature about Hopewell and the midwestern United States. However, the paper also presents useful discussion and references regarding aboriginal uses of gold, silver, lead, and iron. Many of the sites from which these latter metals have been reported are either Hopewell or more general Middle Woodland contexts. The paper is a useful summary of the evidence for aboriginal uses of metal, and it has an extensive bibliography.