Investigating Ozarks Marginality: A Study of Late Prehistoric Ceramics from the Northern Ozark Highland of Missouri

Archaeologists offer a range of hypotheses about human habitation in the Missouri Ozark Highland during late prehistory (A.D. 900-1500). Ahler, Kreisa, and Edging (2010) apply the Margin model, a version of the core-periphery-margin model. Application of the margin model to the region is constrained by uncertainty about the type of relationship between margin and core societies. This research clarifies the relationship through neutron activation analysis of ceramic artifacts from archaeological sites in the Gasconade River drainage, Northern Ozark Highland. The resulting geochemical data suggest the ceramics were made locally or regionally, rather than in a Mississippian core. These results suggest the study area was relatively isolated from surrounding cores. The findings clarify late prehistoric sociopolitics in the Midwest and demonstrate the utility of the margin model for archaeological investigations of inter-societal dynamics