Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology

Editor: Robert A. Cook

DETAILS

Current Volume: 49 (2024)
Issued three times per year (Spring, Summer, and Fall)
ISSN: 0146-1109
eISSN: 2327-4271

About

The Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology (MCJA) is the premier peer-reviewed, academic archaeology journal of the Midwest Archaeological Conference (MAC). The Conference serves to promotes and stimulate interest in the archaeology of the midwestern United States and neighboring areas; to serve as a bond among those interested in this and related subjects; to advocate for the conservation of archaeological data; and to encourage an appreciation and support of regional archaeological research. The MCJA seeks original articles on Eastern Woodlands archaeology of the region between the Appalachian Mountains and the Great Plains, from the Boreal Forests to the Gulf of Mexico, and on closely related subjects. Our contributions range in chronology and context from the kill sites of the continents’ first inhabitants to the privies of early 20th-century city dwellers. We are especially interested in manuscripts that apply contemporary theory or method to existing problems and data sets in the midcontinent and that are of broad, general interest across the region. The MAC occasionally sponsors symposiums at its annual meeting on timely spatial or temporal issues that form special edited sections of the journal. Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.


Indexes

Abstracts in Anthropology, Academic Search Alumni Edition, Academic Search Complete, Academic Search Elite, Academic Search Premier, Academic Search Ultimate, America: History & Life with Full Text, America: History and Life, Anthropological Index Online, Anthropological Literature Online, Art & Architecture Complete, Art & Architecture Source, Art Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), Art Full Text (H. W. Wilson), Art Index (H. W. Wilson), Art Source Ultimate, Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), Brepols, British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography (Online), Current Abstracts; Emerging Sources Citation Index, EBSCO, Emerging Sources Citation Index, FRANCIS, Gale Literature: Book Review Index, General Reference Centre International, Humanities Source Ultimate, OmniFile Full Text Mega, OmniFile Full Text Select, Periodicals Index Online, ProQuest 5000, ProQuest Central, ProQuest Earth Science Collection, ProQuest SciTech Collection, PubMed, Research Library, Science Database, SciTech Premium Collection, Scopus, STEM Database, TOC Premier, Web of Science


SUBSCRIPTION RATES

For individual and student memberships, please visit the Midwest Archaeological Conference.

Institutions, click here to subscribe to the 'Print Only' format.

Institutions:1 Year
Print Only$110
Online Only $110*
Print + Online$125*
*Institutional 'Online Only' and 'Print + Online' subscriptions must be purchased through the Scholarly Publishing Collective.

Non-U.S. Postage: $10 Canada/Mexico, $25 Other Non-U.S. Locations

Single Issues: $25 Institutions


ONLINE + PRINT ADVERTISING

The print ad rates for all our titles can be found in the 2024 journals catalog/rate card.

Click here to download the PDF version

Editors

Editor
Robert A. Cook
Department of Anthropology
The Ohio State University
4034 Smith Laboratory
174 W. 18th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
cook.426@osu.edu

Open Access MCJA Book Review Editor 
Tamira K. Brennan, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Editorial Board

  • Susan M. Alt, Indiana University
  • Jane Eva Baxter, DePaul University
  • Robert A. Cook, Ohio State University at Newark
  • John F. Doershuk, University of Iowa
  • Christopher J. Ellis, University of Western Ontario, Canada
  • Duane Esarey, Dickson Mounds Museum, Illinois
  • Robert J. Jeske, University of Wisconsin−Milwaukee
  • T. R. Kidder, Washington University in St. Louis
  • Neal H. Lopinot, Missouri State University
  • George R. Milner, Pennsylvania State University
  • Michael Nassaney, Western Michigan University
  • Timothy R. Pauketat, Illinois State Archaeological Survey
  • William F. Romain, Indiana University, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
  • Mark R. Schurr, University of Notre Dame 

 

PDF Policy

PDFs are permitted and issued for the following:

  • Tenure dossier.
  • Special workshops the author is moderating.
  • Other requests to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
  • All PDFs will include a statement of copyright and a provision that the articles will not be photocopied, distributed, or used for purposes other than the terms agreed to by UIP.

Preprints are permitted for:

  • University repositories; UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the preprint.
  • Some journals have their own established policies and procedures for preprints. Please be sure to first check their respective Web sites before sending your request.

Postprints are permitted for:

  • Non-profit archives and repositories; Articles must be at least one year old. UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the postprint and a link back to the journal of publication's home page on the UIP website.
  • Personal and commercial Web sites; Articles must be at least three years old. UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the postprint and a link back to the journal of publication's home page on the UIP website.

Please contact the Intellectual Property Manager for more information.

Please send all requests to:

Angela Burton
Intellectual Property Manager
UIP-RIGHTS@uillinois.edu

Submissions

Author Guidelines

Initial Submissions:
To facilitate initial manuscript submissions and review, authors may use and standard formatting and bibliographic practices. For the initial review, please submit a single PDF document containing the combined text, figures, tables, and supplemental materials. Please use the line numbering feature in word to facilitate the review process.

Please ensure that you remove all author identifiers from your manuscript (e.g., authors names, headers, file names, acknowledgement, etc.) before you submit it to assist in the double blind peer review process.

Reviewers: Please submit a list of potential reviewers (include email contact) with expertise in this area of research with a short explanation of their qualifications as well as a list of individuals who you believe would not be unbiased reviewers (with a short justification).

Submit to Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology here.

Preparing your article for final submission

Organization: Once your paper has been assessed for suitability by the editor, it will be double blind peer reviewed by independent, anonymous referees. Typically revisions are requested by reviewers. Once the you have revised your manuscript and it is accepted for publication, it needs to be submitted in the below format.


Your paper should be assembled as follows for final submission:
1."Title Page Information" as a separate file with all identifying elements including author names, affiliation, and contact information; declaration of interest statement; funding statement; and author bios. Acknowledgments should be in a separate file. All these will be combined with your main text prior to copyediting and proofing.
2. "Main Article Text" includes abstract; keywords; main text; list of Supplemental data; references; figure and table captions as a list.
3. Table(s) with caption(s) on individual pages; figures on individual pages; appendices and supplemental data (as appropriate).
Word Limits: Please include a word count for your paper. A typical paper for MCJA should be between 7,500 and 12,000 words, inclusive of references and, if possible, include no more than 3 full page tables and 5 figures.

Style Guidelines: When preparing the paper for submission use these instructions as well as examining recently published MCJA articles for guidance.

General Formatting: Papers should be submitted in Word, 12 pt. Arial, double-spaced, with 1” margins. Turn on line numbering so that the copyeditor can more easily reference the text. (In Word, go to Layout, select Line Numbers, and select Continuous). Figures and tables should be saved separately from the text. Figures and tables including their captions should be sized to fit within a 5 x 7” page layout.

References: MCJA reference formatting follows American Antiquity with the exception that the year and reference title follow immediately after the author.

For example:
Alt, Susan M. (2001) Cahokian Change and the Authority of Tradition. In The Archaeology of Traditions: Agency and History Before and After Columbus, edited by Timothy R. Pauketat, pp.141–156. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Alt, Susan M. (2002) Identities, Traditions, and Diversity in Cahokia's Uplands. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 27:217–236.

Ambrose, Stanley H., Jane E. Buikstra, and Harold W. Krueger (2003) Gender and Status Differences in Diet at Mound 72, Cahokia, Revealed by Isotopic Analysis of Bone. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 22:217–226.

Seeman, Mark F., Kevin C. Nolan, and Mark A. Hill (2019) Copper as an Essential and Exotic Hopewell Metal. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 24:1095–1101. DOI:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.12.019.

Submissions Checklist

Author Information

All authors of a manuscript should include their full name and affiliation on the title page of the manuscript. Where available, please also include their ORCiD identification. One author should be identified as the corresponding author and with their email address provided. All editorial interaction will be directed to the corresponding author.

Research Accessibility
Make your research more accessible by including concise keywords, descriptive titles, and a well-constructed abstract as well as providing an ORCiD identifier to maximize search engine optimization.

Funding Details
Please supply all relevant details (e.g., grant number) required by your funding and grant-awarding bodies

Financial Disclosure Statement
Acknowledge any financial interest or benefit that has arisen from the direct applications of your research.

Biographical Note
Please supply a short (~150 words) biographical note for each author.

Data availability statement
If there is a data set associated with the paper, please provide information about where it is located and how it can be accessed.

Supplemental online material
Supplemental material that supports (and is pertinent to) your paper can be submitted for archiving and access on the MCJA web site.

Figures should be TIFF, PDF, Adobe Illustrator (.ai), or JPEG files of adequate resolution. We cannot use GIF/JIF, HTML, or Bitmap (.bmp) files. PNG files may be usable, but send samples for approval. Most figures published in the print version of your article will be in grayscale/black and white, however, if color versions of figures are provided, they can be displayed in the online digital copy of the journal.

Adequate resolution for “grayscale” images (such as photographs) is generally 300 dpi/ppi (dots/pixels per inch) at 5 x 7" for interior use; where possible, aim for images that are a minimum of 1500 x 2100 ppi. If a detail is to be enlarged, the detail must be 300 dpi at size of reproduction. If you are scanning a drawing that is only in black and white (no shades of gray), please aim for 1200 dpi. The overall size of the scan is your best guideline for its resolution. If a scan is smaller than 200 kilobytes (KB), it is unlikely to be of adequate resolution. High-quality grayscale tifs are often over 2 megabytes (MB) in size. Color scans can be significantly larger.

Tables should present new information rather than duplicating what is in the text. Readers should be able to interpret the table without reference to the text. Please supply editable files in Word designed to fit onto a single published page.

Third-Party Material: You must obtain the necessary permission in writing from the copyright holder to reuse third-party material in your article. Email permissions for inclusion of statements of personal communication are sufficient.

Copyright Notice

Once you article is revised, copyedited, and accepted for publication MCJA editorial staff will send the authors a copyright form to sign and submit prior to publication.


Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.


View our Publications Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Featured Articles



Toward a Situational Approach to Understanding Middle Woodland Societies in the North American Midcontinent
Edward R. Henry and G. Logan Miller
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26989076?refreqid=excelsior%3Ad40dd7ef289e528cb2f25416ff9deb2f

Documenting Ceremonial Situations and Institutional Change at Middle Woodland Geometric Enclosures in Central Kentucky
Edward R. Henry, Andrew M. Mickelson and Michael E. Mickelson
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26989077

Bladelets and Middle Woodland Situations in Southern Ohio
G. Logan Miller
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26989078

An Event-Centered Perspective on Mound 2 at the Hopewell Earthworks
Bretton T. Giles, Brian M. Rowe and Ryan M. Parish
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26989079

Scioto Situations and the Steel Group Monument Assemblage
Timothy D. Everhart
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26989080

Some Comments on Situations in the Midcontinental Middle Woodland
Sarah E. Baires
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26989081

An Overview of Findings from Four Years of Excavations at the Huber Phase Middle Grant Creek Site (11WI2739) in Northern Illinois
Madeleine McLeester; Mark R. Schurr (Free access through 12/31/2023)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/45/2/102/293827/Uncovering-Huber-LifewaysAn-Overview-of-Findings?searchresult=1

The Hodges Site (12MG564) and the Emergence of the Oliver Phase in the White River Valley, Indiana
Patrick D. Trader
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/47/3/207/379496/The-Hodges-Site-12MG564-and-the-Emergence-of-the

Recognizing Copper Tool Assemblages at Middle Woodland Havana Habitation Sites: Observations on Raw Material Sources, Assemblage Content, and Tool Fabrication
Thomas E. Emerson; Kenneth B. Farnsworth
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/47/3/239/379495/Recognizing-Copper-Tool-Assemblages-at-Middle

The Other Large Bifaces: Late Mississippian Woodworking Tools from Southwestern Indiana
Anna Stroulia; Michael Strezewski; Ryan M. Parish; Melody K. Pope
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/47/3/277/379497/The-Other-Large-Bifaces-Late-Mississippian

More Topography, Astronomy, and Geometry at the Newark Earthworks
Ray Hively; Robert Horn
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/48/1/1/380539/More-Topography-Astronomy-and-Geometry-at-the

Shrines to the Buffalo Spirit: Meteorites and Meteorite Shrines on the Plains
Donald J. Blakeslee
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/48/1/47/380538/Shrines-to-the-Buffalo-Spirit-Meteorites-and

Cold Hammered Archaeology: An Experimental Archaeometallurgical Approach to Native Copper Working in the Lake Superior Basin
Ryan Edward Peterson
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/48/1/71/380537/Cold-Hammered-Archaeology-An-Experimental

aʔkwaⁿdaʔtsǫⁿgyaʔ—We All Made Pottery: A Wendat Perspective to Ancestral Wendat Pottery Making
Steven G. H. Dorland; Sǫhahiyǫh (Richard Z. Smith); Greg V. Braun; Daniel H. Kwan; David G. Smith
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/48/2/91/384846/a-kwa-da-tso-gya-We-All-Made-Pottery-A-Wendat

Modeling the Chronology of a Late Precontact Site Using Radiocarbon and Trade Good Dates: Middle Grant Creek
Jack N. Fenner; Mark R. Schurr; Madeleine McLeester; Laure Dussubieux
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/48/2/121/384847/Modeling-the-Chronology-of-a-Late-Precontact-Site

Ohio Rock Art and Serpent Mound: Shared Iconography, Shared Stories
Bradley T. Lepper; James R. Duncan; Carol Diaz-Granados; John Soderberg
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/48/2/147/384848/Ohio-Rock-Art-and-Serpent-Mound-Shared-Iconography

OA Content



An Overview of Findings from Four Years of Excavations at the Huber Phase Middle Grant Creek Site (11WI2739) in Northern Illinois
Madeleine McLeester; Mark R. Schurr (Free access through 12/31/2023)
https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/mcja/article/45/2/102/293827/Uncovering-Huber-LifewaysAn-Overview-of-Findings?searchresult=1