This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology | |
|---|---|
| Title | Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology |
| Discipline | Archaeology |
| Abbreviation | Midcont. J. Archaeol. |
| Publisher | Illinois State Archaeological Survey |
| Country | United States |
| History | 1976–present |
| Frequency | Biannual |
| Issn | 0738-5759 |
Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology The Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology is a peer-reviewed scholarly periodical focusing on archaeological research centered on the North American midcontinent and adjacent regions, with frequent contributions addressing prehistoric and historic contexts. The journal publishes original research articles, regional syntheses, methodological studies, and review essays that intersect with broader debates in archaeological interpretation, conservation policy, and cultural heritage management. It serves as a venue for work associated with universities, museums, and state surveys across the Midwest and central United States.
Established in 1976 during a period of institutional growth for state and university archaeology, the journal emerged amid professionalization efforts linked to the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, the University of Illinois, and regional societies. Early editorial leadership included scholars affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum, and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard, reflecting ties to organizations such as the American Antiquity editorial community, the Society for American Archaeology, and the Midwest Archaeological Conference. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the journal featured work by contributors from institutions including the University of Chicago, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Indiana University, and the University of Kansas, and engaged with thematic debates represented by conferences at the American Anthropological Association and the Plains Anthropological Conference. Later decades expanded collaborations with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Missouri Archaeological Society, and state historic preservation offices while maintaining an editorial emphasis on regionally grounded fieldwork and regional syntheses.
The journal emphasizes empirical field studies and synthetic interpretations pertaining to the North American midcontinent, incorporating work on Woodland, Mississippian, Archaic, Late Prehistoric, and Contact-period contexts. Topics commonly include settlement pattern analysis, ceramic seriation studies, lithic technology, geoarchaeology, paleoethnobotany, zooarchaeology, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, mortuary analysis, and heritage management. Contributors have drawn on theoretical frameworks associated with processual archaeology, post-processual critiques, landscape archaeology, behavioral ecology, and historical ecology, engaging literatures linked to the Peabody Museum, the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and thematic projects like the Eastern Woodland Research Program and the Cahokia research initiatives. Geographic coverage spans Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and adjacent portions of Texas and Canada, frequently situating local findings within comparative discussions involving sites such as Cahokia, Hopewell, Fort Ancient, Etowah, Spiro, Koster, and Aztalan.
The editorial board typically comprises scholars from major universities and museums, including faculty from the University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, Southern Illinois University, and the University of Kentucky, along with curators connected to the Field Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Peabody Museum, and state archaeological surveys. Guest editors have organized special issues in collaboration with editors from institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the British Museum. The journal is published biannually by the Illinois State Archaeological Survey and disseminated through academic libraries at institutions like the Library of Congress, the Newberry Library, the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and university presses including the University of Nebraska Press and the University of Iowa Press. Production has involved typesetting practices and digital archiving partnerships with repositories analogous to JSTOR, Project MUSE, and institutional repositories maintained by the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago.
The journal is indexed in subject and bibliographic services that serve archaeological and anthropological research communities, paralleling inclusion in databases akin to Anthropological Literature, Scopus, Web of Science arts and humanities indexes, Historical Abstracts, and Academic Search Premier. Its content is discoverable through library catalogs and union indexes such as WorldCat, and through citation tracking services used by scholars at institutions like Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, and Stanford University. Abstracting facilitates cross-referencing with thematic literatures hosted by the Society for American Archaeology, the Midwest Archaeological Conference proceedings, and the Plains Anthropological Conference bibliographies.
Over its run the journal has published influential articles and regional syntheses addressing radiocarbon chronologies, ceramic typologies, settlement hierarchies, and human-environment interactions. Noteworthy contributions have engaged comparative data pertaining to Cahokia, Hopewell, Fort Ancient, Spiro, Moundville, Etowah, Koster, Johnson Ranch, Aztalan, and Poverty Point traditions while drawing on methods promoted by practitioners from the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum, the Peabody Museum, and university laboratories. Special issues have examined topics such as Late Woodland transformations, Mississippian political economy, geoarchaeological approaches to alluvial stratigraphy, and repatriation dialogues in relation to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act deliberations, with essays by scholars affiliated with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, and major academic departments.
Manuscripts are submitted through the journal's editorial system and undergo double-blind peer review administered by the editorial board and external referees drawn from universities and museums, including reviewers associated with the Society for American Archaeology, the Midwest Archaeological Conference, the Plains Anthropological Conference, and disciplinary committees at institutions such as the University of Michigan, Indiana University, and the University of Kansas. Submission guidelines specify standards for text, figures, tables, radiocarbon reporting, and ethical compliance with curatorial and repatriation policies like those enforced by the National Museum of Natural History and state historic preservation offices. Accepted articles proceed to copyediting and final proofing before inclusion in print and digital issues distributed to academic libraries and professional members of archaeological organizations.
Category:Archaeology journals