08/30/2026
We received 5 archaeology titles from the University of Alabama Press but I want to start with the two that are closest to our hearts here at Wickliffe Mounds. We got them in this week and they are already selling to our visitors who enjoyed their time here so much they wanted to learn more!
The first is THE book on the excavations here and a really great synthesis on the material uncovered: Excavations at Wickliffe Mounds by Kit Wesler. In this volume, Wesler and his colleagues have compiled data from almost seven decades of excavations at Wickliffe Mounds, providing the first comprehensive study of this important site. The paperback version of the book is accompanied by a CD-ROM that contains contributions from a wide range of archaeological specialists and includes archaeological data, site maps, database files, plats of excavations, artifact descriptions, and photographs, compiling in one place the entire archaeological record for this very important eastern North American site.
Some accolades of this book include:
"Wesler et al. summarize knowledge gained from the most intensive site excavation in western Kentucky. The text-plus-disk format permits presentation of an unusually readable summary plus a wealth of primary information about this Mississippian mound center. Wesler's book will be indispensable to the interested layman and professional archaeologist alike."—Charles H. McNutt, University of Memphis
This book is interesting for not only its archaeological content but also its format. Few archaeology books aim to satisfy both professional and nonprofessional audiences, but that is what Wesler's ambitious and deceptively small volume about Wickliffe does. He attempts this feat by bundling with the text a CD that contains an additional twelve chapters, four databases, and over 700 figures. The chapters in the paper volume are of more general interest than the material allocated to the CD. I am very impressed by the result: a readable book supplemented with unusually abundant technical detail. —Southeastern Archaeology
The next book is Mississippian Village Textiles at Wickliffe by Penelope Ballard Drooker.
Because textiles rarely are preserved in the archaeological record outside of deserts and permafrost areas, in many regions of the world very little is known about their characteristics, functions, production technology, or socioeconomic importance. While this fact is also true of organic fabrics produced during the Mississippian period in southeastern North Anerica, a wide variety of Mississippian textiles has been preserved in the form of impressions on large pottery vessels. From attribute analysis of 1,574 fabrics impressed on Wickliffe pottery sherds and comparison of the impressions with extant Mississippian textile artifacts, Drooker presents the first comparative analysis of these materials and the most inclusive available summary of information on Mississippian textiles
What people have said about this book:
"This book is one of those rare gems in archaeology which continue to prove that major contributions can be made to our discipline by gifted and clear thinking individuals with interest and expertise in the field of material culture. . . . Highly recommended!"—North American Archaeologist
"An excellent example of archaeological textile research. . . . It is an example of the type of textile research that is long overdue on the prehistoric Southeast."—Jenna Tedrick Kuttruff, Louisiana State University
