Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Office: LA3010 Phone: 464-1931 Email: mstrezewsk

I am an archaeologist working in the Midwest since 1992. Most of my experience has been with Late Prehistoric (A.D. 1000 – 1500) Native American sites in Indiana and Illinois, with a focus on burial practices and what they can tell us about social organization and religious belief. In the past few years, I have been involved with excavations at the site of Kethtippecanunk, a French and Wea Indian trading town that was located northwest of present-day Lafayette, Indiana. The town was burned by the Kentucky militia in 1791. Our survey and excavations have helped to define the limits of the town and identify the locations of trader's structures. Materials recovered from two excavation seasons at Kethtippecanunk represent a snapshot of Native American life during the late fur trade period. Reports on the Kethtippecanunk excavations can be found here (link is http://www.ipfw.edu/archsurv/reports.html).
Most recently I have been involved with archaeological research at New Harmony, an early nineteenth-century utopian religious community in southwestern Indiana. In summer 2008, the USI field school excavated behind Community House No. 2, a communal dormitory built by the Harmonists. Our excavations located the former location of the stables and recovered many artifacts related to the Harmonist and later occupations of the building. I am particularly interested in the production and use of Harmonist redware, a type of low-fired pottery that was made by the Harmonist potter, Christoph Weber. I am currently working on developing a greater understanding of the types of pottery made by the Harmonists and what this information might provide on the types of foods that were being consumed and cooking techniques. The past summer, I conducted a magnetometry survey to try to locate the site of the Harmonist redware kiln. We will be doing test excavations at the kiln site in summer 2009.

Education
• Ph.D. in Anthropology, Indiana University, 2003. Dissertation title: "Mississippian Mortuary Practices in the Central Illinois River Valley: A Region-Wide Perspective."
• M.A. in Anthropology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 1995
• B.S. in Psychology, Loyola University of Chicago, 1989

Research Interests
• Late Prehistoric archaeology of the Midwest
• French colonial archaeology
• The archaeology of religion and ritual
• Osteological evidence for interpersonal conflict
• Mortuary archaeology

Selected Publications
forthcoming    “The Concept of Personhood in a Mississippian Society.” Illinois Archaeology.
2008    “Archaeological Investigations at Kethtippecanunk, a French and Native Trading Town on the Wabash River.” Le Journal 24(2):1-10.

2007    Michael Strezewski, Robert G. McCullough, Dorothea McCullough, Craig Arnold, and Josh Wells, “Report of the 2006 Archaeological Investigations at Kethtippecanunk (12-T-59), Tippecanoe County, Indiana.” Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Archaeological Survey, Reports of Investigations 703. Submitted to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Indianapolis, Indiana. (http://www.ipfw.edu/archsurv/reports.html)

2006    “Patterns of Interpersonal Violence at the Fisher Site.” Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 31(2):249-279.

2006    Michael Strezewski, James R. Jones III, and Dorothea McCullough, “Archaeological Investigations at Site 12-T-59 and Two Other Locations in Prophetstown State Park, Tippecanoe County, Indiana.” Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Archaeological Survey, Reports of Investigations 513. Submitted to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Indianapolis, Indiana. (http://www.ipfw.edu/archsurv/reports.html)

2003    “‘Ellen We Miss Thee at Home’: Archaeological Investigations at the Michigan City Old Graveyard (12 Le 348), La Porte County, Indiana.” Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Archaeological Survey, Reports of Investigations 308. Submitted to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Indianapolis, Indiana. (http://www.ipfw.edu/archsurv/reports.html)

2003    “Morton Mound 14 and Mortuary Ceremonialism in the Central Illinois River Valley.” Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 28(1):7-32.

2002    Elizabeth Pennefather-O’Brien and Michael Strezewski, “An Initial Description of the Archaeology and Morphology of the Clark’s Fork Skeletal Material, Bonner County, Idaho.” North American Archaeologist 23(2):101-115.

2002    “Investigations at Pottersville (12Ow431): A Small Oliver Phase Habitation Site in Owen County, Indiana.” Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University, Research Reports, No. 20 (http://www.gbl.indiana.edu/abstracts/cur.html).

Recent Conference Papers
2008    “Archaeology at New Harmony: Old and New.” Talk presented at the Indiana Archaeological Council Spring Workshop, Strawtown, Indiana, April 5, 2008.

2007    “Investigations at Kethtippecanunk, a French and Wea Trading Town on the Wabash River.” Invited speaker at the annual conference of the Center for French Colonial Studies, Lafayette, Indiana, November 2-3, 2007.

2007    Robert G. McCullough, Michael Strezewski, Joshua J. Wells, and Andrew A. White “Three Years of Geophysical Archaeology at Strawtown, Indiana: An Overview of Archaeological and Educational Results from a National Science Foundation Sponsored Research for Undergraduates Program.” Poster presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference, South Bend, Indiana, October 4-6, 2007.

2007    Kristin M. Hedman, Thomas E. Emerson, and Michael Strezewski “Preliminary Investigations of Langford - Fisher Subsistence Variation: The Stable Isotopic Evidence.” Poster presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference, South Bend, Indiana, October 4-6, 2007.

2007    “Oakwood Mound and Langford Mortuary Practices in Northeastern Illinois.” Paper presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference, South Bend, Indiana, October 4-6, 2007.

2007    “Calm Before the Storm: The Wea Town of Kethtippecanunk.” Paper presented at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas, April 25-27, 2007.

2007    “Kethtippecanunk: The Use of Magnetometry at a Historic Period Site.” Paper Presented at the Indiana Archaeological Council Spring Workshop, Strawtown, Indiana, March 17, 2007.

2006    “Excavations at Kethtippecanunk: An Eighteenth Century French and Wea Indian Town.” Wisconsin Archaeological Society Invited Lecture, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, November 20, 2006.

2006    “Investigations at the Eighteenth Century French and Wea Town of Kethtippecanunk, Indiana.” Paper presented at the Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference, Muncie, Indiana, November 4, 2006.

2006    Munson, Cheryl Ann, Robert G. McCullough, C. Russell Stafford, and Michael R. Strezewski “The 2005 Archaeological Investigations at the Prather Site (12CL4): Surveys, Geoarchaeology, and Test Excavations.” Paper presented at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Urbana, Illinois, October 12-14, 2006.

2006    “The 2006 Excavations at Kethtippecanunk: An Eighteenth Century French and Wea Indian Town.” Paper presented at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Urbana, Illinois, October 12-14, 2006.

2006    “Report of the IPFW-AS 2005 Investigations at Kethtippecanunk (12-T-59).” Paper presented at the Indiana Archaeological Council Spring Workshop, Strawtown Indiana, March 25, 2006.

2005    “Investigations at Kethtippecanunk, a Late Eighteenth Century French and Indian Town in Tippecanoe County, Indiana.” Paper presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Dayton, Ohio, October 20-23, 2005.

2005    “Relationships between Castor Farm (12-H-3) and Contemporary Western Basin Peoples: The Mortuary Evidence.” Paper presented at the Indiana Archaeology Council Spring Workshop, “Current Research in Indiana Archaeology,” Strawtown, Indiana, April 16, 2005.

2005    “Prehistoric Belief in an Afterworld Journey: Mortuary Evidence from the Mississippian Period in Illinois.” Paper presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 30-April 3, 2005.

2005    “Mortuary Practices at the Castor Farm Site (12-H-3) within a Regional Perspective.” Paper presented at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society, Oxford, Ohio, March 10-12, 2005.