Past: Crisp Museum Presents 'Mississippian Mothers and Infants: Old Excavations and New Interpretations in Southeast Missouri'

Dr. Jennifer Bengtson, associate professor of anthropology at Southeast Missouri State University presents "Mississippian Mothers and Infants: Old Excavations and New Interpretations in Southeast Missouri" at the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum at Southeast’s River Campus. Although gender has become an increasingly important focus of archaeological inquiry over the last several decades, the specific roles of motherhood and infancy in ancient cultures have remained underexplored. This research combines data from old excavations with newer ideas about gender, fertility, and associated phenomena in the late prehistoric Mississippian tradition in southeast Missouri in order to provide a more complete picture of how Mississippian women navigated their lives as mothers, particularly in their experiences of reproduction, childbirth, and caregivers to infants.

Free and open to the public. Face coverings are required.