POTENTIAL EVIDENCE FOR DISPOSAL OF LATRINE WASTE INTO A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY ABANDONED HOUSE BASIN AT THE LATE PRECONTACT ANGEL MOUNDS SITE, INDIANA (U.S.A.): A COMBINED GEOCHEMICAL AND MICROMORPHOLOGICAL APPROACH

The Mississippian Period (A.D. 1000 – 1600) represents one of the most intensively studied archaeological units in the Midwestern United States. Despite this attention, little is known regarding residential rules that governed the relegation of organic and inorganic waste products at settlements, including the disposal of human waste, or latrine waste. A geochemical compositional study of feature fill from a fourteenth-century, semi-subterranean house basin at the Angel Mounds Site, southwestern Indiana, revealed enriched concentrations of Ba, Ca, Cu, Na, Mg, P, S, Si, Sr, Rb, Zn, Zr, and OM%, within a discrete stratigraphic unit. Micromorphological analysis of this unit also revealed excrement pedofeatures and chemically altered bone interpreted as coprolitic in origin. Interpretation of combined results suggest the intentional disposal of organic residue, most notably latrine waste, into the abandoned house basin during precontact occupation of the Angel Mounds Site. The possibility that abandoned Mississippian house basins were the location for routine disposal of latrine waste has not been directly tested by past researchers. These findings raise new questions regarding the nature of waste disposal practices for Mississippian settlements and whether such practices were codified or individually determined.