Ancient campsite yields evidence of many cultures.

Digging into a high natural levee paralleling the Mississippi River, University of Wisconsin-Madison archaeologists have discovered an ancient campsite or village that recurrently was occupied by a procession of native cultures for almost three millennia. The camp first was lived in more than 700 years before the time of Christ, according to James B. Stoltman, professor of anthropology, who directed work at the site in southwestern Wisconsin. "This is a place that was occupied many times in the past. It is like a layer cake with at least five episodes of occupation, maybe as many as seven, all superimposed one upon the other. Three of them are unique, making the site especially important."

At least three episodes of occupation may have been associated with burial activities, suggesting the site had a long history of use as a mortuary camp. The most surprising find, Stoltman says, was a mass grave containing the remains of 29 individuals of both sexes and all ages. It dates to about the time of Christ and offers scholars a window to the lives of the common people in a society known as the Hopewell, a prehistoric mound-building culture that thrived in what is now the midwestern U.S. from about 50 B.C. to 250 A.D.

Although there were only a few artifacts found in the grave proper, Stoltman's team discovered at the site hundreds of other items associated with the...