Land of Water, City of the Dead

“Land of Water, City of the Dead: Religion and Cahokia’s Emergence provides a refreshing new take on the origins and organization of Cahokia that is a must read for any Mississippian archaeologist. More generally, it will be of interest to archaeological scholars of religion and social complexity who work elsewhere in the World. On a final note I commend Baires for taking on the important task of analyzing long neglected legacy collections and I look forward to seeing where her research goes from here.”
—Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology

“Baires make a good case for her theory of Cahokia. She looks at the great city and its religion in a different way that will aid future studies while promoting new perspectives.”
—American Archaeology

“Baires’s book is a good addition to the available information on Cahokia. She pulls together data from a variety of sources, but most importantly, she provides details on legacy data that are not readily available elsewhere. In addition, Baires develops an argument for looking at Cahokia and religion in a different way, and whether or not you agree with her particular approach, new perspectives always move discussion and knowledge forward.”
—Lynne Goldstein, professor of anthropology at Michigan State University

“The detailed discussion of Cahokia’s ridge-top mounds, the presentation of largely unpublished descriptions of burial features and cultural materials associated with these mounds, and new observations of skeletal materials from Wilson Mound make this a valuable resource for other researchers.”
—Kristin Hedman, coeditor of Transforming the Dead: Culturally Modified Bone in the Prehistoric Midwest