BEAR'S JOURNEY AND THE STUDY OF RITUAL IN ARCHAEOLOGY: SOME COMMENTS ON HOWEY AND O'SHEA'S MIDEWIWIN PAPER.

Howey and O'Shea (2006) believe they have demonstrated the prehistoric manifestation of a particular Ojibwa Midewiwin origin story in the arrangement of features at an archaeological site in Michigan, thereby negating ethnohistorical arguments that the Midewiwin was of post-European-contact origin. The authors also believe they have shown that explaining past ritual behavior "can be derived from archaeological data alone." There is ample information in their own argument to disallow such claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]