Archaeological mounded sites are specifically formed by the intentional accumulation of materials with the purpose of vertical accretion. As a consequence, research on formation processes of these sites is essential for the comprehension of social actions that led to the construction of mounds. The analysis of the sites in its entirety is critical to the interpretation of these processes as well as of functional, organizational and ideological aspects. This article presents the Strategic Archaeology, a series of complementary approaches designed to provide a wide-ranging analysis of mound sites, whose main goal is to identify the behaviors associated with its construction. The discussions presented here are centered on positive results obtained from long-running projects which applied this approach to mound sites.
Strategic Archaeology; Methodology; Archaeological site; Mounded sites; Shell mounds
