Mississippian Chiefdoms Research Articles

De-Mything the Cahokia Catlinite Trade

Western-derived formalistic economic models continue to pervade much of the discussion relating to the political and economic history of noncapitalist societies. The rise of complex societies across the world has been intimately tied to such economic variables. In North America, the emergence of Cahokia and other Mississippian chiefdoms is also often linked to these factors. Such models rely on the large-scale movement of materials between distant locales. Critical to these approaches is the demonstration that items identified as "exotic" are nonlocal. Only archaeometric analysis can make this determination. This paper continues our research in geologic sourcing through X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic analysis (Emerson and Hughes 2000). We examine red stone from the American Bottom that was identified macroscopically as catlinite and as part of the panregional Cahokia trade network. We prove that the Cahokian “catlinite,” in fact, is not catlinite and is from one or more other possible sources. This proof demonstrates catlinite, at the earliest, entered the American Bottom with Oneota peoples in the fourteenth century, and more likely, with protohistoric or historic groups in the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. This geologic sourcing research continues to cast doubt on the role and importance of large-scale, long-distance economic transactions in Cahokian history.

Political Structure and Change in the Prehistoric Southeastern United States

The societies that flourished during the late Precolumbian period - called Mississippian chiefdoms - disappeared shortly after European contact. This work presents information about their political structures, offering perspectives on the growth, collapse and reappearance of chiefdoms.

Woodstock Culture and the Question of Mississippian Emergence

North American archaeologists see the study of the Emergent Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 800—1000) as critical for understanding the development of the Mississippian chiefdoms (ca. A.D. 1000—1500) of the American Southeast. Past research has frequently sought to explain that development in terms of generalized explanations, whose key variables become evident during the Emergent Mississippian period. Through an example in northwest Georgia, we argue that the Emergent Mississippian phenomenon is best understood by focusing on regional histories and multiscalar processes.

Socioeconomic Implications of Prehistoric Textile Production in the Eastern Woodlands

ABSTRACTQuantitative measures of time and effort as well as assessment of the knowledge base required in each level of textile manufacture (i.e., plant collecting, fiber processing, yarn and fabric formation) result in cost estimates that indicate differences between simply structured materials and complexly structured elaborate materials. These measures were applied to two textiles from a Wilbanks phase (A.D. 950 to 1440) [1] burial of a high status individual from Mound C at Etowah, Georgia [2]. Socioeconomic implications inferred from the resulting analyses include the proposal of craft specialization in the production of complex textiles and of the significance of these complex textiles to Mississippian chiefdoms.

Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World

Part I. Introduction: 1. Factional competition and political development in the New World: an introduction Elizabeth M. Brumfiel Part II. Chiefdoms: 2. The power of prestige: competitive generosity and the emergence of rank societies in lowland Mesoamerica John E. Clark and Michael Blake 3. Factional ascendance, dimensions of leadership, and the development of centralized authority Charles S. Spencer 4. External warfare and the internal politics of northern South American tribes and chiefdoms Elsa M. Redmond 5. Chiefdom rivalries, control, and external contacts in lower Central America Mary W. Helms 6. Factional competition and the political evolution of Mississippian chiefdoms in the southeastern United States David G. Anderson Part III. States: 7. Ethnicity and political control in a complex society: the Tarascan state of prehispanic Mexico Helen Perlstein Pollard 8. Ethnic groups and factions in Aztec Mexico Elizabeth M. Brumfiel 9. Factional divisions within the Aztec (Colhua) royal family Rudolf Van Zantwijk 10. Alliance and intervention in Aztec imperial expansion Frederic Hicks 11. Political factions in the transition from Classic to Postclassic in the Mixteca Alta Bruce E. Byland, and John M. D. Pohl 12. Internal subdivisions of communities in the prehispanic valley of Oaxaca Stephen A. Kowalewski 13. Cycles of conflict: political factionalism in the Maya lowlands Mary E. D. Pohl and John M. D. Pohl 14. Political cosmology among the Quiche Maya John W. Fox 15. Factionalism and political development in the central Andes Terence N. D'Altroy Part IV. Discussion 16. Factional competition and historical materialism Glenn Perusek 17 Conclusions: moietal opposition, segmentation and factionalism in New World political areas John W. Fox.

The Savannah River chiefdoms: political change in the late prehistoric Southeast

This volume explores political changes in chiefdoms, specifically how complex chiefdoms emerge and collapse, and how this process - called cycling - can be examined using archaeological, ethnohistoric, paleoclimatic, paleosubsistence and physical anthropological data. The focus for the research is the prehistoric and initial contact-era Mississippian chiefdoms of the Southeastern United States, specifically the societies occupying the Savannah River basin from circa AD 1000 to 1600. This regional focus and the multidisciplinary nature of the investigation provides a solid introduction to the Southeastern Mississippian archaeological record and the study of cultural evolution in general.

Lamar Archaeology: Mississippian Chiefdoms in the Deep South. Mark Williams and Gary Shapiro, editors. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1990. vii + 263 pp., figures, tables, references, index. $20.95 (paper).

Lamar Archaeology: Mississippian Chiefdoms in the Deep South. Mark Williams and Gary Shapiro, editors. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1990. vii + 263 pp., figures, tables, references, index. $20.95 (paper). - Volume 58 Issue 1

Lamar Archaeology: Mississippian Chiefdoms in the Deep South. Mark Williams and Gary Shapiro, editors. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1990. vii + 263 pp., figures, tables, references, index. $20.95 (paper).

Lamar Archaeology: Mississippian Chiefdoms in the Deep South. Mark Williams and Gary Shapiro, editors. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1990. vii + 263 pp., figures, tables, references, index. $20.95 (paper). - Volume 58 Issue 1

Hawks, Serpents, And Bird-Men:

AbstractThe late prehistoric Oneota society of the midwestern United States is analyzed for its politicoeconomic structure. Oneota cultural organization is compared with Mississippian chiefdoms to ...