Moundville, near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is one of the largest pre-Columbian mound sites in North America. Comprising twenty-nine earthen mounds that were once platforms for chiefly residences and ...temples, Moundville was a major political and religious center for the people living in its region and for the wider Mississippian world.
A much-needed synthesis of the rapidly expanding archaeological work that has taken place in the region over the past two decades, this volume presents the results of multifaceted research and new excavations. Using models deeply rooted in local ethnohistory, it ties Moundville and its people more closely than before to the ethnography of native southerners and emphasizes the role of social memory and ritual practices both at the mound center and in the hinterland, providing an up-to-date and refreshingly nuanced interpretation of Mississippian culture.
Moundville, located on the Black Warrior River in west-central Alabama, is one of the best known and most intensively studied archaeological sites in North America. Yet, in spite of all these ...investigations, many aspects of the site's internal chronology remained unknown until the original 1983 publication of this volume. The author embarked on a detailed study of Moundville ceramics housed in museums and collections, and hammered out a new chronology for Moundville.This volume is a clearly written description of the analytical procedures employed on these ceramic samples and the new chronology this study revealed. Using the refined techniques outlined in this volume, it was possible for the author to trace changes in community patterns, which in turn shed light on Moundville's internal development and its place among North America's ancient cultures. This volume is a clearly written description of the analytical procedures employed on these ceramic samples and the new chronology this study revealed. Using the refined techniques outlined in this volume, it was possible for the author to trace changes in community patterns, which in turn shed light on Moundville's internal development and its place among North America's ancient cultures.
At its height the Moundville ceremonial center was a densely occupied town of approximately 1,000 residents, with at least 29 earthen mounds surrounding a central plaza. Today, Moundville is not only ...one the largest and best-preserved Mississippian sites in the United States, but also one of the most intensively studied. This volume brings together nine Moundville specialists who trace the site’s evolution and eventual decline.
The Holly Bluff style Knight, Vernon James; Lankford, George E.; Phillips, Erin ...
Southeastern archaeology,
12/2017, Volume:
36, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
We recognize a new style of Mississippian-period art in the North American Southeast, calling it Holly Bluff. It is a two-dimensional style of representational art that appears solely on containers: ...marine shell cups and ceramic vessels. Iconographically, the style focuses on the depiction of zoomorphic supernatural powers of the Beneath World. Seriating the known corpus of images allows us to characterize three successive style phases, Holly Bluff I, II, and III. Using limited data, we source the style to the northern portion of the lower Mississippi Valley.
The Provenance and Use of Etowah Palettes Steponaitis, Vincas P.; Swanson, Samuel E.; Wheeler, George ...
American antiquity,
01/2011, Volume:
76, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Based on geological and stylistic evidence, we argue that stone palettes found at Etowah were made locally from nearby raw materials. We also show that they were wrapped in textiles and kept in ...bundles, i.e., that they were objects used in ritual. Etowah palettes were used as portable altars, perhaps in ceremonies that involved anointing other objects with colorful (and spiritually powerful) substances. The realization that palettes were bundled ritual gear should cause us to rethink common assumptions that such objects moved from site to site by means of "trade," or that they functioned as "prestige goods" in the sense of Frankenstein and Rowlands (1978).
Large effigy pipes made of limestone are found at Mississippian sites across much of the American South. Here we examine a sample of these pipes with the goal of identifying their geological sources, ...which are inferred from the fossils visible in the rock. All but one of the pipes in our sample are made of Glendon limestone, a distinctive material that outcrops most abundantly near Vicksburg, Mississippi. Based on the geological and distributional evidence, we argue that these Glendon limestone pipes were crafted in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Our study also demonstrates the efficacy of using fossils as a nondestructive way of determining the provenance of limestone artifacts.
This study explores the efficacy of two methods of mechanical augering in determining the extent of residential areas and middens at Moundville. A gasoline-powered screw auger and a hand-held tube ...sampler were each used to systematically auger two hectares within the site's boundaries. Both methods proved to be quick and effective at locating middens.The preliminary results suggest, as expected, that the highest density of occupational debris is distributed in a band between the plaza and the palisade.
At its height the Moundville ceremonial center was a densely occupied town of approximately 1,000 residents, with at least 29 earthen mounds surrounding a central plaza. Today, Moundville is not only ...one the largest and best-preserved Mississippian sites in the United States, but also one of the most intensively studied. This volume brings together nine Moundville specialists who trace the site's evolution and eventual decline.
•The Bellaire style of effigy pipes from the Lower Mississippi Valley is defined.•The two most common themes are an underwater panther and a crouching human.•The style dates AD 1100–1500 and can be ...divided into two temporal substyles.•The more elaborate pipes were made by master carvers, likely commissioned by priests.•The pipes were used in shamanic rituals that engaged with Beneath-World powers.
Based on formal analysis of a large corpus of Mississippian effigy pipes, the distinctive Bellaire style is here defined. Native to the Lower Mississippi Valley, this style encompasses multiple themes, the two most common being an underwater panther and a crouching human. The style dates ca. AD 1100–1500 and can be further divided into two substyles, Bellaire A and Bellaire B, that likely represent change through time. We argue that the more elaborate pipes were made by master carvers, and were commissioned by religious practitioners who used them in shamanic rituals that engaged with Beneath-World powers. There can now be little doubt that the Lower Mississippi Valley was home to a considerable body of representational art during Mississippian times, one that has long been overlooked.
Neutron activation analysis of Mississippian sherds from 21 regions across the Southeast has revealed the existence of distinctive chemical groups that are associated with four large geographical ...areas. One such group is associated with sites along the Mississippi River and its western tributaries, a second is associated with sites on the Appalachian Rim in Tennessee, a third is associated with sites on the Piedmont and associated drainages, and a fourth is associated with sites in Alabama. This pattern reflects the existence of several large, clay-mineral provinces in the Southeast that now can be recognized as sources in future studies of long-distance exchange.
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