Chiefdoms and Other Archaeological Delusions (Issues in Eastern Woodlands Archaeology)

271 Pages·2007·3.05 MB·English

by  Timothy R. Pauketat

Chiefdoms and Other
Archaeological Delusions
Issues in Eastern Woodlands Archaeology
Editors: Thomas E. Emerson and Timothy R. Pauketat
Issues in Eastern Woodlands Archaeology emphasizes new research results and
innovative theoretical approaches to the archaeology of the pre-Columbian native
and early colonial inhabitants of North America east of the Mississippi River Val-
ley. The editors are especially seeking contributors who are interested in address-
ing/questioning such concepts as historical process, agency, traditions, political
economy, materiality, ethnicity, and landscapes through the medium of Eastern
Woodlands archaeology. Such contributions may take as their focus a specific
theoretical or regional case study but should cast it in broader comparative or
historical terms. We seek to both challenge and inform the targeted graduate stu-
dent and professional audience. Proposals currently under consideration include
topics such as indigenous warfare, Archaic complexity, Iroquoia, and cultures in
contact.
Books in the series:
Chiefdoms and Other Archaeological Delusions, by Timothy R. Pauketat (2007)
Chiefdoms and Other
Archaeological Delusions
Timothy R. Pauketat
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ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
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Copyright © 2007 by ALTAMIRA PRESS
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pauketat, Timothy R.
Chiefdoms and other archaeological delusions / Timothy R. Pauketat.
p. cm. — (Issues in eastern Woodlands archaeology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7591-0828-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7591-0828-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7591-0829-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7591-0829-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Mississippian culture—East (U.S.) 2. Indians of North America—East (U.S.)
—Politics and government. 3. Chiefdoms—East (U.S.) —History. 4. East (U.S.)
—Antiquities. I. Title.
E99.M6815P385 2007
977’.01—dc22
2006101558
Printed in the United States of America
∞ ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
In memory of my father, Bobby Pauketat

CONTENTS
List of Figures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
CHAPTER ONE Principles and Principals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
CHAPTER TWO A Crisis in Mississippian Archaeology . . . . . . . . . . . .31
CHAPTER THREE Breaking the Law of Cultural Dominance. . . . . . . .53
CHAPTER FOUR Parsing Mississippian Chiefdoms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
CHAPTER FIVE The X Factor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
CHAPTER SIX Yoffee’s Rule and Cahokia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
CHAPTER SEVEN What Constitutes Civilization? Community
and Control in the Southwest, Mexico, and Mesopotamia . . . . . . .163
CHAPTER EIGHT Truth, Justice, and the Archaeological Way . . . . . .201
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257
vii

FIGURES
1.1. Locator map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1. Building block diagram of chiefdom settlement hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.1. Poverty Point site plan map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.2. Scioto earthworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.3. Troyville site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.4. Diagrammatic plan view of the Raffman site, a Coles Creek
center in northeast Louisiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.1. The Mississippian world, as conceived by
James B. Griffin (1967) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.2. David Anderson’s “inferred spread of chiefdoms in the Southeast”. . . . . . . . 88
4.3. Diagrammatic plan views of Mississippian centers: a, Towosahgy
(Missouri); b, Parkin (Arkansas); c, Arcola (Mississippi). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.4. Diagrammatic plan views of Mississippian centers: a, Spiro (Oklahoma);
b, Shiloh (Tennessee); c, Angel (Indiana). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.5. Diagrammatic plan view of Ocmulgee, Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.6. Diagrammatic plan views of large Mississippian centers:
a, Etowah (Georgia); b, Winterville (Mississippi) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.7. Temple on Mound F at Angel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.8. Aerial (Infrared) photograph of the Common Field site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.9. Diagrammatic plan view of houses at the Turner and
Snodgrass sites, southeast Missouri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
ix