| Cahokia and the Archaeology of Power Contributor(s): Emerson, Thomas E. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0817308881 ISBN-13: 9780817308889 Publisher: University Alabama Press OUR PRICE: $36.05 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 1997 Annotation: This dramatic and controversial new interpretation of Cahokian leadership strategies examines the authority a ruling elite exercised over the surrounding countryside through a complex of social, political, and religious forms. Using the theoretical concepts of agency, power, and ideology, this study explores the development of cultural complexity within the hierarchically organized Cahokia Middle Mississippian society of the American Bottom from the 11th to the 13th centuries. By scrutinizing the available archaeological settlement and symbolic evidence, Thomas E. Emerson demonstrates that many sites previously identified as farmsteads were actually nodal centers with specialized political, religious, and economic functions that were integrated into a centralized Cahokian administrative organization. These centers are accompanied by such "artifacts of power" as figurines, ritual vessels, and sacred plants. The consolidation of this symbolism into a rural cult marks the expropriation of the cosmos as part of the increasing power of the Cahokian rulers. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social - History | United States - State & Local - General |
| Dewey: 977.389 |
| LCCN: 97-13085 |
| Lexile Measure: 1390 |
| Physical Information: 1.03" H x 6.24" W x 9.23" (1.17 lbs) 318 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This study uses the theoretical concepts of agency, power, and ideology to explore the development of cultural complexity within the hierarchically organized Cahokia Middle Mississippian society of the American Bottom from the 11th to the 13th centuries. By scrutinizing the available archaeological settlement and symbolic evidence, Emerson demonstrates that many sites previously identified as farmsteads were actually nodal centers with specialized political, religious, and economic functions integrated into a centralized administrative organization. These centers consolidated the symbolism of such 'artifacts of power' as figurines, ritual vessels, and sacred plants into a rural cult that marked the expropriation of the cosmos as part of the increasing power of the Cahokian rulers. During the height of Cahokian centralized power, it is argued, the elites had convinced their subjects that they ruled both the physical and the spiritual worlds. Emerson concludes that Cahokian complexity differs significantly in degree and form from previously studied Eastern Woodlands chiefdoms and opens new discussion about the role of rural support for the Cahokian ceremonial center. |