Etowah: The Political History of a Chiefdom Capital

Copertina anteriore
University of Alabama Press, 2003 - 178 pagine

A Dan Josselyn Memorial Publication

Detailed reconstruction of the waxing and waning of political fortunes among the chiefly elites at an important center of the prehistoric world

At the time the first Europeans arrived in the New World, thousands of earthen platform mounds dotted the landscape of eastern North America. Only a few of the mound sites have survived the ravages of time and the devastation of pilferers; one of these valuable monuments is Etowah, located near Cartersville in northern Georgia. Over a period of more than 100 years, excavations of the site’s six mounds, and in particular Mound C, have yielded a wealth of artifacts, including marble statues, copper embossed plates, ceremonial items, and personal adornments. These objects indicate an extensive trading network between Mississippian centers and confirm contact with Spanish conquistadores near Etowah in the mid-1500s.

Adam King has analyzed the architecture and artifacts of Etowah and deduced its vital role in the prehistory of the area. He advances a plausible historical sequence and a model for the ancient town's complex political structure. The chiefdom society relied upon institutional social ranking, permanent political offices, religious ideology, a redistribution of goods and services, and the willing support of the constituent population. King reveals strategies used by the paramount chiefs to maintain their sources of power and to control changes in the social organization. Elite alliances did not necessarily involve the extreme asymmetry of political domination and tribute extraction. King's use of ceramic assemblages recovered from Etowah to determine the occupation history and the construction sequence of public facilities (mounds and plazas) at the center is significant.

This fresh interpretation of the Etowah site places it in a contemporary social and political context with other Mississippian cultures. It is a one-volume sourcebook for the Etowah polity and its neighbors and will, therefore, command an eager audience of scholars and generalists.

 

Pagine selezionate

Sommario

1 Mississippian Chiefdoms and Political Change
1
2 The Etowah River Valley and Its Mississippian Archaeology
26
3 A Political History of Etowah
50
4 The Rise and Fall of Etowah Valley Chiefdoms
84
5 Understanding Etowah Valley Political Change
107
6 Summary and Future Directions
139
Radiocarbon Dating the Occupations at Etowah
145
References Cited
155
Copyright

Altre edizioni - Visualizza tutto

Etowah: The Political History of a Chiefdom Capital
Adam King
Visualizzazione estratti - 2003

Parole e frasi comuni

appears archaeological architecture argued associated borrow pits Brewster phase buildings burials capital ceramic assemblages chiefs collections complex chiefdoms construction stages contexts Conyers Farm Coosa Coosa River Early Etowah phase early Savannah period Early Wilbanks phase earth lodges east of Mound eastern Tennessee elite Etowah period Etowah River valley Etowah site assemblage Etowah valley evidence excavations grave Hally and Langford Hernando de Soto Hiwassee Island phase ideology important indicate individual King Late Etowah phase Late Wilbanks phase leaders located Long Swamp Macon Plateau midden Middle Mississippian Mississippian period motifs mound construction mound sites mound summits network strategy non-mound nonlocal northern Georgia occupation paramount chiefdom Plant Hammond political centers political change political economic strategy political economies pottery Radiocarbon dates recorded recovered region samples Saucer Sears SECC settlement sherds similar simple chiefdom social groups social ranking Southeast Southeastern Southeastern Ceremonial Complex style suggests surface symbolism Tennessee tion Wauchope Wauchope's world-system theory

Informazioni sull'autore (2003)

Adam King is an archaeologist with the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program in Columbia, South Carolina.

Informazioni bibliografiche

TitoloEtowah: The Political History of a Chiefdom Capital
AutoreAdam King
Edizioneillustrata
EditoreUniversity of Alabama Press, 2003
ISBN0817312242, 9780817312244
Lunghezza178 pagine
  
Esporta citazioneBiBTeX EndNote RefMan