Mississippian Culture Heroes, Ritual Regalia, and Sacred Bundles

David H. Dye

doi:10.5771/9781793650603

Summary

In Mississippian Culture Heroes, Ritual Regalia, and Sacred Bundles, archaeologists analyze evidence of the religious beliefs and ritual practices of Mississippian people through the lens of indigenous ontologies and material culture. Employing archaeological, ethnographic, and ethnohistoric evidence, the contributors explore the recent emphasis on iconography as an important component for interpreting eastern North America’s ancient past. The research in this volume emphasizes the animistic nature of animals and objects, erasing the false divide between people and other-than-human beings. Drawing on an array of empirical approaches, the contributors demonstrate the importance of understanding beliefs and ritual and the significance of investigating how people in the past practiced religion and ritual by crafting, circulating, using, and ultimately decommissioning material items and spaces, including ceramic effigies, rock art, sacred bundles, shell gorgets, stone figurines, and symbolic weaponry.

Keywords

Search publication

Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2021
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-5059-7
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-5060-3
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 376
Product type: Edited Book

1. Dedication No access
2. Contents No access
3. Acknowledgments No access
1. Mississippian Bundles, Other-Than-Human Beings, Regalia, and Social Institutions No access
2. Trends in Mississippian Iconography and Ritual Studies No access
3. Organization of the Volume: Themes and Topics No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
5. References Cited No access
1. 1. The Mandan No access
  2. The Dhegiha No access
  3. The Osage Native American Church No access
  4. More Comparisons No access
  5. Further Bundle Discussion No access
  6. Discussion No access
  7. Conclusion No access
  8. Acknowledgments No access
  9. Notes No access
  10. References Cited No access
2. 1. A Mississippian Symbolic Grammar No access
  2. Craig-Style Shell Gorgets No access
  3. Discussion No access
  4. Conclusion No access
  5. References Cited No access
3. 1. Bundles No access
  2. Etowah’s Mound C and the Late Wilbanks Mortuary Record No access
  3. Bundling in the Late Wilbanks Mortuary Sequence No access
  4. Mound C Bundling No access
  5. Conclusion No access
  6. Notes No access
  7. References Cited No access
4. 1. The Three “Cradleboard Figurines” No access
  2. Cradleboards? No access
  3. The Context for Ritual Paraphernalia and Sacred Bundles No access
  4. Discussion No access
  5. Acknowledgments No access
  6. Notes No access
  7. References No access
5. 1. Mound 1 Description and Excavation Methods No access
  2. Mound 1 Graves and Other Features No access
  3. Regalia and Bundling in Mound 1 No access
  4. Bundle Receptacles? No access
  5. Stone-Lined Bundle Receptacles? No access
  6. Grave 70—Wealth Regalia or Bundle? No access
  7. Conclusion No access
  8. Acknowledgments No access
  9. Notes No access
  10. References Cited No access
1. 1. Apotropaic Rituals, Dramatic Theatrics, and Symbolic Weaponry No access
  2. The Link Farm Site: The Western Mound and Plaza Complex and the Eastern Link Hill Ritual Precinct No access
  3. Composition of the Link Farm Cache No access
  4. The Link Farm Cache as Ritual Paraphernalia and Regalia No access
  5. Abandonment, Drought, and Warfare (AD 1350–1400) No access
  6. Religious Sodalities, Social Houses, and Ritual Performance No access
  7. Conclusion No access
  8. Acknowledgments No access
  9. Note No access
  10. References Cited No access
2. 1. From Middle Cumberland Female Effigies to Spiro Shell Cups No access
  2. The Ogee Motif in Mississippian Art No access
  3. The Ogee Motif and Its Natural World Prototype No access
  4. From Replication to Icon No access
  5. From Icon to Portal No access
  6. Earth Mother across the Southeast No access
  7. Discussion and Conclusion No access
  8. Acknowledgments No access
  9. Notes No access
  10. References Cited No access
3. 1. Medicine, Mortuary Practices, and the Supernatural No access
  2. Who Is Buried with Gorgets? No access
  3. Medicine Practitioners and the Power of Gorgets No access
  4. Gorgets, Gauntlets, and Ghostbusters No access
  5. Conclusion No access
  6. Acknowledgments No access
  7. Notes No access
  8. References Cited No access
1. 1. The Bandeau No access
  2. The Miter No access
  3. Occipital Hair Bun and Forehead Plaque No access
  4. The Modern Counterparts No access
  5. Conclusion No access
  6. References Cited No access
2. 1. Archaeological and Historical Background of Caddo Indians No access
  2. Historical Descriptions of Regalia No access
  3. Ethnographic Examples No access
  4. Discussion No access
  5. Conclusion No access
  6. Acknowledgments No access
  7. Notes No access
  8. References Cited No access
3. 1. Regalia No access
  2. Regalia of Privilege No access
  3. Regalia of Wealth No access
  4. Regalia of Identity—Diacritical Objects and Insignia of Office or Social Position No access
  5. Regalia of Practice—The Paraphernalia of Ritual Practice No access
  6. Mississippian Regalia at Lake Jackson No access
  7. Regalia of Wealth—REGALIA and Finery at Lake Jackson No access
  8. Regalia of Identity—Material Symbols of Status and Position at Lake Jackson No access
  9. Regalia of Practice—Ritual Paraphernalia at Lake Jackson No access
  10. Conclusion No access
  11. Note No access
  12. References Cited No access
Index No access Pages 355 - 372
About the Editor No access Pages 373 - 374
About the Contributors No access Pages 375 - 376