Toward an explanation of variation in Moundville Phase households in the Black Warrior Valley, Alabama

Mistovich, Tim S.

essay

Toward an explanation of variation in Moundville Phase households in the Black Warrior Valley, Alabama

mississippian communities and households • Tuscaloosa • Published In 1995 • Pages: 156-180

By: Mistovich, Tim S..

Abstract
In this paper Mistovich presents the dynamics of subsistence and social organizational change in the Black Warrior River valley of western Alabama. He focuses on the early phases of development of Mississippian in the region of the Moundville site. He challenges several exixting interpretations of life in the valley, especially the idea of a panregional settlement model and the role of maize in the transition to Mississippian. Although individual farmsteads in the region have only recently received much attention, there is a growing awareness of the significance of these small sites in the overall makeup of the settlement system. Subsistence evidence from a chronological sequence of small sites (Mill Creek, Tibbee Creek, and Yarborough) indicates only a gradual shift toward maize. Synthesis of settlement data for the region allows Mistovich to downgrade the existing hierarchical settlement model, at least for the early portion of the sequence. The information also allows recognition of differences between households occupying nucleated settlements such as Moundville or Bessemer and those scattered across the region, far from the centers of power (32: Rogers, p. 5).

Identification

Historical reconstruction

Burial practices and funerals

Mississippian

HRAF PubDate

2000

Region

North America