Archaeology of the Moundville Chiefdom
University of Alabama Press
Brings together nine Moundville specialists who trace the site’s evolution and eventual decline
Built on a flat terrace overlooking the Black Warrior River in Alabama, the Moundville ceremonial center was at its height a densely occupied town of approximately 1,000 residents, with at least 29 earthen mounds surrounding a central plaza. Today Moundville is not only one of the largest and best-preserved Mississippian sites in the United States but also one of the most intensively studied. This volume brings together nine Moundville specialists who trace the site’s evolution and eventual decline.
Built on a flat terrace overlooking the Black Warrior River in Alabama, the Moundville ceremonial center was at its height a densely occupied town of approximately 1,000 residents, with at least 29 earthen mounds surrounding a central plaza. Today Moundville is not only one of the largest and best-preserved Mississippian sites in the United States but also one of the most intensively studied. This volume brings together nine Moundville specialists who trace the site’s evolution and eventual decline.
The latest contributions to a 30-year, long-term collaboration that has produced critically important data and theories for the understanding of Mississippian social formations.’ —Antiquity
Vernon James Knight Jr. is professor of anthropology at The University of Alabama.
Vincas P. Steponaitis is professor of anthropology and Director of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Vincas P. Steponaitis is professor of anthropology and Director of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword
CHRISTOPHER S. PEEBLES
Preface to the New Edition
I A New History of Moundville
VERNON JAMES KNIGHT JR. AND VINCAS P. STEPONAITIS
2. Population Trends at Moundville
VINCAS P. STEPONAITIS
3 . Moundville as a Diagrammatic Ceremonial Center
VERNON JAMES KNIGHT JR.
4. Domestic Life on the Northwest Riverbank at Moundville
C. MARGARET SCARRY
5· Of Time and the River: Perspectives on Health during the Moundville Chiefdom
MARY LUCAS POWELL
6. Human Subsistence at Moundville: The Stable-Isotope Data
MARGARET J. SCHOENINGER AND MARK R. SCHURR
7. Outlying Sites within the Moundville Chiefdom
PAUL D. WELCH
8. The Oliver Site and Early Moundville I Phase Economic Organization
LAUREN M. MICHALS
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword
CHRISTOPHER S. PEEBLES
Preface to the New Edition
I A New History of Moundville
VERNON JAMES KNIGHT JR. AND VINCAS P. STEPONAITIS
2. Population Trends at Moundville
VINCAS P. STEPONAITIS
3 . Moundville as a Diagrammatic Ceremonial Center
VERNON JAMES KNIGHT JR.
4. Domestic Life on the Northwest Riverbank at Moundville
C. MARGARET SCARRY
5· Of Time and the River: Perspectives on Health during the Moundville Chiefdom
MARY LUCAS POWELL
6. Human Subsistence at Moundville: The Stable-Isotope Data
MARGARET J. SCHOENINGER AND MARK R. SCHURR
7. Outlying Sites within the Moundville Chiefdom
PAUL D. WELCH
8. The Oliver Site and Early Moundville I Phase Economic Organization
LAUREN M. MICHALS
Bibliography
Index
