The Ascent of Chiefs
256 pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Paperback
Release Date:30 Sep 1994
ISBN:9780817307288
The Ascent of Chiefs
Cahokia and Mississippian Politics in Native North America
University of Alabama Press
Provides a theoretical explanation of how prehistoric Cahokia became a stratified society
Considering Cahokia in terms of class struggle, Pauketat claims that the political consolidation in this region of the Mississippi Valley happened quite suddenly, around A.D. 1000, after which the lords of Cahokia innovated strategies to preserve their power and ultimately emerged as divine chiefs. The new ideas and new data in this volume will invigorate the debate surrounding one of the most important developments in North American prehistory.
Considering Cahokia in terms of class struggle, Pauketat claims that the political consolidation in this region of the Mississippi Valley happened quite suddenly, around A.D. 1000, after which the lords of Cahokia innovated strategies to preserve their power and ultimately emerged as divine chiefs. The new ideas and new data in this volume will invigorate the debate surrounding one of the most important developments in North American prehistory.
Pauketat has set a benchmark for future synthetic treatments in the region. . . . Ascent of Chiefs stands as a welcome challenge to address complimentary issues in a comparable fashion.’
—American Antiquity
Pauketat enriches our understanding of Cahokia and stimulates productive debate.’
—Warren DeBoer, The City University of New York
Timothy R. Pauketat is an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma.
