Mississippian cultures (Other Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only Dennis Blanton.

Smoking ritual was highly elaborated among late prehistoric Mississippian societies in the southeastern United States. Their smoking pipes were embellished with particular kinds of symbolism, not least among them avian themes. During one interval hummingbird imagery was prominent and this presentation will outline an explanation for it ultimately based on the symbiotic plant-pollinator relationship of tobacco and hummingbirds. The archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ecological bases for the...