Art Style as a Communicative Tool in Archaeological Research

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Art Style as a Communicative Tool in Archaeological Research" at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Mesoamerican scholar Linda Schele often said for those who study ancient cultures, their primary focus should be reviving the voices of the people who created those cultures. In this symposium, we recognize that the many cultures of Native North America, which lacked formal writing systems, often have sophisticated identifiable art systems. Within these systems, elements of style functioned as a form of communication. As a diagnostic category of art, style is best understood as the formal qualities of a work of art that link it to other works of art. Over the last 40 years, several major southeastern art styles such as Braden, Craig, and Holly Bluff have been identified through stylistic analysis. Within these papers, stylistic origins, groupings, and functions will illustrate the many systems of Native American styles that developed over time and across geography. When these artistic systems are grouped into their various stylistic components, they function to reanimate the voices of the past. Examining visual style with archaeological information can reveal, almost audibly, the ideological systems and cosmological beliefs of their ancient North Americans creators.

Other Keywords
Mississippian • Iconography and epigraphy • Ritual and Symbolism • Iconography and Art • Style • Storytelling • Caves and Rockshelters

Geographic Keywords
United States of America (Country) • North America (Continent) • Delaware (State / Territory) • Georgia (State / Territory) • Mississippi (State / Territory) • Tennessee (State / Territory) • North Carolina (State / Territory) • Kentucky (State / Territory) • West Virginia (State / Territory) • Virginia (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-6 of 6)

  • Documents (6)
Documents
  • A Brief History of Mississippian Period Art Styles in the American Southeast (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only James Brown.

    This is an abstract from the "Art Style as a Communicative Tool in Archaeological Research" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Focused stylistic analysis over the past 60 years has made clear that graphic depiction of the creative forces became a vehicle of artistic expression for southeastern societies. Between the 1100s and 1400 such expression was nearly ubiquitous by including, without being confined to, pottery surfaces, marine shell, sheet...

  • The Disintegration of Style and Memory: Mound 3 Assemblages at Lake Jackson (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only John Stauffer.

    This is an abstract from the "Art Style as a Communicative Tool in Archaeological Research" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. At the 75th annual meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, Claudine Payne proposed that Lake Jackson’s Mound 3 served as a repository for ritual heirlooms that could no longer be used in the manners their creators intended. This paper revives her hypothesis to examine the role of this archaeological context at the...

  • From Cave Mouth To Temple Door (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Frank Reilly.

    This is an abstract from the "Art Style as a Communicative Tool in Archaeological Research" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. I suggest that at some point in the development of the Braden art style that the 3D flint-clay statuettes (AD 1100–1175) take the place of the earlier Braden-style paintings (AD 900–1000) found in caves and rockshelters, while temples (BBB Motor Site) that house the flint-clay statuettes substitute for the caves that housed...

  • Heavens on Earth: Cave Imagery and the Legacies of Mississippian Ceremonialism (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Bobi Deere. Jesse Nowak.

    This is an abstract from the "Art Style as a Communicative Tool in Archaeological Research" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Cave art is amongst the earliest evidence of art in the North American Southeast, and was instrumental in establishing Early Mississippian period iconographic styles. Exploring the imagery found in caves across different cultural regions provides alternative contexts to understand distinct belief systems and ritual practices....

  • Pipes, Pots, and Portals: The Imagery of Middle Mississippian Pipes from Etowah (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Adam King.

    This is an abstract from the "Art Style as a Communicative Tool in Archaeological Research" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In his study of Mississippian smoking pipes of the South Appalachian region, Blanton notes that in the Middle Mississippian period smoking rituals became more formalized and restricted to ritual specialists. He identifies several pipe themes associated with the social and political influence of Etowah. In this paper I follow...

  • Storytelling in the Creation of Cahokia, a Native American Theater State (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Julie Zimmermann.

    This is an abstract from the "Art Style as a Communicative Tool in Archaeological Research" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. I have argued that Cahokia might best be understood as the capital of a Native American theater state, which drew people to it and spread its influence not through armies but by attracting followers through theatrical rituals (Zimmermann Holt 2009). In current research I argue that storytelling was primary among those rituals....