Jaketown, Pilgrimage, and Poverty Point Era Sacred Monumental Landscapes in the Lower Mississippi Valley
Author(s): Tristram Kidder; Edward Henry; Anthony Ortmann
Year: 2016
Summary
Monumental earthworks are a well-attested element of hunter-gather-fisher societies in the Lower Mississippi Valley (LMV) from ca. 7000-3000 cal B.P. Most famous among these earthworks is the Poverty Point site, ca. 3600-3200 cal B.P. However, earthen monuments in the LMV contemporary with Poverty Point remain enigmatic because their roles in the broader political economy of the region are not well understood. We present information from the Jaketown site in west-central Mississippi to illustrate regional variation in monument building and to explore the hypothesis that Jaketown, Poverty Point, and other contemporary mound sites are part of a complex socio-political landscape shaped by myriad forces, principle among them ritual-religious ones that encourage pilgrimage as a mechanism for social integration in the face of increasing demographic, economic, and environmental challenges.
Cite this Record
Jaketown, Pilgrimage, and Poverty Point Era Sacred Monumental Landscapes in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Tristram Kidder, Edward Henry, Anthony Ortmann. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida. 2016 ( tDAR id: 403620)
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Keywords
Geographic Keywords
North America - Southeast
Spatial Coverage
min long: -91.274; min lat: 24.847 ; max long: -72.642; max lat: 36.386 ;