Visions of Substance in Eleventh Century Mid-America

Summary

Various archaeological approaches exaggerate relations with objects at the expense of the affectivity of substances, phenomena, materials, and spaces. New data from the 11th century foundations of the Cahokian world suggest that the experience of substantial, phenomenal, material and spatial qualities were the primary constituents of a form of religious conversion also known as Mississippianization. Circular buildings at the Emerald site embodied these qualities and point to the creation of novel relationships between water, earth, moon and people. Cahokians carried such practices far to the north, where another shrine complex highlights the need to consider ontologies alongside colonial or missionizing dynamics.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Mediating Spirit Worlds in Native North America

Keywords

Spatial Coverage