Movement and Places Between: The Power of Raccoons

Summary

Informed by ethnographic accounts, iconography has helped clarify how people materialized otherwise intangible aspects of their realities. In this paper, I examine the use of raccoons in imagery from Mississippian archaeological contexts. By considering placement of independent raccoon motifs in iconographic scenes, as well as raccoon motifs associated with figures, I identify use patterns of raccoon imagery. Considering these iconographic data alongside faunal data generated from Spiro, Oklahoma, I argue that associations between raccoon motifs and other images, such as the Striped Pole Motif, suggest that raccoons may be associated with movement between the Middle World and other places. In addition, I suggest that considering possible links between the ability to access or wield this power materialized through use of raccoon bindings in various scenic constructions provides an opportunity to center indigenous ontologies in interpretations of material culture.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22296