The Mississippianization of Women in the Black Warrior Valley of Alabama, A.D. 1120–1250

Summary

By A.D. 1120 in the Black Warrior Valley of west-central Alabama, a Mississippian identity, predicated on the dissemination and subsequent adoption of maize, had firmly begun to take root at what would become the ritual-ceremonial center of Moundville. Traditionally, researchers have modelled the origins of Moundville within a political-economic lens: the growing aspirations of elites, who are implied to be male, are supported and fueled by stores of and feasts of maize, which is treated primarily as a resource to achieve their ambitions. However, through a careful analysis of the early landscape of practice of the hominy foodway of the Black Warrior Valley, I suggest that during this early period, it was not the activities of men, but instead those of new and endemic women to the area that first sparked and then united the early Moundville landscape. This analysis further suggests that what has largely been interpreted as a homogenous cultural expression for all people regardless of gender within the area was instead more heavily driven by, and had a greater impact on, female gendered activities.

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): 21855