Commensal Politics and Changing Neighborhoods: Preliminary Pottery Analyses of Cahokia’s Spring Lake Tract

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the Cahokian sphere, building termination was embedded within broader relational practices tied to politico-religious space and neighborhood dynamics. Drawing from our preliminary analyses of three buildings in the Spring Lake Tract of ‘Downtown’ Cahokia, we argue for an intentional closing down of these buildings using fire and earth. Focusing here on deposition of pottery specifically, we consider the ways in which community was (re)created through practices of building termination and commensal politics in neighborhood contexts. The termination practices we see at the Spring Lake Tract speak to broader relational aspects of community, transforming landscapes, and dynamic cities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25990