Aztalan from the Perspective of Institutions of Social Relatedness

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Kin, Clan, and House: Social Relatedness in the Archaeology of North American Societies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The archaeological site of Aztalan is located between the modern cities of Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, and is commonly identified as Mississippian, dating to about AD 1000. The site has been known since the 1800s, and many amateur and professional archaeologists have excavated there. Much of the Aztalan literature focuses on time and whether or not the site is predominantly Late Woodland or Middle Mississippian in nature. My own work has focused on the mortuary and spatial organization and layout of the site, and how it was used for display and communication by means of landscape alteration, placement, and use of color and textures. Using Aztalan data, combined with data from a few other outlying Mississippian sites, I investigate the nature and degree of social relatedness one might infer from Aztalan site organization and repetition of symbols and structures. The question of change and/or repetition over time will also be addressed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Kin, Clan, and House: Social Relatedness in the Archaeology of North American Societies   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23864