Big Bangs, Cosmic Connections, and other Pauketatian Perspectives on Illinois Valley Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Method, Theory, and History in the Mississippian World: Papers in Honor of Timothy R. Pauketat" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Over the course of his career, Timothy R. Pauketat has made many groundbreaking contributions to precolonial North American archaeology. In this paper, we explore the implications of three of his most prominent contributions for understanding the Mississippian occupation of the Illinois River Valley in west-central Illinois, highlighting how his theoretical approaches have informed our work in the region. We begin with a focus on Pauketat's early political economic research, which defined the regional parameters of Cahokia's rapid consolidation around AD 1050 (famously dubbed the "Big Bang"). We then explore the themes of agency, identity, and tradition that Pauketat later showcased in his research on migration. We end by considering his most recent research on the archaeology of religion. Together, these Pauketatian perspectives have offered us rich, nuanced frameworks for reconceptualizing the Mississippian occupation in the Illinois Valley, and beyond.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Method, Theory, and History in the Mississippian World: Papers in Honor of Timothy R. Pauketat

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50859