Architectural Variability in the Southeast

1. Introduction to Architectural Variability in the Southeast

1 Introduction to Architectural Variability in the Southeast Cameron H. Lacquement Native (or indigenous) architecture throughout the world differs substantially in building styles, materials, and construction techniques.Varieties in architectural form are not only found among the different cultural, geographical, and temporal regions of the globe but within these regions as well. For instance, a survey of contemporary South African houses alone would show several forms of architecture including round, oval, square, and rectangular houses, with flexed, hipped, gabled, or conical roofs, or combinations of these roof styles (Biermann 1971; Denyer 1978; Frescura 1981; Guidoni 1975). Despite the differences in location, climate, and time, the intraregional variability found in contemporary South African houses is very similar to that of prehistoric houses of the southeastern United States. A variety of house shapes, including round, oval, square, rectangular, and cross-shaped, which are believed to represent a variety of construction techniques, have also been uncovered in the Southeast United States. The variability of architectural forms in the southeastern United States is the focus of this manuscript. The authors provide their research on the variation of construction techniques in the Southeast United States concerning both above-ground and below-ground architectural analyses in order to investigate the various structural forms in this region. Through the study of architectural remains, the archaeologist can infer the cultural patterns and behaviors associated with the creation of a particular type of structure. As several archaeologists and other social scientists have stated (Alexander 1979; Alexander et al. 1977; Lewis et al. 1998; Mitchell 1990; Rapoport 1969; to name a few), some of the most visible expressions of human culture are illustrated architecturally. Unfortunately for the archaeologist, the architecture being studied is not always visible, making this underlying 2 Cameron H. Lacquement manifestation of culture difficult to analyze. With the exception of the occasional preservation of burned structural remains, this lack of visible prehistoric architecture is certainly the case for the southeastern United States. In this volume, several archaeologists address almost a millennium of Native American architecture in the form of both public and domestic structures in the southeastern United States.The research presented here is used to create a more complete picture of the variation of Native architecture in the Southeast and the changes that occurred both before and after the arrival of Europeans. The areas of interest include but are not limited to the American Bottom,central and southern Illinois,northeastern Arkansas,west-central Alabama, northern and central Georgia, and eastern and western Tennessee during the Mississippian (ca. A.D. 1000–1550) and Historic (A.D. 1550–1820) stages (Figure 1.1). The majority of architectural studies in archaeology tend to focus on large monumental structures such as the Maya temples or the Mississippian platform mounds. The overall concept of this book is unique in the sense that it addresses architecture mainly at a household level with additional emphasis on community-level structures.This relatively narrow focus of architecture allows for the identification of construction trends in public and domestic houses. The research presented in this book is not concerned with architecture in the sense of large-scale planning and construction such as earthen mounds, plazas , town designs, palisades, or defensive structures (as in Dalan et al. 2003; Lewis and Stout 1998; Rogers and Smith 1995; to name a few).Therefore, from this point forward when the term architecture, structure, building, or any other synonym is used, it refers only to Native houses, both public and domestic, consisting of covered walls and a roof, unless stated otherwise. The authors use an array of approaches in examining architecture in the Southeast, including ethnohistory, ethnography, multivariate data analysis, architectural grammar, experimental archaeology, wood science, and structural engineering. Each chapter focuses on at least one of two objectives in examining Native architecture. The first objective addresses the above-ground appearance of prehistoric houses.This is typically accomplished through the use of ethnography and experimental archaeology. The second objective is to inspect architectural floor plans and structural remains in order to classify the variety of foundation types. Based on the analysis of these forms, a second part of the latter objective involves categorizing these floor plans based on their similarities from samples recovered in the specific region of study. In order to create these typologies, different methodologies at the house level, both public and domestic, are fashioned based on variables documented in the archaeo- Introduction 3 logical record. These...