Architectural Variability in the Southeast

5. In-Ground Evidence of Above-Ground Architecture at Kincaid Mounds

5 In-Ground Evidence of Above-Ground Architecture at Kincaid Mounds Tamira K. Brennan These [primitive] houses, being the direct expression of changing values, images , perceptions, and ways of life, as well as of certain constancies, become a very fruitful topic for study. Rapoport (1969:12) Introduction “Primitive architecture” as defined by Rapoport (1969:2–3) is a type of architecture that exhibits homogeneity as a direct result of the cooperative construction of the community, wherein there are no specialists. Depictions of primitive architecture ranging from Native American houses and temples to entire village complexes can be readily found in standard references such as site reports and in less typical sources like the colorful mural of a Mississippian mound center painted on the Paducah, Kentucky, floodwall. In many instances , these portrayals of “Indian towns” are based upon contact period accounts , while others remain the product of an archaeologist’s educated guess. Unfortunately, neither ethnographic literature nor the speculation of researchers alone can provide the empirical basis that accurate interpretation of precontact architecture demands. Divergence within Native architecture is understandable given the geographic variability of material and technological resources. While available resources place limitations on or restrict certain forms, a wider range of architectural possibilities exists than is realized among primitive societies. We must ask then, why does primitive architecture appear so stylistically homogenous? I believe that beyond engineering and material constraints, deviations within primitive architecture are reined in by social and cultural variables that dictate form. For this reason, understanding primitive architecture is a significant step toward understanding the society that built it. This study provides a means for in-the-ground identification of several architectural styles commonly found across the Mississippian Southeast. Both 74 Tamira K. Brennan rigid and flexed pole construction techniques as well as hipped and gabled roof styles will be discussed in an effort to clarify or correct previous interpretations of building form and to furnish future research efforts with an empirical basis from which to draw conclusions. Field records concerning the Mississippian component at the Kincaid Mounds site of southern Illinois (Figure 5.1) will be used to illustrate how uniting architectural principles and archaeological interpretation aids in eliciting new architectural data from old records. Construction Techniques Neither the technological nor the material resources of a society can be exceeded in any architectural endeavor. Likewise, the general principles of architecture cannot be broken. Therefore, the following three questions should be addressed when assessing building form and style: (1) what were the locally available construction materials, (2) which materials have actually been recovered from archaeological contexts, and (3) what are the physical properties of those materials (i.e., how much stress can a flexed pole of oak 6 cm in diameter withstand, what distance can a horizontal beam of rigid cedar span before it 5.1. Location of the Kincaid Mounds site and nearby mound centers. Architecture at Kincaid Mounds 75 needs additional support, and so on)? The answers to these questions will set the limits as to what architectural forms are physically feasible. Contactperiodaccountsandethnographicstudiesprovideanexcellentstarting point when considering prehistoric structures. As has been repeatedly cautioned , however, analogies are often inappropriately used and cannot safely be drawn backward in time as if on a continuum (Wobst 1978; Wylie 1985), nor can ethnographic accounts be taken as wholly accurate reports or safely associated with peoples of a different time and region. They do, however, provide a useful framework for the possibilities. Such a framework has been successfully supplemented in many instances through multidisciplinary collaboration in the fields of architecture, wood science, and experimental reconstruction (Blanton and Gresham this volume; Brennan 2005; Harn 1972; Heilman et al. 1988; Iseminger and Williams 1998; Lacquement 2004, 2005; Litchford 2002; Reed this volume). Construction Style The most prevalent interpretations of standard building forms among the Mississippian peoples are of two kinds: rigid pole and flexed pole (also known as arbor or curved roof) construction (Figure 5.2). In the former style, the roof is a separate and peaked element supported by vertical walls of rigid poles that are either set in individual postholes or placed in wall trenches.The latter style consists of more slender poles flexed inward to create a domed or barrel shaped roof contiguous with the walls. The bases of these poles are usually set in wall trenches, often accompanied by a horizontal pole laid at the base along the outside edge of the wall trench.This...