Visualizing the Sacred: Cosmic Visions, Regionalism, and the Art of the Mississippian World

Introduction

introduction xi introduction F. Kent Reilly III, James F. Garber, and George E. Lankford I began with the desire to speak with the dead. stephen greenblatt, “Towards a Poetics of Culture” (1989) Linda Schele often said that the primary focus of those who study ancient cultures should be the revival of the voices of the ancient peoples who created those cultures. Agreeing with Linda, the contributors to this volume interpret the past not as a dead and static series of events but as an active and animated influence that has messages for both Native American and Euro-American cultures today. The primary means of listening to these ancient Native American voices has been the Mississippian Iconographic Workshop held at Texas State University in San Marcos since 1993. The workshop is sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Arts and Symbolism of Ancient America (casaa) and hosted by the Department of Anthropology, Texas State University –San Marcos. No endeavor of this magnitude can be successful without adequate funding. Fortunately for the workshop, the Lannan Foundation of Santa Fe, New Mexico, has generously provided that funding, and the workshop participants will forever be indebted to that foundation. Objects produced by Native American artists and craftspeople during the Mississippian period (ad 900–1600) in the Eastern Woodlands of the United States (Map 1) are the common currency of our workshop discussions. Created from copper, shell, stone, and clay, many of these objects are equal in beauty and craftsmanship to the objects produced in the ancient Andes or Mesoamerica. Unfortunately, even though this corpus of Mississippian artistic production has been the subject of two major art exhibitions in recent years (Brose et al. 1985; Townsend and Sharp 2004), it has not gained the recognition from the broader public that it so richly deserves. During the Mississippian period certain of these finely crafted objects, particularly those created from copper and shell, undoubtedly functioned as items of great ideological significance and, like many of their Mesoamerican counterparts, almost certainly were “employed as social currency in the realm of ritual regal gifts” (Reents-Budet 1994:4). introduction xii map 1. Mississippian archaeological sites were located over a large area of the central and southeastern United States. This geographical area is remarkable for its large number of rivers and streams and the rich alluvial lands that are the product of this riverine environment. The earliest archaeological sites that are clearly Mississippian are located in the vicinity of the ancient city of Cahokia in Illinois. This region is also the original location of the Braden style. The largest number of Braden style objects, however, is found at the Spiro site in Oklahoma. The area of eastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia is the location of the Hightower style. Eastern Texas, western Louisiana, and southwestern Arkansas were the location of the Caddoan style. The symbols and motifs that are found at Moundville appear to be part of a style region that includes southcentral Mississippi and southern Louisiana. BBB Motor site Cahokia Mounds CAHOKIA STYLE FLINT CLAY FIGURES Angel site Wickliffe Mounds Castalian Springs Link site CUMBERLAND VALLEY STYLES Beaverdam Creek Garden Creek Hixon Etowah Toqua Citicol Ocmulgee Mt. Royal Lake Jackson Fort Walton Shine site HIGHTOWER STYLE HEMPHILL STYLE Moundville B R A D E N S T Y L E C O R R I D O R Fortune Mound Parkin Battle Mound Belcher Lake George Fatherland Emerald Mound B E L L A I R E S T Y L E C E N T R A L M I S S I S S I P P I VA L L E Y S T Y L E R E G I O N S C A D D O S T Y L E S 1. BRADEN STYLE 2. CRAIG STYLE MULTIPLE STYLE ZONE Spiro Sanders Hatchel GC Davis Gahagan Weeden Island Key Marco Kincaid© Johann A. Sawyer Dickson Mounds Hiwassee Island Little Egypt Tellico introduction xiii The participants in the Mississippian Iconographic Workshop are a diverse group of archaeologists, anthropologists, folklorists, art historians, and upon several occasions Native American religious practitioners. All of these individuals bring with them their enthusiasm and desire to communicate with the Native American past through an interdisciplinary approach. Each participant has his or her own set of questions or research agendas, but all are committed to the free flow of ideas through the interaction of different approaches...